Krodnok's Lab


#21

Lotara grinned. It was kinda funny, she thought, watching an ooze creature get excited and thrash around in its container. “Ok. I think we should look into getting you to the Homeforge. How long will the bonding procces take, do you think?”


#22

Pluto had been in the lab for quite a while, and was at this point fairly certain he would be missed by his tribe. He was somewhat interested in the ooze and its ramifications, but he also knew that it was probably more trouble than it was worth. He began to pack his few belongings, as well as the notes he had taken during his stay here. They mostly had to do with the ghoul containing glass cases, as well the undead kraken and its behaviors. He had also recorded a couple vital aspects of what the ooze claimed to be, as well as its description and heritage. He still had the strange holo-projecting rod that showed stacks of books, but it still intrigued him. Finally he shouldered his pack and looked for Krodnok, after all, he had yet to thank him for letting him stay. Also, in his age, he had forgotten where the exit was.


#23

Valurk emerged from one of the hallways that led to the areas they were expanding down below. When he was in the main room, he saw Pluto, who appeared to be gathering his things. Valurk blinked in surprise. He had actually completely forgotten that the old 'gog was even still here.

Valurk approached where Pluto was packing. “You’ve been here quite a while,” he started. “Heading out?”


#24

Pluto turned, and nodded his head.

"Yes I think its time I go. Ive been here quite awhile and I’ve learned a bit, but my tribe will need my services soon I think. Unless of course there is any new material that requires my attention?


#25

Valurk smiled, and looked around. “No,” he started, “I think we’re good for the moment. However, I think, and I know Krodnok does as well, that your insight, and pursuit of knowledge are a very valuable tool.”

He shifted his weight a bit. “Should we come across something, and feel that we could use you, in so far as examining an artifact or pondering a peice of information, or something… Is there a way that we could contact you?”


#26

Pluto seemed deep in though for a moment, as though he was trying to recall something. Then he rummaged in his pack and produced a comm crystal, which he offers to Valurk.

“Here, Uth’lal gave me this to speak to him if need be. It is currently set to communicate with another like it in our tribe. Once I have returned I will keep the other on my person and you can call me whenever necessary. I would be glad to assist in any matters that my knowledge can help with. I should be on my way now.”


#27

Valurk took the crystal from Pluto, and put in a belt pouch. “I’ll make sure Krodnok gets this when he returns.”

“Now then, i must return to work. Safe travels, my friend. Thank you for your assistance.” Valurk then turned and moved back through the door he had exited from.


#28

As Pluto left he could hear the gurgling of the strange ooze, as if it was echoed in every stone of the laboratory, and he could sense quiet excitement.

The ooze said aloud, repeating as it giggled, “Bonding may take moments, may take hours, may take centuries. Or it might happen in an instant. It depends how damaged the sample to bond with is. Will not know until attached. Bonding is silent though.”


#29

(As of week 18)

The tendrills that extended down from the mighty flying fortress caused crunching noised to echo through the lab.
While the lab was not the epicenter of where the armory moored itself, the sounds of earth moving could be heard everywhere.

Upon checking their masters lab many times, Warmachine Micah came upon the pool that once held the undead kraken.
Its wall had broken and the cracks caused the water to leave completely.

Now its bottom bathed in shadows, Micah discovered a shadow walk artificing. A quick pop through showed it lead to a different part of the Tomb Factory. A long disused laboratory which was now quite full of an undead Kraken. Micah found the creature ignored his dead flesh and would kill any pit mongrels who stumbled upon the beast.

The laboratory was quite a slog away from the control chamber unlike the old portal that was maintained in the laboratory. At least for now it was a secret entrance to the Tomb Factory. Micah rushed back through to report his findings to Krodnok.


#30

Lotara had grown bored in the last few weeks. Her father, Krodnok, had taken a large force through the portal in the basement to the factory in the south. Since, Krodnok hadn’t been back, but others he took with him had been. And they had brouth back so much stuff…

She was now in her area of the lab, the room with the surgical stone tables. Strapped to the table, she had one of the Mag Der’al corpses. Never know what’s gonna happen when experimenting on the unknown, which is why there was a pair of Dead Olgog Soldiers in the room, both with their Magi-Cannons at the ready, just in case.

