A Secret in Merkabah pt 4

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         This great meadow rests between two forests. The heady oaks on either side occasionally rustle their branches, as kindly grandfathers looking down upon their grandchildren. Amid the meadow, faerie-elves dance, their giant hips swaying with the breezes and causing miniature earthquakes as they giggle and prance about the place. 

         "I do so love to hug everyone!" one enthuses. And before too long? They've broken into song, a perfect rainbow arcing out of nowhere and suddenly above them!

         "I love you, you love me, we're a..."

         And on and on it goes, the precious song of laughter and light spiraling upwards towards a perfect blue sky.

         And then, a bluebird flies by.

         And poops on you.

         Channel: WhirlChan
         Add: addcom wc=WhirlChan
         Cheat Sheet: http://bit.ly/pnmTow

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Aurala ** Giantborn lass with a shiny breastplate

Merek ** A black-haired, dusky male with golden eyes.

Morgan ** Short pixy like half elf with fair skin

Seldan ** Ginger-blonde human in armor wearing Eluna's symbol.

Serene ** Glacier meets granite meets strawberries.

Stegosaurus(Un'eth) ** Giant quadrupedal lizard with dark hide and white plates on spine.

Toha ** A woman shaped contrivance of leather and steel, with Oruch weaponry.

Whirlpool ** Otyugh I am stinky!

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Whirlpool's Generator(#2466I) Scene Logger by Whirlpool(#739I)

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Out <O>

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...so the elevator just collapsed and went screaming down the elevaqtor shaft with a dinosaur inside it, alongside the horrible robotic death machine that isn't Toha. 

In any event, that's a problem. There's a thunderous crash.

With the threat lost to gravity's ambitious reach, something within the sapient construct manages to draw reign on her wild, combattive urgings. The ruby flame in her eyeslit winks out of existence as the silvery mist ceases wafting from her seams and her posture sags, the blade of Piriona ringing softly against the floor. It isn't until after another ratchetting sounds from within and Toha sags almost to her knees, but for the hasty grasp at the frame of the lift door, "We.... we lost her!" she says weakly.

GAME: Serene casts Greater Angelic Aspect. Caster Level: 20 DC: 26

Morgan looks over the edge and says "well this sucks." she then looks to others here "Who needs a fly spell that wont last long?"

Serene watches the elevator, suddenly filled with dinosaur in addition to the machine, plummet and is stunned for a moment.. then her eyes tighten. "Not yet," she tells Toha, before invoking her patron goddess. Even as she steps towards the shaft she is filled with a celestial radiance and similiarily hued wings materialize behind her.. and then she is jumping down.

Aurala cocks her head to the side, "It would help, save the time I can rage for later." she says softly. She looks at the others as she will shift if she needs to.

"It may not be destroyed, and if it is not, the shaman is in dire trouble!" Seldan wastes few words, his eyes going wide as the elevator and its passengers crash to the ground with an awful sound like a train wreck. He pauses only long enough to draw his sword and bring it to his face, bowing his forehead to rest on the flat of the blade. In seconds, a pair of bright white angel wings burst from his back and his armor with the sound of tearing fabric, and without hesitation, he jumps down the hole after Serene.

"I need... time to recover from that one." Toha says wearily, forcing herself more upright. As Morgan offers flying spells, she nods, "i do, please." She glances to her weapon and says, "Piriona, mehalkhet." and the greatsword twists, peels, folds and contorts into a rather industrial looking greataxe.

Morgan nods to the the ones that need the spell and says a few arcane words as spectral wings come over her compions "this will last about 14 to 15 minuets." with that said she then follows the others.

GAME: Merek rolls acrobatics: (12)+4: 16

Aurala nods her head and stretches. She is used to wings of some sort, so flying is nothing new to her. She flexes those magical wings and then moves those wings and jumps and flies down the shaft.

Merek dives right in after Serene, and begins backflipping upon the walls to make a way along the shaft. He uses magic from flight to keep from sliding along.

... flight helps. 

It really, really helpps. With the traps triggered, and an eye out for more, you descend down the elevator shaft, moving past additional red 'eyes' on the way. They don't appear to be active anymore, for wahtever reason. You pass several doors on your way down and eventually see the crumpled heap of the elevator laying at the bottom of the shaft. There's grinding sounds from within, but you havqe no easy way to get into it, and its blocking the exit into the'lowest' level this elevator has access to.

