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The Fall of Civilization
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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 5151490" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>Imagine the sight: a grotesque figure composed of mismatched body parts riveted together to make a hulking figure. One arm came, perhaps, from an ogre, while the other is scaly and clawed. Flesh golems- automatons, magical constructs energized by powerful dweomers. And behind them, from the horrific living walls, arms reach out, clawing, grasping, imploring; all the while the charnel stench gags our heroes and makes them want to vomit. </p><p></p><p>A grey arm locks onto Cook’s wrist. He shrieks in fear. “Oi, no!!” </p><p></p><p>Then another clamps on his ankle. They pull him towards the wall- and inside. His cries cut off.</p><p></p><p>“COOK!!” shouts Vann-La. </p><p></p><p>Others pummel Heimall and Torinn, and then the walls start to move inward, closing in on our heroes behind the golems.</p><p></p><p>“All right, you bastard!” the Kree warrior howls. “<em>COME AND GET IT!!</em>”</p><p></p><p>The enemies close, and she hacks about her with brutal efficiency, slicing all of them.</p><p></p><p>But there isn’t a drop of blood. None of the ghastly things are alive. </p><p></p><p>Heimall hollers, “<em>Beat them to the ground!”</em> </p><p></p><p>The party is a well-oiled machine. Walls? We don’t <em>care</em> if they look like walls. We’ll bowl them over just the same! In seconds, both walls and both golems are sprawling on the ground, and then our heroes attack with all their might. Cook manages to escape the grasp of the wall that has him in time to avoid a fate worse than death, and then our heroes thoroughly turn the tide. </p><p></p><p>Once they have the advantage, they are certainly not giving it back. </p><p></p><p>Soon their unliving foes have been slaughtered, but not without cost. All of them are wounded except for Summer. They gather about while Torinn and Heimall administer some healing, and then decide to look around a little. The chamber that they are in has a single exit (not counting the two alcoves that the golems were in, previously hidden by the living walls, or the stairs back down): a hallway that almost immediately branches into a four-way intersection. The right hand way ends in a door after about 20’; the left hand and forward paths each lead out of sight. </p><p></p><p>Summer says, “Let’s do the door first.” Vann-La nods. The two of them- in the lead- approach the door, intending to simply throw it open, but they find that it has a label on it, both in Dwarven and in Elven.</p><p></p><p>“CAUTION!” it reads, “Do not enter when equipment is in use! Always wear protective gear when operating equipment.”</p><p></p><p>“Interesting,” mutters Ligir. </p><p></p><p>“What do you suppose is behind there?” wonders Vann-La.</p><p></p><p>“There’s an easy way to find out,” Heimall replies. </p><p></p><p>They open the door and find themselves looking into a large chamber dominated by some sort of great machine. Off to the side is a control panel; Torinn, spying the levers upon it, makes an immediate bee-line for it. </p><p></p><p>The machine itself is huge; in all, it is nearly 40’ long and nearly as wide. The front of it faces the wall, and consists of three humungous piston-like devices about 15’ long and nearly 5’ in diameter. These connect to some sort of metal box that is in turn connected to a large glass tub that makes up the majority of the machine. The tub is full of what appears to be water. From the bottom of it, three glass pipes about 10’ across seemingly feed more water in from somewhere beneath the floor and double as supports. A metal valve, roughly 4’ in diameter, is set into the floor below the glass tank. </p><p></p><p>“That can’t be real glass,” declares Hkatha. “How could it support all that weight?”</p><p></p><p>Iggy examines it closely and tries to scratch it with a dagger. “<em>Glassteel,</em>” he says in wonder. “I thought that secret had been lost.”</p><p></p><p>“Not to these guys, apparently,” replies Torinn from near the control panel. Surprisingly, he hasn’t touched anything, and when the others take a closer look, they can see why. He is still studying it.</p><p></p><p>The control panel has several gauges, levers and wheels on it. At the top, repeated in three places, are two signs. The first is a red sign that reads, “CAUTION! Always use protective gear when operating the Pounder. DO NOT APPROACH the Pounder or its accessory components while in operation or after operation for at least one hour!” The second reads, “TRAINED OPERATORS ONLY!” There are three gauges, labeled (in Dwarven) “water pressure”, “temperature” and “steam pressure” (all have red zones at the high end of the scale). There is a small wheel, labeled “Stage 1”. (This opens or closes the valve.) There is a large lever and a button, labeled “Stage 2”. (The lever opens the door into the steam chamber and the button activates the fan that helps drive the steam into the chamber.) Finally, there are three levers, which activate the three pistons; these are labeled as “Stage 3”. </p><p></p><p>“Hey,” says Iggy, “maybe you shouldn’t touch anything there...”