Session 9, or I jump off the cliff!
When we left our heroes, Attonka needed a bath.
The rest of that night was uneventful, except for the wookie polishing gunk off her kill (and not herself). The next day, they made it to the ridge and got a good look at why the local hunters call it Glory Or Die when a scene right out of Jurassic Park was interrupted by the sight of a big walking dinosaur analogue getting lifted off the ground and torn apart by something hidden in the trees.
The party set up camp at the same location and started to rappel down the cliff face following Ledo's directions. Predictably, they got partway down the hillside and the birds swooped out just like in Ledo's story from before. The party dropped down to a ledge near the the end of their first rope and took cover from the swooping creatures.
Bindi's experiences had unlocked some strange insights recently, and she tried to reach out with them. She was surrounded by darkness, pulsing waves of it reaching out from down below with a driving sense of hostility. She snapped back to herself just in time to see Attonka throw another rope down and Tu'la'lu jumped off the cliff face. WHEE!
Of course, the whole discussion was longer and more interesting and ended with 'Well, I have a jet pack...what if I jump off the cliff and see what's up?' Everyone loved the idea.
So Tu'la'lu takes a flying leap, shooting out from the cliff with an acrobatic fliptwistturntumbleFALLING! thing that gave her a good look at the cliff face. With the various clues they had, I allowed an easy perception check to notice the larger cave with exceptionally smooth flooring below the cliffside nest/caves where the birds emerged. He twisted in the air and started a jetpack dive, with dozens of the birds chasing. At the same time, the rest of the party started rushing down the rope while the birds were distracted.
Tu'la'lu made a safe, amazing landing in the cave, causing the birds to veer off and circle back. The party started to get close, but several failed athletics checks slowed their descent. Some people got scraped and battered, but there were no serious injuries from the descent.
The inside of the cave was broken and cracked, telling the story of geologic upheaval, but portions of the floors still indicated that this had once been part of a worked installation, with smoothed, obviously-worked sections of floor mixed in with crumbled, cracked, and lopsided. The entire cave floor was tilted, adding fuel to the theory of upheaval.
Deeper in the cave, they found the large doors that Ledo talked about, still standing open. The light from their flashlights revealed a very, very large room, with a very, very, very large Roggwart standing dormant in the back of the room with cables and wires wrapped around his shoulders and back, backlit by a glowing blue orb slightly behind his head.
Wisely, the party decided to leave it alone and sneak into the room. In pairs, they moved forward, looking around for signs of whatever it was that Jacob Walsis had discovered in the area, or looking for other exits. It took only a few seconds to see indications that the floor had had another of the star-map-like carvings that they had been chasing...a lot closer to the Roggwart than they really wanted to go. But go they did.
Sneak, sneak, sneak, ...oops. It was inevitable. Bindi got excited while flashing selfies with the rocks and made a racket.
The blue orb flashed...the eyes popped open....and the Roggwart tried to speak. It really wasn't built for speech, and who know what language it was using, but the end result was a lot of coughing and spittle, and then an ear-shattering, earth-shaking roar right out of Monster Hunter Tri.
Bindi quit snapping pictures of her cute tail and started flashing the ground in earnest just as the beast reached over, yanked a chunk out of the wall, made it glow blue, and threw it at Attonka with tremendous force. It hit, and she could feel the rock try to pull her to the ground, but the blue glow washed off her like oil and didn't slow her movements. It did, however, HURT.
That convinced the party even more...get pictures, get OUT. They started taking potshots at the blue orb after realizing that the beast's thick hide was going to shrug off their best shots effortlessly. Once the blue orb flashed and broke for the last time, the Roggwart slumped again, then screamed and Turned Red (see TVTropes), ripping itself free of the webbing of cords, cables, and wires that had imprisoned it. The party RAN.
They made it outside and the skies were clear. They wasted no time in climbing to the top of the cliff face where Ledo waited, lounging on a folding chair inside a perimeter fence. He must have heard some of the ruckas, because he looked over the group, shook his head, spit, and said, "And I thought the wookie was bad."
