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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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<blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 6189424" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p><strong>Session 89a - Vander Lepage and the Urban Dryad</strong></p><p></p><p>Before a decision could be made as to their next move, Sevitar acted on instinct and pursued the fleeing guardsmen through the barracks. Theren shouted after him to no avail and quickly decided that a pincer movement might be the best option in any case. He directed two of the accompanying officers to follow him and told the rest of the unit to head through the kitchen area and secure as many rooms as possible.</p><p></p><p>Wil lead the way. He crossed the kitchen area, ignoring a passage south, and arrived in a storage room filled with an incredible array of technological bits and bobs (a number of which Wil later purloined). To the south he thought he saw movement from a much larger and more brightly lit chamber, but he attention was then drawn to a short flight of stairs behind him, where a snoring guard was slumped against a closed door.</p><p></p><p>While Niniel headed south from the kitchen area and found another storage room which connected up with the large circular chamber as well, Wil ordered one of the officers to knock out the guard. This done, Professor Ludo approached the doorway and pressed an ear to it, while Wil and Niniel looked into the large, circular chamber from two different entrances:</p><p></p><p>A third entrance lay at the far side of the chamber from Wil, and there could be seen a cage-like contraption, which Tortho Chell had told them was used to raise/lower a remote-controlled owlbear that prowled the grounds at night. The cage was empty, the platform raised. Niniel could hear shouts and sounds of combat from beyond. The large, circular chamber itself was notable for many reasons: the bank of curved worktables that lined the walls, upon which stood strange brown spherical or egg-shaped objects, like huge nuts of some description - some closed, some half-opened; the high ceiling of loose soil, through which 'roots' descended, but roots with an odd metallic sheen; the array of tools and other items used by technologists, as well as oils, sprays and sheers favored by gardeners. One of the 'roots' curled down from a hole in the centre of the ceiling and deposited another barrel-sized 'nut' on the floor of the chamber, and in response, three 'worker' constructs trudged into the room and began working on the outer shell.</p><p></p><p>Ludo, who had been about to open the north door was prevented by a hiss from Wil, and they waited to see if the constructs were hostile. To that end, Wil conjured an image of himself right next to them, but they failed to react.</p><p></p><p>At that point, a female half-elf (Jelia?) ran into the cage chamber to the south, as the sounds of combat grew louder. Another worker construct came with her. She spotted the illusory Wil at once, and ordered the constructs to 'deal with him', while she pulled a lever on the cage. Before the unit could see any more, the fourth worker construct pressed a button, causing the south door of the circular chamber to slide closed, whereupon it and its previously docile companions attacked both the illusory Wil and the real one.</p><p></p><p>These constructs were not ideally suited to battle, but succeeded in injuring Niniel and a couple of the officers before the unit put paid to them. Then Ludo reminded them of the exigencies of their mission and they headed through the previously guarded door in search of Vander Lepage, trusting that Theren and Sevitar would deal with the half-elf artificer.</p><p></p><p>A well-appointed chamber lay ahead, with three more exits to the left, right and straight ahead. The far door was ajar and the sound of gentle music issued from within. Wil picked his way across the room, past wall hangings, curved sofas and potted plants which put Brajham in mind of ancient Elfaivar. Wil came to a round bed-chamber where a robed tiefling sat at a bureau conducting music that issued from a crystal attached to strange wires like the roots found in the workshop. The tiefling - Lepage - saw Wil and raised the hood of his cloak, causing his form to blur. He stood and shouted, "Chordek!" at the top of his lungs.</p><p></p><p>A fight broke out. Lepage wielded mind-bending powers that convinced his assailants they were covered in hissing serpents. Meanwhile, his goliath bodyguard burst from the room to the right wielding an enormous greatsword. Lepage said to Chordek, "These are not the семья! They are law enforcement. Guard my exit!"</p><p></p><p>Having already burned Niniel for harming him, the tiefling responded to the next blow delivered by an officer's short spear, by teleporting to the far side of his bed-chamber, where he opened a secret door, stepped through and closed it behind him.</p><p></p><p>Chordek quickly succumbed to the mental attacks of Ludo, Niniel and Wil, but when they reached the secret door they found that it was secured against them. Before they could think about how to follow Lepage, Sevitar appeared. Theren, he said, was in trouble: they had heard the sounds of an intense fight building during their clash with Lepage, and it turned out it had not gone well for their Captain. At once, Brajham was charging through the complex, shouting his brother's name. But he headed the wrong way: Jelia appeared in the workshop to the south, accompanied by a cobra construct, dragging the unconscious Theren behind her and demanding the unit surrender; ahead of Brajham an owlbear appeared, wearing a dish-like metal hat, replete with a slowly turning clockwork key. The creature could not negotiate the narrow passages of the complex easily and this gave Wil and Ludo the chance to slow it down. While they did so, Sevitar layered his shrouds upon it...