Archimedes' Madness

"Archimedes' Madness" is episode 47 of SuperQuest Saga. The party continues to explore the underwater lab. Primina takes the lead when she recognizes where they are: the place she spent her childhood. Zahn's recordings reveal his last request to Primina and lead them to his office where they find his body and reconnect with an old friend.

Introduction

 * Will Stark shall be your disturbing dungeon master for this evening.
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, Oathbreaker Hexblade.
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing Persephone Goldpetal the Galaxy Moon Druid.
 * Brian is a Space Wizard who does other stuff named Codename: Echo.

Recap
Over the last couple episodes a lot happened. The party arrived on the cold world of Shardlar and found a destroyed weather station that appears to have exploded from the inside. They found a secret elevator and were attacked by an enormous vague walrus. Took the elevator down, found some underwater pods, and discovered a sea lab at the bottom of the enormous lake. Got into Dr. Zahn’s secret lab and he began speaking to them intermittently over the intercom. Found some security bots and now find themselves standing in a long hallway with red emergency lights blinking on and off. It’s a rather grim and eerie atmosphere as an enormous steel door slides open to reveal a dark room beyond.

Victoria Reminds Everyone That She's a Cleric
Persephone is wounded and asks for a moment to heal herself and Victoria steps in to provide some healing so Persephone can save her spells. Persephone asks if they should just move forward and Sebastian peeks into the doorway. He sees that it’s a rather large, round room at the center of which appears to be some sort of conference table surrounded by chairs, but the lights flashing make it hard to see.

Jhank, Echo’s familiar, pops out of Echo’s sleeve to go scout ahead. Echo has him take a lap around the room and Jhank ascertains mostly the same information as Sebastian, but on one side of the conference room Jhank has to make his way around a large, nasty pool of black liquid that has caked and dried on the floor. Echo is catatonic because he relinquished his senses to see through his familiar and stands there muttering with his eyes rolled back into his head. Percy does not like this.

Echo recalls Jhank and informs the party that he thinks something has died in the room. They are all able to smell a pungent smell of sickly sweetness wafting out of the room. Echo hits Jhank with some hand sanitizer. Persephone recognizes the smell and confirms that it is a dead body. She asks if they should go poke it and invites everyone to see the dead body.

Sebastian enters the room and sees an occupant in one of the chairs, a skeletal rotting corpse. A pool of congealed, black blood covers the floor around it and it’s pretty obvious upon inspection that this person died from a gunshot wound to the head. Echo scans for traps and notices there is a trail of blood from the main pool that leads over to the back wall. The same phrase is written over, and over, and over again, covering the entire back wall. Echo takes some time to try to decipher the phrase and draws attention to the wall with a disgusted noise. Persephone and Sebastian acknowledge it is gross. The rose over Persephone’s eye opens as she uses her bio-scanner to inspect the body and pretty quickly it informs her that the body is that of a male dwarf. Sebastian checks out the table to see if there are any buttons but it is mostly empty. Echo finds where the phrase begins and ends and reads.

"I have seen the dark universe yawning; where the black planets roll without aim. Where they roll in their horror unheeded; without knowledge, luster or name. He makes me see. He makes me hear. He makes me know."

Echo decides that this is bad and does not want to read too much into it.

You Have Five Fucking Questions!
Echo returns to the body to investigate and Persephone informs him it belongs to a male dwarf. Echo finds a wallet that has identification indicating the body is that of Dr. Argo Veklani, and a bank card. Echo drops the wallet into the body’s lap and lights some incense as he prepares to cast Speak with Dead.

After a moment, the body begins to twitch. Persephone is startled and Sebastian asks what Echo did. The body’s head rolls and its jaw adjusts and a hoarse voice asks “Where am I? What is this?” Echo reassures the spirit that they just want to talk and reminds him that they are in an underwater lab. He asks Persephone and Sebastian to be cool as he talks with the dead guy.

Veklani asks what Echo wants. Echo asks him how he is and what’s up. Veklani feels strange, it’s difficult to see, to hear, to feel. Echo asks what happened to him. Veklani seems to mull over the question in his mind as if he’s trying to remember and reveals Archimedes murdered him. Echo asks why Zahn killed him. Veklani doesn’t know, he thought they were friends, colleagues. Echo asks what they were working on before this happened. Veklani responds they had just transferred the Egress Article to the illithids recently. He was finishing up some of the paperwork they needed done. Zahn caught him unawares. He doesn’t know why Zahn shot him. Echo asks for the pin code for Veklani’s bank card. Veklani responds that it is 111258, and his body falls limp.

