The Undiscovered Frontier (Finished!)

"Yeah, time's something we don't have," Mellisande said. She stepped up to the door and with a polite little clearing of her throat...spat on the knuckles of her right hand. She then rapped those knuckles on the door, while humming a clear, melodic note.

The door seemed to ripple slightly where she knocked, and a faint answering tone could be heard, like the overtones of a bell in the distance. She changed the pitch of her hum, harmonizing with it, and knocked again. The door's sound grew louder, clearer...the harmony with her voice becoming rather beautiful...

And then Mellisande suddenly moved to a jarring discord and knocked again, hard! The door shivered, its chains and lock writhing like snakes as the spell took hold!

"Knock knock, let me in, said the wolf," she murmured almost affectionately to the door.

(OOC - Casting 'Knock' on said door. )

Arkos holds his breath half afraid to say anything or even breathe for fear of doing something to negate the effect of Mellisande's spell. He glances nervously at the golem-guardians when her discordant spell note shivers the silence. Not seeing any indication (yet) that the golems have noticed her spell Arkos mutters quiet encouragement.

"C'mon, this'll work. I know it!"

[sblock=Mini Stats]Arkos Stoneborn
Initiative: +1
AC: 12 (11 flat-footed, 12 Touch) [15 w/ Barkskin]
AC: (Predator) 16 (15 flat-footed, 12 Touch)
AC: (Aerial) 14 (13 flat-footed, 12 Touch)
HP: 56 Current: 35
Fort: +8 Reflex: +3 Reflex: (Aerial) +5 Will: +9
Speed: 30 ft., burrow 10 ft.
Speed: (Predator) 50 ft.
Speed: (Aerial) fly 40 ft. (good)

Current Weapon in Hand:
Current Conditions in Effect:

Attacks
Spear +9 (1d6+7 /crit. x3)
Sling +5 (1d3 /crit. x2)
Bite (Predator) +13 (1d4+8 /crit. x2; as magic)
Talon (Aerial) +12 (1d4+7 /crit. x2; as magic)
Breath Weapon (1d8; bludgeoning; Ref 15 for half dmg.)
2 Tentacles (while in Predator) +11 (1d8+7) 10 ft. reach

Spells Prepared:
Spell Save: 14 +SL
3rd level: 3; cure moderate wounds, evard's menacing tentacles (PHB2), evard's menacing tentacles
2nd level: 4; barkskin, bull's strength, heat metal, resist energy
1st level: 4; cure light wounds, faerie fire, goodberry, produce flame
orisons: 5; create water, cure minor wounds, detect magic, light, purify food & drink

Backpack: healer's kit (x2), sunrod (x2), thunderstone (x2), tanglefoot bag (x2), smoke stick(x2), bedroll, 2 wand CLW, 19 pebbles of CSW & 5 pebbles of Remove Disease. food and water.[/sblock]

The lock and chains come apart and would have made a loud clatter if it were not for Mellisande's magics. Arkos' concerns seem misplaced at first, as the guardians do not notice that the door is now unlocked. They cannot help but notice one of the great doors being slid open by Sarpot and Nerin, and the doors being closed by the same (it took the efforts of both men to speedily open one door). The confused golems whirl and spin, trying to determine the illogical cause of what had just transpired. They make no attempt to go inside the building once the doors are firmly closed, however.

The building is darker than the outside, though grime-covered sky-lights give off enough light for you to make out dozens of still, hunched-over shapes. Rows of golems of various sizes and shapes are silhouetted in the dim light, all connected via tubes to a semi-circular structure on a raised dais in the center of the room.

The golems themselves are covered with dust and cobwebs. Most are also covered with blotches of some strange, red-tinged fungus. Three golems look similar to the two outside, and others are similar in size though seem to have more utilitarian functions as they are equipped with tools better for farming than fighting. The humanoid-looking golems are mostly featureless and genderless, though they look strongly-built and muscular. Several other golems were crafted with disturbingly lifelike detail, are quite attractive and well-proportioned. These last ones give you the most worrisome chill, as there are many immoral reasons for making golems so human in appearance.

As the party looks around, Mellisande's magical auras give out, rending them visible and audible, though by talking quietly they are confident that the guardians outside cannot detect them, and there seems to be no sentry or detection magic on the inside.

"Lets reactivate the morally wrong golems first!" Sarpot exclaims.

Arkos lets his breath out in a rush when they manage to get into the chamber without activating the patrolling golems outside the door. His grin clearly shows his relief but it fades as he turns to Mellisande.

"Good work there, Mellisande." He peers around at the hunched, inactive golems. "So, what's next. Besides reactivating the golems. I mean, how do we do that without getting ourselves killed in the process?"

[sblock=Mini Stats]Arkos Stoneborn
Initiative: +1
AC: 12 (11 flat-footed, 12 Touch) [15 w/ Barkskin]
AC: (Predator) 16 (15 flat-footed, 12 Touch)
AC: (Aerial) 14 (13 flat-footed, 12 Touch)
HP: 56 Current: 35
Fort: +8 Reflex: +3 Reflex: (Aerial) +5 Will: +9
Speed: 30 ft., burrow 10 ft.
Speed: (Predator) 50 ft.
Speed: (Aerial) fly 40 ft. (good)

Current Weapon in Hand:
Current Conditions in Effect:

Attacks
Spear +9 (1d6+7 /crit. x3)
Sling +5 (1d3 /crit. x2)
Bite (Predator) +13 (1d4+8 /crit. x2; as magic)
Talon (Aerial) +12 (1d4+7 /crit. x2; as magic)
Breath Weapon (1d8; bludgeoning; Ref 15 for half dmg.)
2 Tentacles (while in Predator) +11 (1d8+7) 10 ft. reach

