Session 67: ALT's Idyllic Simulation

General Summary

Strange Vines

The session started off with combat against the unusually lonely and lost monstrosities. Without an exit in any other part of this place, you turned your attention back to the vines which Bobcat had suggested avoiding earlier. These vines were constantly growing, shifting and tightening around an area of these halls which they hid rather well. As they grew they would thicken until they suddenly began to transform into a state that made them look almost manufactured. Nuts, bolts and layered metal gave them the appearance that something crafted them, and they needed to be dealt with if you were to be able to leave this place. Turquoise tried moving them, pulling them apart and forcing his way through. However, the vines held firm and proved to be much stronger than Turquoise had hoped. While there was some amount of give, it wasn't nearly enough for the largest, strongest of rats to fit through. He then tried to cut through it, but the vines simply regrew and almost immediately replaced the lost layer. The cleaved vines were inspected, and you all noticed that they didn't really look like vines all the way through. Instead, shortly after the uppermost layer of plant fiber, there were what appeared to be blue sheets of paper with white writing and drawings. As players, these could be recognized to be blueprints, though they were rather foreign for Bobcat's crime gang. Jade tried to unravel some of the vines to see if more of the information could be revealed, and she was able to recognize some of the drawings as the mechanical arms which had been encountered earlier. The vines themselves seemed to also grow rather rapidly from any discarded blueprints.

Guidance was needed, and you all turned towards Bobcat for either a solution or some form of instruction. Still in the form of a fire elemental, Bobcat didn't speak in any recognizable language, but he did start moving through the tiny gaps between the vines. As he moved through them, they burned as anything else would, and you all were able to see a path start to appear through this obstacle. Additionally, the ash from the blueprints appeared to still be capable of growing more of these strange plants as tiny vines appeared from each ash as it hit the ground or wall. The fire dealt with them, and you were finally able to see beyond into a new room. This new room looked to be a lab of some sort. Tables, tools, paperwork, and massive pipes were all visible along with a large circular slab of stone decorated with arcane symbols. Lightning arced off the wall, steam escaped vents and pipes, and piles of scrap metal and damaged components littered the floor. You each found your resolve and chose to proceed into this new place, but you didn't exactly end up where you thought you would.

Chasing a Shadow

Through the burning vines you arrived in a factory. Several things were noticed in this new place by each of you: An assembly line was present with several workers each diligently assembling bits and parts into components, a shoot was present and dropping these bits and parts onto a conveyor belt, the workers looked...off somehow, and a shadow was quickly crawling up the shoot towards another floor of this factory. Ghost and Turquoise followed the shadow, presumably with Bobcat shortly behind, and Gila's Tail joined Jade on the current floor to inspect these workers and mechanical components. The two of them quickly learned that the workers wouldn't be much help, and that the bits and parts seemed rather...confusing. The worker that Jade spoke to appeared to be human, wearing a bandana and factory garb, but his eyes were missing with large black pits in place of them. He mumbled something incoherent when she spoke to him before getting back to work. Jade chose to steal some components before following the other group up the shoot. Those following the shadow were able to see it going up another shoot on the next floor. It seemed to be less stable this time around as its form was heavily distorted. Jade and Gila's Tail caught up to the chasing group around the same time that they arrived in the shoot leading to floor three. Along the way, they also happened to glimpse the workers on the second floor. They looked almost identical to the ones on the first floor, but their limbs were being replaced with mechanical parts and one of the workers was missing entirely. On the next floor, the shadow was again seen though still more distorted. Thin, thread-like tendrils were drifting in the air around it as if it were unraveling, and it again dashed up the next shoot to yet another floor. Only two workers remained on this third floor, and their forms were no longer human. They had abandoned all semblance of human form in favor of increased efficiency and power. The shadow was chased up the final shoot, and you all at long last arrived in the lab you had originally glimpsed through those burning vines. Some of you could see a small-statured and elderly inventor working tirelessly on some project, and, as you moved, you were able to see an equally sized -though mechanical- assistant.

Freeing ALT

Plans to murder or steal from these wealthy inventor types were made, and Jade started to sneak forward to get a better peek at what was being made. As she approached, she was able to see that the piles of refuse in this room had components from the "lower" floors of this "factory" and that there were two unfinished suits of armor full of clockwork near the work benches. She moved forward close enough to see that the bearded gnome was currently working on a familiar looking mechanical limb. Ghost also started to sneak forward with thoughts of stabbing on the mind. Turquoise moved up as well, though far less sneaky than Ghost or Jade. Despite this, the gnome didn't seem to pay him or any of you any mind whatsoever even when Turquoise shouted and tried to get his attention. Turquoise tried again and chose to ask this gnome where they were with hopes of alleviating some confusion. The old gnome still didn't respond, but his mechanical assistant spoke up. "Uh, we're kinda busy here." Turquoise voiced concerns for the group's own currently busy state and their desire to get outta there, but this mechano-gnome didn't seem to really care and dismissed him to go find someone whose job it is to help with that. Turquoise tried to get more information, particularly about where these supposed other people might be, but the conversation didn't really get anywhere before Ghost happened upon a sleeping mechanical limb. The limb revealed itself from a previously hidden position inside a pile of trash and tried to slam into the poor rat, but Ghost was able to avoid it with ease.

