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When last we left our intrepid wasteland voyagers, they successfully thwarted an attack by Cerebrum Plasma Spiders that scared off some camels and their employer, Syrus Plak.



Syrus reunited with the band after he determined the danger had passed. Sensing a loss of respect, the scholar-adventurer reminded them that security and his safety were part of their obligations. One of the camels broke its leg fleeing from the spiders and had to be put down. It was recycled as rations and apportioned to all.


Palakan Mountains; 329D/81 (Afternoon)

Putting the events of the swarm attack behind you, the journey continued up into the old, worn Palakan Mountains. The abundance of rock and scrub brush kept everyone tense in anticipation of an ambush that never materialized.

After a half day’s travel, you crest a hill positioned to overlook a shallow valley running up to the mountain peaks. Syrus uncovers a cage from one of the camel packs and withdraws three bright purple birds with long, yellow tips on their wings. He releases them into the air and watches their flight path. The colorful avians dip and dive over the undulating landscape arcing wide, then to a narrow circle in front of your position. They finally land in the draw and peck at the ground.

“This vault I seek is a cargo container from an ancient air ship,” Syrus begins. “The Morivites of Old sailed the skies with their bladder wings transporting people and supplies.”

“Buried here,” he says, motioning towards the birds, “are the remains of such a craft. Those birds can sense the preserved organic matter used to grow the structure of these vessels. We must excavate and uncover the hull to determine its condition.”

“Any suggestions on how to safely proceed?” the Lantican asks. "I have ample tools for digging."

Action Details:

Actions?

Hit Points [Luck Points-327D]:

Denslow – 42/42 [16/16]
Silvestri – 60/60 [14/14]
MacMak – 68/68 [8/17]
Bruce – 50/50 [5/12]
Kurot – 50/50 [7/15]
Farmanus – 87/87 [13/13]

Denslow watches the birds draw and peck, not quite able to understand what they are doing. Do they make a map? he asks. Just let us know where to go, so that we can recover this container for you. How large is it?

Kurot's glowy eyes flash for just a moment as he checks his internal chronometer and system logs, then runs a level 1 diagnostic. Nope, no sign of a time gap or extended shutdown period. Weird. He writes it off as "computer based lifeforms do funny things sometimes" and returns his attention to the task at hand.

That task being...digging. He looks at his hands—they don't seem like they were made to move large amounts of earth. A mental directory of loadable expertise modules confirms it: "I have no specialty programming for excavation," he says. "However—the principle seems simple enough. Scoop up dirt from spot A, dump it in spot B, try to keep the resulting hole from collapsing in on itself, yes? Doesn't seem too difficult as long as we don't need too big a hole."

Silvestri grabs a shovel

"I used to help my father on the farm with digging the fields, but nothing quite like this."

Denslow says, Twenty feet deep? My root systems have dug deep for good sustenance. I can help break up the ground if you haul it away. I typically flail my tendrils about which does a nice job breaking it into chunks and then smaller.

If it is good soil then I may keep it for my rations. I would hope we don't encounter any boulders.

Denslow wipes a drip of sap from his brow, and then absentmindedly takes a bite of fruit before realizing his mistake and setting it aside. Is that the vault you were looking for, Syrus? Want it broken open?

Bruce

Inspects the smooth gray surface for seams. Rapping on the surface, he tries to determine how thick the material might be.

Boy, what I wouldn't give for a mono-filament blade right now!

Silvestri

"Hmmm, we might be able to burn through using the blaster, or I could try summoning some fire, the heat might weaken it"

“An axe probably isn’t the right tool for this job,” ventures Kurot the axe-wielder.

Bruce

Grabbing the tools, Bruce volunteers for the job. Tying a makeshift harness around his waist, he rationalizes "I'll perform the task solo as to minimize the possibility of an accident. As I have no pain receptors, the chance that an injury might incapacitate me is considerably less." He sets to the task of drilling the bore hole for the saw.

Palakan Mountains; 329D/81 (Afternoon)

All but Bruce exit the excavation pit and the martial synthetic proceeds to bore a hole with the hand drill. Safely secured to a rope harness, he kneels against the bone-like surface while twisting the drill into the material. After a few minutes of twists, the tool bottoms out into a hollow area. At the same time, a blast of foul air spews forth from the interior. Bruce steps back as the gas vents up and out of the pit.

Immediately, ’Pop, Pop, Pop’ sounds echo around the excavation as dozens of 3ft long translucent, ochre cylinders appear out of thin air. Multiple wispy tendrils flail out from their bodies as they float and ‘swim’ about the environment.



Action Details:

Actions?

Hit Points [Luck Points-327D]:

Denslow – 42/42 [16/16]
Silvestri – 60/60 [14/14]
MacMak – 68/68 [8/17]
Bruce – 50/50 [5/12]
Kurot – 50/50 [7/15]
Farmanus – 87/87 [13/13]

They look like tubers of some sort, offers the mutant tree. At least I hope that is all they are. Were you expecting this, Syrus?

Silvestri

With the shear number of these strange creatures, Silvestri does his best to avoid them and activates his empathy power to try and sense if they are dangerous and what they might want:

Empathy: [1d20+7] = 1+7 = 8

Kurot holds on to his axe in case he needs to defend himself, but waits for the floaty taters to take hostile action before he does anything.

Bruce

Mildly surprised at the expulsion of old stale air from the chamber below, he spends a half a clock cycle analyzing the floating creatures that have appeared around the excavation site. He swiftly climbs up out of the hole and assumes a combat stance, ready should they attack.

Palakan Mountains; 329D/81 (Afternoon)

The mysterious creatures slice through the air, striking at Denslow and Silvestri. The psionist’s empathy power is disrupted (OOC: Mutation Roll fails) by dodging the flailing tendrils (Miss). Denslow winces as bark flakes off from tiny tentacles lashing across his casing (DMG 4).

OOC: Denslow must make a Fortitude Save.

Kurot takes a defensive posture with axe at the ready; Bruce scrambles up and out of the pit, poised to attack.

OOC: Both may make a free attack.

Syrus ignores Denslow, breaks and retreats behind the camels while Farmanus and MacMak run to engage the entities.



Action Details:

Initiative and Actions?

Hit Points [Luck Points-327D]:

Denslow – 38/42 [16/16]
Silvestri – 60/60 [14/14]
MacMak – 68/68 [8/17]
Bruce – 50/50 [5/12]
Kurot – 50/50 [7/15]
Farmanus – 87/87 [13/13]