Labyrinth

As they head down, the air becomes warm and stifling. There is the smell of oil and machinery. It is not populated by people. There are a few gangs but no one lives there. It branches into a fork.

Kemlyn advises they watch their step and leads them down the left hand fork. Leoric almost steps into a collapsing pile. They enter into an area with broken lights with stale, humid air. Stagnant water drips down.

Mist seeps in. She points at it and tells them to cover their mouths. She brings down her visor. It leads into a large, open room with a door. She puts her hand on it and blue lines streak up and out as it switches on lights. The door splits down the middle and opens. It stutters open.

Kemlyn says that we're here. In the first room, there are what looks like lockers and boxes. It looks like a storage room. Ezra and Tasu look around, finding various tools, both technical and manual. They try to pick up books and they fall to dust. They also find overalls and trinkets. There is a faded photo of a female elf with an elegant headdress. Ezra takes some spanners and the picture. The picture crumbles away, though he gets half of it. He casts Mending. He now has a picture of a pin up.

Sakiran looks in the boxes. She finds circular containers that she saw in the old facility.

Kemlyn admonishes them for looting through the bones of their ancestors, then tells them they have a job to do.

On the left there is a corrosive liquid pouring into the floor. On the right it is very misty.

As they start walking down the misty path, their vision is obscured. They suddenly hear a massive clang as the door slams shut. Kemlyn did not follow them. Leoric asked why the door closed. She shakes her head through the window. She speaks through the communication devices Sakiran and Leoric have. She apologises and says it is the only way to stop them. Ezra summons a fiery creature behind her with malicious intent. It exudes strong heat, vaguely raccoon shaped but with exposed bone through the flames.

Kemlyn turns round with her pistol. It glows a fierce blue as she fires at it twice. It blows a chunk of the creature away. On the second shot, the weapon clicks and dies. She pulls out a second pistol, ready to face against the fire raccoon. The raccoon lunges but she flickers backwards. She takes aim with her two pistols. They flare as she fires the explosive rounds. The creature disperses into a bloody haze. She walks to the door again. Leoric pulls out his comm device and tells her to open the door. Kemlyn says she can't. Leoric asks why not. She lied to them - the towers are the dragonline. There is no way to disconnect them. She holsters both of the pistols.

She looks at Sakiran and Ezra. She says it pains her to kill kin. Sakiran says she thought she wasn't. Kenlyn says she's Elvish enough. Sakiran said it honours her. Kemlyn stops as Leoric says it doesn't have to be this way. She says it does and walks off. Leoric notes they must find a new way out.

They enter a room full of monitors, some are still active. Sakiran looks at one of the still active ones. It is written in ancient Elvish. The dripping is coming from a broken pipe. It is dripping a silver liquid. She makes out the following on the screen.

Dr£ao-lin-status: co-rosed

cot+aint br+ched

7 co=nta=in8ati8on

As she looks at the screen, they hear from a speaker next to it a loud burst of static. Mechanical screeching similar to white noise and microphone feedback varying in pitch burst through it. Ezra smashes it with his yklwa.

Leoric activates his cybernetic eye and sees a camera. It looks like it is connected to a system and functioning. The lens is cracked with an organic eye underneath.

Leoric tries to interface with the computer. As he places them, he feels follicles grow out of it. He moves a finger and the screen reacts. He has gone onto another screen full of numbers. He feels he has seen things like it before in the city. He tries to find how to activate a security system and manages to figure out that there is a vague system. Sakiran's translations don't entirely make sense, but he thinks he understands. A small screen pops up and they see a fuzzy, bloodshot image of another room. It is looking out into a hallway that has an intersection.

Leoric asks if she can make out any more data. She translates what she can, but can't gleam anything useful from it.

Leoric lets his hands go and there are sticky strands on his hands.

They move down the corridor and it branches into a single file walkway. The floor looks rusted and worn away.

Sakiran runs across and feels it buckling. They are more loose now. Tasu follows her and runs across. The mid plank buckles and crashes down. There are pipes and jets of steam. Ezra jumps over and lands, which also buckles. It is half jagged. Leoric is last. He tries to climb on the pipes. Leoric jumps and lands, almost falling backwards. He is just able to haul himself back up and almost hurts himself on the jagged metal, but Sakiran grabs him and hoists him up.