Spells Prepared:
Spell Save: 14 +SL
3rd level: 3; cure moderate wounds, evard's menacing tentacles (PHB2), evard's menacing tentacles
2nd level: 4; barkskin, bull's strength, heat metal, resist energy
1st level: 4; cure light wounds, faerie fire, goodberry, produce flame
orisons: 5; create water, cure minor wounds, detect magic, light, purify food & drink

Backpack: healer's kit (x2), sunrod (x2), thunderstone (x2), tanglefoot bag (x2), smoke stick(x2), bedroll, 2 wand CLW, 19 pebbles of CSW & 5 pebbles of Remove Disease. food and water.[/sblock]

OOC: At this point you can elect to take a closer look at some of the golems, their tubes connecting them to the structure on the dais, or the structure itself.

The dais looks like it might hold answers so Arkos leaves his companions standing in mute wonder and walks over to it. He can't help thinking if he had a rag that he would do a little dusting in here... Careful not to touch anything, this really isn't his area of expertise after all, he'll study the dais looking for a way up and for a scepter of command or some such thing to use on the golems.

[sblock=Mini Stats]Arkos Stoneborn
Initiative: +1
AC: 12 (11 flat-footed, 12 Touch) [15 w/ Barkskin]
AC: (Predator) 16 (15 flat-footed, 12 Touch)
AC: (Aerial) 14 (13 flat-footed, 12 Touch)
HP: 56 Current: 35
Fort: +8 Reflex: +3 Reflex: (Aerial) +5 Will: +9
Speed: 30 ft., burrow 10 ft.
Speed: (Predator) 50 ft.
Speed: (Aerial) fly 40 ft. (good)

Current Weapon in Hand:
Current Conditions in Effect:

Attacks
Spear +9 (1d6+7 /crit. x3)
Sling +5 (1d3 /crit. x2)
Bite (Predator) +13 (1d4+8 /crit. x2; as magic)
Talon (Aerial) +12 (1d4+7 /crit. x2; as magic)
Breath Weapon (1d8; bludgeoning; Ref 15 for half dmg.)
2 Tentacles (while in Predator) +11 (1d8+7) 10 ft. reach

Spells Prepared:
Spell Save: 14 +SL
3rd level: 3; cure moderate wounds, evard's menacing tentacles (PHB2), evard's menacing tentacles
2nd level: 4; barkskin, bull's strength, heat metal, resist energy
1st level: 4; cure light wounds, faerie fire, goodberry, produce flame
orisons: 5; create water, cure minor wounds, detect magic, light, purify food & drink

Backpack: healer's kit (x2), sunrod (x2), thunderstone (x2), tanglefoot bag (x2), smoke stick(x2), bedroll, 2 wand CLW, 19 pebbles of CSW & 5 pebbles of Remove Disease. food and water.[/sblock]

"Well, first we proooobably shouldn't touch anything right away," Mellisande muses. "But then, what fun would that be? Besides, when they made this place, they probably figured it might not be used for awhile. There's probably instructions somewhere. We just have to look around."

With a gesture she summoned a trio of little magic lights that settled into a woozy orbit around her head, and went to get a closer look at the golems. The 'fungus' struck her as something that probably wasn't supposed to be there, and hence bore investigation.

Arkos examines the dais, and waves off some of the dust on top of the machinery there. Some of the machinery are flat panels with arcane symbology underneath that Arkos is able to understand, but that he has much less of an understanding of how best they should be employed. Arkos finds himself wishing he had more arcane knowledge. From what he can see, however, the symbols under the glass panels refer to turning the machinery on, turning it off, and conducting different detection checks on what is hooked up the machinery. There also seems to be some way to fluctuate the arcane energy through the tubing, but the druid does not trust himself enough with the strange ways of arcane magic.

If Arkos makes a DC 14 Knowledge (Nature Check)
[sblock]
At first you thought some of the grime in the back of the machinery was just that, but on second observation you see that there is a small patch of the same dull-colored fungus on the back of the machinery, where some of the tubing from the golems meets the dais.
[/sblock]

Mellisande examines the golems and the fungus, noting that the fungus is integrated more deeply under the joints and artificial external skins of the various golems. A piece of lore comes to her mind when it comes to golems, and Mellisande understands that golems are complex pieces of machinery, requiring arcane impulses that give initial commands that can be overwritten by the golem's master as a situation demands. The fungus seems to focus mostly in the areas of the golems where arcane commands are designed and the areas where energy impulses cause the various limbs of the golem to move in obeyance of those commands. Mellisande cannot help but wish she knew more about nature.

If Mellisande or Lealani makes a DC 14 Knowledge (Arcana) check
[sblock]
At first you believe that some of the dust you notice on the golems is also on top of the some of the tubing. But on a closer glance, you realize that they are inside, and more heavily pronounced closer to the golems. It seems the spores from the fungus have traveled slowly from the golems to the machine on the dais.
[/sblock]

OOC:

If Mellisande and Lealani would like to turn on and observe the machinery on top of the dais at this time, they will need to make a DC 10 Knowledge Arcana roll.

If Arkos would like to examine the fungus further, he will need to explain how he approaches this attempt, though his great knowledge of nature will allow him to automatically succeed the DC 10 Knowledge Nature check.

If Sarpot would like to learn more about the golem construction, he will need to state how he wants to approach the golems, which types of golems he wishes to learn more about and succeed in a DC 10 Engineering check.

Nerin still has not chosen skills.

Sarpot is fueled by his dubious moral, and approach the more menacingly looking golems first.