"Well, I'm not going to stand around thinking about it," says Betham irritably, and he starts off down the tunnel at a brisk pace, Bina falling in behind him. Zeton (with Zobog hovering nearby) and Granite follow as well.
With its usual level of uncertainty and disorganization, the party gradually moves along.
They traverse the passageway without incident and eventually arrive at yet another storage node, this one larger than the other two and bisected by what looks for all intents and purposes like a three-lane road that continues into a wide tunnel on either side.
There are two humanoids and a Farbett, all equipped for battle, lying motionless on the floor on the opposite side of the road.
Not far from them is a smaller tunnel entrance that is blocked by a grating or mesh gate. Above it is a sign saying, "Private property; no trespassing," in Yangae. Both the gate and the sign seem to be designed to look as forbidding as possible. It's as if that whole section of the storage node radiates a painfully loud, "Don't even think of coming in!"
"Think that might be it?" wonders Lirassa.
"It should be," say Betham and L'Toyei simultaneously.
"It is," adds Mey'Luskar in a brittle voice.
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Granite tries her best not to look confused, and then says "I'm confused, where's the shooter? Auto-cannon, or did they all stun each other?" On a whim, Granite will pick up a rock or small piece of debris (there must be something like that lying around on the tunnel floor...) and casually toss it in towards the downed humanoids.
The small piece of debris bounces a few times and then clatters to a stop on the chamber floor.
Granite clicks her beak a couple times. "Hey Zeton. How about sending Zobog in there to see if there is any hostile fire to draw..." In the meantime, Granite will scan the room to see if she can better determine what went down a moment ago.
Another thought: can we tell if there is anything (i.e., guards) on the other side of the grating to the smaller tunnel entrance?
Granite turns to the group. "Bina mentioned earlier that these three may have been betrayed. We may have an unidentified accomplice in here..."
(Dewkid, it was the medibot that returned to its port, not Zobog.)
Furnfinndorn (the Farbett) moves near Zeton and asks, "Who is this Dun'Mesker you mentioned?"
Almost before he finishes the question, L'Toyei replies, "Assuming it's not someone else with the same name, which is highly improbable, he is a disgraced Noble who has been living and doing odd jobs here in Ekr'in district. He is known to sell things in Artists' Square and Danstul' Park and is a very scarlet pro-Yangae political activitist. There's no officially recorded proof yet, but he's suspected of dealing in illicit..."
"STOW IT!!!!" snaps Mey'Luskar.
[Oh, you are right. I misread that.]
"Well, that disgraced noble may help us yet. I heard he had a few scores to settle with the folks we are visiting. Nothing specific of course. Now that we are close, I think it is time to arm up." Mon'Fargret says and aligns with Betham in front with his mind and pistol at the ready.
He throws a thumb at Mey, "She kinda knew the guy. You know how artists are with women...like magnets."
He grins with a bit devilishly.
[If you don't make fun of my grammar, I won't make fun of you saying activitist.]
[Don't blame ME. Yangae isn't L'Toyei's native tongue!]
Granite will again try to detect any kind of movement or heat pattern on the other side of the grating. I'll roll a d20 if that helps... crum a 17 isn't going to score any new info, I suspect.
M'kay, guess Granite will join Mon'Fargret in prepping her pistol, and getting ready to face hostiles.
Zeton carefully instructs Zobog to scout out the gate entrance. Mainly Zeton wants to know if the bars are wide enough for Zobog pass through. If not, Zobog will try to determine if there is any threat down the tunnel.
Turning to Furnfinndorn, Zeton replies, "If you have any more questions, I'm sure the 'Encyclopedia L'Toyei' would gladly answer for me. How'd you wind up working with him; are you being punished?"
Furnfinndorn lets out a Farbett chuckle. "You'll have to ask our employer."
L'Toyei sniffs and raises himself to his full, totally insignificant height. "My job is to know things!" he retorts.
Nekshi hums and scratches her chin dubiously.
The passageway behind the grating is dark and cold, and Granite Spear doesn't see anything noteworthy.
The mesh is far too small for Zobog to pass through.
[Oh, what I wouldn't give for a holocaust cloak.]
What I wouldn't give for a tarantula sandwich!
Widjy sighs and follows the group. She hopes she'll have a chance to try out her "new" grenade launcher.
[Ok, so she can't see past the grate, the thrown debris is ignored, and Zobog can approach the grate without conflict. That means the assailant (whether sentient or not) is either not here, or smart enough not to give themselves away with obvious diversions. Time for a live target...]
Grunting with annoyance about discussions of past employment and activitists (sic), Granite shakes some dust off, and starts moving. She is going to assume the assailant (if there ever was any) is at or beyond the grating. If there is any place inside the node that she could reach that would bring her any closer to the downed humanoids, and give her cover from the grating (some boxes or racks like the other nodes?), she will go there now, staying low and moving quickly.