They see a large cylindrical container full of liquid in the new room. They also see a desk and a locker, as well as a door at the other end. The door is closed. Tasu pulls on the locker but sees there is a combination lock. He checks the desk. There are various rotten papers. On the wall, there is a deep crack with water seeping through. Mushroom blooms have started on the paper. They see the word dragon and that's all. There are various vials and a serum that looks similar to a stim, but of a different design. The serum is covered in a moss, though Ezra sees it is blue underneath. Leoric tries a combination in the locker. 788. Nothing happens. Tasu jams his crowbar into it. He puts his entire weight into it and has unlocked the locker. Inside of it is a suit of armour. It is made of light metal interlocking plates. As he lifts it up, it barely weighs anything. It is a shimmery foreign material. Attached to it are some tubes going into the centre with an empty socket.

It is a suit of altarnie armour, with a slot for a power gem. It looks like it would enhance their abilities somehow, but without the gem. Tasu puts it on as the armour warps to his body shape. He finds it comfortable.

There are a few bags. There are books that have been preserved. One appears to be about advanced weapon training and another is a dull science book. Tasu throws them at her. She thanks him, though told him it wasn't necessary to throw it as she was right next to him.

The door is similar to the other ones they have encountered, though it is worn and damaged. To the side of it is a panel with a hand scanner. There are some exposed mechanicals too. Sakiran touches the scanner. There is a flash of warmth down her hand. She feels an understanding of what it actually was, as the door crunches open.

As they walk through, they hear the sound of running water and the sound of a giant fan whirring. They carry straight on down. There is a broken pipe spewing out silver liquid. There is a stream of silver liquid filling the room. They feel there is a current of air, with a massive extractor fan at the the top of the room.

They turn around and go to another room. They look down the corridor and see a pillar in the centre. It is leading off in three other directions.

Leoric ventured off alone, looking in the stream of nanophage. There were wiggling little creatures in the stream, and it was filling up a room. It looked like recent damage. Leoric hopped over the stream and continued onwards.

Tasu and Sakiran see a massive hallway full of mist seeping in from the roof. It is making formations on the ground of cloud cover.

Ezra comes upon a creature and tries to close the door again. It makes a small noise and it looks at him. It is a combination of flesh and metal. It has black and unblinking eyes. Ezra casts frostbite. The flesh blackens and he charges towards him. Ezra starts running away. He makes it back towards Tasu and Sakiran. Sakiran runs towards the source of the screaming. She positions herself in front of Ezra. She slashes into it with the greatsword, slashing it round and stunning it with the force. She kicks into it twice. Even though it is stunned, it is maintaining eye contact with Sakiran and Ezra. Ezra screams for it to die as he forces the ground to erupt. Several layers of flesh are torn and its innards spill out. It is still maintaining eye contact with cold, beady eyes.

Tasu runs around it while it is staring at Sakiran. He jumps, hooks into its neck and slides all away around, cleaving its head straight off. Even as it falls, it stares at the two elves.

Ezra picks up its head. Its face has a small mouth, two small eyes and is gaunt. Ezra mounts the head on top of his staff. There is a broken pipe again in the room where it came from. The door has multiple scratch marks, as if it had been stuck in this room. Tasu sees inside the pool, there are a few gems. They glitter. Tasu pulls them out with his crowbar. The gems look infected and corrupted. There are spirals and tainted gems. There are rubies, sapphires and garnets. He hops out and skips towards Sakiran to show her. He happily skips to her and says he's in the money now. She says they definitely look interesting. He tells her to keep her hands off. She says she's no interest in his gems. He says good and skips off again.

Ezra summoned woodland creatures, injecting a small amount of the mystery serum into a raccoon. It bled out, had spasms and died. The other raccoons tried their best to ignore the situation.

Leoric entered into a room with six containers. They are fogged up with a red substance growing on the glass. In the centre, there is a desk with a terminal on it. There are lockers near the entryway to the room. Leoric goes over to the terminal. There is a thudding coming from the tubes. Something slides down the glass with a wet sound.

