Liandril stays close to Phil as you march down the steps into the darkness of the earth below. You're greatful for this, because it seems, after a while, that the light of the 'firefly' (as Ginrai called it) over Liandral's head seems to get a bit dimmer once you're out of sight of the original opening you came through. The walls change after you're (you'd guess) a hundred and some odd meters down, and are crude brick-work. Occasionally, the sides sport alcoves with cob-web covered statues and pedastals containing ancient art pieces. Or weaponry.
Most of it's rust and mold now, anyway, so it's difficult to be certain. Either way, there are a few creepily huge spiders hiding in the alcoves, creeping away at the sound of your foosteps ... or maybe recoiling from the light. It's hard to be certain; but you're glad you're not severely claustrophobic. Or arachnaphobic.
Either way, it looks like you've got a long walk ahead of you. Liandril looks grimmer and more tense than usual, and says nothing.
Dracos frowns, highly uncomfortable with the sounds of insects but focusing on maintaining his demeanor, subsuming himself in the role.
He keeps his eyes peeled, trying to keep from getting jumpy as he presses on silently.
Dracos
Rez follows quietly behind Dracos, fingering his sword hilt. He doesn't look particularly nervous, for once in this little debacle.
Liandril leads you on through the foreboding silence.
You kind of lose track of time. And the number of pedastals you pass. You can see that the spiders you're running across now (hiding in the alcoves, still) are both rarer, and larger.
The last are probably a good twenty centimers across, and that's not counting the legspan. They're not as quick to hide when you draw near, but they don't attack, either.
It does set a sort of unsettling trend for a bit, until you exit the passage, and enter a wide, low-roofed room.
This room is spider-free. A water trough runs the length of the wall on your right, cold and trickling quietly. A number of empty buckets are scattered around the room.
Rez reflexively checks how much water he's got left.
Dracos looks around, carefully examining the room as he enters, walls, ceiling, exits, and water sources.
Dracos
You could stand to carry a bit more water than you have.
Liandral tests it briefly, then declares, that the water is drinkable in a quiet voice. It wells up from a hole in the stone too small for you to fit anything into, and flows across a stone trough before going into a basin. The basin has an overflow drain that the exess water is currently draining into.
The room has two exits, and is set up almost like it's a mid-way point between where you started out and whatever's at the far end. Of course, it could be a one quarter point, or a one billionth point, for all you know. Either way, you can get more water here. And buckets, if you care for them.
"If so, then let's fill up here." Dracos spoke in a low tone.
Dracos quickly filled up his own water supplies turning to watch the exits while gesturing for Nathan and Liandril to do the same if they wished.
Rez promptly fills up his waterskin, suspicious as he may be.
That done . . .
"So, fearless leader, now what?"
"Death, silence, and continued walking, of course." Dracos heads out the other exit provided that Liandril or Rez don't stop him, continuing to try and keep a steady and patient eye out.
Dracos
Rez follows along behind Drac, replacing his now-filled waterskin.
Liandral nods, drinking some of the water, then leading you on into a much larger room.
Some things immediately come to your attention here.
It's a bit dusty, for one. For another, lines of light cut through the dust at varying heights.
Against the wall to the right (barely illuminated by the 'firefly') is the remains of a person in armor nearly identical (if aged very badly) to Nathan and Phil's. To the left is a giant monstrosity of twisted steel, cabling, and ... pneumatic actuators?
It takes a moment to realize that you're looking at something that -- as far as you can tell -- should not even be here. It's a massive spider-shaped robot, probably a good five meters high in its current crouched position. LEDs flash at about where you would place the eyes, and it has writing on it, stenciliced in in black paint. The text is English, and you both know this ... and know that how you're reading it is different from how you read your own names on your swords. The writing says, "MILITARY USE ONLY: 0000XR-53" and "WARNING: STAND CLEAR" and "DO NOT USE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY NEAR THIS DEVICE".
Liandral only gapes at it, saying nothing, as one hand goes to his sword hilt.
He doesn't draw his sword yet, however.
The spider-bot remains still for the moment. You can't tell what all of the weapons attatched to this sucker are, but you believe that the 'mandibles' are a pair of vulcan cannons. This is probably not something you want to mess with.
Nor do you probably want to break the lazer trip-wires crossing the room.
Dracos gestures to stay back, stopping queitly and looking very carefully around the room and at the spider. If the spider even begins to move he rushes back into the previous passage, trying to get behind heavy cover and get a passage way that is...inconvienent to pass through.
Dracos
Rez baps Drac on the shoulder and motions him back, tapping his mouth with his other hand.
Liandral looks like he wants to say something, but doesn't, looking to Nathan for guidance.