Lotara picked up a scalpel and cut around the joint of the left elbow of the creature. (If nothing even remotely interesting happens…) Once through the flesh (skin, muscle, tendons, ect…), She would replace the scalpel, pick up a bone-saw, and finish removig the left hand and forearm.


#31

The left hand and forearm were removed with the same ease as from a normal corpse.
What wasn’t normal was the wound on the arm. The blood was held in place and gooey. It was still wet and flowing to Lotara’s surprise as she tested it with an obsidian scalpel. Interesting, she noted, while it looked like drying blood it was still active. She wouldnt be surprised if it was still infectious to living Olgogs as well.


#32

Closer examination of the blood showed a flow of the blood up and down the dead arm. It seemed as if the Mag Der’al symbiote had joined with the body was simply hybernating while the body was dead.


#33

Lotara took a sample of the dead Olgogs blood into a vial. She tucked the vial into a drawer on one of her equipment carts, and continued her work.

Next, she took her scalpel and cut the torso of the thing open, so as to inspect the internal organs.


#34

The internal organs looked normal, except each cut resulted in an additional sealed section of flesh forming over the cut portions the moment the pressure of holding it open is released.

Near the base of the heart, she found a tail nerve thread of something that wove itself upward into the neck and head. It was biological, and possibly hid the brain center or center mass of the Mag Der’al parasite.


#35

Lotara veiwed the tail nerve curiously. She wondered for a moment how would be best to extract the thing. She grabbed a pair of forceps, and grabbed the end of the nerve tail. She took up a scalpel in her other hand, and proceeded to, slowly, cut through muscle and other tissue, until she was able to extract the thing, hopefully fully intact.


#36

The nerve thread went all the way up to the base of the neck. The slicing was slow going. By the time she reached it she had cut open the shoulders into wings of flayed meat.

There she extracted the singed and dormant corpse of the Mag Der’al parasite.

She noticed nerve bundles extending into the limbic system of the brain and into the scent processing centers of the brain.

She realized if she could up the adrenaline enough in a body it might just allow the host to break free from Mag Der’al control for a few minutes. But that much adrenaline could also accidentally kill the host if combined with a painful ordeal or situation.


#37

Hob’na had been in the lab for a few weeks now, really just exploring. In that time, she had come to expect the ‘out of the ordinary’ as the norm, but when she walked into the room Krodnok had described as ‘Lotara’s Workshop’, what she found was still unnerving. It’s still so strange to be aware all the time, she thought.

Straightening up and collecting herself, Hob’na looked towards Lotara. “Um… I hope I’m not interrupting you. Maybe I can help?”


#38

Lotara jumped at the sound of the foreign voice, and turned around to see who it was, still holding the Mag Der’al parasite. “Oh. It’s you,” she said. “My father’s side project.” She turned back to her work, setting the parasite on the table next to her, and began putting the Olgog corpse back together to attempt to convert it. “What do you want?”


#39

Side project? You’ve got to be kidding, Hob’na thought.

“I’d like to help if I can. I’m obviously new to being a dead thing and I’d like to know what type of things I should expect,” she said, shaking off Lotara’s insult. “Apparently we become full of ourselves, so that’ll be fun. Anyways, your father had mentioned that you would be the other one to speak with in his absence. So here I am.”

She paused for a moment to lean against the wall, to the left of the door. “If it makes you feel better I don’t entirely wanna deal with you either,” she’s added, smiling.


#40

Lotara didn’t look up from her work. She continued to try to peice together what moments ago, she had worked so hard to basically take apart. The parasite warranted it’s own disection, but for now, she wanted to know if she could salvage something from this body.

“You want to help?” Lotara asked. She glanced to the side to look at Hob’na. When Hob’na nodded, Lotara grinned maliciously. “Let me dissect you next.” She paused. For a moment, silence fell in the room, except for the occasional wet slap as she moved the inards of the Mag Der’al body.

“See,” Lotara continued. “You’re what I like to refer to as ‘advanced’. You’re like us,” she gestured to herself, then to the gaurds in the room. “But at the same time, you aren’t. A different process was used to create you. If I can determine what was done to you that was different from what was done to us, maybe I could replicate it.”

As she waited for that to sink in, she continued her work. Once she is done, she will try to convert the body of the Mag Der’al.