The goats just look at everyone dumbly as they chew whatever is in their collective mouths for a few seconds before continuing on to do what they naturally do: Turn plant matter into fertilizer. Even given their larger size, they act very much like normal goats. Beyond the closed door, the party can barely hear the large cat outside grumble, the deep baritone of it felt more than heard.

The party begins to address their wounds when a door, much to small for the goats to get through, on the opposite side opens to reveal a lit hallway. "," a voice calls out from all around you. The goats jump for a moment at the voice, but they otherwise don't react. Then two men come from the hallway to stand on either side of the door. They are wearing simple clothing made completely from animal skins and are carrying large metal staffs. They aren't holding them in a threatening manner, but they do look both cautious and concerned.

"Please enter the doorway."  Ocean translates for the group.  Ocean says as she walks up to the guards, "Hi there."  She says introducing herself to see if they even talk but not wanting to be threatening in the least.  "I am Ocean and hopefully you can understand we are not overtly threatening."  She says trying to keep things calm.

Diplomacy - 16  (+4 (Pheromones), +3 if they find Ocean attractive)

07:54, Today: Ocean rolled 16 using 1d20+12 ((4)).

Sylvia studied the hallway -- and the two guards -- for a long moment, then her eyes cut toward her companions.

"Anyone else finding this strangely familiar?" she asked in a low whisper. Still, she hobbled her way slowly toward the hallway with the others, letting her gaze wander where it could as she studied the men, their staffs, and the hallway beyond.

Alyx turned to look at the door the door in surprise then over at Azhanti, lowering his voice to ask, "what'd the voice say?" but Ocean translated before she had a chance. He then let out a sigh as it was exactly what one might say after opening a door.

He glanced at Sylvia, "not in a good way, but yes."

He frowned for a moment before smoothing his face and heading towards the door, intending to enter.

Azhanti stood and nodded to Ocean's translation, "At least, they said 'please' ..."  Though she had no idea what the others were talking about with respect to deja vu.  She stood slowly, taking her time given her injuries.  And after a moment, her skin shimmered slightly and the grime and dirt sloughed off of her, her clothing, and her pack as she used a touch of Prestidigitation to clean up a bit.  The 'Disturbed' logo on her t-shirt was visible once more.

Still moving gingerly, she then reached into her pack and pulled out a small vial.  She was almost ready to quaff the contents, when the healing wave from Moonlight washed over her.  Her diminutive frame shuddered slightly as the healing took effect, the wounds on her back began to close, and while they weren't fully healed - there was still a lot of discoloration and scabbing, that she knew would leave some scarring; Azhanti was able to move a bit more freely.  She nodded with genuine thanks to the winged elf.  She placed the potion back in her pack.

Only then, did the short, blue-skinned mutant move to comply with the disembodied voice's request and fall in line to exit the goat pen via the hallway.  She smiled at the two guards as she passed between them.

---

[OOC:  Azhanti will use Prestidigitation to clean up a bit, then get healed; she was down more than half her HP - but not anymore!]
This message was last edited by the player at 22:40, Mon 06 May.

Moonlight waits until everybody's in and safe.  He then sets about looking at everybody's wounds.  Patching then up with his witch Magic.
We are going to have to deal with that thing when we are a little more powerful.  He says too the group.

He stays back and keeps his bow low so as not to frighten the people that appear.

I think this is our new normal, Sylvia.

Ooc
Everybody is healed 12 hp.
If the GM allows Moonlight stops Alyx using his power point and stops Azhanti using her potion.

This message was last edited by the player at 17:19, Sun 05 May.

At Moonlight's touch, Sylvia flinched, almost as if she expected that she might be shocked instead of healed, and a cloud crossed her face; after a second, she nodded her reluctant acknowledgement of Moonlight's actions.

"Thank you," she said, trying not to sound conflicted about the assistance. "And yeah -- new normal. Great." She managed to twist out a wry smile at that, before shrugging off whatever seemed to have bothered her.

Moving forward, she paused at the doorway to look at the two guards.

"Thank yas for helpin' us avoid that... giant cat," she said. She wasn't sure how else to describe the thing -- it was far larger than any feline she'd ever seen, or even heard stories of. She peered at them for some reaction, curious to see if they understood Common or not, before giving a curt nod of thanks and continuing into the hallway with the others.

Mephis looks at the strangers askance and then to his party "Ya, a little familiar. Just so you know I'm not running this time so make sure they play nice."

His wound heals up "Thanks Moonlight. I don't really think that cat was that tough. We would have made it into kababs in a straight fight."

