Salvage

Reerok awakened from his reboot and asks where Dr Ardelle is. Sakiran recognises the name, but does not know how to answer. Reerok looked around in confusion and saw Ythrain's body. He shuffled over to the dark elf and knelt above him, particles coming from his palm and setting alight. The body was enveloped in blue flames that faded into red, burning his remains. Reerok turned around suddenly and welcomed them to the perimeter of Tower Number 2 and introduced himself as Chief Engineer Reerok.

Leoric asked if he means to tell him that they're in charge of this thing. Reerok looked confused again and wandered off to take a look around the village. He performed a scan to make sure everything is okay. He was trying to uplink to the servers but received no response from other units either. He went back into the hut and asked who Sakiran and Leoric are. They were confused, since they already told him.

There was a rabble, shouting in a language he could not understand. The party heard clamouring of mutated tribal people outside. Leoric giving the necklace to a random person caused a commotion over their leadership structure. Some wielded wooden spears and were ready to fight. Reerok decided to watch how it played out. An older woman, hunched over, screamed something and a blast of flame erupted from her hand. The other side of the partition was covered and a huge melee began.

Reerok was trying to determine if the behaviour is normal. Leoric went outside to see what the ruckus is all about. He asked what Reerok was doing. After a couple of minutes, he picked up a stick and tried to hit him, believing it to be a normal greeting. Leoric told him to stop. When the melee finished, there were a group of five that remained from around thirty. They ritualistically plunged knives into the backs of their foes. Reerok walked forward and they pointed at him, pulling their weapons out towards him. He held his stick in a dueling stance, but then Reerok cast fireball out of the stick.

None of the tribal people could dodge out of the way. Reerok's chest turned bright blue as energy twirls around the stick, particles forming into a ball of blue flame. It fired out into the ground that erupted outward and then imploded into the tribal people. The people that were there were now down on the ground. Reerok believed he was abiding by the custom. The entire village is gone.

Meanwhile Sakiran was trying to wake up Amalius. She gathered some herbs from the medicine chest, crushing them into potpourri to wake him up. He awakened and asked where they are. Sakiran said they were where they were sent to. He pulled out a sealed case and opens it. Inside was parchment. He opened it with shaking hands and asked where they are on the map. She says they are in the village of Mig'va. Amalius told her that they are way off. Sakiran helped him up and out of the yurt. On his back, his ports are still red raw and blood was trickling out. He said they need to search for supplies. She says she could search the beach again herself. He says he can walk and see by himself and summons a mouse that sits on his shoulder.

They saw the crater left by Reerok's attack and wondered what went on. Reerok examined the situation and readjusted his wig and mask. Reerok tries to cast Mending on the survivors, but it did not work on biological bodies. The soil was soaked with blood. People were missing parts of their body. Sakiran kneeled down to a man of elvish descent. He had been stabbed through the neck and down to the chest. He put his hand on her face and left a bloodied handprint smearing down to her chest. Sakiran prayed for each survivor as she slit their throats, reasoning that with missing limbs they were better off that way. As they grasped at her, she became more covered in blood.

Leoric said he hadn't seen anything like it before. Sakiran quietly disgreed. Reerok asked if it is a greeting and they tell him it is not. Sakiran suggested they head to the beach with Amalius. Amalius braced himself and said there was no great loss in the village's death. He refused help. They headed out. The trees were a disgusting mix of wood and red flesh. The fruit smelled sickly-sweet though some smelled rotten as they walked through the forest. The sea was grey, with a mist blanketing the island. Leoric lifted up his boot to see something red that had spurted into orange guts. He swiped it off in the sand.

There was wreckage on the beach, mostly pieces of metal with a few crates. Seaweed algae, but red, washed up. The entire beach was covered in it. They looked along the beach and Leoric saw medical supplies imprinted on some crates. Reerok saw a large object that is half embedded in the sand. It looked like metal and a wheel sticking out of the sand. Amalius told Sakiran that Reerok has seen something. She inspected the object herself. There was a pale red with a fleck of chrome on it. She managed to get two feet of dirt off the top of it. The Gratus symbol was clear on the hood of the car, as well as the chrome paint of their APC. She calls Leoric over in joy. Reerok realised he can mold earth and excavates the sand. He was able to uncover the APC. They opened the engine compartment and Amalius opened the APC side door. A red tendril was creeping around from underneath the bottom. Sakiran tries to grab it but she tripped and fell, though she could grab it away from Amalius's leg. She saw underneath that there were four tendrils and a serpentine head. She screamed the Tasari word for snake as she let it go and scrambled away.

