Plowing the Depths

The party were left with an ultimatum. They have been using the bar as a base for the last week. Sakiran suggests that the party go to collect their ID cards.

They venture out and sense that the guards are now on edge as they head towards the census office. They go through the line and Jaxon states their business. They are led down a darkened corridor and are told there are some discrepancies. Jaxon is listed as dead, so Jaxon tries to lie. Leoric tries his best to help him but the guards do not believe him. They are fined 50 rands for a fraudulent claim. They offer 15 rands as a personal payment. Leoric attempts to namedrop Pryce to get out of trouble, and the guards clearly know the name. They look nervous and hand the ID cards over and to keep them on their person at all times.

They see a procession of guards and troopers who are escorting some prisoners through the streets. Some tribals look weak but there is a hulking figure flanked by two heavy gunners.

This is Draut, who is wearing a bear hood. He is of the Khemisa tribe, the rivals to the Claddghym. He swore an oath to take revenge on his old clan and to remake it. He is wearing impressive heavy armour, stitched together from different sets. He has a cloak on and uses a warhammer. His spirit weapon is in the form of the former spirit weapon. He has black warpaint and dark hair poking out from underneath his bear hood. He is being prodded with shock batons.

Sakiran expresses an interest in rescuing him to fight him. She realises that Leoric mentioned Pryce to the guards from the census office and urges Jaxon to do the same. She pushes Jaxon towards him as she threatens to pull his hair out and makes him mention the same name at the guards. She hangs back as Jaxon tries to explain to the guard that he was sent by Pryce to collect the big prisoner. A guard goes to his commanding officer and explains it, that if Pryce wants it then they'd better give them to him. They ask if he would like him to be prepared in any way, such as with a restraining collar. He hands him a restrainer and an explosive bolt. He explains that Draut "died" and he hands him over to Jaxon.

Sakiran and Draut talk in Tasari about the other two humans, with Draut asking how they are and if they use guns on their people. Sakiran said they probably don't know they exist and though Leoric is not like other humans, she isn't sure on Jaxon. She addresses him in Common and tells them that they will take him back to their home base.

Draut and Leoric recognise each other and Draut explains that he freed Leoric.

Draut then invites Sakiran to spar. Sakiran accepts an unarmed duel.

Sakiran gets the first hit in. It looks like Draut has the upper hands until Sakiran clocks him in the jaw and he is downed. Sakiran helps him back up.

Draut says that the rumours of the chieftain killer were true. Sakiran freezes and Draut explains that it spread among all the tribes, that the chieftain's wife went berserk and killed him. Sakiran sighed and said it was true, and she drank a full bottle of Faj Suyu and that's how it happened. She loved Zairan very much and she started to tear up. Draut told her he respected her. She said she wouldn't. Draut could tell from the way she fought that she was honourable. She went to the bar with Leoric and he poured her a desert whiskey shot.

Draut investigates the bodies from before and is confused. He picks up a shotgun. He sees a vial of Faj Suyu and pours some into a wound he sustained, reflecting that he is clearly not strong enough. He feels the familiar pain of the Faj Suyu coursing through his veins. He hands the shotgun to Leoric. Feeling bad for her, he reaches and rubs Sakiran's head.

Leoric asks what steps they should take. He searches the bar thoroughly for bugs. There are hidden recording devices all around the bar, hidden under false wooden panes.

Leoric finds a note on Nyra's person. It states they were planning to poison the water supplies and plant explosives around the city. Leoric starts yelling for Draut to come and fight him after seeing the recording devices. Draut asks why he would fight him. Sakiran asks what he's doing as Draut casts Zone of Truth. Leoric fails the save and tells him that they are friends and he was trying to get him to punch the thing in the wall.

Sakiran and Jaxon enter the Zone of Truth and Jaxon proves vulnerable to its effects. Draut asks Jaxon what the device is. He explains they are listening devices and fairly common. They normally go to the intelligence.

Sakiran asks why everyone keeps backing away from her. Jaxon blurts out that she is aggressive and then covers his mouth. Draut asks everyone if they trust each other. They mostly answer in the affirmative.