</p><p></p><p>But Torinn is speaking too, calling out to the party, “Hey, everyone move away from that thing...”</p><p></p><p>And he reaches over and turns the small wheel. </p><p></p><p>The metal valve beneath the glass tank swivels open. Immediately, a whistling starts up and the party can feel the air in the chamber start to move. </p><p></p><p>Simultaneously, there is a flash of golden light and several creatures appear. Torinn immediately recognizes seven of them as angels; Iggy pegs the last two as a type of elemental consisting of ice with a fiery core- chillfire destroyers. And before our heroes can react- </p><p></p><p>The lead angel- <em>An angel of protection,</em> realizes Torinn- speaks from its faceless head, its voice somehow emerging aloud nonetheless. “Good afternoon. You are in a restricted area. Please show your student or faculty identification cards immediately.”</p><p></p><p>“We have our faculty cards, but we left them back at the office,” Hkatha bluffs.</p><p></p><p>“Surely one of you must have at least a student ID.”</p><p></p><p>From the now-open valve, a stream of superhot air emerges, blasting the tank of water. Everyone in the room can feel the air warming pleasantly. Torinn, at the controls, notes that the water pressure and temperature gauges are starting to climb.</p><p></p><p>“We all do, they are just not handy,” Hkatha says. </p><p></p><p>“I’m sorry, but as you know, this is a restricted area,” the angel replies. “That is not acceptable. Please produce appropriate identification.”</p><p></p><p>“I’m an administrator,” Cook says. “There is no need for trouble. You do good work, but now it is time to go. These people are okay, I say so.”</p><p></p><p>“Please produce appropriate identification,” the angel persists.</p><p></p><p>The gauges on the control panel continue to climb. The temperature gauge seems to stop rising a little below its red zone, but the pressure keeps rising. <em>Hmm,</em> thinks the dragonborn. </p><p></p><p>The angels and elementals attack. The chillfire destroyers pile on Summer, while the angels rush at Torinn, catching him slightly off guard. He was, after all, trying to monitor dangerous equipment! </p><p></p><p>The battle is fierce and violent; Torinn annihilates an angel of valor almost immediately, and Heimall and Vann-La rush to aid Summer before the warden is overwhelmed.</p><p></p><p>“No need to worry!” she assures them, lashing out with a <em>thorn strike</em> and pulling one of the chillfire destroyers closer to her before assuming the <em>form of winter’s herald</em> and bashing it again.</p><p></p><p>“Vann-La,” cries Heimall, “strike down the enemies of the Empire!”</p><p></p><p>“But we don’t have our student IDs,” the Kree protests.</p><p></p><p>“Just <em>GIT!</em>” </p><p></p><p>The sound of clashing swords is backed with the screaming whistle of superheated air. Torinn stays near the control panel, using both his priestly powers and his vicious pit fighter tactics to keep the enemy from overwhelming his position. When he sees the pressure gauge hit the red zone, he spares a moment to reach over and yank the lever marked “Stage 2” down, then press the stage 2 button.</p><p></p><p>Vann-La bloodies one of the chillfire destroyers, cracking it open, and waves of blazing heat roll out around it. She grimaces and crashes into it with a <em>tide of iron,</em> knocking it back into the control panel. “Hey, watch it!” cries Torinn, but then he gets distracted by an angel of battle, which actually lands on the panel. </p><p></p><p>Naturally, in doing so, the angel kicks <em>something</em>, but Torinn isn’t sure exactly what. So, as soon as Vann-La pushes it off the panel, the dragonborn takes another look- it was the lever! He throws it again.</p><p></p><p>The steam pressure gauge hits the red, and he pulls one of the stage 3 levers for good measure. </p><p></p><p>With a tremendous boom, one of the pistons hammers forward, smashing into the wall. It retracts and strikes again in an instant, and again, setting up a punishing rhythm loud enough that our heroes can barely hear themselves fight. </p><p></p><p>Iggy casts <em>Bigby’s grasping hands</em> and starts grabbing angels all over the place even as Torinn, beset by an angel of battle on one side and a chillfire destroyer on the other, is knocked unconscious. But even so, soon the last angel of battle drops to Heimall’s <em>guileful strike</em> while Summer pulls their injured comrade out of the thickest part of the fray and away from the baking heat radiating from the elementals. </p><p></p><p>The angel of protection dies trying to bull rush Cook into the pistons, and then it is only a matter of slowly grinding the elementals down. Finally, the <em>grasping hands</em> slay it, and our heroes pull back out of the thunderous noise of the room.