An older man shuffles through the doorway after the others. He is dressed in the same attire as the others, but his staff is clearly made more for walking than the weapons of the others. "," he says as he tries to catch his breath. He looks flushed and a little bit of sweat as started to bead on his bald head. "I am the Director of the Greater Midlothian Metroplex Zoo. I'm sorry that you were put into danger, but you did come in through one of the enclosures. Please, please follow me. We have some refreshments set up in our Welcome Center." While he does speak common for the rest of it, his words are very slow, giving the indication that he's not fluent in the language.


The two younger men, that look like they might be twins, move to help the old man and to direct you lot through the doorway away from the horse sized goats. At any hesitancy he says, "Come come I will answer any questions once we can sit down and relax. Or if you prefer I can answer questions now, but I'd rather be sitting down. My hip is hurting so I can't stand for very long."

OCC: Do y'all want to follow or have him answer questions now?
This message was last updated by the GM at 09:33, Thu 09 May.

Azhanti watched elderly gentleman with the cane approach.   Her graphite-tinged hair bobbed as she bowed her head slightly when he greeted them in machine language, responding in kind, [Language unknown: "Ultihe."]  A slightly bemused smile touched her lips.

"Thank you for your timely intervention." she added with genuine enthusiasm and switching to Common, when the elderly man did.  "Zoo?" the blue-skinned mutant ask a bit of confused incredulity creeping into her two-toned voice.  But, as the old gentleman seemed to be laboring, she paused - fingers dancing and nano-threads and bots streaming forth from her fingertips to make another quasi-holographic construct - and created a single-seat wheeled conveyance for him to rest upon.  She motioned to conjured carriage, "Please sit, sir.  You look winded."

Once seated, Azhanti demonstrated that she could direct the thing to go where they needed, "Where should we go, while we talk?"

---

[OOC:  Azhanti will use her mystical connection to use Shadow Conjuration to do Conjure Carriage (taken some liberties as to the form, since a horse-drawn carriage doesn't seem entirely appropriate for a post-apocalypse setting like this - but, I can do it, if others feel differently, and the size, since it doesn't really specify.  I figure a single person sized self-driving, open-top platform was still in scope (Mutant Master, correct me if I am wrong).  Especially since it doesn't need to move that fast or far (and the terrain/hallway doesn't seem too treacherous).]

In reply to Mutant Master (msg # 178):

Sylvia's face warred between distrust of others and sympathy for this older gentleman who'd obviously made the effort to meet them personally. She finally managed to settle upon a form of guarded curiosity. One eyebrow quirked at Azhanti's efforts to ingratiate herself with the gentleman, but Sylvia said nothing; instead, she gestured for the others to follow, and walked along with the Director and Azhanti, looking around at the surroundings curiously again -- still obviously very much on guard.

OOC:
No idea if these should be separate checks or not, so I'll err on the side of excess! Knowledge(History) check results on...

• ... Greater Midlothian Metroplex: 30
• ... Zoo: 22
• ... Welcome Center: 22

Also, just for the fun of it, Sense Motive check result on the Director: 23
12:21, Today: Sylvia rolled 30,22,22,23 (30,22,22,23) using 1d20+10,1d20+10,1d20+10,1d20+4 ((20,12,12,19)).

Ocean for the most part just follows along but does not really have anything to add at all but does spend her time scanning the entire area and seeing what is all there.  Especially since the word Zoo was dropped but seemed like Azhanti had that questions kind of covered.

Perception - 13

(OOC - 19:32, Today: Ocean rolled 13 using 1d20+5 ((8)).)

Alyx kept his guard up a bit, even as things seemed to calm down and be friendly with the newcomers. The old man said something Alyx didn't understand again before switching to the more common tongue. Even with that, there were words that meant nothing to Alyx. His eyes widened as Azhanti tried to make something magically to help the old man along.

After their last encounter with others that seemed to be more in-tune with technology and whatnot, Alyx was keeping a close watch on their 'hosts' for anything...sinister or alarming.

20:09, Today: Alyx rolled 20 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 13.  Sense Motive.

The old man is surprised and seems genuinely impressed by the sudden carriage appearing. "I appreciate the gesture young lady," he says with a smile, "but we'll have to climb some stairs to get where we're going and I'm afraid that just won't fit nor would it be very comfortable climbing up them, I'm afraid. Thank you very much." The guards on the other hand are quick to be ready to fight, especially since she started casting a spell without warning, but a word from the Director calms them. While the Director seems genuine and unconcerned with your actions, the guards remain suspicious and nervous given that you lot outnumber then 3 to 1.