Draut then asks more questions, if they had more party members.

Sakiran asks if he is hungry and he avoided answering. She seems intrigued and cuts herself, bleeding into a tankard. She hands it to him.

Draut asks why is Jaxon here? He remains silent. Draut pats his head like a child. Leoric is confused and lights up a cigarette. Draut hands him the rands that he has and Leoric accepts. He destroys the remaining listening devices.

It is getting late and they decide to go to sleep. As Jaxon and Sakiran sleep, they see each other in their dream, in a black void. The air is moving in a swirling motion around them. Their vision moves away from their bodies and float outwards. Jaxon sees Sakiran draw her blade and charge at him. Sakiran sees Jaxon gets his sword and runs at him. They hear a murmur of a voice, then it is gone. Sakiran wakes up and decides to have a strong drink to wash away the memory. Jaxon wakes up. Draut eats a chicken wing from his pack. They hear a knock at the door to the bar. Draut believes it is the spirits talking. Leoric goes to answer it.

Leoric opens the door and sees a runty dwarf with no beard. He says he's been asked to give them something. These are the bills the boss wanted to give you and hands Leoric letters.

Leoric is given a bunch of letters - it was the postman. Some were addressed to strangers, one addressed to Nyra and one said IMPORTANT. He opened the Nyra one - there is simply a picture of a pig's head on the top and a map with a location marked. "Bring explosives". The one that says IMPORTANT has a threatening messages towards Nyra, threatening violence for non-payment or they are burning the bar down. Signed Markus.

Leoric asks what they should do. Sakiran admits she doesn't know much about the city but doesn't want to kill innocents. Leoric says it would be best to keep on Pryce's good side and they should go to the meeting point. They agree to leave without the explosives, since the people wouldn't be worth bargaining with. Jaxon agrees to come begrudgingly. Sakiran tells Draut there is a fight coming up and he picks up his warhammer and smiles.

They descend into the depths and it is becoming less like the city above. It is over a bridge and in a warehouse, but it is very dark and deep within. Leoric proposes that someone stay up top to watch out for them. Sakiran proposes that Jaxon does it, since he is scared of his own blood. Leoric offers that he looks out and the party agree since he has a rifle.

There is an abandoned warehouse that has unstable ladders which serves as the meeting point. Sakiran and Draut will enter through the front door as Jaxon and Leoric set up a vantage point from on high. The inside is quite well lit with generators. There is chatter among numerous people inside.

They see light shining through the front door as Sakiran tries to peer through the door and see inside. She thinks she can see three people inside, with murmuring of talking inside the door. Draut lifts his hand and casts a pale shimmer of light on Sakiran. She feels protected but not safe. Sakiran smiles as he said he is expecting to enter combat and knocks on the door. Garthen, the contact, asks if they have the explosives, and she succeeds in her deception. They see multiple armed guards. The room is a mess.

Sakiran is able to tell Garthen that Nyra was dead, and the new contact was someone who was named Janus and he was an upstart. The contact cursed that they would trust an upstart and urged them to bring their explosives in. Sakiran told Draut to bring the explosives and clarified in Tasari that he should be ready to fight. She yelled for Jaxon and Leoric to fire and brought her arm down.

Leoric tries to disarm the contact though does some damage - he sees that the wounds stitch back up with nanophage.

Draut hits Garthen with his warhammer twice. His bones are broken, then he creates a biocannon out of his now broken arm. Sakiran, Draut and Jaxon start feeling a pounding in their heads as they are surrounded by these people.

The pounding caused Sakiran to lose her focus as the blade gets lodged inside and tendrils wrap around her wrist as it tries to grab her. She rips her wrist away and see the tendrils had pierced her skin and are dangling off.

Jaxon summons his spiritual weapon. Black blood boils out of his back.

Garthen raises his hand as energy spirals round. A guttural, telepathic voice speaks to the infected to awaken. They see the guards twist and transform, with their skin bursting out and transforming. They are dropping and crushing their weapons. There is a cacophony of psychic energy that even Leoric feels.

