2022.04.26, Castille Liescat

REPORT #5 – ROBOT CULL YEAR OF OUR PRINCESS 26 APRIL, 20XX REPORT WRITTEN BY FIELD MAID CASTILLE LIESCAT

CASUALTIES SUSTAINED: 2 ROBOT CASUALTIES CREATED: 0 EXPEDITION VERDICT: UNSUCCESSFUL ITEMS RECOVERED: TAPESTRY | ALLIGATOR DOG

[BRIEF]

Set off north, followed cliff west as normal. Was accosted by carry-on birds which came from the north. Followed us for a while, one bird was very large, likely the leader. Saw strange figure in valley near rock we destroyed, impossible to make out or remember almost anything about it, painful to look at and be near. Arrived at dam, followed route up to noble quarter. Explored area, one wing is closed off by rubble, there’s an ornate door in one of the rooms, picked the lock on it. Found a large room inside with tapestries and two more ornate doors, there is also a black section of wall which is intangible. Recovered a tapestry. Triggered alarm trying to check for robot compartments, fled down the stairs, went wrong way and got trapped against the rubble. Smashed through rubble, heavy injuries sustained, escaped alive. Explored ruined section of dam, all robots found have piercing holes driven into their heads. Left dam, was attacked by birds again coming from the south. Nikonai ran a distraction while Worthy and I hid in the ruined village. Felt very wrong after separation, cleared after reuniting. Headed east back to portal, intercepted by alligator dogs. Made improvised dog bait and escaped after capturing one. Expedition concludes.

[SECTION 1, ARRIVAL]

After leaving the portal we didn’t dawdle for long, traveled north to cliff and followed it west, We were spotted by herons flying in from the north again while traveling. There were about six of them and one of them was bigger than the rest, likely the leader knowing how these birds seem to operate. We swung a bit south to try and lose them and Nikonai got swooped by the leader on the way and thrown around, managed to get away without further issue though. Traveled further west until we hit the river, followed the river north from there as usual. En route encountered an… entity? It was standing where we smashed a boulder last time, I think I remember seeing it “hold” some of the dust from the boulder but its hard to piece things together. Descriptions fail me really, all I know is that its humanoid and it hurts. It hurts to look at it hurts to be near when it moves it doesn’t move I approach it and feel the thrumming of my bones I feel the pressure swell inside me my eyes desire nothing more than to burst and leak down my face in a cascade of agony it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts and I do not know why or how or where or when or who all I feel is the matter inside me boiling and compressing trying to force its way out of any hole it can find it hurts so much I. I. I. We. We continue north up the river from there, we reach the dam with minimal issues and travel inside with a simple hydrophobic traversal enchantment.

[SECTION 2, INTERNALS]

We enter the dam and travel upwards to the noble quarter, all of the guard constructs seem to have returned to their housings. We explore further into the quarter, following passages eventually lead to a collapsed section of rubble and one of the rooms contains an ornate door. I would have drawn a map had I remembered to bring a quill, tragically quite an embarrassing failure on my part especially as one of my proficiency, but I digress. I picked the lock open effortlessly as any maid should and we proceeded up the stairs into a large room. The room was long and had tapestries around the walls, it featured a black wall and two more ornate doors, both locked. With the help of worthy friend I managed to acquire one of the tapestries which I have brought back with us, however I think I might have tripped something because the nails I pulled out did not come out as smoothly as they’re generally supposed to. After this we investigated the room more and I moved to investigate the interesting wall. I poked my sword into it and it. It wasn’t there. Like it is in fact a sheer wall but its not, tangible, and you can… walk inside the wall. I tied the rope to myself and walked a ways into it and it. It feels like you’re being squeezed through a tiny pipe it hurts so much to look at as everything swirls around and compresses against you and you feel trapped and suffocated while nothing touches you and your footsteps echo silently into a shallow abyss. I strained myself to look for anything unfamiliar and found something that seems like another destination inside the wall as my head started to hurt intensely. After this uh, experience, we decided to attempt to cull some proverbial robots so I checked for panels in the walls and set off the alarm in the process. The robots are irritatingly agile and one immediately stabbed me as the wall slid open.

[SECTION 3, FOLLY]

We rapidly realized our mistake as a whole horde of robots started coming out of the walls, we decided the best course of action was to flee and flee we did. We ran down the stairs and took the east passage and ran and ran. Into the collapsed section of the quarter. God I hated this part, uh. Backs to the wall I moved to clear rubble as fast as I could and foolishly failed to notice the massive claw heading for the rubble I was trying to clear. All I remember is an intense flash of pain as I flew through an entire section of the dam body smashing through stone and metal and wood. My graciously provided armor is sturdy enough to keep this from killing me especially with all my painstaking enchantments but not enough to have prevented the violent shock to my spine, once I finish writing this report I’m going to go lay on my back in my section of camp and just stare at the stars until the pain fades with my consciousness. If you can even sleep up here. Ugh. Anyways after barely clambering out of my crater worthy friend helped take me out of the dam, we moved down a maintenance shaft in the decrepit section of the dam. (I sadly cannot remember which way it was relative to the functioning section but you can tell by the new smashed window) On our way out we investigated some of the non functioning robots and found they were mangled by water pressure, but they additionally also have holes punctured into their heads. Every. Single. One. I have a feeling there’s a reason a lot of this dam doesn’t work and I have a feeling its not from just time. After this Nikonai graciously helped me and Worthy out of the domed building and we traveled back towards the portal.

[SECTION 4, RETURN]

We headed back down the valley to the south, there was no figure on the way back which was much of a relief, don’t miss that pressure on my eyes and my bones and my being as it all begins to resonate and- moving on. When we passed by the smashed boulder again the birds came back and approached us from the south. Nikonai ran a distraction as Worthy and I ran south to the ruins, while taking shelter we both began to feel very off, it wasn’t as bad as the… other stuff but it still didn’t feel great, felt like the sky was a little brighter than it used to be, maybe a little… bigger? Check Nikonai’s report for this expedition for more information since fae looked… a lot more worse for wear after returning from running the distraction. We collected ourselves briefly and returned east along the cliff before being intercepted by some alligator dogs. Nikonai helpfully let me in on the information that they would quickly start fighting eachother instead of us if given the chance. I quickly grabbed out some food and a pot and mashed together some dog chow and started throwing it into the pile. One of the smaller ones got kicked out of the pile and started approaching me to get some food for itself and I let my pot down for it to eat as Worthy pinned it down and I tied its mouth shut with a rope, I hoisted it up on my shoulder and with my free arm engaged my shield and fended off the rest of the dog gators as my back started searing with pain. Nikonai helped us run out of there as Worthy got a really nasty bite from one of the dogators. We made it back to camp outside the portal without any further issues and I. Cannot. Wait. To. Go. To. Sleep.

REPORT CONCLUDED

SQUADRON STATUS CASTILLE LIESCAT: WOUNDED WORTHY FRIEND: WOUNDED NIKONAI NIKANIOS: HEALTHY