122
Read to everyone:
You take your time processing the machines for parts, making sure to get all the intact wire and lenses you can. It takes maybe an additional half hour before you start to head back to the west.
A machine sound and furtive movements in the tall grass grab your attention before you’ve made it back to the road. High-pitched whines and mechanical clicks drift up from a large hole in the ground. The hole would be easy to miss, especially if you hadn’t come across it in the mid-day sun.
Getting closer, you see a Watcher has fallen in and landed awkwardly, impaled on a stalagmite some twenty or thirty feet below. The Watcher is still at least partially functional, as it twists and shudders trying to free itself, but unable to find any leverage.
After a moment’s observation, you realize its cries have a strange echo to them — the cave below must be much larger than you can see from here.
Especially perceptive members of the group, such as Van, would notice an extra detail: the shiny parts of the Watcher reflect occasional pink and blue glows from light sources you can’t see.
One side of the cave has several moss-covered ledges which could be used to get down to the Watcher without falling.
If you’d like to investigate, continue with entry 125. Or, avoid the cave and head back to Mother’s Watch with entry 142.