Post by hubertbartels on Nov 19, 2017 14:11:11 GMT -5
Woken by Dinvaya in her Chapel to Brigh, the party breakfasted on Goo-Tubestm. Dinvaya had been casting Purify Food and Drink on the Goo-Tubestm so there was no chance of poisoning oneself on the ancient foodstuffs. She apologized for the lack of fresh food, adding ever since the Smilers and the Lords of Rust take-over, the ratfolk pack trains has stopped coming to trade.
After breakfast, Dinvaya retreated to her workshop to start packing for her move to Torch. Asked if they would help - sorting nuts and bolts, for example - the party demurred, saying they really need to deal with the Smilers and their boss. Ashe and Niferia didn't speak up quickly enough so they got roped into packing boxes and emptying shelves.
Stepping outside, the party found that the day was heavily overcast and cold. The first snowflakes of the winter were drifting down, covering the scrap and rubble of Scrapwall in a soft veil of white that did not manage to hide the ugliness.
The party crept out of Dinvaya's crevice, crossed one clearing in the junk, turned into another canyon of scrap and proceeded down the narrow opening. As the canyon widened into another clearing, the party caught sight of a group of orcs and Smilers, returning from a hunting trip - they had a few ratfolk carcasses among them. Immediately, Grigoro and Astrovel threw area-of-effect spells into their midst and Obin, Aromil and Eramus charged them. Within moments, they destroyed the hunting party. But the ratfolk were beyond help.
A little further, the party approached the entrance of the Smilers HQ. It was a medical facility buried in the walls of scrap material, sealed with a sliding door and protected from the snow by an awning over a raised platform. Grigoro and Astrovel noticed the many scorch marks on the platfrom and spotted the robotic arm equipped with a time-worn laser rifle near the sliding doors. Astrovel cast a cantrip, turned off the laser rifle and collected it for repair later.
The doors were chained close. About thirty seconds later, Astrovel had used his thieves tools and unhooked the chain. The party stepped into a medical waiting room, strewn with bones and lit with continual flames in human and humanoid skulls. An orgekin named Gunshy started to attack.
The party jumped into action, unloading spells and attacks on the poor orgekin. Aromil stunned him and the next moment, Gunshy fell down, dead. At that time, Smilers in the adjoining room came out to defend their terrority. Another flurry of attacks wiped out the Smilers. The Smilers had come from a set of small rooms once used for medical examination rooms. The gang had turned them into barracks.
The party went through the other double door in the waiting room, down and around in a hallway, through another set of double doors into the 'Specimen Room'. At least, that was what the sign in Androffan said. It was rectangular room with rounded ends, filled with glass tubes. The tubes were hard to see into, being begrimmed with years of condensation, dirt, filth and mold. One of the tubes was bound with rope.
The party started to examine the glass tube bound with rope. A bound ratfolk could be made out, tied up with his muzzle bound with rope. Then the other tubes opened, revealing about eight zombie-like Smilers. The party quickly moved to the next set of double doors before the lobotomized Smilers could react.
They found themselves in a surgery. While many of the tables had complex surgical equipment hanging over them - surgery was now done with an array of saws, rusty scapels, crude levers and needles. Buckets of discarded body parts lay nearby. From the corners of the room, stepped more undead to attack. The Rust-Risen were undead with metal parts grafted onto them. The party took damage from their bites while they smashed the undead back into their unmoving state.
Opening the doors leading from the surgery, the party found a cozy bedroom in which a row of zombies stood, protecting the leader of the Smilers. Marrow, the hobgoblin necromancer prepared to unleash her spells. But Eramus and Astrovel acted first, throwing a thunderwave and burning hands that scattered Marrow's defensive line. Aromil and Obin moved up to her and then her reign of horror was done.
Returning to the Specimen Room, the party paused to destroy Marrow's lobotomized experiments and rescue the ratfolk. The ratfolk said his name was Whiskifiss, he was the brother of Redtooth and the monster-trainer of Redtooth's Raiders. Redtooth's ratfolk had tried to keep order in Scrapwall before the Hellion's Lords of Rust showed up. Whiskifiss' kidnapping meant that the Lords of Rust were making their move. He urged the party to come to the aid of Redtooth.