Echo scoops up the wallet and all its contents.

That Seemed Like a Really Big Lore Drop
Sebastian looks around the room and sees there is another large, heavy door on the right side of the room. Persephone looks at Sebastian and cracks her knuckles as she asks him if he’s ready to force the door open. Sebastian asks if they think Zahn wrote the stuff on the walls because if so, then he’s corrupted and they’re about to walk into something they probably don’t want to be walking into. Echo agrees because Zahn clearly killed his friend out of some weird motivation and advises that they don’t read the stuff on the walls. He doesn’t want the rest of the party to worry about that since it’s not healthy for their brains. He suggests they move on and it’s safe to say Zahn is in a bad state of mind, he’s been creepily whispering at them over the intercom. As if on cue, a voice comes over the P.A. system.

''“The very heavens trembled, and what resistance could be mustered by modicum powers crumbled and flailed. The dissolution of the cosmos had begun in a moment shorter than the passing of a breath. The Sleeper had awoken; all was lost. But in the face of inevitable doom all creation itself reeled against its creator, and against all odds the inevitable was evaded, and the undeniable was denied. Nine Great Gods, the greatest of their age, came together and sang out against the darkness. They brought all their power to bear to seal out The Destroyer and their song rang through all that remained of the universe that was, and all that lived heard and sang in chorus. The divinities that were gave up divinity and reformed the known cosmos; the lands, the seas, the stars coalesced and scattered. The peoples were given flight and The Nine gave their lives to form a seal made from themselves to protect what they had siphoned away. But they knew this could not last, the seal would one day break. Still, shards divine do not die, the power would amalgamate again in that place they stood, Lost Kadath, the City of The Gods. And with it once again the seal can be renewed. The bloodlines were the key, but alas, there was much The Old Gods could not foresee''.”

The intercom turns off and the large steel door opens.

The Divine Smooch
Echo asks if they should proceed. Persephone looks at Primina to see how she’s doing. She looks determined and says this was not anything she wasn’t expecting at this point. They need to be careful moving forward. Echo asks if she will be okay in front of Zahn in case they have to take care of him, and she nods saying she will be fine.

Echo sends Jhank in to scout. Before he goes in, Persephone picks him up, says “Let the universe guide you,” and gives him a smooch to cast Guidance on him. Jhank enters the next room, a small angled hallway, and sees another large door. This one is partly open but repeatedly slides open and shut about every four seconds. Jhank also notices that there is a more reasonably sized door on the left wall. Echo relays the information and the party moves forward.

Echo peeks through the large door that is opening and closing and sees an enormous circular laboratory. The small door has a key code and a hand scanner, Echo asks if Primina will try her hand. The door slides open to reveal a side room with an enormous console on one of the walls. Echo investigates the room and Persephone pats his shoulder telling him to be careful, the galaxy is here for him. Echo recognizes the computer system as one that keeps track of the energy levels, oxygen levels, and pressure readings. As he looks at the machine he realizes that the max capacity of energy, oxygen, and pressure for the base is enough for only a couple months. So either someone is replenishing this or something else is going on. He speculates Zahn is still alive and maintaining the base, and suggests they check out the lab.

The party looks for ways to maybe keep the door open safely while they jump through. Echo suggests they can use the robots, and Artax steps up when he hears this, but Echo waves him off. Echo decides to just jump through and cartwheels through the gap. Persephone follows with a better cartwheel than Echo did. Sebastian and Victoria manage to make it through without issue as well. Artax critically fails and takes some damage, Victoria cringes as he gets scuffed by the door. Prim gets her hand caught in the door and cries out in pain, and Watt is too slow to make it through cleanly and hurts his leg. Once everyone is through, they again hear Zahn on the intercom.