The room itself is bare, rectangular, and has a cieling about twenty meters high. It's probably fifty wide, and a hundred long. It's got no distinguishing features other than the corpse here (presumably Nathan's ancestor, one Hadrick Shuker), some lumps that could be other corpses (or just suits of empty armor), and a bunch of broken sword-pieces lying next to the nearest dead guy.
The spider itself (when you study it) looks either incomplete, or like a prototype. It's essentially unarmored, with the cables, and a bunch of circuitry showing.
Dracos nods silently and gestures backwards for them to head back to the previous room, staying a moment further to more clearly examine with his eyes the machinery of the mechaspider, whether the tripwire lasers are moving, what(if any) damage is done to the spider previous to them encountering it, if there is anything that looks like a sound sensor on it, or any other sensors that he can notice.
Dracos
You don't see anything you'd call a sound sensor. But then, some of this stuff looks awfully advanced. On closer inspection, it doesn't look like steel, but highly polished and very compact ceramic.
As far as the tripwires, you don't see them to be moving ... but with the dust shifting, it's hard to be certain. The actuators are pneumatic, though. There's a chip on one of the leg struts, but it's very minor. That's about the sum of what you can see in the way of damage done to it.
Maybe you'll get lucky and find it's wasted all of its ammo on previous targets?
Dracos moves back following the others, taking only remaining time to look over the body of the other warrior for what kind of damage had been dealt.
Dracos
Well, there's preforations across the chest, and the lower half of the body (skeleton, at this point) is missing.
Dracos finally heads back into the previous room, gesturing for them to go at least a full room further before stopping to discuss, organizing his thoughts in his head first as he tries not to reveal too much while explaining it.
"We have a problem. If we engage that thing in combat we will all certainly perish. It is definitely armed with what, looking at the body, appears to be some sort of very high powered and very fast launching dart system though more powerful than any darts I've ever seen. It's armor is obviously beyond our capabilities to damage and while I might be able to conceive a plan to take it down, it'd certainly end in the deaths of at least a thousand men. I do not think it can see normally though. I think it's eyes are fake and that instead it sees through those light beams coming off of it. We may be safe if we can navigate the cavern without coming close to touching those light beams. But...I can't be certain. It is very dangerous."
Dracos
"You do like being dramatic, don't you? I'm sure Paul can work out some good lines for you in your epic, so don't worry too much."
Rez hums. "In other words, it's a golem. But it doesn't LOOK very well armoured, I just doubt anyone got close enough to hit it. We need to make sure it doesn't just work off those lines, you know. If it was that simple . . ." Rez trails off.
Liandral shakes his head at both of you, and goes to the water trough. There, he splashes his face a few times (quietly) but says nothing.
"We can check sound with a rock. Hm..." Dracos continued pondering methods to get past it.
Dracos
"Ah! Liandral, I heard the loremaster say something to you about the firefly, something about us needing to look for strange things, or some such? What did he say?"
"He warned that some things you could see, I could not," Liandril clarifies very quietly. "The spirit likes to see things too, but since it shares my sight, it has to hide things from me to see it. Like these 'lines' you were speaking of -- I did not see any. But I did see the ... creature."
Dracos frowned. "That's... going to be troublesome."
Dracos
"So, basically, we're going to need to take this thing down." Rez hums. "Well, we've got a bunch of buckets of water here . . ."
"...Nathan, that's completely insane. I almost like it, even though it goes against my wont. Details."
Dracos
Liandral looks skeptical, to say the least. "You think water will hurt it?" he asks.
"Pretty damn sure, given what I know of these creatures. And," Rez turns to Drac with a cheery smile, "it is, isn't it? I don't think we're going to get much water over there if we throw it, so I'm sort of thinking walk up and pour a couple of buckets onto whatever looks important."
Liandril's eyes widen. "You've faced things like this before?" he asks, obviously having a had time believing it.
"No, but I've heard tales, and I've seen smaller such things. They're a rare type of golem. This one, though . . ." Rez points, ". . . lacks much armour. Generally they're weak to water. If that doesn't work, we'll just stick a sword in there."
"Right. First things first, we need to know -exactly- what this thing does, which means we need some things to throw in there. Rocks, debris, spider corpses, buckets - although we'll need the buckets - whatever you can thnk of."
Rez checks how many buckets we -have-, now that he thinks of it.
Dracos gives the 'don't freak out our elf buddy as that won't help us' look to Rez at his explanation but nods. "Whatever we do, no rushing it. And Liandril should stay far away so he doesn't accidentally get spotted by it."
Dracos
There are seven buckets, all told. When you ask for rocks, Liandral shakes his head, and starts trying to pry up small rocks from the floor with a belt knife. They're mostly fist sized, and he manages to get a few up relatively quickly.