</p><p></p><p>Jelia found that her threat had fallen on deaf ears; the only unit member who might have responded with his heart rather than his head was out of earshot until it was too late - as soon as she moved away from Theren's body (abandoning her threat to kill him in favour of attacking the nearest enemy), Brajham appeared and struck her with a scorching ray. Jelia, who was already scuffed up from her encounter with Theren and Sevitar, dropped to the floor and began thrashing around wildly. While she did so, her form changed, withered and darkened, her hair twisting into a fibrous mass, her fingers growing gnarled and long. When she jumped back up again some moments later, it was clear that Jelia was a dryad of some kind, though with bits of metal and wire entwined around her limbs and sticking out of her hair. She and her cobra attacked Brajham, Niniel and the officers with powers that caused them to distrust and attack one another. Jelia proved able to teleport anywhere there was a construct or technology, which meant she could move about almost freely down here.</p><p></p><p>The combined mental attacks of Wil and Ludo worked very well on the owlbear. They would push it back and hold it in place, or slow it sufficiently such that it could not squeeze along the narrow passages far enough to reach them. Meanwhile, Sevitar - having wreathed it in his insidious shrouds - attacked it from a safe distance. </p><p></p><p>Jelia's efforts might have been best served if she had attacked along with her worker constructs, yet she fought with all the protective zeal of a mother, defending her clutch of eggs, cursing the intruders for ruining everything. Eventually, Brajham and Wil were able to subdue her and destroy the clockwork cobra.</p><p></p><p>At that same moment, the owlbear shrugged off the mind-bending effects that had restrained it and surged along the passageway, to a point where it could just reach Sevitar, who a moment earlier had felt safely out of harm's way. The beast took hold of him and savaged him terribly and, to the shock of Ludo and Wil, tore him asunder. But his body did not fall, limp and lifeless as might be expected, it dissipated and vanished like torn clouds.</p><p></p><p>Now the owlbear was almost upon them, they ran. The whole group made it into the large circular workshop, where they closed all the doors and took a moment to catch their breath. They debated a course of action: try to kill the owlbear from a distance; lure it into this room and trap it inside; run away. While they argued, Wil looked around the room:</p><p></p><p>He saw that each of the 'eggs' had a wooden shell with a metallic sheen. Inside, a basic chassis for a construct could be found, and here in the workshop a variety of limbs were fitted creating the different constuct types. The constructs were programmed using extremely advanced and complex punch-cards, most of which were locked in a safe. Jelia had the key - she also had a strange device which Wil examined, and turned out to be a remote control for the owlbear...</p><p></p><p>A few minutes later, the beast was safely back in its cage.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 6189424, member: 79141"] [b]Session 89a - Vander Lepage and the Urban Dryad[/b] Before a decision could be made as to their next move, Sevitar acted on instinct and pursued the fleeing guardsmen through the barracks. Theren shouted after him to no avail and quickly decided that a pincer movement might be the best option in any case. He directed two of the accompanying officers to follow him and told the rest of the unit to head through the kitchen area and secure as many rooms as possible. Wil lead the way. He crossed the kitchen area, ignoring a passage south, and arrived in a storage room filled with an incredible array of technological bits and bobs (a number of which Wil later purloined). To the south he thought he saw movement from a much larger and more brightly lit chamber, but he attention was then drawn to a short flight of stairs behind him, where a snoring guard was slumped against a closed door. While Niniel headed south from the kitchen area and found another storage room which connected up with the large circular chamber as well, Wil ordered one of the officers to knock out the guard. This done, Professor Ludo approached the doorway and pressed an ear to it, while Wil and Niniel looked into the large, circular chamber from two different entrances: A third entrance lay at the far side of the chamber from Wil, and there could be seen a cage-like contraption, which Tortho Chell had told them was used to raise/lower a remote-controlled owlbear that prowled the grounds at night. The cage was empty, the platform raised. Niniel could hear shouts and sounds of combat from beyond. The large, circular chamber itself was notable for many reasons: the bank of curved worktables that lined the walls, upon which stood strange brown spherical or egg-shaped objects, like huge nuts of some description - some closed, some half-opened; the high ceiling of loose soil, through which 'roots' descended, but roots with an odd metallic sheen; the array of tools and other items used by technologists, as well as oils, sprays and sheers favored by gardeners. One of the 'roots' curled down from a hole in the centre of the ceiling and deposited another barrel-sized 'nut' on the floor of the chamber, and in response, three 'worker' constructs trudged into the room and began working on the outer shell. Ludo, who had been about to open the north door was prevented by a hiss from Wil, and they waited to see if the constructs were hostile. To that end, Wil conjured an image of himself right next to them, but they failed to react. At that point, a female half-elf (Jelia?) ran into the cage chamber to the south, as the sounds of combat grew louder. Another worker construct came with her. She spotted the illusory Wil