The screen has been damaged with age. He interfaces with the computer. He gets a feeling in the back of his head as he interfaces. The name of this block was Genetics 07. He brings up a data file, scanning through it and understanding it. The subject was a female of 230 years, with a wasting illness. The result was unsuccessful. She was placed in stasis. The file cuts out. The files, apart from the last, relate to the tubes. Leoric pulls out from the interface. Leoric goes to the console next to the computer. He reads the name Aleon Gricken, sex M, age cuts off at 999.99. The thudding was coming from behind him and checks that console. The name was Aramirelle, age 200, sex F. Inside the glass is all red. It looks like a lattice of flesh has grown over the tube. He sees purge, release and stasis. He backs away and goes to the refrigerator lockers. He shoots the fridge open. The fridge is full of blood samples, but they are rotten and brown. In some, there is a silver liquid that has kept the blood fresh. There is another locker behind him. He shoots the locker open. There is a datapad inside. There is a nano-enhancement experiment. He grabs another silver tube and stows it. There are three ports. Leoric inserts the vial into the bottom one. It starts to filter down, injected into the container. Inside there is movement. The hand moves. It has no real skin to it. It is more animated. It is trying to break out of its container. Leoric gets another vial. He places it into the top port. Two metal prongs stab into the form inside the tube and deliver it directly. The creature twitches as it is injected. It starts pawing at the glass. Leoric tries the stasis option. It flashes up with an error. He puts on some protective equipment and activates the release button. Something falls out of the tube. She looks skeletal and nude. There is no skin left on her hands and she is unwell. She has bits of skin missing. It looks like she was in there for a very long time. Her face is sunken and her lips are gone. She is shivering, her eyes completely white and clouded over. Leoric takes a labcoat and puts the coat on her. She tries to speak, but cannot. Leoric says it's alright. She tries to speak again. Leoric checks the other consoles. Two have been purged. Another two are marked as deceased. There are floating remains. He releases another. It falls out and immediately he notices it has changed. It does not look elven anymore. It falls out and looks spider-like. It makes whirring and screeching noises. Aleon had acute, cancerous infection. He volunteered for experimentation.

Leoric draws his weapons. He puts his gun against it as the bullet rips through. Its legs coil into its body. The female shrinks back at the sudden loud noise and scrambles towards the corner.

Leoric picks her up and grabs her shoulder. She feels fragile. The first few steps are shaky, but she starts walking. There is no skin on the bottom of her feet.

Leoric calls for help. He tells them he is near the fan. They head back over to him and see him carrying a skeletal woman. Sakiran bandages the woman. It takes about five minutes to get her bandaged up. She covers her with her cloak. Sakiran tries to feed her some raisins. She puts a single raisin into her mouth. She swallows with a hard sound. She helps her to drink from her waterskin. She hears a croak from the woman. She tries to pat for the food. Sakiran gives her more raisins. The woman pats at her face. She grabs her hand with all of her strength. Sakiran says in Elvish that she needs to save her strength and not to thank her yet, they still need to get out. The woman nods and Sakiran says in Common they should be okay to keep moving.

Tasu and Leoric both head East, with Sakiran and Ezra and the woman heading North. Tasu and Leoric enter a room with containment rooms that have been smashed open. They feel uneasy - something got out. Tasu finds something that may be of use to Leoric. He finds that the grenade is a void grenade, old world technology. He has found a box of altarnie bolt rounds. They find a note and a bottle full of something. It appears to be a scientist's drug stash.

Tasu attempts to pry some lockers open, but he has jammed the crowbar into it. They grab two stims.

Ezra and Sakiran see a very large room. It smells of iron and waste. There is a thick musk in the air. The floor feels sticky as they walk. Sakiran sees a horrifying sight. On the walls, there are bits of organs hung up on the walls. There are bones from humanoids. At the top of the room, there is an altar. Something is strung up in a cross formation with things dangling off. Around the area, they see there have been dwellings. Leather bound huts and things dragged in from other rooms to make dwellings. The walls are decorated with flesh that have been peeled off of things. Ezra sends his raccoon scouts to test for traps. It runs in chattering. Ezra is watching through his eyes. What he sees are multiple huts. There are bed rolls strewn about, with different pots and meats hung up on racks. The meat is fresh. All around, there are fetish. Ezra tells Sakiran that he wants to go home. He points to the nearest flesh decoration. Sakiran admits that is fair. She tells Tasu and Leoric on the radio that there are people living there who hang flesh on the walls. Through the eyes of his raccoon, Ezra sees it is speared. The humanoid is wearing flesh of clothes. It has filed its teeth into spikes. Ezra looks horrified. He pulls out his bag and lays out some spikes on the floor. He lays out some oil then ball bearings to block the way.