Rez takes one of the rocks, makes sure everyone is out of the way, and tries to throw it so it skips across the floor and into the opposite wall.
<Brian> First off, I need to know where you are in the water room before you throw this rock.
<Brian> In the doorway, etc.
<Relm> Slightly back from the doorway to the spider-room so I have as much cover as possible. Liandral and Drac should be out of sight completely.
Dracos nods in agreement with the positions.
<Brian> Okay. Please roll 3d6 for pinpoint accuracy.
<Relm> roll 3d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Relm ... : 3d6 --> [ 3d6=17 ]{17}
<Brian> Whooooooosh ... *THUD*.
<Brian> You whacked the spider right in the side of its mechanical little head.
Relm ducks.
<Brian> You hear the sound of a mighty turbine spinning to life, followed by a few faint mechanical hisses, and then the sound of one rock being dropped heavily on top of another. Repeatedly. Missing armor plate or not, this thing weighs a lot.
<Brian> The room isn't quite shaking, but dust is being jarred loose from the cieling with each step.
Relm moves back and around the doorway so the spider can't see him without entering the room - QUIETLY.
<Dracos> Dracos twitches slightly, but stays still.
<Brian> It's roaming around in that room. Too big to fit through the door. Too woken up to just sit there in an easily snuck-past position.
<Dracos> Do we see any of the laserbeams flashing past the cave entrance?
<Relm> How far away does it sound?
<Brian> All over.
<Relm> Oh.
<Brian> Currently, it sounds like it's roaming towards your doorway.
<Brian> After a moment, it comes to a stop.
Relm motions Liandal to be quiet, and waits.
<Dracos> Dracos patiently waits, gesturing for continued silence for the moment.
<Brian> Through the freshly fallen dust, you see a few laser beams spear out and scan through the doorway, tracing across the room and not striking anyone.
<Brian> After a moment, the lights fade, and the thudding begins to decrease, as the robot marches away, scanning (presumably) the opposite door.
Dracos remains in his position, remaining quiet.
<Brian> Time passes, and you become aware of the air warming up slowly. And then quickly. And pretty soon, it's hot. Uncomfortably, so.
<Brian> At about that time, you hear a chirping noise, and the 'winding up' noise runs backwards, as the robot apparently settles down and turns off whatever was powering it.
<Brian> There's a series of quiet clicks, and then some red laser lines spear across the floor of the room. You'd have to be pretty careful to not trip them and still get through the doorway. Or even out of this room the way you came in.
Relm points at Liandral, then points at a bucket and points at the water trough.
<Brian> Liandral nods, and moves towards the trough, quickly (and quietly) filling the bucket and bringing it back to you.
Relm flips a rock towards the opposite doorway, through the triplines.
<Dracos> "Nathan...I think this might be suicide." Dracos frowns. "We should try and get it's attention focused elsewhere first." Dracos gestures to the beam spearing through the cavern opening...and then facepalms.
<Relm> . . . OVER the triplines.
<Brian> Please make a roll.
Relm is trying NOT to hit them? Just make a noise in that general direction? fuck. ._.
<Relm> roll 3d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Relm ... : 3d6 --> [ 3d6=11 ]{11}
<Brian> The rock soars into the room (you're not really keen on sticking your face into the muzzel of a vulcan cannon to look) and presumably over the spider's head. You hear it clatter, and the robot once more whirrs to life, this time tromping away.
<Relm> Does it sound like it's turning around?
<Brian> Hard to say. The lasers are gone, though.
Relm pokes his head around the corner then whips it back, trying to get a glimpse of the thing.
<Brian> It's facing the other way.
<Brian> It's also still moving around, though.
Relm waits for it to calm down, again.
<Brian> Eventually, it does so.
<Dracos> Dracos shakes his head, his nerves a bit tense.
<Brian> By this time, it's unbearably warm. You feel dizzy and lightheaded from the heat.
<Brian> Both of you are sweating uncontrollably, and Liandral doesn't look too comfortable himself.
<Dracos> "Patience Rez. Patience. And...I think we should retreat for the moment." Dracos shakes his head and, if it appears safe, makes his way over to the water and dips his hands in it, splashing his face a bit.
<Brian> Ahh ... that helps a lot.
Relm does the same, dropping his pack on the ground.
Dracos uses the water to cool himself off and gestures for the others to do the same.
Relm is now known as Rez
<Brian> Liandral doesn't need you to tell him twice.
Rez whispers: "Going to make a noise with a rock in -here- and see if it needs the wires or not."
<Rez> Question: How long does it take for the spider to turn around, at a guess?
<Brian> You never saw it, so you couldn't say.
