Expedition to the Barrier Peaks - Chapter One

[Pulpatoon]

Porphyry to Wulfhart: "I fear she is little more than an index in fancy dress. Defined less by good or ill than by utility.

"And she lacks that quality at present, but we may find use for her later on. She seems willing to answer questions, and we will have no shortage of those in this strange place."

The satyr thinks for a moment, and then addresses the silver woman again. "You say you are enlivened via some manner of conduit with the vessel's motive power, hmm? And that you have a personal store of this quickening-force upon your person that will last you approximately a month? Tell me, are you and the security robots presently relying on your personal stores of vitality, or are the ships... end-djinns, was it? Are the ship's end-djinns still providing power?"

[Grognardsw]

Access cards are stored tantalizingly close within the broken console, though the silver woman is steadfast in holding to the mandates and rules of her masters, which means she would call security if the console is tampered with.

"It is your duty to allow us to open this cabinet by any means," states Porphyry the psychopomp. "Failure to do so is to be negligent in your duties, and to put the survival of the ship, its crew, and passengers in the gravest danger."

"I am sorry sir, be that as it may, I cannot ignore my programming."

Brother Puddington reveals to the others there is no magic in the room, which is surprising to the magic-users. How can this be? Are there powerful magics shielding the room from the cleric's spell?

Wulfhart stands at the ready, trying to follow the conversations, his suspicions still high. His paramour Candidiasis is getting impatient.

The now-exasperated satyr listens to the silver woman's explanations of the magic behind her life force.

"Are the ship's end-djinns still providing power?" asks Porphyry.

"Intermittently," answers the silver woman.

Just then, the adventurer's hear noise coming from outside the hallway, from the west!





Elsewhere, Fingal the thief shows his friends the strange device found in the desk draw. They decide not to experiment with it for the time being.

Andover the ranger again suggests reuniting with the other group of adventurers and using the red card to access the red door back in the chamber of the security robots. The party drifts east down the hallway as Fingal pockets the red card and looks for more doorways that have red panels. The corridor gets dark (a torch is lit) and extends east for 50', and they pass two black doors and one gray. Then the hallway turns south 20' then east 50'. At the end of the east hallway is an open door, from which there is flickering torchlight, and the party hears noise!

Map

Yes Zhym, Int. does act as a modifier as well as some other factors.

[Hotgoblin]

Groyn shakes his head at the Silver woman's pig-headed response... Porphy, don't yous think it's time to move on? She ain't going to break the rules to help us, let's get outa here !!! The frustrated dwarf starts walking toward the noise in the hallway, mumbling as if someone else were there....

[Zhym]

Andover holds a finger up to his mouth to ask for quiet, then carefully approaches the source of the noise.

[Pulpatoon]

Porphyry finally relents. "Fine. Let's see what else is lurking about."

[ChubbyPixie]

"We do thank you for your time, dear," says Wrenly as the others make their way to the door. "I'm sure we'll speak again." He stands well behind the others and waits to see what's coming. Hopefully not more of those dreadfully rude plant-men.

[ChubbyPixie]

Brother Puddington will ready his staff-sling in anticipation of another hullabaloo coming from the hallway. "Well I, for one, am not going to bother preparing magical detection rites for tomorrow if there's no detectable magic. It does all seem fantastic as you say," he replies to Guido. Suddenly, Brother Puddington is aware that for the last several minutes his headache has almost totally disappeared. It's as if by being distracted, in the thick of the adventure, he forgot to be ill. The thought that it might all be imagined makes his stomach hurt.

[greyarea]

Asherrion puts his finger to his lips. He creeps forward and peers to see if he can make out what made the noise.

[saalaria]

Swilbosh gazes at the device then shakes his head.

"I've never ssssseen itssss like before. I new you humans as were clever but this place it's ssssomething else's."

On hearing the noise ahead, he hefty his trident, expecting battle.

[tkrexx]

"Well I, for one, am not going to bother preparing magical detection rites for tomorrow if there's no detectable magic. It does all seem fantastic as you say,"

Guido's eyes move to Brother Puddington. My schooling was strict, tho not without reason. My Masters ranted over and over again of the importance of 3 things for a novice: The Blessing of Healing, the Blessing of Detecting a Magical presence, and the Blessing to Light the darkness. The Wisdom of these Masters dictated if one of the 3 is missing, it will be the one you need. I think we between us have the ability to keep this party... Well most of them, anyway... Alive and well as we stand with our current list of Blessings.

