Serious Plots 7: Why so srs?

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik stuffs the fish into his mouth and eats it alive. He begins wading toward the exit, albeit slowly.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Armonia tries to ignore what he just saw as they move forward. Bubbles start to form all around them as fish quickly leap at them, their jaws extended wide as they swarm Tethrik and Armonia. Armonia manages to slice or dodge any that come his way, but just barely. As they make their way forward, they may notice 2 things. The first, the water is slowly receding with every step forward. The second, more and more fish seem to appear, for every one felled or dodged, 3 more seem to take their place.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik realizes that although he can take quite a beating, Armonia will not be able to defend much longer. He attempts to grab Armonia and throw him ahead.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Armonia, completely caught off guard by Tethrik's move, is thrown to the end of the tunnel, splashing down in a puddle. Tehtrik's action, though very noble, opens him up to attack from a dozen fish at once.

"TETHRIK!" Armonia cries out, his eyes burning bright as he moves his attention to the dagger that was his sword, plunging it into the water within the tunnel.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

A number of fish hit Tethrik, but he continues onward. He seems tensed, ready to do something but holding back, waiting for an opportunity.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik's body almost looks like its growing the fish with how deep they have latched on. Dead fish bodies float all around Tethrik as he slowly wades through the water.

Armonia's blade returns to normal size, then unleashes a massive blast of electrical energy, sending Armonia flying backwards into the stone tablet before spreading out throughout the water, electrocuting everything within it.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

"Arrgh!" Tethrik is electrocuted. He continues to fight his way toward the exit, but now he's visibly slowing, his injuries getting the better of him.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Armonia jumps back up and rushes to Tethrik. The smell of overcooked seafood permeates the air. Armonia grabs his sword as he wades back into the water, the blade smoking. "I'm so sorry Tethrik, if I knew it was gonna do that, I wouldn't have done it." Armonia reaches Tethrik, and drapes 2 of Tethrik's arms over his shoulders, helping Tethrik move through the water and dead bodies. Armonia's hair stands on end from the leftover static.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik groans, but with Armonia's help, he gets out of the water.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Armonia lies Tethrik down on the ground once they are back in the Scorpion room. He pulls out a scroll and reads it aloud, following the instructions that came with it. A warm glow begins to surround Tethrik, seeping into his wounds. Tethrik may begin to feel slightly rejuvenated as his wounds begin to heal.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik is healed, but in no fit shape to fight yet.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

"Alright....you definitely need to rest Tethrik, I know you're anxious to get the quintessence, but it won't do any good if you kill yourself to get it." Armonia pulls out another healing potion and places it next to Tethrik. "Take a breather big guy, I'll take a crack at this puzzle."
Ignoring any response from Tethrik, Armonia walks over to the stone tablet, and looks at it close. "Ok.....we're here.....and the way you placed the stones.......these lines connect here........OH! I see how it works now. I could probably get us to either room when you're ready, did you want to start with the Fish?" Armonia grins, laughing internally at the bad joke he made

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik groggily sits up and drinks the potion. "How does it work? And no, I was trying to get to the crab."

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

"Well...look here, we are here in the Scorpion room right? So the stone is black. When you went back to the first room, that tile went black, and I couldn't move it. So I think any room that has a person in it can't be moved. Then look at these lines. You see how these ones on the right connect? They connect with the line to the Scorpion room, but they don't lead anywhere. The tunnel that we were in opened up on the same side, and it also led to nowhere. I bet that if we move the tiles so that the lines match up, we can get to the other rooms!"

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

"Alright. Just give me a minute to rest." Tethrik looks a lot better now.

[Morty]

[Riverside Cavern]

Michalson approaches the figure slowly from the other side, one hand holding his revolver and the other his backsword. The flashlight is mounted on his shoulder now to keep his hands free.

"Aye, this looks like the chief's handiwork. If this place is as old as 'e said, maybe this poor berk just broke down."

He'll wait to see if the corpse reacts to Jim's poking in any way.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Armonia lets Tethrik rest as he begins to rearrange the stones, moving them all counter clockwise until the Crab room stone is underneath the Scorpion room stone. The sound of rushing water bellows around them, loud enough to make anyone feel they are in the center of a dangerous whirlpool.

Spoiler

Show

Key:
R= line hits right side
L= line hits left side
U= line hits top side
D= line hits bottom side
F= fish room
C= crab room
S= scorpion room
O= Empty room
Blue text= moveable piece
Black text = immovable piece

{DL} {FLR} {DL}

{UR}{SDR}{UD}

{ } {CUL} {OUD}

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik gets to his feet and looks to see what changes.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

When the sound of water finally stops, the tunnel entrance to the right disappears, the stone rising up like a geyser before solidifying. Beyond that, nothing appears to have changed. Armonia walks over to Tethrik. "Ready to go whenever you are buddy!"

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik walks into the tunnel, expecting to see a statue of a crab in the next room.

[Murkus]

[Riverside Cavern]

Michalson approaches the figure slowly from the other side, one hand holding his revolver and the other his backsword. The flashlight is mounted on his shoulder now to keep his hands free.