They hear the knocking of bones and drums together as creatures emerge from the shadows. Some have covered their entire bodies in the blood of people they have captured. The leader's hands are covered in blood. He is surrounded by flesh monstrosities. The room is covered in flesh and offal, people hanging from hooks.

A shambling mound runs towards them incredibly quickly. As soon as it reaches Sakiran and Ezra, it splits into two halves. They attack Ezra and Sakiran. Ezra is able to knock it away, but Sakiran is clawed into by its maw.

Sakiran cleaves through a swarm. She punches through a fair bit of the swarm but some still remain. A cultist spreads blood from his wrist over his face and moves towards the party. With a gurgle, they see a beast made of tentacles and mouths charge towards them. The cultist with the bloody hands reaches towards the figure on the altar and begins to cast a spell.

Tasu moves forward and stabs into a cultist. He stabs right in his side and he starts laughing. He licks the blood off of his hands. Tasu stabs again and it goes deep. He laughs dementedly with frantic breathing. Tasu jumps backwards and moves back to Sakiran.

Ezra casts a fireball. One is blown apart into cackling giblets. The flesh beasts flail about. Ezra is clawed at by the eye swarm, but he is otherwise unharmed.

Leoric throws a grenade into the crowd of cultists. The grenade lands and a vortex expands outwards. It rips apart some of them, but one is left standing. He aims past Ezra at the eyeball swarm. Though he misses with one, he fires with the other blasts apart the remaining eyeballs.

Sakiran moves to the cultist closest to them and slashes deep inside his shoulder. She kicks him and laughs. He moves closer to her face. She can smell the iron and blood on his breath. He dodges a punch and she knees him in the gut. He vomits out black liquid laced with giblets.

The flesh beast at the top moves towards the cultist. It consumes the cultist. It is pulled into the beast and he is ripped apart. It grows larger and moves towards Sakiran and Tasu. It swipes Sakiran, but she is able to parry it into the ground. It pulls metal up from the floor.

The chieftain has finished channelling his spell. A rift opens in the middle of the room. A figure with cloven hooves and the head of a ram steps out. The chief cries in guttural Elvish "The goddess arrives."

Tasu makes the connection, but his dagger gets stuck. He lets it go. He now has one dagger. He shanks it again and pulls guts out, but it heals. The inside glows as it shifts around like a formless mass.

Ezra casts a fireball at the demon. It goes off and explodes. As soon as goes near the giant, there is a flood of mist as it detonates. A wave of flames rolls out of it, but it didn't have as much of an effect that he thought it would. The mist is still pouring out. Ezra's wildfire spirit shoots out a flaming seed. It explodes against a pillar and scorches the flesh on the wall. Ezra then hides.

Leoric runs to get a better range. He fires an altarnie bolt into the flesh beast. They make an impact, detonating inside of it. The second detonation blows it out.

Sakiran runs to the goddess and swipes at her greatsword. She punches it into a deformed being. The flesh moves around as psychic cackles resonate in her mind. She disengages using her ki.

The goddess points at Leoric. She closes her fist. Leoric feels something change as fire starts in his veins. He has spines grow out of him as his normal eye starts to bleed. Blood congeals around his implants. It is tries to both of them. A sea of mist covers everything. Leoric manages to maintain control though he is in immense pain. Sakiran is enveloped in the mist. When the mist disperses, she has dropped her weapon and claws have extended. Her teeth are like sabres and her tail swishes wildly.

Tasu moves to pick up his dagger in a swift motion. He is able to hide behind a corner.

Ezra casts scorching ray and burns away some of the goddess's face.

Leoric tries to aim his grappling hook on its head. He reels himself in as it hooks around a horn. He pulls on a well of energy within him and plants two packs of explosives within the hollow point of its skull.

Sakiran has no control over her own actions as she bounds over to Leoric running away. She stabs with her tail into Leoric, dealing some minor damage.

The goddess tries to get Leoric but he detonated the explosives as Sakiran had him on the floor. There is a massive crater blown out in the ceiling. There is a complete cave-in where it was. The chieftain was also caught in the blast as his back cracked against a pillar. Sakiran regains control and is horrified at her losing control again.