As the group enters the area behind the goat pen, a large open hallway, the roof roughly 50 feet above your heads and about 15 feet wide, goes out to the left and the right in an obvious slow curving way. Metallic stairs ending in metal walkways lead up to what look like windows almost 30' up seeming to look into where you just arrived, if higher than the pens. Lights are set into the walls as well as high in the ceiling which casts the area in a small bit of shadow, but not enough that it would make it difficult to move about.

As you walk the Director is helped by the guards as several other people can be seen moving about. Men and women of various ages, a few as old as the Director, but most are middle aged with a few teenagers sprinkled in. There aren't enough of them that the place is crowded, but enough that you are not always alone with just the guards and the Director. Some watch you all with interest, while others talk quietly to each other as they watch you pass.

Oh, and they all look very similar to each other.

"Please, have a look," the Director says as y'all walk by a set of these windows. Inside this one, which is just above where you came out of, shows the jungle you just ran through and the large cat padding around the opening you ran through. It seems agitated as it looks for your group, sniffing the air and making such a deep growl that you can feel it in your body. "That is a tiger and we have so many animals that are on display, but I'm sure you are thirsty after your brush with certain death. And we can return to look at more later."

He then leads you, barring anyone stopping him, passed other windows, each one with a different terrain inside. Every animal you see is at least twice the size of a normal animal. Finally, after about 15 minutes of walking, or flying in Moonlight's case, the party arrives at a small door that is opened for you to a fair sized room with a table in the middle of it. Fresh fruits are set up in bowls, with many unrecognizable to you and you can only assume they are fruits given the identifiable ones in the same bowl as them. A pitcher of water has also be placed on the table near the fruits with cups to drink from. By this time, the old man is huffing from the exertion and takes the closest seat with a sigh. "Please, have a drink and something to eat. Then I will answer your questions." One of the guards pours the Director a drink and hands him a piece of fruit that looks like a yellow rounded pastry. He takes a bite as you can almost hear the slush of juice as he bites into it. "We will have a proper meal coming soon, but we can talk while we wait."

In reply to Mutant Master (msg # 183):

Sylvia threw the guards a look of sympathy at their skittishness; she'd be just as nervous if their situations were reversed. Still, she made sure to keep an eye on them as well as those they passed. Skittishness might be understandable, but it could also lead to unintentional (and unfortunate) escalations -- and Sylvia wanted to be prepared if things escalated, regardless of the whys or hows.

Although the crowds drew Sylvia's attention -- and how could they not, given the threads of similarity tying them all together -- she took a moment to look back into the enclosure that they'd been rescued from. Her eyes traced back down the stairway and hall to the door they'd entered through; from there, she tried to track back along the paths to the place where they'd entered the enclosure originally. Once she found it, she glanced back at the giant cat that had attacked them. Finding herself a bit left behind, she turned and caught up to the group.

She tried to study the other people as they walked, but each set of windows drew her eyes, and she examined the creatures inside with great interest. Not long enough to slow the procession, but just in passing.

In the room with the table, however, she finally paused to take in the spread. A quick glance at each of the others assessed their states of mind, as well as warned -- as best it could -- that they should retain at least somewhat wary; then slowly she sat, choosing a seat that was a few spaces down from the Director.

"You said that this is a zoo? In a Metroplex?" She glanced at the others again, before looking back at the Director. "I... was under the impression that there were no such places left."

Ocean still just stares in the wonderment that is before her.  Franky she does not care about the history or anything.  To her this is just kind of nifty all around.  As such she stays quiet and follows the group...quiet save for some low level humming.  And that is subconscious.  Unless she bade to be silent.

And that is how she continues until she sits down with the others finding a seat that does not matter where and just appreciates and waits.

Azhanti seemed a bit crest-fallen that the elderly man didn't use her construct, but tried not to let it show.  She understood when she saw the stairs, but was pretty sure that she could have made it work.  But she didn't want to push it.  So, she just tagged a long, letting the carriage unravel and reabsorbing all of the nanobots and carbon-fiber thread back into her fingertips.

"Tiger..." she repeated when warned about the large feline that had attacked them, letting the word roll around in her mouth.  She'd seen the work... probably in her survival manual.  Or maybe it was a children's book.  But the live cat was much scarier and any representation that she'd seen before.

She watched the other inhabitants with genuine and obvious fascination, gawking at them as much as they seemed to be gawking at her.  The homogeneous nature of the population was quiet curious.  She'd never seen anything quite like it.

