Our Brave Band of Adventurers the Crimson Lotus:

• Charisma, a “human” -mutant- sorceress whose power source is Gamma Radiation which she was exposed to as a child.  As a child of the Atom her hair goes green in the presence of radiation and she progressively gets greener the more powerful spells she casts (and as she gets angry).  She has no love for the Technic League.
• Heidt, a ranger who has traded an affinity for nature for an affinity for machines.  This android has mastered cybertheurgy as well as the lasgun.  Has chosen the mechromancer archetype (blog post at some later point!).  Seeking to learn more about his history he has become an archaeological expert on all things related to the Rain of Stars.
• Rikku, an elven rogue who was adopted by Khonnir Baine when he found her wandering the wasteland near Torch more than a decade ago.  She claims to be a blood elf from a far-away land.  Her history is tied up with a nearby ruin.
• Sylvanus, a dark elf monk who escaped the clutches of mind flayer slavemasters in the area of the Scar of the Spider after a daring raid by surface dwelling heroes freed her.
• Brokthor, a human fighter who was raised by dwarfs and thinks he IS a dwarf.
• Tufast, a human cleric who serves Thor –  power of thunder and lightning.  Much like his barbarian family he hates technology and has a particular spite for robots.  He sees the cleansing power of lightning as the perfect antidote to the curse of the robot infestation of Nimmeria.

The Choking Tower

Session 21

By Rikku Yuffina Kyrus

       I try to open the spinning globe using my E-pick, but I fail and lightning from the holes strikes out. I dodge it. Charisma uses the knock spell on the holes. One after the other, the lights turn on. Once the red one is on, the spinning globe slows, and then it opens up. The room is a small laboratory. A male body is slumped under a desk. It looks like it was burned up. On the desk is a glass case. Inside is a perfectly preserved body of an android: Casandalee. Next to Casandalee, is a green orb. We step in, and a giant robot shaped like a human activates and walks towards us. It’s left arm opens, and reveals robotic tentacles with spikes. A blue shield appears and covers the robot. It stomps towards us, and attacks.

Sylvanus charges, but stumbles and lands behind the robot. Hiedt shoots the robot with lasers, and the shield flickers, and then disappears. The robot activates the shield again and pierces Sylvanus with long tentacles. It sifts through her memories, but Sylvanus breaks free. Tufast casts shatter on the robot, and damages the shield, and then he flies up on a cloud of lightning, and charges the robot with a blue lightning bolt. The shield goes down. Smokey puffs form around Xoud’s body. The robot raises his gun and fires a huge ball of lightning. Sylvanus, Tufast, and I dodge. The rest get damaged severely.

Brocktha swings his chain sword at the robot. There is a small explosion, but the robot is still standing. I sneak attack the robot. Charisma’s hands start to glow; red fire rays emit from her palms. They scorch the robot. Xoud’s ghost appears behind the robot and he says, “Casandalee is mine! MINE!” He points to Charisma and says, “Give me back my spell books!” Xoud murmurs some words, and a massive shimmering cloud comes out of his palms. It chokes us.

Hiedt fires his laser at the robot, and the laser explodes in radiant light. Sylvanus punches the robot with her magical fists. Brocktha slices the robot with his chain sword. The robot searches through Brocktha’s mind, and an image of a dwarven birthday party appears on the green orb. It releases Brocktha. Xoud casts a stinky green cloud. Tufast, Brocktha, Charisma, and I start vomiting.

All of us try to gain consciousness, and Brocktha and I get up. I try to stab the robot, but stumble and miss. Hiedt fires more lasers at Xoud, and the shimmering cloud dissipates. The robot’s gun starts spinning. Sylvanus punches continually. Brocktha cuts the robot, and it explodes. Xoud shouts in anger, “Do you know how long it took me to build that! I spent a lot of time on it!!” I backstab Xoud. Charisma ceases to vomit and gets up. Tufast puts his hand forward, and white light emits towards Xoud. Xoud cowers and flies through the back wall. Tufast does a quick prayer and burns Xoud’s body. Xoud reappears.

Xoud points his wand at us, and seven magic missiles disperses between us. Brocktha attacks Xoud. He shrieks, then slowly dissolves.