A torrent of seawater came out of the APC doors. Small aquatic creatures flopped out then move towards the sea. The interior looked disgusting. It was covered in the red algae though the driver's seat was intact. Leoric tried to turn it on. It spat out water through the exhaust as the creature underneath span around on the drive shaft. It was turning on but there was too much water inside of it. Amalius walks over to the creature, which was ejected onto the beach, saying it is curious. Sakiran tried to kick it into the ocean and screamed as it latched onto her leg. She hacked at it with her knife and finally killed it, then threw it into the sea.

Amalius said he has an idea. He pulled out a vial of a bluish liquid with a slight glow. He popped the cork and downed it. Blue tubes went up through his neck as he used telekinesis on the APC. Leoric was still inside the vehicle as he pulled it out of the ocean. It created a gorge in the sand as it was pulled out. The engine started at last and Amalius collapsed onto his knees.

On the top of the APC, there was a newly made hole leading into the top compartment. Multiple small creatures with serpentine heads flooded out. There were three eyes on the largest. It unfurls its tentacles with bladed hooks. Leoric stepped back towards Sakiran as they lashed out. There were scurrying tiny ones all around it. She was rendered frightened and was delayed in her reaction.

Leoric shot an infernal cartridge at the largest creature, the mother. It hit the mother, spraying purple blood out of her back. The flame effect dissipated. The huge beast reared up and they saw it spray out of its mouth a cone of green liquid. They quickly covered themselves as Reerok looked confused at their urgency. Through the mist, it moved forward towards Reerok and Sakiran, swiping at them both. The bladed tendril did minor damage to Reerok though Sakiran avoided it.

A small creature scuttled up to Sakiran. It tried to jump at her but she jumped out of the way. It spat at her though she wiped it off quickly. The second small one clambered over to Reerok. He was unable to tear it off of him as it bit into his machinery. It did minor damage to his clothing with its poison. In retaliation, he unleashed pale green particles. They ripped round the creature as it shrivelled and dies, falling off of his chassis. The mother creature saw this and roared in sorrow.

Leoric took aim and did a great deal of damage to the mother creature. The barrel of his gun superheated as he fired the shot. It hit it square in the chest, blowing out guts and organs. He followed up with another three shots. The mother lashed out as it tried to bite Sakiran. She ran away in her fear, hiding behind the rocks and whispered a prayer. Darkness emanated from a point on the mother's tail, making the area around the creatures surrounded in darkness. The other small one made its way towards Sakiran's hiding place.

Reerok cast lightning bolt on the large creature. He clapped his hands and unleashed energy from his palms touching together. He pulled them apart, electric arcing between his fingers. He pushed it forward as it twisted around the creature, then it exploded. Sakiran was still unable to snap herself out of her fear and ran away again from the medium sized creature towards Leoric. Reerok marched towards it and stabbed it with an ice knife that he materialised in his hand. Purple blood shots out of it.

Leoric moved over to it and kicked it, though it was merely irritated. Sakiran was finally able to snap out of her fear and she ran over to it, angrily smashing it into a pulp and killing it after the tension of fear was released. The small creatures looked lost beneath where their mother was. Reerok felt sympathy for them and decided to put them out of their misery, firing magical missiles at the children.

They headed back over to the APC and took stock of what survived:

* Sakiran's painting supplies.
* Their rations and fur.
* Cloth piles did not.
* 3 boxes of ammo survived.
* Half a barrel of blood survived as well as a barrel of booze.
* 2 Mg42 machine guns did not survive.
* A retro rifle survived.
* A box of grenades did not survive.
* The robot they had taken survived.
* Flea's shotgun did not survive.
* The black noodles survived.

As they looked in the back, it was covered in slime. Amalius slow clapped for them. They saw the APC is in bad condition, worse than they had left it, but it still worked. The door now no longer shut properly. Amalius leaned on his stick, admiring the durability of the venerable model. He stroked the bonnet and cast Thaumaturgy to clean the inside of all of its slime. He asked Reerok to help him, which he does. Reerok cleared all of the remaining water out of it with his spells. He accidentally dropped it on Sakiran. She calmed herself, then he dropped it on her again, inviting her ire. Leoric saw another ball of water hover over her head as she threatened Reerok. He urged him to drop it as he does, and pretended to shut down. Leoric teased her, and she snapped at him to shut up as she took a crab out of her hair.

Amalius passed the map to Leoric and asked where they should go. He pointed to Vin'chi. The party agreed. The terrain of Solor was difficult to navigate, so they could move slowly at just 2 miles per hour but stealthily. They could also move more quickly at 3mph. They decided to move more quickly to the large settlement of Vin'chi.