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Not wanting to disappoint their host, and having had a few too many mugs of the Kellids' "special" brew, Amestra takes off her glasses, undoes the small leather tie around her pony-tail and shakes out her hair. Grabbing Eadie by the hand, and giving her a wink and a goofy, drunken grin, she heads toward Xol-Nomag's tent....
The following day, having slept in late after her raucous and invigorating night with Xol-Nomag and Eadie, (Wait, what in the name of Magdh did I DO? I'm not clear on the details.) Amestra is feeling sharp and alert.
Addressing her colleagues, Amestra says, "Is anyone else feeling that? There's a vibration that seems somewhat rhythmic. Almost mechanical."
Then turning to their guide, she asks, "Jala, is that vibration normal here?"
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Wow! I’ve never seen such enthusiasm for a game of Harrow before!
Eadie allows herself to be led by the hand into Xol-Nomag's tent.
“Uh – it’s pretty dark in here. How are we going to see to play?”
⌛
Well, the Ghost Wolves do have an unusual take on it – though Amy seems keen enough.
The young Pathfinder *shrugs* Welp, as Aunt Alix always said: When you’re a guest under someone else’s roof, you hafta play by their rules …
⌛ ⌛ ⌛ ⌛ ❂
“Yep. Seems like they’re gonna allow us some time to prepare.”
Eadie digs through her backpack for a pot of alchemist’s grease that she brushes over her black full plate. She necks a vial of antitoxin and activates the shield charm that her purple ioun stone holds.
Flipping down her visor, she adopts an aggressive sidewise stance. With her weight on her back foot and her falchion’s pommel held up near her right ear, Eadie looks like a ‘rounders’ batter awaiting the toss.
“Won’t be long now ...”
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"Yes, Amestra. I feel that, too." Kai glances uneasily around, uncertain what what they would face side the tunnels.
Taking the cue from his partymates, Kai similarly take a short way to get ready. He first withdraws two wands and with practiced ease, activates both of them in short order.
He then withdraws a few vials of extracts and gulps them down one after that. In fact, he does something strange where almost immediately after drinking one extract, he downs a potion only to spit its content back into its bottle. He considers whether to drink his mutagen as well, but decides to hold onto that for now.
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"Thank you V", Karl sets the wand back under the bracer, and ready his quiver to have most of his arrows immediately available.
"Are we all ready?" He looks at the group of Wolves, "are you coming into THAT with us?"
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The Kellids shrug and begin their own approach, as you cautiously approach the gas vent; the hissing intensifies, until the entire thing comes to a "boil". Ducking down, you are able to avoid getting hit by the rock, clumps of earth and other miscellaneous pieces that go flying as the pressure makes the cave-in explode outward.
In it's stead, a thick fog roils within the entrance, as clanging sounds to make a Taldane military parade blush step upwards, under cover of the smoke.
Round 1
Karl
Blue
Eadie
Red
Insidion
Amestra
Lin Kai
Vanzetti
Orange
Purple
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A figure , barely visible in the green miasma approaches the edge of the fog. It scans around with it's one glass eyepiece gleaming red and locks onto Eadie.
"இலக்கு வாங்கியது. அகன்றல் நீக்குதல் குறியீடு ஆல்பா தொடங்கும்."
It throws its spear which lands with a thud, head into the ground some distance from the fighter.
Round 1
Karl
Blue
Eadie
Red
Insidion
Amestra
Lin Kai
Vanzetti
Orange
Purple
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The fog, green as it may be, interferes with Eadie's strike causing her to overextend! And from the corner of her eye, she sees another red strobe piercing through the fog.
"ஒப்புக்கொள்ளப்பட்டது"
While the fog does not seem to hamper them right now, their mechanical incompetence does.
Round 1
Karl
Blue
Eadie
Red
Insidion
Amestra
Lin Kai
Vanzetti
Orange
Purple
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Karl, if that was a formally readied action, you have a relatively good view on Red that would trigger your readied action. You also have a 20% miss chance against these bad boys currently.
Karl lets his arrow fly against the foe in front of Eadie.
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Feeling the rush of arcane speed from Insidion's spell, Amestra runs into the battle to stand behind Eadie. As she moves, she draws her rapier, and activates the magic in the scarf around her wrist and left hand. Arriving in place, she carefully looks over these new and intriguing entities to see what she might know about them.
Then she takes a single stab with her (non-adamantine) rapier at the one to the south (Blue).
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Amestra recalls some information about these things. They are "native" hazards to Numeria, and often in the hands of the Technic league: Gearsmen, a type of Numerian golem purportedly from the stars.
As the investigator's rapier sneaks above Eadie's shoulder, so does Karl's crossbow bolt. Both seem to take a toll on the robot!
It does not seem to suffer any further ill-effects.
To top it off, a small bead of orange light swooshes into the fog. Within the next second an explosion echoes throughout the gulch, and the gearsman with the red paint topples forward.
Round 1
Blue 11 dmg
Eadie
Karl
Insidion
Amestra
Lin Kai
Vanzetti
Orange 27 dmg
Purple 27 dmg
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Amestra does remember that Numerian golems are vulnerable to electricity and to being his in juuuuuuuuuuuuuust the right way.