<Brian> At a guess, only seconds, if that.
<Dracos> Dracos nods. "Do it."
<Dracos> Dracos though first makes sure they are all against a wall.
<Dracos> So that no one is in the direct line of fire from the opening.
Rez throws the rock at the ground, hard.
<Brian> Bink.
<Brian> You hear that old spider warming up again....
Rez swears quietly.
<Brian> This time, when the lasers come in to scan the floor, they all zero in on the rock on the floor. There's a mechanized chitter, you hear ... something ... moving into place with the quiet hiss of pneumatics, and then....
<Brian> roll 3d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Brian ... : 3d6 --> [ 3d6=6 ]{6}
<Brian> roll 4#6d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Brian ... : 4#6d6 --> [ 6d6=15 ]{15}, [ 6d6=31 ]{31}, [ 6d6=18 ]{18}, [ 6d6=23 ]{23}
Rez covers his ears, QUICK.
<Brian> There's a quiet hissing noise as the rock is turned into vapor. Anyone who didn't have their eyes closed is now blinded by the searing bright line of ... whatever that was ... and this room's getting a whole lot hotter.
<Brian> On the other hand, the spider thinks it's okay, and it just took care of whatever. Ignoring the liquid stone portions of the floor (and the now glass dirt around it) you're safe. Mostly. Either way, the spider turns around, and trundles off back to (you think) its original starting position.
<Brian> You're all going to start taking damage from this heat if you don't find somewhere cooler, and pretty quickly, too.
<Dracos> Dracos...is in a lot of pain and blindness right now and is busily trying to blink his eyes back to normal as well as slowly move towards the water to splash himself again.
<Brian> Okay. You get to the water trough. Liandral is there, already splashing his own face.
Rez was sorta expecting something but -not that-, and ducks over to the trough as well.
<Rez> Then points at the up-the-ramp way.
<Brian> Pointing is kind of moot, since none of you can see much.
<Dracos> Assuming Dracos' vision is back to normal, he grabs Nathan, pulling him near, "What, speak. And ow." If not, he just calls softly for them to come near.
<Rez> "Upstairs, now." Rez hisses - and ducks up the ramp.
<Brian> You start trundling, blind, through smaller spider territory.
<Brian> "Smaller" than 5 meters high being, well, 20cm or so across. Should be no problem.
<Brian> But, you find that it gets cooler fairly quickly in that direction, and he can hang out near the pedestals he remembers as being spider free until his vision recovers.
<Dracos> Dracos waits to get a fair amount of his 'see things' ability back before following Rez curiously.
Rez waits for everyone else to get up here.
<Brian> It comes back, with time. You have a huge afterimage slashed across your eyes, but can still through it.
<Brian> Just, everything looks a little washed through with green.
<Brian> There's a spider creeping towards you across one wall of the corridor.
<Brian> One of the smaller (but still big) and entirely organic suckers.
Dracos moves back a bit and draws his blade, gesturing threateningly hoping it's own self-preservation guidelines would handle it rather than trying to stab it.
<Brian> It doesn't seem to recognize the importance of a sword, but it does draw to a halt when you move.
<Brian> It's beady eyes (all eight of them) reflect the light of Liandral's firefly.
<Dracos> Dracos keeps an eye on the spider, ready to slash it if it tries to approach further. "Okay, besides the badness of staying in a nest of spiders while near blind, what is it, Nathan?"
<Rez> "No more playing with the spider until that cools down a bit, I think."
<Brian> "What was that?" Liandril asks shakily.
<Dracos> "I'm in agreement there. Feh. A very powerful magic blast, I think would be the best way to explain it Liandril."
<Dracos> "The golem obviously also reacts to sound when aware, analyzing it, targeting it, and then hitting it with that."
<Rez> "I don't get it, though. I mean . . . there weren't enough bodies for that to be what kills everyone who comes through this way."
<Brian> "Not many came," Liandril says. "You don't need that many people to never return to realize that it's a bad place to be."
<Dracos> "Wasn't it originally summoned to deal with an army of darkness or some such though?"
<Brian> "Well, I imagine so. And it kept them from coming through. But unless I'm mistaken, it's also stuck here."
<Dracos> "Either way. It's here. It must be dealt with. I think I or Nathan could probably sneak past it, but you would not have a chance. Hitting it with water might stop it, but it's extremely risky, even moreso then testing how it acted was."
<Brian> "Lovely," Liandral sighs, throwing his belt-knife at the spider on the wall.
<Brian> roll 3d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Brian ... : 3d6 --> [ 3d6=8 ]{8}
<Brian> Splat.
<Brian> That sucker's toast.
