[Neraphym]

Neraphym: "Maybe this will open."

Varulla attempts to open the door with blast marks.

[Darkness]

The door does not move at all. You notice that the door itself is considerably damaged. Perhaps you could bash your way through...?

[Neraphym]

Frustrated, Varulla begins pounding on the door with all her might. Neraphym sighs and wipes his face with his hand.

[Darkness]

With a great tearing of metal, the door collapses inward.

[Neraphym]

Neraphym: "Well, it worked..."

They enter.

[Darkness]

You appear to be in a medical facility of some sort. Half of the room is completely overgrown with the strange fleshy thing, but that is not what first draws your eyes. It seems a battle took place here. Corpses litter the ground, both Karloron and Aphorite. Many of the Aphorite corpses have the fleshy substance grown on some parts of their bodies. Arms and legs and heads, of both Karlorons and Aphorites, stick out from the fleshy substance that encompasses one half of the room, making it seem as if the substance 'grew' -after- the battle took place.

[Neraphym]

Varulla: "Eww, lots of corpses here. Maybe they have something useful in this room?"

Neraphym: "A battle took place here, before these... things... grew over the dead. Salvage what looks useful. And don't touch that icky stuff."

They search the bodies and the room for something useful.

[Darkness]

You find... 400 credits!

[Neraphym]

Varulla: "Well, I found 400 credits on these guys. They were stripped of armor and weapons, though."

Neraphym: "There's nothing else for us to do here. Come along."

They leave the room and continue down the corridor in the direction they were going.

[Darkness]

As you continue, corpses begin to appear in increasing numbers around you. You come to another door. It appears to have blast marks on it as well. Corpses litter the ground. One Aphorite is face down by the door, his hand stretched upward onto the wall, as if he was killed while trying to open the door with the touch panel. The strange growth is apparent on him. Perhaps this door will open? The yellowish tannish substance spreads across the ceiling. A glob of the stuff falls, and then another, and another, all in different areas. The arm of the Aphorite lying by the door, not the arm that's stretched towards the panel, shifts to beneath his chest, as if he was going to try to get up. A grinding sound comes from above. Another glob falls.

[Neraphym]

Varulla: "Oh, I think that one just moved!"

Neraphym: "Indeed. Check it."

Varulla walks over to the body and draws a katana to its throat. She nudges the body with her foot, trying to get a response.

[Darkness]

An inhuman screech echoes through the corridor. The corpse leaps to its feet! Lashing out at Varulla's face with a clawed hand, a hand tinged to the hue of the strange yellowish substance, it stares with dead eyes from a face that is barely recognizable as once belonging to an Aphorite's. It would seem that the Aphorite is, in fact, dead, but this fleshy thing has taken over the corpse, to use for its own bidding. What is this stuff?

[Neraphym]

The katana slides right through the body's neck, sending the head rolling on the ground.

Varulla: "Ewww, it looked dead, but it was clearly... alive."

Neraphym: "As I suspected. That corpse was being reanimated, probably by that yellow stuff. Let's see where this guy was going."

They try and enter the room that the undead Aphorite was escaping to before it undied.

[Darkness]

The door begins to slide open... But then a screech, like the inhuman yell from before, rises up once again, but this time it seems to come from several throats! Behind you, rising from the ground like unholy specters, five dead Aphorites -- including the one you just beheaded -- seem to live once again. They move toward you as if by one accord.

[Neraphym]

Neraphym takes his burning sword and slashes into the flesh of one of the Aphorites.

Neraphym: "Varulla, stand down. I want to fight these under controlled circumstances so that I can learn more about them. Just wait behind me, and I'll call you if needed. See what you can learn about the yellowish stuff, but don't touch it."