[Yes, I realize that may in fact expose her to the real assailant hiding elsewhere, but dammit, after 3 years of role playing, I'm feeling the need for some risk taking!!]
Make a d20 roll for ALT, Dewkid.
Rolled a 3! With ALT 13, so 13-3=10.
As Granite moves toward cover closer to the stunned guards, suddenly there is movement immediately nearby, and a couple of plastic containers topple over with a loud clattering. Instinctively spurred into action, the Shurian is about to unleash her fury on the hidden intruder when she realizes it is only a piatem*.
(*An indigenous mammalian marsupial of Lyranell which is something like a cross between a wallaby and a large rat. It tends to live in dark places like tunnels.)
Spooked, the creature hops away at lightning speed.
It doesn't get far before Lirassa opens up on it with her massive repeater rifle, walking the barrage into the unfortunate marsupial. The baffler effect turns the area around the piatem into an impressive array of fireballs...and fills the chamber with echoing blasts.
Zeton flinches at the blasts and quickly maneuvers Zobog to safety.
"HEY! Did it occur to anyone that whoever was here teleported instead of walking out?"
"Well, there goes the element of surprise..."
"I HATE those things!" cries Lirassa.
"OK, Lirassa, you hate them and I'm sure they're not fond of you either, so fair enough."
Zeton programs Zobog to act as a sentry to patrol the perimeter of the new node and alert him of any new arrivals or activity. If someone, or something, should approach, Zobog is to return to Zeton.
"I'm going to see if there is anything we can do to help the three incapacitated individuals. Bina, if you're up to it, I could use some help."
With that Zeton cautiously makes his way toward the two humanoids and the Farbett.
Granite nods in admiration of the violence just unleashed on the piatem. "Nicely done. At least now we have a meal!"
She scans the room a bit, still a little paranoid about a hidden shooter, but continues to approach the downed humanoids.
Bina looks troubled, but she follows Zeton and Granite Spear to check on the guards.
"Careful!" warns Furnfinndorn. "That gated tunnel entrance has a very advanced security system!"
"What do you know about it?" asks Mey'Luskar.
Furnfinndorn throws a stern glance at L'Toyei, who looks troubled. "Just what we were able to dig up. Very advanced."
"How advanced?" wonders Lirassa. Then she turns toward Mey'Luskar. "What do you know about it?"
Mey'Luskar gasps. She hesitates and then replies, "Quite a bit."
L'Toyei heaves a sigh of relief. "You do? So do you also know about the sophisticated weapon scanners that..."
"...that should have closed a blast door and raised a deflector shield when Lirassa had her little tantrum?" snaps Mey'Luskar testily. "Yes, I know!" She turns and stomps off.
Pru looks very confused. "Um...blast door and deflector shield?"
"Thank you Mey. Whatever it is you are doing, we appreciate it. Now to the question of whether we can get our weapons to the next step. " Mon'Fargret says as he continues forward.
"Hopefully Lirassa can learn to control herself from here on out. Think!"
While cautiously approaching the three individuals, Zeton responds to the current conversation, "Security system, eh? I would have loved to have a crack at that one... Oh well. My money's on Dun'Mesker. I bet he disabled the security system and then teleported to his next destination. Since he teleported out of Wirg's and later from the night club, it seems to be his preferred method of transport."
Then to Bina, Zeton quietly asks in a tone that is sympathetic, but not condescending, nor with any hint of pity, "How are you? You don't need to help out if you don't feel up to it."
Then, with sudden understanding Zeton stops to pause for just a moment before he continues and asks, "Wait..., is the security system disabled?"
"I'm fine," sighs Bina as she crouches down to check out one of the guards. She throws a quick glance at Mey'Luskar. "The security system is disabled."
Muttering to himself, Betham starts to head across the chamber toward the gate, gradually increasing his pace. Before he gets halfway there, Mey'Luskar harrumphs and trots after him.
"Now hold on," says Lirassa, heading toward Bina and Zeton. "What are you on about with those guards?" She flicks a switch on her rifle. "You're not thinking of waking them up, are you?"
Granite answers, despite not being addressed: "Nah, just gunna shit on them."
"Granite... now I won't be to get that image out of my mind..." Zeton scrunches up his nose as if he's just smelled a very unpleasant odor.
However, Zeton then softly chuckles and says with a smile, "Between Widj wanting to use flatulence to elicit information and you wanting to leave scented calling cards, I wouldn't be surprised if we were branded as war criminals when this is all said and done."
Zeton begins to help check on the guards, but does nothing to try to revive them. "Lirassa, I'll be honest, the thought did cross my mind, if only to learn who betrayed them, but no, I don't really want to have to deal with another set of guards if I can help it. I just want to see who we have here, what sort of equipment they might have, see if they are still alive and to make sure they're not going to wake up in five minutes and cause us a whole set of new troubles."
"Bina, what's your assessment of our sleeping trio?"
"They're pretty deeply stunned," says Bina with a sigh. "They'll probably be out for hours."
