What now brave adventurers?
Bill remembers the oiled tarp and decides to check it out while they are waiting for the storm to roll past the compound.
Bill moves towards the eastern gate where a massive ...something... is held under an oiled tarp. Pulling the tarp away, a clap of thunder sounds in the distance, giving the wind-whipped tarp a theatrical sound to go with the motion.
Beneath is something arcane and strange indeed... On a massive mining cart sits the device. There's a pivoting chair (designed for a dwarf or human sized operator) mounted upon a tripod. the legs of the tripod are splayed out nearly 10 feet apart from each other. Attached to the front of the chair is a 12 foot long hollow mithral cylinder wound with a fine braid of incredibly thing copper wire. The entire thing is set up to allow a variable aim like a siege weapon of some sort.
At the cylinder's end is a small clamp designed to hold a large crystal through which some kind of energy can pass through and into the hollowed cylinder.
Whatever it is, none of you have EVER seen anything like this.
Bill waves his hand and sees a red spiky aura of considerable strength. This is strong evocation...
Aiuda furrows her elven brow at the strange sight. "It looks formiddable but how is it used? Perhaps more importantly, how is it moved?"
Should we destroy it? If we can't use it, why let something else?
Aiuda looks about and it does have wheels on the base, like a mining cart track. How it's used.... well, that's not quite as obvious.
How it works is within the realm of the most learned minds:
With a fist-sized eidite gem placed in the machine, a proficient user can harness, magnify, and unleash terrible magic. Once used it can recreate the near legendary power of an earthquake. The size of the barrel would give it a range of nearly 20 leagues! This could topple cities if used on the right target.
Destroying an item of this power won't be easy. Even Bill shakes his head at the thought. With a week and access to a world class library, he might be able to work something out...
Bill looks at the machine and is unsure of how to use it or even hide it from interlopers.
"We can't just leave this here... It is too powerful to let it fall into the hands of just anyone." he remarks to the team. "Thoughts?"
May be with a spell of shrink item we could moves it from here ?
Says Sven who adds
One one of the room something about a canon was written. Do you think it this thing ?
If we can't do anything to it to destroy it and we can't take it with us, what can we do? We have no choice but to leave it.
Pelkin turns to Bill and says, Is there any way to at least disable it so it can't fire? Maybe we can prevent it from moving to aim or something.
"I'm not strong enough to shrink magical items..." Bill says to Sven. "I suggest we leave it as I cannot lift it from the tracks and I doubt any others could either, at least none we have seen."
"Let's sleep and move on to Megator." Bill suggests.
Aiuda listens to Bill, deferring to his expertise. Eventually she says, "I have to agree with Bill. I don't see how we can possibly transport and use it and if Bill thinks there are no magical means of doing so, then it must be left behind. Let's rest and wait out the storm and then start our search in the morning."
At a lose the party decides that there's a bit of recon available before taking shelter from the storm.
Taking flight, it looks like the road to the east has a large rundown wall protecting something dug into the mountain. It'll take you about half a day to get there.
When the morning comes the sky is an emerald green color, odd anywhere else, but calm here.
In the morning, Aiuda gives everyone's shoes (and paws) a light touch to prevent any tracks that might lead someone to follow them.
"Ok, I will try to guide us there. Keep a watch out for more storms or abnormal weather and anything wandering in the wild that might try to take us unawares. With any luck we can approach without being seen."
(+2 to avoid becoming lost)
Zelkin will aid the Lantern Bearer as best he can.
I will be ready
Sven takes the rear with his friend, looking for anything unusual, bow in hands.
Whitestripe happily follows his master.
Bill prepares his spellbook after carefully reconsidering their previous encounters. With a few thoughts, he decides to focus a bit more on traditional spells rather than some of the more exotic ones he has acquired.
"Alright, to Megator!"
Bill floats behind the party and spies the foundry in the distance. "Brute force approach?" he asks with a wry grin.
Unless you see a better way from up there. How many guards are posted atop the turrets, can you tell?
With their destination in sight, Zelkin casts Sacred Bond once more. He'll also cast See Invisibility on himself.
This assumes looking from 300 away. Subtract 1 from the DC for every 10' closer.
Each turret has a trio of heavily armed gnolls in it.
I see that each turret has three heavily armed gnolls in it. Perhaps we could try to take them out quickly from range, or should we simply rush up there?
"I can dimensionally move myself closer with a single step but that would leave me exposed. Bill, do you have any magic that could transport all of us at once? Or perhaps turn us all invisible? It would be best if we didn't draw the whole factory's attention at once, although it certainly worked in our favor back at the fort."
I can use a Dimensional Hop for transport but the more I take the less we could travel. That might be useful once we get closer.