at once, and ordered the constructs to 'deal with him', while she pulled a lever on the cage. Before the unit could see any more, the fourth worker construct pressed a button, causing the south door of the circular chamber to slide closed, whereupon it and its previously docile companions attacked both the illusory Wil and the real one. These constructs were not ideally suited to battle, but succeeded in injuring Niniel and a couple of the officers before the unit put paid to them. Then Ludo reminded them of the exigencies of their mission and they headed through the previously guarded door in search of Vander Lepage, trusting that Theren and Sevitar would deal with the half-elf artificer. A well-appointed chamber lay ahead, with three more exits to the left, right and straight ahead. The far door was ajar and the sound of gentle music issued from within. Wil picked his way across the room, past wall hangings, curved sofas and potted plants which put Brajham in mind of ancient Elfaivar. Wil came to a round bed-chamber where a robed tiefling sat at a bureau conducting music that issued from a crystal attached to strange wires like the roots found in the workshop. The tiefling - Lepage - saw Wil and raised the hood of his cloak, causing his form to blur. He stood and shouted, "Chordek!" at the top of his lungs. A fight broke out. Lepage wielded mind-bending powers that convinced his assailants they were covered in hissing serpents. Meanwhile, his goliath bodyguard burst from the room to the right wielding an enormous greatsword. Lepage said to Chordek, "These are not the семья! They are law enforcement. Guard my exit!" Having already burned Niniel for harming him, the tiefling responded to the next blow delivered by an officer's short spear, by teleporting to the far side of his bed-chamber, where he opened a secret door, stepped through and closed it behind him. Chordek quickly succumbed to the mental attacks of Ludo, Niniel and Wil, but when they reached the secret door they found that it was secured against them. Before they could think about how to follow Lepage, Sevitar appeared. Theren, he said, was in trouble: they had heard the sounds of an intense fight building during their clash with Lepage, and it turned out it had not gone well for their Captain. At once, Brajham was charging through the complex, shouting his brother's name. But he headed the wrong way: Jelia appeared in the workshop to the south, accompanied by a cobra construct, dragging the unconscious Theren behind her and demanding the unit surrender; ahead of Brajham an owlbear appeared, wearing a dish-like metal hat, replete with a slowly turning clockwork key. The creature could not negotiate the narrow passages of the complex easily and this gave Wil and Ludo the chance to slow it down. While they did so, Sevitar layered his shrouds upon it... Jelia found that her threat had fallen on deaf ears; the only unit member who might have responded with his heart rather than his head was out of earshot until it was too late - as soon as she moved away from Theren's body (abandoning her threat to kill him in favour of attacking the nearest enemy), Brajham appeared and struck her with a scorching ray. Jelia, who was already scuffed up from her encounter with Theren and Sevitar, dropped to the floor and began thrashing around wildly. While she did so, her form changed, withered and darkened, her hair twisting into a fibrous mass, her fingers growing gnarled and long. When she jumped back up again some moments later, it was clear that Jelia was a dryad of some kind, though with bits of metal and wire entwined around her limbs and sticking out of her hair. She and her cobra attacked Brajham, Niniel and the officers with powers that caused them to distrust and attack one another. Jelia proved able to teleport anywhere there was a construct or technology, which meant she could move about almost freely down here. The combined mental attacks of Wil and Ludo worked very well on the owlbear. They would push it back and hold it in place, or slow it sufficiently such that it could not squeeze along the narrow passages far enough to reach them. Meanwhile, Sevitar - having wreathed it in his insidious shrouds - attacked it from a safe distance. Jelia's efforts might have been best served if she had attacked along with her worker constructs, yet she fought with all the protective zeal of a mother, defending her clutch of eggs, cursing the intruders for ruining everything. Eventually, Brajham and Wil were able to subdue her and destroy the clockwork cobra. At that same moment, the owlbear shrugged off the mind-bending effects that had restrained it and surged along the passageway, to a point where it could just reach Sevitar, who a moment earlier had felt safely out of harm's way. The beast took hold of him and savaged him terribly and, to the shock of Ludo and Wil, tore him asunder. But his body did not fall, limp and lifeless as might be expected, it dissipated and vanished like torn clouds. Now the owlbear was almost upon them, they ran. The whole group made it into the large circular workshop, where they closed all the doors and took a moment to catch their breath. They debated a course of action: try to kill the owlbear from a distance; lure it into this room and trap it inside; run away. While they argued, Wil looked around the room: He saw that each of the 'eggs' had a wooden shell with a metallic sheen. Inside, a basic chassis for a construct could be found, and here in the workshop a variety of limbs were fitted creating the different constuct types. The constructs were programmed using extremely advanced and complex punch-cards, most of which were locked in a safe. Jelia had the key - she also had a strange device which Wil examined, and turned out to be a remote control for the owlbear... A few minutes later, the beast was safely back in its cage. [/QUOTE]
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