As the party approached the entrance of Redtooth's warren, they began to find dead ratfolk. Some of the ratfolk were scarred and bore amulets or other markings of a robotic grasping arm. The party had seen this symbol before - in Meyanda's temple to Hellion, deep underneath Torch.
Whiskifiss said that these scarred ratfolk were renegade ratfolks that sided with the Lords of Rust. Heading into the tunnels, Whiskifiss noted that they recently had been carved to make them larger. The tunnels opened up into a living quarters. Renegade ratfolk were milling around in here, survivors of a pitched battle that left many of them and defenders of the warren dead. More ratfolk were fighting Redtooth's supporters at a door - the door only allowed a few ratfolk to attack the defenders. A pair of ratfolk stood aside, trying to urge a monster into burrowing past the defenders. The monster has six legs, a pair of feathery antenna and a propeller on its tail. After identifying it as a rust monster, Aromil said that he'd take on the beast lest some of the party lose weapons and armor to it.
While Aromil traded blows with the rust monster, the rest of the party began to roll up the renegade ratfolk. Spells damaged almost all of them and killed most of the dire rats. Aromil finished off the monster and the party, with the aid of the defending ratfolk, cleared the room.
Whiskifiss stepped up and introduced the party to a ratfolk in a chain shirt. She was Redtooth. She thanked the party for their timely help. She added that the Lords of Rust were a real pain in the rear and it was time to put an end to them. Taking the party to a storeroom filled with useable junk, Redtooth pulled out a detonator. She said that the renegade ratfolk had used all of their Cylextm but if the party could retrieve some more Cylextm - they could use it blow up the Lords of Rust receiving array. Redtooth added that Hellion had been gathering energy from somewhere while unearthing something buried below Scrapwall. The energy would be used to power whatever they were unearthing.
The destruction of the receiving array would put an end to that. The explosive Cylextm had been recovered from a spaceship wreck at the northern edge of Scrapwall. It was a very dangerous place but the only source that Redtooth knew off. It was supposed to be a place of undead.
The party agreed to go. Redtooth offered her warrens as a place to rest and recover before the party set out.
After breakfast, Dinvaya retreated to her workshop to start packing for her move to Torch. Asked if they would help - sorting nuts and bolts, for example - the party demurred, saying they really need to deal with the Smilers and their boss. Ashe and Niferia didn't speak up quickly enough so they got roped into packing boxes and emptying shelves.
Stepping outside, the party found that the day was heavily overcast and cold. The first snowflakes of the winter were drifting down, covering the scrap and rubble of Scrapwall in a soft veil of white that did not manage to hide the ugliness.
The party crept out of Dinvaya's crevice, crossed one clearing in the junk, turned into another canyon of scrap and proceeded down the narrow opening. As the canyon widened into another clearing, the party caught sight of a group of orcs and Smilers, returning from a hunting trip - they had a few ratfolk carcasses among them. Immediately, Grigoro and Astrovel threw area-of-effect spells into their midst and Obin, Aromil and Eramus charged them. Within moments, they destroyed the hunting party. But the ratfolk were beyond help.
A little further, the party approached the entrance of the Smilers HQ. It was a medical facility buried in the walls of scrap material, sealed with a sliding door and protected from the snow by an awning over a raised platform. Grigoro and Astrovel noticed the many scorch marks on the platfrom and spotted the robotic arm equipped with a time-worn laser rifle near the sliding doors. Astrovel cast a cantrip, turned off the laser rifle and collected it for repair later.
The doors were chained close. About thirty seconds later, Astrovel had used his thieves tools and unhooked the chain. The party stepped into a medical waiting room, strewn with bones and lit with continual flames in human and humanoid skulls. An orgekin named Gunshy started to attack.