The rest of that night was uneventful, except for the wookie polishing gunk off her kill (and not herself). The next day, they made it to the ridge and got a good look at why the local hunters call it Glory Or Die when a scene right out of Jurassic Park was interrupted by the sight of a big walking dinosaur analogue getting lifted off the ground and torn apart by something hidden in the trees.
The party set up camp at the same location and started to rappel down the cliff face following Ledo's directions. Predictably, they got partway down the hillside and the birds swooped out just like in Ledo's story from before. The party dropped down to a ledge near the the end of their first rope and took cover from the swooping creatures.
Bindi's experiences had unlocked some strange insights recently, and she tried to reach out with them. She was surrounded by darkness, pulsing waves of it reaching out from down below with a driving sense of hostility. She snapped back to herself just in time to see Attonka throw another rope down and Tu'la'lu jumped off the cliff face. WHEE!
Of course, the whole discussion was longer and more interesting and ended with 'Well, I have a jet pack...what if I jump off the cliff and see what's up?' Everyone loved the idea.
So Tu'la'lu takes a flying leap, shooting out from the cliff with an acrobatic fliptwistturntumbleFALLING! thing that gave her a good look at the cliff face. With the various clues they had, I allowed an easy perception check to notice the larger cave with exceptionally smooth flooring below the cliffside nest/caves where the birds emerged. He twisted in the air and started a jetpack dive, with dozens of the birds chasing. At the same time, the rest of the party started rushing down the rope while the birds were distracted.
Tu'la'lu made a safe, amazing landing in the cave, causing the birds to veer off and circle back. The party started to get close, but several failed athletics checks slowed their descent. Some people got scraped and battered, but there were no serious injuries from the descent.
The inside of the cave was broken and cracked, telling the story of geologic upheaval, but portions of the floors still indicated that this had once been part of a worked installation, with smoothed, obviously-worked sections of floor mixed in with crumbled, cracked, and lopsided. The entire cave floor was tilted, adding fuel to the theory of upheaval.
Deeper in the cave, they found the large doors that Ledo talked about, still standing open. The light from their flashlights revealed a very, very large room, with a very, very, very large Roggwart standing dormant in the back of the room with cables and wires wrapped around his shoulders and back, backlit by a glowing blue orb slightly behind his head.
Wisely, the party decided to leave it alone and sneak into the room. In pairs, they moved forward, looking around for signs of whatever it was that Jacob Walsis had discovered in the area, or looking for other exits. It took only a few seconds to see indications that the floor had had another of the star-map-like carvings that they had been chasing...a lot closer to the Roggwart than they really wanted to go. But go they did.
Sneak, sneak, sneak, ...oops. It was inevitable. Bindi got excited while flashing selfies with the rocks and made a racket.
The blue orb flashed...the eyes popped open....and the Roggwart tried to speak. It really wasn't built for speech, and who know what language it was using, but the end result was a lot of coughing and spittle, and then an ear-shattering, earth-shaking roar right out of Monster Hunter Tri.
Bindi quit snapping pictures of her cute tail and started flashing the ground in earnest just as the beast reached over, yanked a chunk out of the wall, made it glow blue, and threw it at Attonka with tremendous force. It hit, and she could feel the rock try to pull her to the ground, but the blue glow washed off her like oil and didn't slow her movements. It did, however, HURT.
That convinced the party even more...get pictures, get OUT. They started taking potshots at the blue orb after realizing that the beast's thick hide was going to shrug off their best shots effortlessly. Once the blue orb flashed and broke for the last time, the Roggwart slumped again, then screamed and Turned Red (see TVTropes), ripping itself free of the webbing of cords, cables, and wires that had imprisoned it. The party RAN.
They made it outside and the skies were clear. They wasted no time in climbing to the top of the cliff face where Ledo waited, lounging on a folding chair inside a perimeter fence. He must have heard some of the ruckas, because he looked over the group, shook his head, spit, and said, "And I thought the wookie was bad."