''“As most know, I was born a citizen of The Cyber Federation. Spawned of a lowly Ord caste family we were afforded next to nothing in the form of luxuries, indeed even the necessities of survival were in short supply to my family. I think I might trace my obsession with bloodlines to my meager and destitute childhood. Why should my family be expected to endure so much less by no merit or quality beyond the station of our birth? The rigidity of the caste system paired with its emphasis on birthright; what else would a child in this environment seek, other than to validate their value through similar social construct. It was thus I dedicated my life towards genetic study and developed the tools necessary to detect the imperceptibly small trace amounts of divine energy found in certain bloodlines. This is also where my misunderstanding of the purpose of the Keys of Kadath began. Primina, my dear, as I’m sure you have surmised, you were not the first of my creations. Indeed, or that the first that stayed my last. I will not detail the countess failures I birthed in my cold and terrible intellect. I will speak only on how my theory of Divine Apotheosis via genetic manipulation was wrong. There simply wasn’t enough aetherial energy between the bloodlines, not even all nine would suffice. The introduction of a massive amount of Aetherium radiation was necessary, and even that did not create the entity I had imagined. For the first time I began to ponder The Old Gods’ purpose and design of the Bloodline Keys''.”

Can I Investigate the Lab Now?
Echo starts to investigate the lab; it is an enormous, circular room and the floors are made of steel, giving a hollow echoing sound with every step they take. There are various tables, monitors, and machines around the room. The entire room’s center is clear. There are grooves on the floor in the center and it seems like all the stations in the lab are around this clear area. In one corner of the room there is a group of machines, in another corner there is a bank of computers. There is a large tank on the far side of the room and a large work table with writing boards on the southern side of the room. Echo searches for a way to turn on the lights but doesn’t see anything.

He points out the computers to the group and announces he will check them out, asking for someone to watch his back. The computer bank is a circle of six monitors and CPUs, all dead because the power is out.

Echo moves to the work table and boards. He sees a large work table covered in tools and a notebook. There appear to be a bunch of spare parts and electronic manipulating tools. On the chalkboard are drawings of humanoid anatomy, specifically the skull and brain that appear to be gnomish. Echo gingerly opens the notebook and starts rifling through the pages. Inside he finds more hand drawn anatomy and structure of Zahn’s skull and brain with all the cybernetic enhancements, and scribbled instructions for a craniotomy. At times the instructions start to stray and ramble into incoherency, and the illustrations turn into non-humanoid creatures. Sebastian asks Watt if any of the tools could be useful to them. Watt says they can always use some spares and notes there are lots of good tools for working on Sebastian’s arm. He encourages Sebastian to pocket the sonic screwdriver. It’s not stealing if the owner is dead. Echo thinks Zahn might be done with this stuff anyway since he’s been writing things in blood on the wall.

Primina wanders off towards the tank and takes a hard look at it, it’s clear and full of a blue liquid. Persephone walks over and as she approaches Primina says she remembers this room. They used to run tests on her. This tank was for various endurance tests like temperature and pressure endurance. Percy notes there are monitors and vitals machines hooked up to it.

Persephone moves over to the group of machines and Sebastian follows. Both of them recognize these machines because they’ve seen similar ones in Korak Ironhide’s gym; physical endurance machines. Primina confirms they did physical endurance tests on her as well and she spent a lot of time in this room. Echo states he always thought Prim looked tone. Persephone clicks and clacks on the machines but nothing turns on. The only thing left in the room is a large steel door that is sealed shut.

The party approaches the door and it does not open. Sebastian pulls out his crowbar to try to pry it open but it doesn’t budge. The intercom turns on and Zahn starts talking again.

“''The Old Gods were not infallible nor omniscient and though they were wise beyond wise, in necessity of haste they blundered in their foresight. Or perhaps it was no blunder, but an impossible endeavor to foresee how different the world they created would be from the world they had always known. They had believed new gods would rise where they had fallen, one from each of their bloodlines. And they knew that only through a coalition of at least The Nine would a renewal of the seal be possible. Nine Divinities to once again form a seal to protect the cosmos. How could they have known that only one would arise. That their power would be scattered so far and wide and ne'er coalesce. That the societal divisions of their world would not stay constant in this one. That one of their lines would face complete annihilation. That none would remember the truth of it all, and worse, that one would obscure and destroy the truth that none could ever know. And countless more variables deviating their plans. Primina, you are not a divinity. You were made with the intent of deceiving the gate into opening, a false key, and not even that without a member of the Ninth Bloodline.''”

The intercom turns off and the door opens.

Echo Wins Ninja Warrior
Echo thinks this is a bad trap. Sebastian agrees. Echo wonders why Zahn is the one opening all the doors. Persephone isn’t sure it’s Zahn, it could be a recording. Echo believes he’s talking pretty directly to them and knows Primina is here and points to the cameras that are still watching them.