Toha shakes her head and, with a little nod and a, "Thanks, Morgan!" the construct steps in to follow everyone down the shaft. She's never been much of a flier, and it soon shows....

Morgan nods to the others and say "I wish I could give you tips but I done it to much and flying seems natural to me."

Serene isn't what you might call graceful in her decent.. thankfully, a controlled fall doesn't require much in the way of grace. What she does could best be described as plummetting... as wide as the shaft is, wings require a great deal of room and she knows better than to try anything fancy. So she lets them trail behind her, flexxed just enough to slow her fall so that when she lands upon the crumpled roof of the elevator she avoids breaking anything. "Un'eth!" she calls out, loud, demanding. "What is your condition?"

Aurala makes her way down the others, alert to other things that might jump out at them, who knows what is all in this place.

The mages aren't the only ones who seem to be acquainted with flight. Seldan folds his wings and dives headfirst down the elevator shaft, spreading his wings just in time to land on the top of the elevator on his feet, without difficulty. He taps intently on the metal below his feet, listening for hollowness or thickness and trying to get an idea of its thickness.

Toha's descent is... well, a spectacle in comparison to that of the others, and she ends up bumping every side of the shaft at least twice on the way down.

Merek keeps maneuvering along with the party. There's not a lot to do except to look and wait for the next step when all of them are on the elevator roof.

A low rumble vibrates through the massive collection of twisted heavy metal. It is heavily muffled from the debris, vibrating it more than the air. " ... alive ... "

GAME: Merek casts Arcane Sight. Caster Level: 11 DC: 18
GAME: Merek rolls spellcraft: (17)+23: 40
GAME: Seldan rolls 10d6: (27): 27
GAME: Seldan rolls 6d6: (20): 20
GAME: Seldan casts Lightning Bolt. Caster Level: 16 DC: 20

"She lives," Seldan snaps quickly as the call comes from below their feet, however faint. "I would get to her as swiftly as we may. I have an idea, but you will want to fly, lest I err and strike you unwitting." He doesn't wait for an answer before jumping back into the air and flying straight up some three or four stories. Wings beating, he hovers in the air, hands moving in a complex set of sigils that will look very strange to modern spellcasters - an old way of casting, to be sure. The sigils burst into a blue-white light before him, and he shouts a last word, stabbing his finger _through the combined sigils.

There's a blinding flash, and a massive bolt of lightning rips downward and slams into the metal top of the elevator. Almost before it reaches the bottom, though, he shouts another word, and _becomes_ a second, smaller bolt of lightning, wings and sword and all merging into that crackling energy that follows the first one down, hurtling at the speed of lightning towards that metal barrier. Is he planning to...slam into it?

Merek looks up to Seldan while he watches the place, then he takes a moment to begin lifting up from the elevator roof, "The whole of the place is built with... Synthetic magic. It's magicite and it's been produced. It's... Well, I wouldn't try to interface with that," he notes.

GAME: Stegosaurus rolls perception: (5)+27: 32

... so Seldan's effort is a success. He blasts through the metal top of the elevator to reveal a whole lot of Stegosaurus. 

Quite active and moving, too, if the dented interior of the elevator is any indication along with their own movement. 

The downside is that apparently the Kulthian war machine survived the fall, the impact, *and* the impact of a Stegosaurus falling on it. 

The damn thing is *strong*, apparently, but badly crushed and damaged...

Stegosaurus squirms the coiled and mass of scales, plates, and spikes that are herself around, though does not promptly exit. She only does so enough to get her head to the recently-blasted opening; perhaps slightly above it due to her neck. "This abomination still writhes and repairs beneath me!" she warns with a bellow. "We were both trapped, and it may be free when I move!"

Toha lands with a sharp, clangy clatter in the sort of way that's assured to be bad for the knees, but certain armored artificers tend to prefer. She cants her head to regard the Stegosaur and hmmm's, "I got some fire magic in me, an' some corrosive shots I can try an' slow that down some?" she sounds a little dubious, "I don't wanna hurt you, though." Her free hand flexes slightly, and she half reaches for the canister at the small of her back, "Whatcha think?"

Serene turns her attention to Seldan, considering him for the space of one breath, perhaps two.. then she nods. She steps to the side so that she has room to flex her temporary wings, then uses them to assist her leap up into the air. Not skilled enough to hover indefinitely, perhaps, but it gives her enough time to avoid the worst, at least, of any potential backlash from Seldan's charged plan. Once she land and hears Un'eth's report she scowls. "If it repairs, then it is best to free it now so we can complete its dismantlement. " Toha's suggestions give Serene another pause, then she nods. "The acid is worth the attempt."