<Brian> He retrieves the knife and grumbles, cleaning the blade with a rag before throwing the rag to one side, and resheathing the belt knife.
<Rez> "Nice shot. So . . . personally, I sort of like the douse-it-with-water plan, anyone got any better ideas?"
<Brian> Liandral frowns. "You seem to understand what we're facing best."
<Dracos> Dracos frowns. "It could work. But I think probably both of us should go. Liandril providing as much light from the doorway as possible as we try to work from different sides with two buckets of water each. If we fail we try to slash the internals."
<Brian> Liandral blinks, but seems to grasp that you're not asking HIM to be a huge part of your insanity, so nods his agreement.
<Rez> "Actually . . . I was thinking maybe have you throw rocks at the same time to dry and distract it's attention from the noise we'll be making. Think that'll help, or just use a second bucketeer?"
<Dracos> "If we fail, we'll both be dead. Liandril, if that happens, I suggest just trying to head back and take the other path. No need for three corpses where two will do the work." Dracos brushes a hand through his hair nervously. "Nathan...eh, maybe. I was more hoping that we tried to be quiet enough not to activate it's sound sensor at all."
<Rez> "Won't work. There's no way we'll get enough water far enough to drench it in it's normal sentry position, so we'll need it to move close to our door."
<Dracos> "What do you mean? I was intending to try and sneak up to it's sentry position. Were you thinking something else?
<Rez> "Yes. Lure it back to the water room, where we have both a place to refill buckets AND cover. If we do it your way, assuming we can make it so close to something that hot, if the water doesn't wreck it we'll neither of us have any cover when it turns on us."
<Dracos> "Hmm...I don't think that will work. but you can try it. What do you need me to do during it? I don't see any real advantage to having two people with buckets when doing that."
<Rez> "Toss a rock to the opposite side of the room just after I toss my bucket of water."
<Dracos> "Sure."
<Rez> "The thing seems pretty stupid. Anyway, we'll wait a little while for the room to cool down before we try."
Dracos picks up one of the cut out rocks, testing it a bit in his hand for weight and getting setup.
<Dracos> "It's artificial, you and I know the challenge of making one of those smart."
<Rez> "Not really. I know how to kill them, not build them."
Rez waits a short while, until he thinks the far room may have cooled down a bit.
Dracos follows Rez in when he goes into the presumably now cooled room.
Rez fills a second bucket of water, and sets them both in easy reach near the doorway.
<Brian> It is indeed much cooler now than it was after the spider vaporized the rock.
<Dracos> "Nathan, why not fill all of them, just in case?"
Rez nods - and continues filling buckets!
<Brian> All seven buckets are quickly filled and set on the floor.
Rez makes sure Liandral is away from the door, then picks up a rock, leans around the doorway, and tries to clonk the spider in the head with it. Again.
<Brian> Make a roll to hit, please.
<Rez> roll 3d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Rez ... : 3d6 --> [ 3d6=15 ]{15}
<Brian> Your rock skitters across the floor of the room. You don't watch it to see if it trips any of the laser beams. But the robot does whirr to life again.
<Brian> You hear it tromping around.
<Brian> It sounds like it's investigating the far side of the room first.
<Brian> There's a hissing noise, and a bright flash comes through the doorway, illuminating the hallway you're facing (the one opposide the room the spider's in) all the way to the end.
<Brian> After a few moments, it appears to come over to investigate the water room again.
<Brian> Laser beams fill the doorway, scanning across everything the spider can get to from its position.
Rez waits, hoping it'll start to move away again.
<Brian> It does not, in fact, start to move away. It's actually scanning the floor very closely. In particular, it seems to be paying attention to the holes in the floor where Liandril pried up loose stones.
<Brian> Are you doing anything at this point?
<Rez> No.
<Brian> The scanning then branches outward, approximately outlining the doorway you're hiding next to in laser beams and scanning the entire outer perimeter. There's no way you're going to get out of this room without tripping one of those lines.
<Brian> Leaving all those lines active, it then goes to 'sleep' again.
<Dracos> "It's getting smarter... in a very bad way," Dracos says while glancing out cautiously.
Rez taps a finger to his mouth a couple of times.
<Brian> There's a soft 'whirr', though you didn't hear it actually power up.
<Brian> Of course, without sticking your head into the path of a laser beam, you're not really going to be able to see what's going on.
Dracos looks decisively unhappy with this turn of events. But does not move.
<Rez> Rez, notably, looks surprised and slightly uncertain. But hefts another rock anyway.
<Brian> You've got another fist-sized (or so) rock. It's weight is reasonably balanced, since it used to be a walking-on rock, and should make a passable throwing-at-mechanical-spiders rock.