As far as equipment:
The humanoid Bina identified as the elite warrior has badass-looking armor with built-in sensors, advanced-looking flight gear, and other exotic gadgets. He's armed with an equally badass-looking (and obviously high tech) hand axe, a bandoleer with some wicked-looking (tech) shuriken, an energy pistol and energy carbine of some kind, and a massive grenade launcher with a couple of removable magazines.
The other humanoid fighter is in rather typical-looking alloy flex armor and is armed with a vibromace, a couple of grenades, a slug-throwing machine pistol, a bizarre-looking energy carbine, and a pulse-laser bazooka.
The Farbett has simple K-reinforced mail, but with an elaborate backpack set that obviously includes power and flight gear. He is armed with an ugly-looking, Farbett-scaled club, 3 Farbett-scaled grenades, a gauss pistol that is compact for a Farbett (but big for a human), and some kind of gauss assault slug-thrower (he can wield like a carbine). He also has a medic's field kit.
After surveying the daunting assortment of armor, weapons and the guards who would have wielded them, Zeton lets out a low whistle and looks at Lirassa, "If I ever meet the person who stunned these sleeping beauties, remind me to thank them."
"Well, is there anything here someone wants to use? If not, I think we'd better collect up the weapons and spike them so they can't be used against us later on."
I'm going to filch the Farbett grenades and the gauss pistol.
Ham mutters something in Biton, goes over to the less-badass-looking humanoid fighter, picks up the weird-looking carbine, and examines it.
"What is it?" asks Lirassa, walking toward him.
"If it's what I think it is," he replies, "and I'm pretty sure it is, I have to wonder how a 10-credit fighter like this got it!" He holds it up with excitement. "Look at this! A wonder of the Black Labs of Fordia!"
L'Toyei gazes at it with a thoughtful squint and retorts, "No, that's an Ehrlathagi build. Maybe pre-Fall. The Fordia labs no doubt copied it just like the Yangae did."
Ham lowers the rifle and glowers at the Ephri Em along with Pru and Mey'Luskar.
Lirassa nods with understanding. "Are you going to keep it?"
"I'd be afraid to use it," replies Ham. He starts to hand it to her.
"Then use it wisely," replies Lirassa moving it back toward him. "Just remember: never at close range."
[Mmmm Ham]
Granite picks up the vibro mace. "I can think of a couple of uses for this."
(Remember, Granite Spear is already lugging around a broadsword and other gear she picked up two storage nodes ago, not to mention the repeater pistol and her original weapons.)
[Let's see, two storage nodes ago was about, what, 18 months ago? ;-) ]
Granite will promptly lay the vibro mace back down. "Nah, too vibratey."
She'll motion to Nekshi to follow her over to the grating, and then look (without touching) to see if there are any obvious points of weakness that may enable forced entry.
Mon'Fargret will holster his current pistol and retrieve the pistol from the "elite" guard (assuming nobody else has). He will fold up the bandoleer with the shuriken and stuff it into his rucksack.
"Does anyone want this grenade launcher? If not, I will hide it and we need to get going. Who ever did this for us would probably enjoy us moving a little quicker."
The pistol is obviously of Foldorian make and looks very sophisticated.
As for the grenade launcher, it is rather bulky (80mm bore, i.e. twice that of a standard US military type). It has Foldorian markings, but its simple, rugged construction (and primitive, combustion-ballistic principle) suggest colonial manufacture. Its sighting system does appear to be somehow programmable, however. It uses removable box magazines, one of which is fitted and another of which is attached rather awkwardly to a link on the guard's belt. The only markings on the magazines are colored stickers, orange on the fitted one and purple on the other.
Furnfinndorn picks up the gauss assault weapon from the Farbett guard without a word. Meanwhile, as Mon'Fargret is checking out the badass guard's pistol and bandoleer, Pru grabs the energy carbine.
"Sodding zark weapon," she says, wrinkling her nose. "But I'll be a lot more useful with this!"
Nekshi follows Granite over to the grating and cups her chin in her hand and examines everything very closely.
[Seymour, make a d20 roll against Nekshi's ALT.]
[I like the idea of spiking the weapons we don't take - last thing we want to see is that grenade launcher pointing up our backsides!]
"Well, I'll help myself to what's in the first aid kit and replenish our stocks, if we run into more of their ilk", Zeton gestures to the three immobile bodies, "we're going to need a few more bandages."
After collecting the supplies from the first aid kit, Zeton examines the grenades to determine what type they are and then pockets them.
Next he picks up the slug throwing machine pistol, (I dont' think anyone has claimed that yet) and any extra ammo he can find.
Brushing his hands together as if to clean them after collecting the supplies Zeton asks, "So, are we going to take the bazooka?", and finishes with, "Too bad we can't take some of this armor, it looks like top quality gear."
Nekshi rolled a 5 on Alt.
"Hmmm, this deflector grid is not powered and seems to be unlocked."
Nekshi attempts to open it.
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