When the lightning bolt rips through the metal barrier, Seldan reappears, sword in hand and smelling of ozone, looking around him swiftly. "Yes, we must finish it swiftly," he agrees with Serene with cool determination. Suiting actions to words, he reverses the haft of his blade and stabs down, around the dinosaur's limbs, praying that he can manage to hurt it without touching his companion.

GAME: Toha rolls ranged-4: (9)+12+-4: 17
GAME: Toha rolls 2d6+2: (4)+2: 6

"Ready yourselves, then!" Un'eth warns after Serene's sensible comment of dismantling and others preparing or acting to strike at it. She may fill most of the space, and pin down the automaton, currently, but she can change that in an instant. A sparrow, for example, creates far, far less obstruction, and can conveniently fly out of the opening as well as out of the way.

GAME: Merek casts Lightning Bolt/A1. Caster Level: 11 DC: 19
GAME: Merek rolls 10d6+10: (38)+10: 48

Toha carefully stands the axe beside her as she pulls the small canister from her back, her hands come together and give it a twist and pull, drawing it out into a riflelike arrangement of collapsing struts and polished black rings. She carefully places a foot and leans back against the framework to brace her shot so as to less likely hit her companions. She gives a slightly less ragged sounding, "Watch yasselves!" before closing her finger on the trigger. This prompts a sudden, loud, bassy hiss and a beam of disturbingly blue luminance. Certain artifice within the path of the light seems to corrode as if certain worms horked on it, and the self repair systems of the Kulthian device go inert.

Merek waits for the stegosaurus that was keeping the creature from moving to move, then when Toha begins to disable that regeneration, he strikes like he did earlier with acid with a lightning bolt.

Morgan stays floating in the air "That was good thinking every one." said as she was concerned casting spells down there.

And down Serene goes, joining the effort in trying to finish the automaton while it is damaged. She doesn't realize the effects of Toha's shot aside from the acid damage it scores... but she certainly welcomes the revelation that its automated repairs have ceased to function.

Toha only risks the one shot, with her colleagues joining in the festivities, she isn't sure she can land another without hitting one of them, and the effects of Cherenkov Aetherium applied through a Curiean demi-phase is less delightful for flesh than it is even for the still sizzling automaton. Instead, the feminine machine twists and recompacts her death ray to it's storage form and returns it to it's place before taking up Piriona once more, "Glad that's over. Wouldn't mind pourin' over them cannons, some, but... I ain't sure I'd find enough value't wouldn't cost m'soul." A shake of the head, then, "Everyone alright?"

With that done, you're now able to pry open the elevator doors and tumble out into the hallway, however ready you want to be. Un'eth, it must be noted, survived the fall quite well... probably on account of a ginormous robot breaking her fall. 

You now appear to be in some kind of air-ship hanger deep in the bowels of the crashed fortress, no doubt deep into the crater created by its fall. 

The smashed remnants of flying craft litter the interior, roughly a half-dozen of them.

It broke her fall, and Un'eth returned the favor by helping break the automaton. Just as the natural law of gravity demolished this fortress, so, too did it aid against remaining aberrant abominations of its creation. The natural order shall prevail!

She flits in the hangar, now suddenly having an immense excess of free space.

Serene moves into the hangar as well, trying to spy anything threatening... though the size of the hangar renders the attempt all but futile. "Any idea," she asks without looking at the others, venturing far enough away from the shaft and elevator entrance so as not to impede anyone else's entry, "If we have gone in the correct direction?"

Morgan waits untill space is opened and a few exit in to the room "If I designed something like this I would want it to be mid level and in the center."

For ease of use in an enclosed space, Seldan furls and dismisses the feathered wings, leaving only a few feathers atop the destroyed robot as he emerges into the hangar, sword in hand. His gaze roves the massive place, wide-eyed in awe. His sword is still in hand as he wanders up to one of the flying craft, staring at it in confusion.

Toha hmmm's softly, walking with her transfigured weapon propped over a shoulder, "Not sure about that. If I's building a place ta keep flyin ships, I'd probably keep it closer ta the outside. Unless this is a manufactory o'some kind." Her head is on the proverbial swivel as she scans about for errant mischief about to spring upon them, even as the artifice within her is curious about the engineering on display, "Imagine whatever's still hot's got some kinda magic flow, mebbe worth keepin' an eye out fer that? Not ta mention that shard, that's gotta be some big mojo, there."