Rez pegs the rock through the doorway towards the spider-room, at about knee height. Not aiming, but not -at- the spider, just to go skittering across the room.
<Brian> Please make a roll.
<Rez> roll 3d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Rez ... : 3d6 --> [ 3d6=7 ]{7}
<Brian> Your hand reaches expertly between two of the lasers, and you chuck the rock towards the spider (not able to see it, if course, due to the lasers), and pull your hand back.
<Brian> The spider quickly whirs to life, and goes after the rock as it goes skittering across the floor.
<Brian> This means your cage of laser-wires is -- for the moment -- gone.
Rez risks a quick glance as soon as they vanish.
<Rez> And then pulls his head straight back. <_<
<Brian> The spider is turning around -- right in front of the doorway -- to go after the rock.
Rez grabs a bucket and flings the water at the spider's head.
<Brian> Please make a roll.
<Rez> roll 3d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Rez ... : 3d6 --> [ 3d6=6 ]{6}
Rez doesn't wait to see what happens and hurls the now-empty bucket over the spider.
<Brian> Your bucket goes soaring towards the spider.
<Brian> It skids to an abrupt halt, queued by something you didn't catch and whirls to face you. Its legs remain stationary, and its upper body turns to face you (and the bucket). But it's not tracking you. It's tracking the bucket.
Rez ducks back behind the wall, and grabs another bucket of water.
<Brian> You hear the rapid whine of a vulcan cannon (or both of them) winding up, and it destroys the bucket entirely, leaving its contents to slosh all over the exposed circuitry of its ... well, you don't know what system it was. It's probably important, though.
<Brian> Either way, there's a horid crackling sound, the cannons (silenced, you realize) wind down, the scent of scortched ozone fills the room, and the spider kind of sinks as all the pneumatic pressure is released.
<Brian> And no laser trip-wires are visible.
Dracos shakes his head.
Dracos gestures at the buckets.
Rez flings another bucket, for good measure. Pays to make sure. >_>
<Brian> *clunk*
<Brian> *slosh*
<Brian> *crackle*
<Brian> Kind of rewarding.
Rez pokes his head around the corner.
<Brian> The spider just kind of sits there, its legs folded in and its body resting against the floor at a slight angle.
Dracos glances around and then turns towards Nathan, "Test sound in here first. Then let's thoroughly make sure it never gets up again."
<Rez> "If it didn't hear a bucket smacking into it . . ."
Rez picks up another bucket and walks quickly over to the spider.
<Brian> It sits their docilely.
<Brian> Kind of like a doused computer when you ask it to play dead.
Dracos waits a second to follow.
Dracos and then does, with sword ready to clip circuitry.
Rez doesn't bother with the third bucket.
<Brian> Well, the circuitry is already a bit blackened due to the watery discharges.
<Rez> "Well, what do you know. It did work."
<Dracos> "Never know if it has backup repair systems though..." Dracos indicates nervously. "Ah hell...let's just get out of here. Nathan, That was fucking insane. I can't believe you hit it with a thrown bucket of water."
<Brian> Also, your blade is solid iron with a copper hilt. Hitting potentially live wires may not be so bright. But there's plenty of hydraulic cabling you can dismember.
Rez has a ridiculously wide grin on his face.
<Brian> Liandral hesitantly follows you into the room. "That's it?" he asks.
Dracos sees that, agrees with the logic, and goes about disabling the ability for the darn thing to move, just in case >_>.
<Brian> It leaks thick oil across the floor.
<Rez> "They're very vulnerable to water. I don't know why they didn't give it armour . . ."
<Rez> "Actually, probably the heat. Nevermind."
<Dracos> "Anyhow, let's get out of here."
Dracos heads for the far door with all haste.
<Brian> "And to think, Hadrick Shuker fell to it even with his sword," Liandral says, gesturing to the corpse and the broken sword pieces.
<Rez> "Well . . . if we didn't know that, that could have been us."
<Brian> Liandral goes to inspect Hadrick's corpse, and nods slowly.
Rez walks over and looks at the corpse of his ancestor, somewhat uncertainly.
<Rez> "We'll just be a minute."
<Brian> It's a corpse. Missing from the waist down. Not really much more than a skeleton, honestly. His armor is like yours though the skin has rotted way to almost nothing, and the plate is tarnished.
<Dracos> "Liandril, If any of it's attacks had hit us, we would've looked equally bad."
Dracos nods to Rez, waiting.
<Brian> One skeletal hand still grips the handle of a fine blade, most of the rest of the pieces scattered around it. There's probably almost a dozen of them.
<Brian> "His torc is missing," Liandral murmurs, frowning. "How...."
<Rez> "I . . . hadn't actually thought what to do if we found him."