Lin racks his brain upon seeing the one creature fall and remembers that they are purportedly hard to kill, havign much in common with regular objects . They also tend to charge whatever weapon they are wielding with electrical power .
From the depths of the fog, two more gearsmen stumble forward, looking somewhat charred.
While it does not affect you, the fog must surely affect them, as they both miss.
Jala begins to sing a song of how the Ghost wolves and their allies fear no start-spawned devils, as the other outriders look to you as to how they may best help you.
The Gearman with blue paint goes to aid on of it's allies against Eadie!
Somehow, it's distracting attack doesn't even phase Eadie. And you could swear that a drop of oil is forming in the corner of it's one eye as it steps back into the mist.
Round 2
Blue 11 dmg
Eadie
Karl
Insidion
Amestra
Lin Kai
Vanzetti
Orange 27 dmg
Purple 27 dmg
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Taking a moment to study these "Gearsmen" more carefully, Amestra gains further insight on how best to attack and harm them. She aims for the only ones she can see. First at the one in front of Eadie (Orange), then the one to the North (Purple).
In Hallit, she calls out, "Ghost Wolf brothers, lend me your strength that I may damage them better!"
Edited - Added rolls for Concealment.
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In a flash of adamantine, bolts and rapier swordplay, all the remaining gearsmen fall down, destroyed.
Even to the untrained eye, it would seem that the gearsmen's "guts" contain all sorts of precious metals, be they gold, silver, or skymetals. Eyeballing it, it will probably take you an hour to salvage the metal within. "You fought well. But that will likely not be the last of them" voices Jala with a concerned look upon his face. "We'll stand guard here while you are inside. But be back before sunrise. By then I suspect we'll need to collapse the entrance again. Whether you've escaped or not."
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“Yeah, I think so, Karl. I’ll go first and I think you should guard the rear.”
Eadie turns the various combinations over in her mind. “I agree with having the casters somewhere in the middle, so I would propose:
• Eadie
• Kai
• Amy
• Insidion (& friends)
• V
• Karl
Eadie makes an open gesture with her left hand as she sends her ioun torch into orbit above her great helm with her right. “But if someone has another suggestion – go for it!”
“Insidion, is it possible you could re-charge my ioun stone with a charge from your wand of shield, please?”
The warrior frowns. “I do have one question though … We can’t see the sky underground, right? So how are we supposed to tell when sunrise is?”
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Before Kai has the chance to get a good look at the metal man, they were already smashed into pieces. Waiting for a minute before shrinking back to normal science, he joins Karl to look through the metal creatures, curious about their construction, but they are too alien and he learns little.
He hears the discussion and looks up. "Second in line is good for me. Close enough to tackle traps if any, and with my longspear, I can still engage whoever, or whatever, we may encounter in the frontline."
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Picking through the remains of the gearsmen, Amestra points a few things out to Kai and Karl, then becomes lost in her study of the intricate and interesting components: the shiny clockwork gears, the glowing chemicals in translucent flexible tubing, the thin multicolored bundles of wires....
Eadie's comments pull her from her study, "Hmm? Oh, yes, Eadie, excellent plan. Third works for me."
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Delving deep into the depths, it becomes clear that whatever this complex was, it did not survive the landing from the stars intact. Multiple chambers and pathways are caved in, making your exploration a fairly linear one all told. Throughout, buzzing light sources and blocky shapes with glass tubes shed some light and allow you to observe the blotches of green and yellow corrosion appearing haphazardly on you way. Finally perhaps a half-hour later at most, you end up approaching a large ten foot dark metal door.
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“This place is creepy … I reckon we’ve come further now than Gojan the Sharp did.”
Eadie frowns at the green and yellow patches. “Amy and Kai, could the natural sulphur present be reacting alchemically with the skymetal somehow?”
From previous experience, Eadie is on the lookout for gun turrets, power sources, thin wires and electrified floors – as well as more conventional dungeon trappings – as the party approaches the door.
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“Oops. Sorry.”
Eadie’s cheeks briefly flush pink. “Musta been the snake meat and chilli I had for breakfast.”
“So well done, Kai!” Eadie *smacks* the investigator on the shoulder. “Shall we try the door now?”
Assuming Kai signals the OK, Eadie attempts to open the door. If successful, she leads with her sky metal falchion into the chamber beyond.
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With one adamantine arrow in one hand and his longbow ready, Chock is prepared to attack any enemy in front of Eadie.
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Studiously watching Kai disable the trap, Amestra notes some of his techniques. "Wow, he's very good at this. He certainly didn't need my help."
"Very nicely done, Kai," she comments in a tone meant to convey the utmost professional respect and admiration.
Then taking a moment to tuck a stray strand of hair back into the leather tie, she draws her rapier and steps forward to follow Eadie.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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The doors open violently with the screech of metal hinges needing oil. The chamber on the other side is a mess of shattered boxes and other detritus. Lights flicker and crackle, lending it a rather sinister look. A few intact-looking objects lie near the eastern wall; some rags, a suit of flexible matte cloth, a black box, a metal stick with a glass piece at one end, a few delicate metal strands, some of which connect to a small metallic box, a bright orange square withe pieces of string dangling from it and a sheet of blue crystal, ringed by a band of black matte metal.