Serene nods once, shortly. "Well, we had best investigate since we are here nonetheless. We assumed that we would find the shard close to a source of power.. but it is always possible it may be in here. Or perhaps in caverns connected to the.. exit.. to this room." And so she goes about doing just that. Any reactions to the unfamiliar wrecks she might have seem suppressed by her focus on the task.

GAME: Serene rolls search for mojo: (5)+search for mojo: 5

The humming you've been following is less present here, so it may have been left behind on a floor above you. That said, this is where you are now. Smashed airships. It's clear that at one time they would absolutely have left Alexandria's relatively primitive by comparison designs in the dust. 

There's no immediate exit you can see, but they're bound to be here. It's just a big room and dark. Your light only extends so far.

GAME: Serene rolls perception: (2)+25: 27
GAME: Toha rolls perception: (9)+13: 22
GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (8)+6: 14
GAME: Morgan rolls perception: (4)+17: 21
GAME: Merek rolls perception: (13)+25: 38

So, first things first. There are exits. A couple of them, in fact, that the airships were meanqt to go throiugh. They're obviousl crumpled and buckled from the impact, and deep in the earth blocking exgress that way.

Next up? On either side of the interior there are a pair of doors, which lead to sets of stairs going back up from here. On the opposite end of the way from the eledvator, a set of doors lead into what appears to have been at one point supplies, most of which are damagqed beyond compare. There is a curious absence of bodies here, like you saw elsewhere. That is, of course, until you hear noises from one of the airship wreckages. Keeping a distance to see what happens, you observe as a pair of very, clearly dead men struggle free from it, moving into the midst of the trashed airships with tools in hand, their deceased bodies beingh dragged by the metal integrated into them in a futile effort to walk through the motions of repairing the ships. It is horrifying to observe.

Morgan looks to the zombies trying to do a job "Poor souls, we should put them to rest but I have a feeling there are many more here."

A closer inspection will reveal that they aren't... quite ... zombies. 

They're just ... a support structure for the metal parts doing the work.

GAME: Merek rolls craft/artifice: (3)+13: 16
GAME: Toha rolls craft/artifice+3: (16)+16+3: 35

Merek looks to the creatures, while he seems to think about it, "... We know why the gods didn't care for the Kulthians," the man notes, while he takes a moment to look to Toha to see if she knows a lot about it, "I think that might be... Some kind of support," he notes, while he nods, assisting the woman in whatever inspection she might make.

Speaking of artifice worth the price of one's soul....

Toha turns at Morgan's comment, and she straightens a touch. She can't frown, though the dip of her chin is slight enough to angle her eyebrows into a glower. The shrug of that shoulder and the tension in her armatures brings Piriona up off of it's bracing in the preparations of mayhem, while she tries to analyse the abomination at work, "Yeah..." the golem begins, a subtle, unsettled edge in her voice, and in Yrch-speak, she utters in horrified solemnity, "/Feiu of the Tears be merciful...!/"

The greataxe is brought into a proper killing grip and the golem advises, "They're linked but ain't tethered, might be able ta disrupt the mana coordinatin'em!" Meanwhile, almost three hundred pounds of metal, leather and wierd science unbound starts to stride toward the victims with new, grim, purpose.

It takes Seldan a while to come around to what others were staring at, so fascinated is he by the flying craft, but when the others point out the moving shamblers, he looks up, and stares cold. "Even so," he nods agreement with the Seer. "An abomination beyond words."

"I am not happy with their existance," Serene admits when she, too, gets to look at the assisted shamblers. "I would end them.." she adds, hefting her sword briefly... "But it is possible attacking them may bring something worse in a place like this."

As you speak, and speak of them, there's a clanking sound. Tools are dropped. A hammer and wrench and some kind of odd looking ... drill? 

Slowly, they turn towards you. Red, prosthetic eyes pulse once. A flicker. 

They begin speaking. In Kulthian. "WARNING. UNAUTHORIZED PERSONELLE IN HANGAR THREE. COMMENCE DEFENSE PROTOCOLS 1-3-7-3-Alpha-10." 

"We see you, lesser children. Your presence is unwelcome within our walls. You will know only pain here and be bent to serve only the will of your betters. Know this and debase yourself before me." <kulthian>