<Brian> "It would have been simple ... but where is his torc?" Liandral asks, mystified. "It makes no sense."
Rez blinks.
<Brian> Liandral scans around curiously, rising a bit, and peering into the corners near the body. "Is it hidden from my eyes by the flame?" he asks.
<Dracos> "What is his 'Torc'?"
<Brian> Liandral blinks at that, then frowns. "Nothing," he says after a moment.
<Rez> "It's a piece of jewelry, somewhat like a necklace."
Rez looks on the corpse to see if Liandral has, in fact, just been blinded to it.
<Brian> Liandral nods.
<Brian> There's no necklace on the corpse, though.
<Brian> "You should take the sword, master Shuker. As a remembrance of your forefather. It may be broken now, but it can be reforged anew."
<Rez> "Mm," Rez bends to gather up the pieces, "I probably shouldn't leave him here, but there's little we can do."
Rez looks for some cloth or something to wrap them up in.
<Brian> You have room in the pouch with your gems.
<Brian> You gather the pieces quickly enough.
<Brian> But this room is starting to get warm.
<Rez> Rez turns somewhat horrified eyes on the mechaspider.
<Brian> It's just sitting there, control systems destroyed, engine running away quietly.
<Rez> "Er, Drac? I like your plan. Let's go. Now."
<Brian> Come to think of it, from here you can see the radiation symbol on the side of the spider.
<Dracos> "MOVING." Dracos leads the way out.
<Dracos> Moving fast. As fast as is sensibly safe.
<Brian> You commence with operation: Book like fuck.
<Dracos> likely a good speed jog.
<Brian> Sensing that a greater predator is on your heels, the large spiders in the next hall you jog through stay out of your way.
<Brian> This works, and you're pleased to note general spider radius decreasing to the 5 cm range before you enter another large room.
<Brian> This one is round, and apparently bottomless. A weathered and painfully aged rope bridge crosses the chasm.
Rez gives the chasm a flat look.
<Brian> The abyss stares back into you.
<Brian> Probably.
<Brian> You were never much for that branch of philosophy anyway.
Rez examines the rope bridge.
<Rez> This close end. How . . . er . . . aged does it look? >_>
<Brian> It looks like it might support weight. How much is questionable, though. You don't think it would be a good idea for more than one person at a time to go across.
<Brian> Liandral hesitates for a moment, then produces a rope from his pack.
Rez blinks.
<Rez> "Liandral, you're my hero."
<Brian> "I'll go first," he says without preamble. "I am the lightest, I think."
Dracos tries to figure out which of them is lightest.
Dracos nods.
<Dracos> "Good luck. We'll wait here."
<Brian> After securing the rope about his waist, he hands you the end, and takes a breath ... then traipses gingerly across the rope bridge. It's the kind with three main ropes -- one foot and two hand guides, with smaller bits of twine holding the three in a relatively tight triangle shape.
<Brian> About the middle, one of the binding cables snaps, and Liandral holds very still ... but the bridge remains intact. Trying to distribute his weight evenly on all three supports, he finally makes it across. It's a twenty meter gap. From there, he goes on ahead (leaving you in pitch darkness for a minute) and returns, calling, "I've secured the rope to a statue. Cross carefully."
<Rez> Rez turns to Drac. "You next, or me?"
<Dracos> "You. And no breaking the bridge further."
Rez stifles a gulp and starts walking very . . . very . . . carefully . . . across the bridge.
<Brian> Okay! Please make a dex check.
<Rez> roll 3d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Rez ... : 3d6 --> [ 3d6=8 ]{8}
<Brian> You saunter across the bridge. Scary? That was kinda fun!
<Brian> You've got one end of the rope, and it's your turn to cross, Dracos.
Rez gets off the bridge on the other side, that having been mercifully easy.
Dracos breaths in heavily, keeping his eyes neutral as he grasps the extra guiderope, carefully and slowly going across, focusing on keeping his eyes narrowed to prevent to the best degree looking down or allowing himself to believe that this isn't right above the ground.
<Brian> Please make an ego check.
<Dracos> Roll 3d6 for I hate heights, really.
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Dracos ... : 3d6 for I hate heights, really. --> [ 3d6=9 ]{9}
<Brian> The threat of the exploding spider behind you gives you the willpower you need to make yourself go on.
<Brian> Now, please make a dex check.
<Dracos> Roll 3d6 and I really hate falling.
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Dracos ... : 3d6 and I really hate falling. --> [ 3d6=11 ]{11}
<Brian> You're moving ... slowly ... carefully ... steadily ... *snap*
<Brian> The right hand-guide snapped. You're at about the halfway point, and now your weight is distributed between just two of the ropes.
<Brian> Please make another ego roll.