There's little cover, but enough that you could try to get closer.
"I have the perfect tool for this job." Bill says as he descends to the ground in the middle of the group.
"Stay close to me. In fact, grab my tunic so you can keep track of where I am." he recommends before weaving some arcane glyphs in the air. As the spell progresses everyone sees the group slowly fade from view.
Perfect spell Bill !
Says Sven who asks Whitestripe to follow him closely.
Grouh ! accepts Whitestripe who follows closely his master and friend.
Using Bill's spell, you can get close enough (Taking 10) that it all works out. The curtain wall looks hard to sneak over, but to the east...
The stone wall that once protected this courtyard now features a wide gap of crumbled masonry. A set of tall double doors occupies the entire south wall. Inside you see a potent looking construct guard, a collection of jagged metal rears up into a humanoid form, its enormous cannon tracking movement with mechanical precision.
A canon golem! A real canon golem. These are legendary even here. It's arm can deliver a hit like a battering ram, and legend says they can sometimes explode their payload like a wizard's fireball. +1 question for each over 5.
What is that thing, exactly?
Aiuda whispers (outside, so the machine can't hear, if it's capable of hearing), "We should sneak in and kill that construct as quickly as possible. If we can do it quietly, maybe we can sneak up behind those fellas on the wall. Can anyone keep things quiet, with magic perhaps? Otherwise let's just sneak into the room and start attacking it."
The noise is so loud this close that you have to talk at a normal volume to people right next to you. Clearly the forge is in use.
Aiuda pulls everyone close, putting her mouth near their invisible ears. "I don't think they'll hear us killing that construct in there if we can get in the room without being seen. Hopefully we can sneak up behind the people on the walls."
Aiuda readies herself to sneak into the room once everyone is ready.
Given that you're still invisible if you're close to Bill, go ahead and put yourselves inside the room and tell me what you do (and roll it if appropriate.)
Zelkin will cast True Strike on himself and just before the attack is made will activate his Judgment of Smiting (Adamantine). He then nods that he is ready to attack the creature with the goal of taking it down quickly.
Considering moving away from Bill will make people visible, I'm going to switch to initiative. Everyone can start there. If you want to cast spells, I'll build in one round of "Prep."
Bill: Go
Baddies: Go
Zelkin: Go
Aiuda: Go
Sven: Go
Bill: Go
Baddies: Go
Zelkin: Go
Aiuda: Go
Sven: Go
Bill: Go
Baddies: TBD
Zelkin: TBD
Aiuda: TBD
Sven: TBD
Prep : Cast True Strike, draw weapon and shield, activate Judgment
Surprise : Charge
for
Free Action : Zelkin snarls in disgust.
Zelkin, despite magical assistance slips at the last second as a loud noise from the forge distracts him for a moment.
Bill: Go
Zelkin: True Strike
Aiuda: Go
Sven: Go
Bill: Go
Baddies: Go
Zelkin: Charge fail
Aiuda: Go
Sven: Go
Bill: Go
Baddies: TBD
Zelkin: TBD
Aiuda: TBD
Sven: TBD
Aiuda's bow is in her hands and an arrow flying through the air before anyone recognizes that anything has happened. Unfortunately the arrow only clatters against the wall.
With the chaos of FINALLY being at the source (hopefully) of this entire adventure, Aiuda gets a bit to excited and misses with her own arrow.
Bill: Go
Zelkin: True Strike
Aiuda: None
Sven: Go
Bill: Go
Baddies: Go
Zelkin: Charge fail
Aiuda: Miss
Sven: Go
Bill: Go
Baddies: TBD
Zelkin: TBD
Aiuda: TBD
Sven: TBD
Bill incants a few words as he studies the creature, drawing the symbol for speed in the air. It rapidly splits into five pieces and imbues each of the humanoids and the feline with enhanced reflexes. "That should be good enough, eh?" he practically yells to his team.
Before entering the forge Sven casted barskin on himself and Whitestripe.
Sven casts gravity bow
Sven calls for the spirit of the bull and tiger to help him then shoots at the creature, ordering whitestripe to attack it too !
Attack !
Whitestripe charge the creature.
GGRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrr !
Before exploding into action, Bill castes haste on the party. Sven adds a spell of his own before launching an arrow that hits square! Most of the arrow splinters ineffectually, but a scratch does remain. Whitestripe's teeth do a bit more, but still not much.
Bill: Haste
Zelkin: True Strike
Aiuda: None
Sven: Gravity Bow
Bill: Go
Zelkin: Charge fail
Aiuda: Miss
Sven: Hit
Bill: Go
Baddies: TBD
Zelkin: TBD
Aiuda: TBD
Sven: TBD
Golem: 16