Chapter 2: Friendly Fractal Fruit Farmers

[Risada]

So, any idea why the director turned into an invisible monster of loathsome scent?  It seems a little odd.

"I have no idea.... and this might have something to do with the whole situation within this facility.... is there any places you guys didn't go yet?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Plenty. Our initial priorities were to find the director and try to find out what was going on." Matsuko pointed out.

"Kyx, you seem to be a bit more familiar with that process. Ever seen anything like it?"

[PhaedrusXY]

"Yeah, I've seen something like it. Usually it produces zombies, not ghasts, though. And I've certainly never heard of one that produces invisible ghasts. That's just weird. With the invisible part thrown in, this place could be crawling with them and we'd never even know unless we got close to them. This would certainly be a nasty thing to let escape from this demiplane, also.

Just try not to get bitten. Normally clerics can cure this if they catch it early, and by the looks of it I'd say this probably has at least a 1 day incubation time, but with the oddities associated with this variety, I wouldn't bet on anything for sure.

Do you have any kind of supernatural healing, Ghik? I have no way of detecting diseases directly. If you've been bitten and then your wound has healed over, you could be infected and not even know it. I guess we could try seeing if you have a magical aura that hints at it, since it is a supernatural strain, but that wouldn't tell us for certain..."

[Solo]

"Maybe we should stick him in sunlight and see if he sparkles?"

[PhaedrusXY]

"I'm sorry... is that a joke? I think I missed something."
[spoiler]
Neither I nor Kyx have seen any of the Twilight movies.  [/spoiler]

[Kuroimaken]

Matsuko comically bonks Fistbeard's head. "Undead do not sparkle in sunlight. Normally, they explode." She adds. "Although... some vampires can walk under it."

Spot check to see if she blushed!

"At any rate. This means we should be considerably more careful from now on. It also means our priorities have changed." Matsuko announces. "Priority one is to find any survivors of this infection. If it seems like we have a greater problem in our hands... then we'll have to leave this place and come back with reinforcements. I am issuing a Level 3 Lockdown Request on Douglas Farm effective immediately. All forms of inbound and outgoing teleportation are off, and the Farm itself now has a secondary layer preventing anyone from going in or out. We can request extraction, but it will have to go through the system first... which means it could be a while. We simply CANNOT allow this infection to spread."

She sighs. "Any questions?"

[Solo]

As Fistbeard is not being threatened, he shall take 10 on the spot check for a result of 20 and notice that she blushes.

He will also raise his hand.

"What about voodoo?"

[Kuroimaken]

"I think it was pretty clear that the director was infected by the bite, so we can discard that." Matsuko replied deadpan.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

"Is there a way of asking the computer to look up anything aside from locations of personel? Does it have simple cameras, or motion sensors in its system? We need to know a bit more about the locations of these things. So far, we have a SINGLE invisible ghast, which is frightening, a score of exploding crows, which is more frightening, and no idea where any of these things originated from. We need to find our next target. And this time, hopefully not kill it off the bat." This last bit sounds a bit irritated, and unsurpressed. With eyes scanning the hallways to either side, he hopes to notice at least a shimmer of an invisible creature. "Unless, Matsuko, there's a more specific idea we've neglected to attend to, but honestly, I'd be less inclined to think that all of them were killed by the equally butchered first team, save for a single one, and thus are no longer on this plane. We need to find a way to find our invisible army that, insofar as we've come, haven't bothered us. Is there a deeper underground to this facility?"

[VennDygrem]

"Hmm... if only there was some way to upload my suit's Invisibility-negating vision protocols to the compound's camera systems... Regardless, the undead can not turn me, and I can see them. I think that puts me in a good position for searching for survivors, if anyone else is worrying about getting bit. Either way, while traveling I feel I should take one of the point positions, in case of attack. There's a good chance they won't know their bite can't affect me."

[The_Mad_Linguist]

I can create faerie fire as often as necessary.  The range is long enough for a cursory sweep, at least

[spoiler]If I cast faerie fire and there's something invisible between me and where I target it, what happens?[/spoiler]

[Kuroimaken]

I can create faerie fire as often as necessary.  The range is long enough for a cursory sweep, at least

[spoiler]If I cast faerie fire and there's something invisible between me and where I target it, what happens?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]That depends on whether it should travel to its intended location or not. Is it a target or area spell?[/spoiler]

"For all we know the remaining members are in hiding. It seems the most likely, even if Ghik managed to escape with the director apparently by himself." Matsuko pondered. "Let's not forget that the ghasts are intelligent and could very well possess knowledge pre-turning. Therefore, they could use the cameras just the same. If anyone from the other team possessed knowledge of their breed, this would have come up. It's unlikely we'll find them with a camera sweep."

[skydragonknight]

"I suggest we check ze other sites. We should borrow some hover-tractors to cover ground faster. And some industrial-strength acid sprayers from ze tool shed would help...I think the handheld pesticides would be rated for lesser undead." Paul says. This was not the first time he'd been on a farm. He'd visited a few in his quest for better ingredients.

[Solo]

"What if the ghasts are watching us?"

[Risada]

"Do you have any kind of supernatural healing, Ghik? I have no way of detecting diseases directly. If you've been bitten and then your wound has healed over, you could be infected and not even know it. I guess we could try seeing if you have a magical aura that hints at it, since it is a supernatural strain, but that wouldn't tell us for certain..."

"Sadly, I only know how to swing my weapon... even though I had enough time to learn a lot... If you guys feel better, please check me up..."

"We need to find our next target. And this time, hopefully not kill it off the bat."

"I didn't expect he would fall with only that. And I didn't hit it that well..." Ghik makes a disappointed face.

"What if the ghasts are watching us?"

"Then we have even more reasons to hit them hard as soon as they appear in front of us..." As he speaks, Ghik slides his hand through his ranseur, as if caressing it.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Let's do a sweep of the building for any other ghasts or corpses first, then investigate the rest of the farm once it's secure.

[VennDygrem]

"If there had been any, I would have seen them when we searched the building earlier. We should move on, now."

[Kuroimaken]

"No records on the computer either. For all we know, the ones who used to live here are already undead... but there's still no explanation for why they're acting like everything is normal."

[skydragonknight]

"Is it possible zey do not realize what has happened to zem?"

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Let me take a look at what the security system picked up during the short period of reanimation.  If it doesn't detect undead at all, that would be an explanation.

[spoiler]Should be able to make that UMD eventually.[/spoiler]