"Joy."
The word wasn't quite as flat as the preceeding one, being bent with a hint of sarcasm and sardonic intonation.
Daring to loosen the carbon filter mask just enough to catch a whiff of unfiltered air, the unmistakable smell of ammonia, nitrogenated compounds, acetates, and sulfurous substances wafted from the direction of the creatures. Exactly where the odors originated was unclear. The clearly chemically ablated armor and weapons of the slayers was evident, and depending on how good their metal foundry processes were, could easily explain the sulfuric smell.
The ammonia and acetate smells were more disconcerting. Years of chemistry university classes spilled on top of each other. Weak base, weak acid. Possibly a buffered pair solution to make the creatures resist the concentrated nitric acid they used to dissolve our guests? Suggests carnivorous organism, to have such a high blood ammonia content.. the acetate was more perplexing. That's a biproduct of reduction of alcohol, itself a reduction of sugars. To produce in high enough concentrations.... photosynthetic? Carnivorous, acid spewing plants?....
"Joy."
Whatever they were, they were fast. The slayers all had their breast plates burned through, pools of orange vapor fuming red liquid sizzling and spreading on the floor. The engravers would have a fit over this.
Need a distraction. ... bodies.
In a rough approximation of the correct gestures (the suit greaty limited range of motion. For the moment, he was very glad it was made from glass and ceramic. The creature's apparent main form of attack would have a very hard time breaking down the ablative armor of the suit.) Needed.
About a dozen half-digested and fuming humans rose from the floor, whailing on the flesh of the creatures.
Hastily, weird readjusted his gas mask, very greatful for its presence. The nitrous oxide vapors released from the acid these creaters were puking could quickly incopacitate humans and dwarves, and was quite deadly in and of itself.
Fumbling for the correct chords to pull, he finally settled on concentrated chlorine, and hydrocyanate as the gas choices.
A bittersweet choking fume erupted from the gas port toward the creatures, who hd almost completey digested the proteins in the zombified human corpses now. An indescribable sound came from them as the greenish yellow vapor enveloped them, and exotic covalent bonding began to wreak havok on their biochemistry.
Doubtful that it would actually kill them, so much as simply make them very very sick, he quickly scooped up a vial of the greenish blue ichor they smeared on the wall from the aggressive chemical burns they had just sustained. Turning tail and heading for the doors, he was very happy to have sealed all the vents now. While the gas he just ejected would have killed humans and dwarves almost instantly, it was slowly disrupting their metabolism and disrupting their own cafefully balanced protection from their own acids. If they could be sealed in the room under constant exposure, they *would* eventually die, but at the going rate, it would slowly, painfully, and most importantly, angrily.
He had to get that filth to his lab for testing. He suspected copper based respiration chemistry, but he couldn't be sure. Could be barium, or some exotic mix of cobolt and sodium for all he knew. Clearly, some kind of substitution metal to plug up their catalytic conversion of ammonia to nitric acid had to be devised, but there were so many plausible pathways to consider, that blundering was a dangerous reality. Only science would tell. He had to get back to the lab.
Barricading the stone door behind him after sending another concentrated jet of the greenish yellow vapor into the room to displace the normal atmosphere, and to make those creatures know the meaning of pain, he charged down the corridor towards the lab..........
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Topic: If Bay Forum were a Mountain Hall... (Read 447298 times)