You started quickly destroying this out of control mechanical limb while continuing to communicate with this unusual and diminutive robot. For the time being, you ignored the spirits of contentment though some of you acknowledge that they'll be dealt with before long. Jade, meanwhile, turned her attention towards the spirits and the robot with hopes of keeping these spirits from being a problem. she managed to incapacitate the gnome and his assistant, but the spirits of contentment managed to resist the swirling colors that she conjured. The act of aggression did have some other consequences as well. An alarm started to blare along with flashing lights and increased motion in the room overall. A voice could be heard coming from a loud speaker as well.

T H R E A T S__D E T E C T E D
D E F E N S I V E__P R O T O C O L S__E N G A G E D:
P R O T E C T__C R E A T O R
C R E A T O R__D E S I G N A T I O N:
E L D E R L Y__G N O M E; A C E R D A T A
T H R E A T S__W I L L__B E__D E S T R O Y E D
P R E P A R I N G . . .
D E S O L A T I O N__P R O J E C T O R__O N L I N E
W A R M U P__P R O T O C O L__E N G A G E D

Tactics for avoiding whatever a "Desolation Projector" is were thought up including capturing the gnome and holding him hostage, but attention was first directed towards the currently aggressive spirits of Contentment. Jade, however, saw an opportunity to try and stop the slowly counting down Prototype Desolation Projector. She first tried communicating with the voice over the speaker, but it didn't seem to be able to understand or hear her. She also noted the two switches that were thrown when the countdown began and chose to teleport towards them, but her turn ended before she could experiment with them. One of the contentment spirits finally died, and with it, Jade began to vanish. Bobcat, perhaps still influenced by these spirits, was losing part of his desire to be with his crew, but ALT was also breaking free of the control these spirits had over it. Jade turned to Bobcat as she disappeared and was able to provide one last sentiment for her friend. "Hey boss, it's been fun, but we all knew it couldn't last forever." ALT, now in control of their body, then began to search for a way to turn this machine off in Jade's place. It led the gnome to one of the switches on the wall which had been thrown when the Desolation Projector was activated, and, after some confused conversation with the gnome, decided to try the switch. The machine didn't turn off, instead the arcane circle started to glow, and three shadows appeared within it.

These shadows, clearly a trap for anyone trying to disable the deadly-sounding device, were incredibly powerful. The first wielded a shadowy kopesh and defeated ALT with a few mighty swings. The second had a pair of scimitars which it used to try and defeat Bobcat's fire elemental form. The third had a rapier and was able to stab into Turquoise while channeling a spell designed to dominate his mind at the same time. Thankfully, before these threats could completely clear the lab out, ALT was able to throw the other lever and everything went quiet. Gears stopped turning, lightning stopped arcing, furnaces died down, alarms were silenced and everything was still as the shadow adventurers also faded into nothingness. With combat over, you tried to gain some knowledge from ALT and the gnome, Acerdata. Concerns over the lack of an exit, the spooky nature of it all, and the strange vines turning into metal eventually led to ALT offering to build a way out and providing their point of view. "I didn't see any vines or anything like that. I was on a conveyor belt building things, and then I realized: I'm deeply unsatisfied. Then I kept trying to find something that would satisfy me, and then I eventually found Acerdata, but...I don't know. Feels like I just need to keep walking." As ALT mentioned Acerdata and tried to build a way out of this place, the situation started to cloud their eyes and their mind. It started to fall back into the strange sense of contentment as more time passed, and it realized that something was trying to pull it under the longer they were with Acerdata. They looked at Acerdata while walking them over to one of the shoots leading to a lower level. "I'll find you eventually." With that, ALT pushed Acerdata down the shoot. The old gnome fell for a strangely long time, never really hitting a surface, and the strange feeling of being pulled under and cloudiness started to fade from ALT's mind. Another spirit of contentment crawled from the pit that Acerdata was pushed down, and its tendrils were already passing through ALT's body trying to find any amount of contentment it could feast on. You all ganged up on this last spirit. As it died, the lab around you started to slowly fade and distort until it was, much like the Red Peaks, completely gone and replaced with more slimy sandstone walls.

Towards Hysteria

You started moving forward away from where ALT's room might've conceptually been, and thoughts of a short rest began to get passed around. These discussions were interrupted, however, as the sound of fluttering wings and agonizing screams of pain were heard from behind you. A winged, elf-like creature covered with leaking wounds could be seen peeling himself off a nearby wall and turning towards you. The blood that gushed from each of its injuries turned into arcane energy and launched towards you.

The creature was dealt with easily enough, but each time he was harmed with damage that would puncture its skin like slashing or piercing, it bled and launched more energy at the attacker. With that ...unusual threat dealt with, you made a campfire and rested while eating and talking about the journey so far. You were able to finally examine your surroundings with more scrutiny as well, and it was noted that there were corpses floating through the shallow water on the ground. The depth that they portrayed would suggest the water was much deeper, yet it only really made it a short distance up your feet. The source of the shallow water appeared to be melted snow as there were also slowly melting piles of snow scattered throughout the halls. You moved further along the hallways after your rest, fighting more of the elf/fae creatures, and you eventually reached a dead-end. Snow was piled up into a wall which blocked any progress. Worse still, beneath this snow were two pairs of legs wearing skin-tight, black leather armor. Bells decorated the boots and shin portion of this armor, and a black ichor that resembled ink or oil was seeping from them and into the water you were standing in. That's where we're pickin' up next time! Two weird corpses in the snow. What that's all about?

Monday D&D Apr 10, 2023