</p><p></p><p>“We should probably go somewhere a little quieter and rest,” yells Vann-La. “Or maybe turn that machine off.”</p><p></p><p>“What?” shouts Torinn.</p><p></p><p><em>That noise is bound to draw some attention,</em> thinks Vann-La, and she’s right, for at that moment, a group of eladrin and a dragonborn with three drakes come into view, weapons at the ready. </p><p></p><p><em><strong>Next Time:</strong></em> Our heroes take a captive and learn a thing or two!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 5151490, member: 1210"] Imagine the sight: a grotesque figure composed of mismatched body parts riveted together to make a hulking figure. One arm came, perhaps, from an ogre, while the other is scaly and clawed. Flesh golems- automatons, magical constructs energized by powerful dweomers. And behind them, from the horrific living walls, arms reach out, clawing, grasping, imploring; all the while the charnel stench gags our heroes and makes them want to vomit. A grey arm locks onto Cook’s wrist. He shrieks in fear. “Oi, no!!” Then another clamps on his ankle. They pull him towards the wall- and inside. His cries cut off. “COOK!!” shouts Vann-La. Others pummel Heimall and Torinn, and then the walls start to move inward, closing in on our heroes behind the golems. “All right, you bastard!” the Kree warrior howls. “[i]COME AND GET IT!![/I]” The enemies close, and she hacks about her with brutal efficiency, slicing all of them. But there isn’t a drop of blood. None of the ghastly things are alive. Heimall hollers, “[i]Beat them to the ground!”[/i] The party is a well-oiled machine. Walls? We don’t [i]care[/i] if they look like walls. We’ll bowl them over just the same! In seconds, both walls and both golems are sprawling on the ground, and then our heroes attack with all their might. Cook manages to escape the grasp of the wall that has him in time to avoid a fate worse than death, and then our heroes thoroughly turn the tide. Once they have the advantage, they are certainly not giving it back. Soon their unliving foes have been slaughtered, but not without cost. All of them are wounded except for Summer. They gather about while Torinn and Heimall administer some healing, and then decide to look around a little. The chamber that they are in has a single exit (not counting the two alcoves that the golems were in, previously hidden by the living walls, or the stairs back down): a hallway that almost immediately branches into a four-way intersection. The right hand way ends in a door after about 20’; the left hand and forward paths each lead out of sight. Summer says, “Let’s do the door first.” Vann-La nods. The two of them- in the lead- approach the door, intending to simply throw it open, but they find that it has a label on it, both in Dwarven and in Elven. “CAUTION!” it reads, “Do not enter when equipment is in use! Always wear protective gear when operating equipment.” “Interesting,” mutters Ligir. “What do you suppose is behind there?” wonders Vann-La. “There’s an easy way to find out,” Heimall replies. They open the door and find themselves looking into a large chamber dominated by some sort of great machine. Off to the side is a control panel; Torinn, spying the levers upon it, makes an immediate bee-line for it. The machine itself is huge; in all, it is nearly 40’ long and nearly as wide. The front of it faces the wall, and consists of three humungous piston-like devices about 15’ long and nearly 5’ in diameter. These connect to some sort of metal box that is in turn connected to a large glass tub that makes up the majority of the machine. The tub is full of what appears to be water. From the bottom of it, three glass pipes about 10’ across seemingly feed more water in from somewhere beneath the floor and double as supports. A metal valve, roughly 4’ in diameter, is set into the floor below the glass tank. “That can’t be real glass,” declares Hkatha. “How could it support all that weight?” Iggy examines it closely and tries to scratch it with a dagger. “[i]Glassteel,[/i]” he says in wonder. “I thought that secret had been lost.” “Not to these guys, apparently,” replies Torinn from near the control panel. Surprisingly, he hasn’t touched anything, and when the others take a closer look, they can see why. He is still studying it. The control panel has several gauges, levers and wheels on it. At the top, repeated in three places, are two signs. The first is a red sign that reads, “CAUTION! Always use protective gear when operating the Pounder. DO NOT APPROACH the Pounder or its accessory components while in operation or after operation for at least one hour!” The second reads, “TRAINED OPERATORS ONLY!” There are three gauges, labeled (in Dwarven) “water pressure”, “temperature” and “steam pressure” (all have red zones at the high end of the scale). There is a small wheel, labeled “Stage 1”. (This opens or closes the valve.) There is a large lever and a button, labeled “Stage 2”. (The lever opens the door into the steam chamber and the button activates the fan that helps drive the steam into the chamber.) Finally, there are