The party jumped into action, unloading spells and attacks on the poor orgekin. Aromil stunned him and the next moment, Gunshy fell down, dead. At that time, Smilers in the adjoining room came out to defend their terrority. Another flurry of attacks wiped out the Smilers. The Smilers had come from a set of small rooms once used for medical examination rooms. The gang had turned them into barracks.
The party went through the other double door in the waiting room, down and around in a hallway, through another set of double doors into the 'Specimen Room'. At least, that was what the sign in Androffan said. It was rectangular room with rounded ends, filled with glass tubes. The tubes were hard to see into, being begrimmed with years of condensation, dirt, filth and mold. One of the tubes was bound with rope.
The party started to examine the glass tube bound with rope. A bound ratfolk could be made out, tied up with his muzzle bound with rope. Then the other tubes opened, revealing about eight zombie-like Smilers. The party quickly moved to the next set of double doors before the lobotomized Smilers could react.
They found themselves in a surgery. While many of the tables had complex surgical equipment hanging over them - surgery was now done with an array of saws, rusty scapels, crude levers and needles. Buckets of discarded body parts lay nearby. From the corners of the room, stepped more undead to attack. The Rust-Risen were undead with metal parts grafted onto them. The party took damage from their bites while they smashed the undead back into their unmoving state.
Opening the doors leading from the surgery, the party found a cozy bedroom in which a row of zombies stood, protecting the leader of the Smilers. Marrow, the hobgoblin necromancer prepared to unleash her spells. But Eramus and Astrovel acted first, throwing a thunderwave and burning hands that scattered Marrow's defensive line. Aromil and Obin moved up to her and then her reign of horror was done.
Returning to the Specimen Room, the party paused to destroy Marrow's lobotomized experiments and rescue the ratfolk. The ratfolk said his name was Whiskifiss, he was the brother of Redtooth and the monster-trainer of Redtooth's Raiders. Redtooth's ratfolk had tried to keep order in Scrapwall before the Hellion's Lords of Rust showed up. Whiskifiss' kidnapping meant that the Lords of Rust were making their move. He urged the party to come to the aid of Redtooth.
As the party approached the entrance of Redtooth's warren, they began to find dead ratfolk. Some of the ratfolk were scarred and bore amulets or other markings of a robotic grasping arm. The party had seen this symbol before - in Meyanda's temple to Hellion, deep underneath Torch.
Whiskifiss said that these scarred ratfolk were renegade ratfolks that sided with the Lords of Rust. Heading into the tunnels, Whiskifiss noted that they recently had been carved to make them larger. The tunnels opened up into a living quarters. Renegade ratfolk were milling around in here, survivors of a pitched battle that left many of them and defenders of the warren dead. More ratfolk were fighting Redtooth's supporters at a door - the door only allowed a few ratfolk to attack the defenders. A pair of ratfolk stood aside, trying to urge a monster into burrowing past the defenders. The monster has six legs, a pair of feathery antenna and a propeller on its tail. After identifying it as a rust monster, Aromil said that he'd take on the beast lest some of the party lose weapons and armor to it.
While Aromil traded blows with the rust monster, the rest of the party began to roll up the renegade ratfolk. Spells damaged almost all of them and killed most of the dire rats. Aromil finished off the monster and the party, with the aid of the defending ratfolk, cleared the room.
Whiskifiss stepped up and introduced the party to a ratfolk in a chain shirt. She was Redtooth. She thanked the party for their timely help. She added that the Lords of Rust were a real pain in the rear and it was time to put an end to them. Taking the party to a storeroom filled with useable junk, Redtooth pulled out a detonator. She said that the renegade ratfolk had used all of their Cylextm but if the party could retrieve some more Cylextm - they could use it blow up the Lords of Rust receiving array. Redtooth added that Hellion had been gathering energy from somewhere while unearthing something buried below Scrapwall. The energy would be used to power whatever they were unearthing.
The destruction of the receiving array would put an end to that. The explosive Cylextm had been recovered from a spaceship wreck at the northern edge of Scrapwall. It was a very dangerous place but the only source that Redtooth knew off. It was supposed to be a place of undead.
The party agreed to go. Redtooth offered her warrens as a place to rest and recover before the party set out.