Chapter 5: Subterrane of the Cyborgs

[ChubbyPixie]

“Sure. What does is matter?” says Fiefo, clearly in a mood.

[wolfpack]

If i return there that's it, no more moving we have to stop so I can reclaim my spells.

[Inferno]

Beneath the Dead Wizard's Skyscraper
Forbidden Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Three. Midday? March 27th, 912 CY




The invaders of the dead wizard's skyscraper retreat from the dilapidated shaft of the vampiric green swarm, dragging their wounded with them. They leave Jeojand's warm corpse behind.

The adventurers return to the massacre of the eerie, half-human creatures of flesh and steel.



Nothing has changed since they last left the chamber of slaughtered clockwork men, except the pools of blood and hydraulic fluid have grown.

It's midday and already the adventurers are weary with exertion and mourning. They plan to rest here, deep in the heart of this bizarre, deadly realm, until dawn tomorrow when Adrock's powerful magicks will be replenished.


Actions? (...and please post positions, preparations and plans (if any) for the next 18 hours. Thanks.)


Map:

One square = 10 feet. X = Dead or unconscious. Lit areas are visible. All else is from memory.





PC Status:

• Chaka: Ape-Boy Thief 3: Move: 12"(6"), AC: 6, HP: -1/20
  Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 2: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 3/20
  Garamond Antiqua: Cyborg 2: Move: 12", AC: 8, HP: 5/20
  Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 2: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: -4/32
  L.L. Adrock: Half-Elf Cleric/Magic-User 2/1: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 3/8, Spells: 0/5 1st lvl
  Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 2: Move: 9", AC: 8, HP: -3/10, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl
  Tullia Galena: Half-Elf Ranger 2: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 16/24

PC Magic:

• None currently.

Player Resources:

• End of the World (game description)
  Strange New World (maps and realms)
  Memory Tapes (the story so far)
  Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[wolfpack]

Adrock will setup in the southwest corner

we need a watch order

[SpinwardMarch]

Tullia

I can take the first watch, and let all of you rest. And maybe stack up some these ... things, out of the way. She is aware she is in the best condition of the remaining group.

[Pulpatoon]

Garamond volunteers for second watch, and then settles in by the Southern door for a slate of diagnostic and repair protocols. To help the others relax, it recites the opening chapters of "Wanted By The Spanish Groom" in a gentle, soothing voice.

[wolfpack]

LL

I'll take last watch

[OGRE MAGE]

Though still unconscious, the new, much greener Chaka seems angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

In his own twisted radioactive mind, he thinks about finding himself a nice tight pair of cut off purple jean shorts.

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo sets up his bedroll near the remains where he found the coins. He's too weak and lethargic to complain any more today, or to remind them all that they will probably die very very soon. He perks up just a little when Garamond begins the bedtime story, listening intently. "I'll take last watch," he says, before drifting off.

[Inferno]

Beneath the Dead Wizard's Skyscraper
Forbidden Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Three. Midday? March 27th, 912 CY







Among the dead body parts and broken iron wreckage of the butchered cyborg corpses, the explorers of the dead wizard's skyscraper prepare to rest and recover their strength.

Tullia takes first watch as the others sleep. In the second hour of standing guard, her half-elven ears detect something coming from the eastern door. A human-like voice in the distance, but the voice is too faint to be understood. Hand on hilt, she waits patiently, knowing they are in no condition to seek out another fight. The voice doesn't grow louder. In a minute or two it is gone and doesn't return.

When her watch ends, she awakens Garamond and reports what transpired. Then she turns in.

Garamond's watch is uneventful for the first hour. Then, from the eastern door, the cyborg sentinel hears the sound of metal scraping against the floors or walls. The electric amnesiac doesn't remember the sound, but is surprised to discover that he fears it!

The sound on the other side of the eastern door grows louder!




Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. X = Dead or unconscious. Lit areas are visible. All else is from memory.


Non-required Reading (rolls and rulings):

Hour 1: Wandering Monsters? (1): [1d6] = 5, [1d6] = 6, [1d6] = 2 None.
Hour 2: Wandering Monsters? (1): [1d6] = 6, [1d6] = 1, [1d6] = 3 One.
Wandering Monster: [1d12] = 6
Hour 3: Wandering Monsters? (1): [1d6] = 3, [1d6] = 4, [1d6] = 6 None.
Hour 4: Wandering Monsters? (1): [1d6] = 6, [1d6] = 5, [1d6] = 1 One.
Wandering Monster: [1d12] = 12

PC Status:

• Chaka: Ape-Boy Thief 3: Move: 12"(6"), AC: 6, HP: -1/20
  Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 2: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 3/20
  Garamond Antiqua: Cyborg 2: Move: 12", AC: 8, HP: 8/20
  Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 2: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: -4/32
  L.L. Adrock: Half-Elf Cleric/Magic-User 2/1: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 3/8, Spells: 0/5 1st lvl
  Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 2: Move: 9", AC: 8, HP: -3/10, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl
  Tullia Galena: Half-Elf Ranger 2: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 16/24

PC Magic:

• None currently.