"Aye, this looks like the chief's handiwork. If this place is as old as 'e said, maybe this poor berk just broke down."

He'll wait to see if the corpse reacts to Jim's poking in any way.

[Riverside Ruins]

Jim carefully pokes at the corpse with his bident.
"It looks like a sentry or somethin' he made out of the same metal techniques he makes the rest of his stuff out of." he muses.

The machine - which, if the lads take even a cursory look at, by all rights shouldn't have been able to function at all - remains still and inert. It doesn't even react to being poked with sharp things. Jim will know it undoubtedly know that many of Sticks' toys are similar in their construction. Their mechanisms do not mesh, they provide no real power to one another, their shells are sometimes empty entirely. And yet, they move.

If Jim or Michalson are eyeing the thing with a form of arcane or second Sight, they will see a latticework of a hundred different minor spells arranged, layer after layer and line after line, to form the faint shape of a hunched humanoid. Even this rudimentary creature's true workings are mind numbingly complex, the work of an artificer with skill outstripping that of any living practitioner. Or rather, any mortal one. What the spellwork amounts to is that the machine, when it was active, could very probably have passed as a sentient being. It could have interacted, spoken, learned, related, empathized, experienced emotion. Even a queer form of love, sorrow, and loss.

The spells themselves seem to be in perfect working order. They could probably function well until the end of the next age. It is the body that has given out - on perhaps some errand or random patrol, the machine finally succumbed to weather and erosion of the joints. Or so it would seem.

"His work, perhaps," says Eschelle quietly, as though the machine is a sleeper that might be woken. "But I have never seen Sticks make something so ugly."

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik walks into the tunnel, expecting to see a statue of a crab in the next room.

Walking back into the first room, Armonia and Tethrik find that it is clearly different. In the place of the stone tablet is a large silver statue of a crab. Armonia, knowing what to do from the Scorpion's room, splashes water on the statue. Like before, the metal seems to turn to liquid, but unlike before, the statue seems to expand, until the crab, which was by itself about Armonia's height, now stands a good foot over Tethrik. With a quick shake, the silver falls off the crab, showing a bright red shell with wavy blue designs all over it.
" Ey Mon, welcome to de Water trial, I am de Gahdian Crab. Now who be takin mah challenge?" the red crystal once again glows, shooting off a light at the large, meaty crab. "Onee da Fiya? Hoho dis id gonna be fun fo me!"

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

"What is the challenge?" Tethrik hopes it's not a fight.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

The crab leans forward so the he can look Tethrik straight in the eye "Jour a very rood mon, Mon. Very well den. Jour challenge id simple. Find Mah weakness. Dis shell o mine id near impervious. Find da ting dat can bring me down, and joo pass. Normally, I be givin da hint to point de trial goers to de right direction, but seeing how rood joo ah, no hint for joo. You get ten tries before I smash jour bones. Got it? Den begin!" the Crab smashes his claws to the ground, violently shaking the entire room, to punctuate his point.

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

Tethrik can't easily understand the crab's accent, but he gets the gist. He's fought many different creatures before, and his first thought would be the eye, but that might be too obvious. He doesn't say anything out loud, however.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Armonia looks at Tethrik, to see how he reacts to the Crab's challenge. Seeing he is thinking, Armonia shrugs his shoulders and walk a few feet to the Crab's left, and begins poking a nearby puddle with his sword, testing to see if anything happens. After a couple of minutes of near silence and lack of movement, the Crab looks first at Armonia, then at Tethrik. "Well well, I didn't take joo two ad tinkers. Normally peepole come into dis place and attack ad soon ad I let dem know what de challenge id. End up usin all dere tries, den gettin killed by me. I give joo mons de credit, joo ah bein smawt takin jour time."

[bc56]

Cyclopean Ruins

The crab said that his shell was nearly impervious. However, his mouth might not be. Tethrik examines it.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Cyclopean Ruins

Besides seeing the slightly disturbing make up of the Crab's jaw, Tethrik see nothing unusual about the Crab's mouth.

Armonia burning gaze turns on his sword.

The Crab taps his legs on the ground as he waits for someone to do something.

[Morty]

[Riverside Ruins]

Michalson isn't, by and large, an easily impressed man. He's got a phlegmatic temperament by nature, and he's seen a lot during his travels around the Planes, various job and his training with the Spellbreakers. But this...

"Well I'll be a Loth's dinner. Ugly as it may be, there's still enough dazzle on it to fill a spellslinger's book. This tinman was once like a living thing. I guess the metal wore out faster than the dazzle."

[Deathkeeper]

[Riverside Ruins]

"Sticks has ripped a lot of things out of his brain over the years. He tries to hide it, but it comes up from time to time. I've always wondered if he's ever used his living machine trick on an intelligent thing." Jim mutters, backing away from the body when something occurs to him
"Its mind is gone, right? It can't have stayed in there once the frame gave out, right?" because if not it's probably been trapped in a cold metal hell once the body stopped working.