When they reached the welcome area, the blue-skinned mutant sat down eagerly and began to pull various foods onto her plate, preparing to eat.  But when Azhanti noticed Sylvia's gaze, she stopped taking food and sat quietly with her hands on her lap.  Waiting.  And listening to the conversation.  And looking hungry and hungrily at the food arrayed before them.

Alyx repressed a shudder when they were shown the creature apparently called a "tiger". He turned quickly away from it, giving a weak smile at the mention of thirst and hunger. The other windows showed other terrain and sometimes creatures, and that was much more interesting and less fear-inducing. Though...they were all very large.

He cautiously took a fruit, deliberately taking one he wasn't familiar with. He was much less prone to poison these days so figured he was a safer bet for that sort of thing. He took a taste and marveled at the unusual-to-him flavor a moment.

"Um...can I ask why the animals are all so...large?"

The man takes a drink as he is sweating to the point that rings of moisture have started to form under his arms and round his neck. To Sylvia's questions he answers, "Well it is just the name of this place. My predecessor called it that, so I have as well. Never really knew what it meant."

To Alyx he answers, "Of course you may. How kind of you to ask first." He picks up the yellow piece of fruit that looks like a large honeycomb and takes a bite of the juicy flesh. "To that we don't really know. I'm sure you all saw all the pipes just outside of the tiger's enclosure, hmmm? Well once an animal dies, it creates another one in its place. We don't know why or how it works, just that it always has."

As he talks a group of three more people, 2 women and a man, come in with a cart that hovers slightly above the floor. The cart is almost as tall as a man and looks to have a large door on one side. The cart settles slowly to the floor and then the man opens it up to reveal shiney meal domes on what look like plates. "Ah!" The old man says in excitement, "Dinner is ready. I wonder what we'll be having today." The three people, again with very similar facial features, start setting these domes in front of everyone with the Director getting the last one. Several pictures of the water that looks as clean and clear as the water on Io.

Lifting the domes reveals a large slab of meat that is coated in various herbs and spices as well as a baked potato with butter and some odd green sticks that might be vegetables. The smells of the steak and vegetables is mouthwatering as your stomachs all collectively growl which causes the Director to laugh gently. "Please, enjoy." He then picks up a fork and knife and starts cutting into his meal while the other three handle the cart, pushing it to one corner of the room.

Mephis had been on guard the whole time but honestly they old man seemed genuine and nice enough even if they kept odd pets. The techy looking surroundings and everyone looking the same still made him uneasy thinking of the doomed people of Io.

The machines pop out new animals? he thought to himself. He looked at the Director and his men. Maybe they were just a family, but maybe animals weren't the only thing the machines created...

His eyes widened as he saw the meal and his guard lowered, his weapons all coming to rest behind his seat. But then he thought for a moment "Looks delicious... But, is it tiger or something?" not that he wouldn't eat it, he had spent weeks eating roaches and rats before be at least he liked to know!

In reply to Mutant Master (msg # 188):

Sylvia blinked at the Director's response. He didn't know what it meant? How much more did he not know about what had happened outside of these walls? His further statements -- about dead animals being replaced by live ones -- left her reeling. Even ignoring the existence of such powerful ancient technology that could managed such feats, the implications of its existence was almost too much to contemplate. The portal to Eye-Oh had been a wonder, of course, but trying to integrate it with the rest of the world seemed difficult -- and that was without acknowledging that Alex's people hadn't been particularly interested in sharing. And given that the giant immobile Live-Metal-Created thing (BARTOC, as Azhanti had named it) had obstinately shut both itself and the portal down, none of that really mattered anyway. But this? The ability to summon animals -- real animals, not illusory simulations or partially bound summonings that would vanish as soon as the binding magic dissolved -- meant that they had, in effect, an infinite supply of food. Or anything else animal-like that could be replaced. Sylvia's eyes widened, and her gaze darted around the room, taking in the appearance of the individuals with new scrutiny.

The smell of the food forcibly dragged her attention back to the table, and her stomach knotted in anticipation, practically digesting itself in preparation for the main event. Sylvia bit her lip as she fought the urge to simply dig in. Some part of her wondered what the Mayor would think if they could bring something like this to the town of Meal? That would definitely put a damper on Macavee's ambitions! Even a pair of those huge goats -- a mated pair, preferably -- would be a huge boon... so long as the townfolk managed to keep the goats alive long enough to produce offspring. Sylvia blinked. They would produce offspring, right? Her gaze flicked back to the door they'd come in from. She'd seen a wide variety of ages of people; surely some of them had been created naturally? At least, 'naturally' as measured by outside this 'Metroplex'?