Player Resources:

• End of the World (game description)
  Strange New World (maps and realms)
  Memory Tapes (the story so far)
  Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[Pulpatoon]

Garamond wakes Tullia. "D-do you hear that? Oh, Tullia, I'm terribly frightened!"

[SpinwardMarch]

Tullia

Very quietly, Yes, I can. Hush. She listens again, turning her head slightly back and forth. She then pulls out her sword, realizing that she is the only party member who is healthy enough to put up a defense. She thinks, ["Well, this may be our last stand, but I won't go down without a fight. Tullia will stand quietly against the wall, projecting the "I am not the half-elf you are looking for" vibe.

[Inferno]

Beneath the Dead Wizard's Skyscraper
Forbidden Island of Xygax the Wizard, Land of One Thousand Towers
Day Three. Sunset? March 27th, 912 CY




At the terrifying sounds, Garamond awakens Tullia. She draws her sword and grimly waits among the dead broken cyborg cadavers, for what comes next.

Tense minutes pass as the sound of iron scraping grows louder, louder!

Tullia and Garamond assume Adrock and Fiefo would be better off dying in their sleep.

Suddenly the eastern door flies open and they realize they were right. What they witness is hard for their minds to comprehend!



Their disbelieving eyes behold a massive writhing abomination! A tangled amalgam of human remains of perhaps a dozen beings, many of them corroded cyborgs. It rudely drags itself across the gleaming white floor using multiple legs and arms, metal parts scraping as it advances. Several active heads make incongruent, wild-eyed expressions utterly devoid of humanity.

Tullia recognizes some of the frightful heads as species they had previously encountered.






Others, they had yet to encounter.







In horror, Garamond and Tullia see Jeojand's remains among the corpses of the composite creature!




The catman's dead face joins the active, leering heads in groaning:

"...fReSh pArTs..."

The ghastly chorus of the gruesome abomination awakens Adrock and Fiefo into this surreal nightmare!


Actions?!


Map:

One square = 10 feet. X = Dead or unconscious. Lit areas are visible. All else is from memory.





PC Status:

• Chaka: Ape-Boy Thief 3: Move: 12"(6"), AC: 6, HP: -1/20
  Fiefo LeBratt: Rat-Man Fighter 2: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 3/20
  Garamond Antiqua: Cyborg 2: Move: 12", AC: 8, HP: 5/20
  Ko-Nan: Human Barbarian 2: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: -4/32
  L.L. Adrock: Half-Elf Cleric/Magic-User 2/1: Move: 9", AC: 2, HP: 3/8, Spells: 0/5 1st lvl
  Maskelyn: Gnome Illusionist 2: Move: 9", AC: 8, HP: -3/10, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl
  Tullia Galena: Half-Elf Ranger 2: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 16/24

PC Magic:

• None currently.

Player Resources:

• End of the World (game description)
  Strange New World (maps and realms)
  Memory Tapes (the story so far)
  Viewscreen (the story so far in images)

[Pulpatoon]

Garamond hopes that the abomination will be distracted by the cyborg corpses stacked like cordwood by the eastern entrance. It grabs Chaka's sleeping body, and runs for the southern door. It advises the others: "This is a time to be a lover, not a fighter!"

[SpinwardMarch]

Tullia

Muttering under her breath, Holy shit! We have gone from the frying pan into the fire. Louder, Heads up, folks, we have company.

[Pulpatoon]

I really recommend grabbing a downed colleague and heading for the door. We are not up for a challenging fight.

[wolfpack]

LL grabs chaka and scrambles through the door into the egg chamber

[SpinwardMarch]

Tullia

She grab and drag Ko-Nan towards the egg room, following Adrock

[ChubbyPixie]

Fiefo awakens, wild-eyed and disoriented, yet somehow immediately grasps the wisdom of Garamond's advice. He snatches up Maskelyn and follows the others, hoping by some miracle the southern door is functioning again...

[Urson]

Maskelyn
Still too battered and weak to function, Maskelyn mumbles no baths! Already clean...