three levers, which activate the three pistons; these are labeled as “Stage 3”. “Hey,” says Iggy, “maybe you shouldn’t touch anything there...” But Torinn is speaking too, calling out to the party, “Hey, everyone move away from that thing...” And he reaches over and turns the small wheel. The metal valve beneath the glass tank swivels open. Immediately, a whistling starts up and the party can feel the air in the chamber start to move. Simultaneously, there is a flash of golden light and several creatures appear. Torinn immediately recognizes seven of them as angels; Iggy pegs the last two as a type of elemental consisting of ice with a fiery core- chillfire destroyers. And before our heroes can react- The lead angel- [i]An angel of protection,[/i] realizes Torinn- speaks from its faceless head, its voice somehow emerging aloud nonetheless. “Good afternoon. You are in a restricted area. Please show your student or faculty identification cards immediately.” “We have our faculty cards, but we left them back at the office,” Hkatha bluffs. “Surely one of you must have at least a student ID.” From the now-open valve, a stream of superhot air emerges, blasting the tank of water. Everyone in the room can feel the air warming pleasantly. Torinn, at the controls, notes that the water pressure and temperature gauges are starting to climb. “We all do, they are just not handy,” Hkatha says. “I’m sorry, but as you know, this is a restricted area,” the angel replies. “That is not acceptable. Please produce appropriate identification.” “I’m an administrator,” Cook says. “There is no need for trouble. You do good work, but now it is time to go. These people are okay, I say so.” “Please produce appropriate identification,” the angel persists. The gauges on the control panel continue to climb. The temperature gauge seems to stop rising a little below its red zone, but the pressure keeps rising. [i]Hmm,[/i] thinks the dragonborn. The angels and elementals attack. The chillfire destroyers pile on Summer, while the angels rush at Torinn, catching him slightly off guard. He was, after all, trying to monitor dangerous equipment! The battle is fierce and violent; Torinn annihilates an angel of valor almost immediately, and Heimall and Vann-La rush to aid Summer before the warden is overwhelmed. “No need to worry!” she assures them, lashing out with a [i]thorn strike[/i] and pulling one of the chillfire destroyers closer to her before assuming the [i]form of winter’s herald[/i] and bashing it again. “Vann-La,” cries Heimall, “strike down the enemies of the Empire!” “But we don’t have our student IDs,” the Kree protests. “Just [i]GIT![/I]” The sound of clashing swords is backed with the screaming whistle of superheated air. Torinn stays near the control panel, using both his priestly powers and his vicious pit fighter tactics to keep the enemy from overwhelming his position. When he sees the pressure gauge hit the red zone, he spares a moment to reach over and yank the lever marked “Stage 2” down, then press the stage 2 button. Vann-La bloodies one of the chillfire destroyers, cracking it open, and waves of blazing heat roll out around it. She grimaces and crashes into it with a [i]tide of iron,[/i] knocking it back into the control panel. “Hey, watch it!” cries Torinn, but then he gets distracted by an angel of battle, which actually lands on the panel. Naturally, in doing so, the angel kicks [i]something[/i], but Torinn isn’t sure exactly what. So, as soon as Vann-La pushes it off the panel, the dragonborn takes another look- it was the lever! He throws it again. The steam pressure gauge hits the red, and he pulls one of the stage 3 levers for good measure. With a tremendous boom, one of the pistons hammers forward, smashing into the wall. It retracts and strikes again in an instant, and again, setting up a punishing rhythm loud enough that our heroes can barely hear themselves fight. Iggy casts [i]Bigby’s grasping hands[/i] and starts grabbing angels all over the place even as Torinn, beset by an angel of battle on one side and a chillfire destroyer on the other, is knocked unconscious. But even so, soon the last angel of battle drops to Heimall’s [i]guileful strike[/i] while Summer pulls their injured comrade out of the thickest part of the fray and away from the baking heat radiating from the elementals. The angel of protection dies trying to bull rush Cook into the pistons, and then it is only a matter of slowly grinding the elementals down. Finally, the [i]grasping hands[/i] slay it, and our heroes pull back out of the thunderous noise of the room. “We should probably go somewhere a little quieter and rest,” yells Vann-La. “Or maybe turn that machine off.” “What?” shouts Torinn. [i]That noise is bound to draw some attention,[/i] thinks Vann-La, and she’s right, for at that moment, a group of eladrin and a dragonborn with three drakes come into view, weapons at the ready. [i][b]Next Time:[/b][/i][b][/b] Our heroes take a captive and learn a thing or two! [/QUOTE]
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