Thinking of the Mayor and Macavee reminded Sylvia of the circumstances that had brought them to investigate this area. There had been a wolf, right? A large mutilated wolf -- they'd seen the body of it on display when they'd returned to town. Sylvia had thought it'd just been affected by the Glow. Now, however, another suspicion tickled the back of her mind. Or was it the insistent smell of good food doing that? She realized that the others had begun eating; somehow, her hands had settled onto the cutlery on either side of her own plate and were waiting impatiently for permission to get started. She looked back at the Director instead.

"When an animal dies, another one is created to replace it," she repeated. "What if one escapes?"

"Also, does the zoo have an exhibit for wolves by any chance? And if so, could we go see it after this?"

Alyx listened to the answers from the Director. Continuing to use a name that you didn't know where it came from? Yeah, that happened quite a bit, so no surprise there. He was a little disappointed that they didn't the answer to his question, considered went along with that, about the 'replacements', he more curious than disappointed. That sounded...very strange!

He liked both of the questions asked, from Mephis and Sylvia, but added some of his own as well. "The...pipes create the animal? Has it been witnessed, what it looks like when it happens? Or just...that another animal of the same kind has appeared later?"

"So," Azhanti seemed genuinely confused, but that could also be a condition of her hunger, "what is the purpose of a 'Zoo'?  I mean why keep all of these animals to yourselves?"  Still, her hands stayed away from the plate of food in front of her while Sylvia still seemed skeptical (and abstinent).  "Why not share them?" she added thoughtfully, as it would seem that (aside from the tiger, of course) that many of the animals might be welcome and useful outside these walls.

When Sylvia prompted the director about the wolves, Azhanti's own curiosity got the better of her and she tacked on, "And rats?  Do you .. I mean, you must have some really, large rats here?"

The young blue-skinned mutant pursed her lips, realizing that she was bombarding the elderly gentleman with questions.

Those that partake find it to be very good. The meat is cooked to a medium level so as to appeal to a wider audience. As everyone eats the old man says, "You know," he swallows a piece of food, "I'm not really sure. The machine provides all, it only asks how many beings to feed. I hope is it to everyone's liking."

Perhaps the Director digging in enough of an offer of permission, but in either case the director takes a drink of the water and then answers, "Yes, we had a pup disappear one morning. We're not sure what happened to it as we didn't find its carcass. It was very odd thing, but we just assumed the other wolf had eaten it. They can be rather mischievous and when we clean their den, we have to block them out. I plan a complete tour after we have eaten."

A basket of bread is brought out. Small palm sized balls of hot bread with a tray holding a square of butter. Which is an odd shape for butter to be in, but, as it's very malleable, it probably would be easy to replicate back at home. Cutting one open, steam flies out of it as if it had just came fresh from an oven. "One will appear in the den, if its a pack animal, or out on the field if its a solitary predator. They are usually young, but already self sufficient. Each enclosure has everything the animals need, but we've never seen how the animals come to be. I would assume its much like we come into being." He brushes some of the butter on the bread that quickly starts to melt before he takes a bite.

"Share them?" the Director says clearly confused, "If anyone came here, much like you all have, we would gladly show you everything. Yes, the rats," this time his tone drops to one of annoyance. "They are in an enclosure as well and they are very intelligent animals. As such they seem to be able to get into the other pens. Everytime we find one of their holes and close it up, they seem to find another. It is very vexing and I assume you came into the tiger's enclosure through one of their holes."

"We did try one time, to go outside, but we found the world to be very inhospitable and we have everything we need here, so there's no reason for us to leave. One nice fellow, maybe six months or so ago, arrived. We showed him around, much like the way we will with you all. He left an that was the last visitor we've seen before or after until you all showed up."

The Director does pepper in some of his own questions as to how everyone is so different. He is especially surprised by the mutations, the visible ones and any the party is willing to share that aren't, in the group and he asks if they are painful.

Ocean frowns a bit at the medium of the meat but still does not mind.  I mean it is not fish or what not but still it was meat and that was good enough for her in the end.  But for the most part listens to the fascinating facts about this 'zoo' even though in a way she at one point was part of a kind of zoo herself.

She does if asked offer up any discussion on her mutations or abilities as none of them were painful.  "Let me know if I can show you anything although none of my abilities really are obvious."  She says as she was a designed mutant.  One to be a companion or slave as that was why she was pretty and her abilities surrounded that in the way.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:52, Mon 20 May.