Echo sends Jhank out ahead to scout and Persephone gives him a little smooch before he goes. Jhank enters the room, a long hallway, and he can see a sea of moving security lasers. Echo sees that the lasers will do damage if anyone touches them. He uses Jhank to search for  a switch and finds a control console at the back of the room. Jhank’s little lizard body is not strong enough to operate the machine.

Persephone peeks in and notes that her chicken-lizard form could fit under the lasers. Echo suggests he could shoot the lasers, and he’s thin enough that he could perhaps crawl under the lasers. Echo decides to go for it, and the second he enters the hallway all the lasers shut off. He comments that it was weird, but they decide to move forward cautiously. Sebastian and Percy lead with Echo taking the rear and The Brunhilde crew in the middle.

As Sebastian reaches the halfway point of the hallway all the lasers turn back on. Echo quickly moves ten feet, getting zapped by some lasers, and Misty Steps over to the console. Primina, Victoria, Artax, and Persephone manage to dodge the lasers but Watt and Sebastian get hit. Echo sees a big emergency shut off switch on the console and hits it. The lasers shut off.

Echo asks Watt if he is okay since he’s taken a lot of damage. Victoria looks guilty for asking him to come along but Watt assures her he’s fine, he just needs a minute. The party takes an hour to rest. Victoria uses a spell to heal Watt and Sebastian takes some time to fix up Artax.

On the right hand wall is a door. Echo does not see any mechanical device to open it so he looks towards the cameras and asks Zahn to open this one. Nothing happens. Sebastian moves to try to force it open and as he approaches the door it opens automatically with a motion sensor. Sebastian sees a narrow hallway that is completely dark, but there is light spilling from two doorways on either side of the hall. Sebastian lights his sword for some extra light and they start discussing which way to go.

Primina steps forward saying she knows this place and tells the party to follow her. She heads into the room on the right.

Me and Z
The room is a child’s playroom. There are five cubbies on the wall, four of them have stuffed animals inside, one is empty. The floor is littered with dusty toys; puzzle games and other toys geared towards advanced learning in children. It is a cute, well decorated room. Primina spent a lot of time in this room with Zahn.

Echo feels kind of awkward and takes a look around. The most interesting thing he sees is that each cubby is labeled in a child’s writing; Phreny, Tempy, Zan Zan, Levy, and the empty one Tar Tar. Primina confirms the stuffed animal they found upstairs is Tar Tar. She tried to take it with her when Zahn handed her off to the illithids. She has no memory of the weather station, she never went past the laboratory they found past the hall. The first few years of her life were spent between the playroom, the laboratory, and a medical room down the hall. Sebastian asks if there’s any particular reason she tried to take Tar Tar, and she tells him it was her favorite. The party confirms it is cute and fluffy.

They move on to the room across the hall which is a children’s bedroom complete with a bed, nightstand, more toys on the floor, and a hanging light display that resembles a solar system. On the wall is a child’s drawing of a little Prim holding hands with a bearded gnome who has half a robot face labeled “Me and Z.” Echo takes some pictures of the solar system and asks Primina if she wants to go in, but she says she is fine. The party moves on to the medical room.

The door at the end of the hallway opens automatically and they find a medical exam room with a counter, sink, patient bed, stool, and basic medical equipment. A single door lies beyond, a classic, wooden door with a doorknob.

Persephone steps to the side and holds up the Staff of Programmed Illusion to start channeling her magic. She prepares an illusion that will be their surroundings and Echo, Sebastian, and herself in a fighting stance urging Victoria, Prim, and Watt to run. The trigger will be if they encounter some sort of threat and will hopefully buy them some time to prepare. She informs the party what the illusion will be so they will be able to see through it if the time comes. Sebastian looks around for medical supplies they can use for healing but doesn’t see anything.

Somebody That I Used to Know
Persephone asks if Sebastian wants to move forward and asks if Prim knows what is beyond the door. Primina confirms that Zahn’s office is behind the door, but it was forbidden to her. Sebastian tells everyone to watch because he learned a new trick and casts Mage Hand to open the door. He knew someone who used to do that.

Beyond the door is a stairwell descending down into darkness. As the party stares down the stairwell the intercom turns on one more time and they hear Zahn’s voice.