Dracos shakes a bit, but tries to proceed onward, hoping the other ropes hold just enough.
<Dracos> Roll 3d6 for freaking out here would be really stupid.
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Dracos ... : 3d6 for freaking out here would be really stupid. --> [ 3d6=12 ]{12}
<Brian> You know what? It's probably a good idea to just wait here for a while.
<Rez> "Drac, what's going on?!"
<Dracos> "Uh...Don't like heights...any chance you got an extra rope, Liandril?"
<Brian> "You're holding it," he says.
<Brian> There is still the extra rope, but that's secured ahead, not both ahead and behind.
<Brian> "Tie the rope around yourself," Liandral suggests.
Dracos ties the extra rope around him, grabs it tightly with one hand and tries to get himself away from the deathtrap.
<Brian> Okay. Make a dex roll.
<Dracos> Roll 3d6 for dying would really ruin my day.
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Dracos ... : 3d6 for dying would really ruin my day. --> [ 3d6=15 ]{15}
<Dracos> ...
<Brian> The second guide rope breaks, and with all your weight now being supported by a single rope ... it too breaks.
<Brian> You plummet.
<Brian> Rez: Make a strength check.
<Rez> roll 3d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Rez ... : 3d6 --> [ 3d6=9 ]{9}
<Brian> roll 3d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Brian ... : 3d6 --> [ 3d6=7 ]{7}
<Brian> Together, you and Liandral manage to keep Dracos from slipping any deeper into the abyss. So he goes down about ten feet in a curving arc into the wall below you.
<Brian> roll 3#1d6
<Chibi-Suu> Them bones was tossed for Brian ... : 3#1d6 --> [ 1d6=4 ]{4}, [ 1d6=6 ]{6}, [ 1d6=4 ]{4}
<Brian> OOOH, that didn't feel good. Luckily, your armor keeps the rope from cutting into you, so it just squeezes you tightly.
Rez spouts a few swearwords, leaning back to take the strain on the rope.
Dracos sees if he can get a hold in the rock with his hands frantically.
<Rez> "DRAC! You alright down there?"
<Brian> You take 4 body, 14 stun, after defenses, you take stun only. You're not dazed, and in fact, manage to scrabble for a handhold.
Dracos scrambles up as only the 'I never do cliff climbing like this and I hate heights get me out of here' folks can manage. >_>
<Brian> In about a minute, you're hauled up to the top of the spot where the bridge was, and lying on lovely, sweet, sexy, FLAT ground.
Dracos breathes heavily.
<Rez> "Wow."
<Rez> "You alright?"
<Dracos> "...Next time, we take the high road. Let's keep moving." Dracos says very unsteadily. Not wanting to either dwell on what just happened or STAY HERE NEAR THE CLIFF OF DEATH.
<Brian> And not a moment too soon. You hear something moving from the depths of that pit.
<Rez> "High road means deeper chasms, ya know."
<Brian> Linadral doesn't like the noise, but quickly gathers up his rope. "Let's go," he says tersely.
<Rez> Rez takes the lead, Drac looking kinda shaken.
<Dracos> "Shaddup with your logic."
Dracos follows after Rez.
<Rez> "You know, I bet you're going to have a whole new appreciation for those epic stories and their chasms, now."
"Quite. And we're within throwing range if you want one too." Dracos grumbled.
Dracos
Rez snickers, and keeps walking. Quickly.
Dracos follows, watching the area around them.
Dracos
This area is bricked walls, interspersed with alcoves containing statuary. No spiders, though. This area is remarkably clean, outside of the dust.
"Huh...odd." Dracos comments, keeping twice the watch for the following few rooms in lieu of the sudden vanishing of all wildlife.
Dracos
Rez looks a little closer at the statues as they walk past.
Mostly just bad-ass dudes with armor, or the occasional scantily clad female. You sense a little hint of sexism here.
Other than that, sometime's it's just a pedestal with some art object or something on it. But those have all collapsed into dust with age.
Dracos shakes his head and continues onwards. "Lollygagging here does not deliver the draughts. We must hurry."
Dracos
You press on through the darkness, through long corridors. There's a skittering noise behind you....
Dracos keeps moving ahead but glances backward slightly as he does so, curious.
Dracos
You see something glittering all over the walls, floors, and ceilings behind you as you walk.
Dracos goes on his guts. "Run." Putting actions to words, he speeds up on getting out of that cavern.
Dracos
You and Liandril and Nathan start gunning it down the corridor, as the myriad sparkling eyes (you think that's what they are, now) following you try and catch up.
After a bit of running, you see light ahead of you -- maybe you're close to the exit.
The Halls of Our Fathers now moves on to On The Outside (http://pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=32593#32593).