Jaxon's hands hurt and burn as his nails grow. His fangs pierce into his lip as he tries to stop the transformation. He is unable to resist as he tries to attack Leoric, but drops his weapon. Leoric kicks it off of the catwalk that they are on.

The guard moves and grabs onto Garthen, and the two guards closer are sinking into Garthen's body. The guards are moving to merge with Garthen.

Leoric shouts to Sakiran and asks if he is a threat. Sakiran responds that he is very high threat and Leoric tries to look for an escape route. He jumps down the ladder and fires at a guard and blows his arm clean off. The other pistol is jammed.

The guards explode in acid.

Draut attacks the guard next to him and it seems that is is on its last legs.

Sakiran slashes with Finisher and punches after, briefly blacking out as her mind is ripped out of her body.

A voice that sounds like Jaxon but deep and guttural starts stating its desire to feed. Jaxon is able to snap out of it after seeing his reflection in broken glass. He is still thirsty but able to control himself for now. He attacks the guard next to Draut with his spiritual weapon, seeing that it is on its last legs. The sword misses.

The guards have almost completely absorbed into him as a psychic force. Sakiran and Jaxon are both struggling for control. Garthen grabs the face of a guard as its spine turns into a blade. He absorbs it into its cannon arm. Garthen is now a horrible, grotesque mess of flesh.

He tries to take two swipes at Draut. He deflects one off of his shield and the other cuts through his armour. His armour is now damaged.

Leoric unjams his weapon and fires the other at the final guard. He bursts its acid sack as it dies, leaving the area around it covered in acid.

Draut tries to dodge the acid, but fails. He feels burning on his heels as he moves out of the way. He cracks a plate with his warhammer, but a tendril grabs the spiritual weapon as it tries to strike.

Sakiran  swings with Finisher and misses, then kicks him, making a good connection. She turns for a punch and sinks into his stomach as teeth and tendrils rip into her flesh. She quickly yanks her arm free though it causes her to be scratched quite badly.

Jaxon uses his spiritual weapon and makes a solid connection. Fire and blood trails across the back as Draut's weapon is cut free.

Garthen reaches into his stomach and pulls out Last Rites, Sakiran's longsword. He poisons the tip and tries to plunge it into Sakiran. He stabs it into her shoulder and rips it out of the top, causing her to wince in pain. He then moves to grab her by the neck, using his talon. He succeeds and the talon pierces into her throat. She hears the voice in her head again as something is crushing her skull. She looks deep into its eyes and she sees something for the briefest moment. It looks like a formless shape full of swirling mists and eyes everywhere. Garthen lets go of her and drags and drinks her blood. Part of his body starts to heal.

Leoric barrages him with bullets, desperate to see him dead. He succeeds and Garthen's body is ripped completely apart by the force of the onslaught. As it is falling, it traces a sigil on the floor. Its blood falls into the sigil. Draut, Sakiran and Jaxon each see the same vision of a grey, abstract void with a being at the center of it. It stings their eyes like a wave of heat, then it fades quickly. They each feel a cold sense of dread.

Draut heals his wounds. They look around and see the remains of the creatures. They are slowly returning back to their human forms. There are human skeletons, with bones cracked and rearranged.

Leoric looks around. He sees there are multiple boxes and barrels with liquid in them. There are boxes with supplies, ammo, food and weapons. He holds it up and asks anyone if they know what is in them. There are explosives and canisters or aerosols and books and documents, but written in a foreign script that no one understands. Sakiran can make out a few words though not enough to read it thoroughly. She picks Last Rites back up. Draut is about to submerge his head in a nanophage barrel and Sakiran pulls him away, telling him not to drink it anymore. Draut tells him that it makes them strong. Leoric asks what this is and she explains it is a holy water for their tribe and it can give them great strength, but also cause deformities.

Leoric tells them to take some of the nanophage. Sakiran fills 4 waterskins with tainted nanophage. They get supplies from the warehouse as well. They get some looks from some people. Some vanish into alleyways and the streets are silent. They manage to get to the surface without incident, but feel like something is going on.