“''To say that Solastaran is ancient understates the abounding multitude of years he has endured. Eighty millennia has passed since he first bore witness to the charred body of god. Eighty millennia since he assumed control of the Elven Alliance, forged it into a theocratic empire, and bent every ounce of his will upon complete and utter suppression of the truth. And though that suppression may have been the only thing preserving us for all that time, it is also the very thing which has sent us to the teetering edge of our doom. In his aim to suppress he amassed more and more power to enforce his will. He moved to eliminate any threat to his dominant place in the galaxy before it could grow into a legitimate challenger. He amassed enough Aetherium to destroy every habitable planet in the galaxy twice-over. And finally, in an effort to stop the spread of knowledge of The Nameless One, he committed genocide on an unprecedented level; wiping out the Ninth Bloodline and ending any true possibility of eight others like himself from ever arising. The madness had taken him. How early it is impossible to tell, but The Crawling Chaos wormed his way into the Emperor’s every action; assuring a long and spiraling series of actions ending unfailingly in the equivalent of galactic self-annihilation. And now, at the crescendo of his madness, the Emperor has been truly convinced he is the One True God born to defeat the gnawing darkness that would end all things. He would tear open the gates to Kadath and seize the power that lies there. In brazen hubris and accursed self-righteous lunacy he would take aim and strike with all the power of The Old Gods into that inconceivable nightmare. Heaving and depleted he would have earned a front row audience seat to the erasure of all, laughing in desperate anguish as even he is undone. ''

''You have to stop this, my dear. You are the only one who can reach Kadath before the Emperor. Renew the seal. This is not an easy thing I ask. You and your companions are not likely to return, indeed, it is almost certain you will not. I’m leaving this recording for you in the event that I am either mad or dead before you return. Even now I can feel the clawing at my thoughts, the whisper in my ears, the things… the things I see in my sleep, I… I will not repeat them here. I have left something here for you, something the Emperor still seeks, something you will need to open the gate''.”

And the recording turns off. Echo states he knew that it was a recording the whole time. Persephone tells him he is so smart. Watt says “see, it wasn’t stealing!”

The party descends into the darkness following the stairs as they turn right and descend further. At the bottom is another door that is electronic. Sebastian approaches and it automatically opens. Beyond is an absolutely gigantic room, most of it is obscured in a very deep darkness. The second the door opens the darkness even in the hallway deepens and Sebastian’s flame sword begins to dim. This is not a natural darkness. At the room’s center is an overhead light that lights up a desk. In front of the desk and obscuring the view of its seat are dozens of glowing monitor screens.

Sebastian slowly approaches the desk to look around the monitors and Echo slowly follows. On the other side of the desk is one desiccated corpse of a Dr. Zahn sitting in a chair. He seems to have a machine next to his chair and has an arm extended holding a cybernetic tool to the side of his face. The group approaches the body and upon closer inspection they see the device has layer by layer pulled out the electronics that were part of Zahn’s skull in such a way that, even now, parts are floating in stasis between Zahn’s head and the machine. The desk has words scratched into it “Please forgive me.” The monitors on the desk display all the security cameras in the base.

A familiar voice is heard from the darkness. “Ah, isn’t it the old team. huh? Hold on a minute. Hold on. Is that an elf? Did you replace me with an elf?!”

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: A half-orc paladin/warlock. Uses Mage Hand to open doors.
 * Persephone Goldpetal: A firbolg druid. Preparing for the worst.
 * Echo: An elf wizard/fighter/rogue. Investigates all things
 * Jhank: The best lizard familiar.

NPCS

 * Victoria Nova: A tiefling woman. Is a cleric.
 * Primina: A young woman of mysterious origins. Good at naming stuffed animals.
 * Watt Wainwright: An elderly gnome. It's not stealing if the owner is dead.
 * Artax: A robot. Just wants to be useful.
 * Dr. Archimedes Zahn: A gnome cyborg. Definitely dead.

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian

World Building

 * The four stuffed animals in Prim's room were plush miniature versions of the elder elementals. Tempy (Elder Tempest), Phreny (Phoenix), Levy (Leviathan), Zan Zan (Zaratan). The fifth, Tar Tar, was a Tarrasque.

Out of Character

 * The stats for the lizard familiar are very bad but Brian does not want to make Jhank anything but a lizard. Will makes it canon that Jhank is an alien lizard and they can work out a different stat block later.
 * All the guns are laser guns, there are no bullets.

In Character

 * Echo owes someone (Xaserbane Night) 3000 credits.

Nat 20's (3 total)

 * Special Guest Jake (Nature)
 * Brian (Investigation)
 * Special Guest Jake (Dexterity Save)

Nat 1's (2 total)

 * Brian (Dexterity Save for Artax)
 * Will (Dexterity Save for Watt)