Porphy, don't yous think it's time to move on? She ain't going to break the rules to help us, let's get outa here !!!

Sir Groyn, I truly understand impatience, believe me, Guido's eyes roll between the Silver Lady and Porphyry, But I must insist the Silver Lady is in fact NOT breaking any rules, should she decide to assist, even accompany us weary, confused travelers, instead merely adapting to a situation not covered by regulations, so as to seek a resolution to our common riddle. As Captain of the Admiral's guard, your duty is to protect the Admiral in all situations. The best protection we know as of this moment is the Lady before us. Her knowledge of this place is clearly our most potent weapon.

The Priest turns again to the Silver Lady. Do you agree, my Dear, that investigations of all the recent misgivings should be personally looked into, even if it is not in your given description of duties? Do you not wonder if Security exists at all, amid all the lack of communication?

[OGRE MAGE]

Fingal

The greasy thief continues carefully towards the noise, hoping to have finally found the other half of the party.

Maybe its the other'n? If so, I hope they found some way to figure out what these items we found can do.

He looks again at the two new strange devices but is still afraid to experiment with them. He hopes someone with a little more smarts than he can figure out what they are used for.

[AleBelly]

Candy calls to Wulfhart. She seems to be trying to strike a sweet, light tone, but it sounds a bit more like she has a mouthful of frogs. "Wulfie, dear, there's something about down this hallway. Escort me down there, will you?"

If Wulfie agrees, she will follow 10' behind him.

[AleBelly]

Wulfhart sighs, looking to the others to see if they will follow. Regardless, he exits the room where the silver woman dwells and gets in between Candy and the noise. If others follow, he will walk carefully down the corridor to the west.

[Grognardsw]

The adventurers deliberate on whether to force open the broken console with the access cards.

Guido appeals to the silver woman



to accompany them to confront the possible danger to these passengers.

"I have contacted security," answers the metal female. "I am required to stay in Passenger Services and cannot venture forth with you."

Noises from without pause the conversation. Groyn and Wulfhart are the first to go investigate.




Elsewhere, Andover the ranger motions his fellow dungeoneers to quiet as the half-elf pads down the corridor to investigate the noise coming from beyond an open door. He approaches and out saunters...

Groyn!

[OGRE MAGE]

Fingal smiles when he sees his husky buddy.

Groyn you old dog. Thank the god of ro-bots we found you! And seemingly right as rain no less? Tell us of your findings while I gather the others.

The filcher moves past the dwarf to seek out the rest of the group. He rushes in to show the book lernin members the two strange devices they have found.

Hey smarties! Check out these new gadgets! Upon seeing the metal woman, the greasy thief lowers his voice coolly and asks. Hey there shiny! What's yer name?

I'd be happy to try to break into the card box if there are no objections.

[Hotgoblin]

Groyn's happy to see Fingal, but before he can respond, Fings answers his own question. That there is the Silver lady, she issues the passenger cards, but unfortunately for us, the dispenser thingy ain't working right now!

Sounds good to me, try not to get electrocuted!

[Pulpatoon]

Porphyry to Fingal, examining the viewing device: "Let us ask the silver lady."

Bringing the device before her, he asks, "Can you identify this device? What is it's function and method of operation?"

[ChubbyPixie]

Brother Puddington relaxes with the sling staff.

Is it wrong that I don't know exactly what a sling staff looks like? I imagine... a sling. Attached to a staff.

"Oh, thank Ulaa. It's you guys. Yes the silver lady is a veritable font of information. We might want to weigh that against violating her rules and turning her against us? Still... accesss cards. Where have you all gotten off to? What was all that racket a few minutes ago? I was sure you all were dead."

[ChubbyPixie]

Wrenly occupies himself busily copying down the runes from the panel in front of the silver lady's magic box. He's certain they'll come in handy later. "Tell me, dear, is this the means by which you've 'called' security? What do these symbols represent? Elements and secret names?" He suddenly perks up, remembering something. "Oh, yes. I'd forgotten. We encountered the lifeless hull of another of your ro-bot men, but this one was rather squat with legs, not like the security versions. What might be the function of this legged variety?"

[greyarea]

Asherrion is happy to be reunited with his friends. Getafix is confused, as usual.