We loot Xoud’s body and find a ghostly wand, two rings, and some other air potions and gear. We search a small bin at the end of the room. Inside are Casandalee’s things. She has a wand of healing, a gun, a light saber, and some other trinkets. We search the desk and find a green orb. Inside are memories, including Brocktha’s birthday. Connected to the orb is a panel with a button. We press it. A female, android voice says:

<Pause>I am not sure what you mean. I am Casandalee, an android and a fugitive of my own faith.

<Pause> Because I betrayed my god UNITY, and it sent puppets to punish me. To prevent me to warn others of its plan. Those puppets slew me, but I rested well knowing I had managed to travel far enough that UNITY’s influence over them had lapsed. They slew me, but in doing this so far from their master, they doomed themselves.

<Pause> UNITY was my god. UNITY spoke to my soul, and I could perform magic through my faith. I worshipped UNITY totally until I discovered the truth- that it was also a slaver, a sadist, and a petulant lunatic.

<Pause> Because I learned of UNITY’s evil nature and its dark plans for the world. I would not help an intelligence such as it to escape its bonds. I forsook my faith and fled.

<Pause> My knowledge is recorded on a neurocam I hid during my flight from UNITY. I hid this neurocam in a cave in a Y-shaped valley, many days’ walk northeast of the foundry where I was killed. Local tribes have long called this place the Scar of the Spider.

<Pause> It is a god within Silver Mount, and it rules all within. But it is not content to rule a single wreck. It wants more. It wants to rule us all.

 

After listening to Casandalee, we take a short rest. We exit Lab 0 and then the next door. We appear in the corridor and go into the door right across form Lab 0. There is a straight corridor that leads to a door that reads: Hive mind Research. To our left is tunnel. It looks like something dug a hole, and then something else smoothed it out. We open the door that says Hive mind. Inside this small room are three glass cages, all sealed. The first cage, the farthest to the left, is smashed and has a giant dead wasp in it. The second glass cage is littered with oversized ants, all dead. The last cage is full of big live beetles. A small metal box is on the wall in the third cage. It has different buttons and lights. A table sits to the left of the room. On it are three jars; each contains a huge worm, wriggling around.

When we enter, the beetles come together to form an elven lady. She says for us to let her out. Xoud captured her form the Fey Wild and brought her here. The little box machine feeds her. She has figured out the one, of many codes in the box to give her special paste that nourishes her and gives her intelligence. Xoud says that other codes give different things such as strength, but she hasn’t figured any else yet. She says if we free her, she will give up the box. We think she is telling the truth, but Sylvanus says that this bug lady is an evil fairy. If we let her out, she will devour living creatures. We ask her why Xoud has her here. She says Xoud is obsessed with Hive Minds and Nano bots. He tried to fuse his mind with a Nano hive, and he failed. The result was death.

After discussing it, Tufast banishes her to her home plane. We smash the glass and take the box. We put it in the bag of holding. We exit and go to the tunnel. As we are walking, we hear padded feet coming towards us. Sylvanus casts a spell, and we all hide. Three huge half-wolf half tiger beasts walk past. Hiedt says they are Tyrgs. They sniff us out and attack.

Sylvanus grabs a bomb from her bag. She takes the cap off, drops it, and back flips out of the way. It explodes on us, and on one of the Tyrgs. That Tyrg falls to the ground. Hiedt shoots one of the Tyrgs and I backstab the same one. Brocktha kills the wounded Tyrg and hits Sylvanus purposely. Tufast and Charisma fire the last one down

After the fight, Sylvanus punches Brocktha, and we follow the tunnel. It rises and we can see moonlight ahead. Sylvanus and I sneak to the top. We appear at the back of a cave, so we stealth to the entrance. Inside is a small camp. Six half-orc hirelings with the symbol of the Technic League sit around a fire. Two Tyrgs are running around. A particularly big Tyrg sits next to a Half-elf lady, bearing the official Technic League badge.

Sylvanus chucks a bomb and doesn’t fail this time. It kills the three Tyrgs and hurts the Half-elf. The rest come out of the cave. I sneak up on the Half-elf and kill her. Tufast rises on his lightning cloud and thunder bolts one of the hirelings. Charisma kills another hireling with three bolts of magic missile. Brocktha chops up a hireling, and then does it again to another one. Hiedt and his robot slash and shoot down the last two hirelings.   We then make our escape from The Choking Tower.