Aetherys examines the body, and finds no wayfinder. His injuries also don't quite seem to match the trap: the hammer was padded, and the orc has deep gashes running across his torso, while the hammer would have hit him in the face. His face is also covered in a green dye.
The orc has an adamantine dagger on his body.
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Boram purses his lips in thought. "Well, given the state of the body, it seems that there are a couple of possibilities, of which the most likely would seem to be this: we have been assuming up until now that the Pathfinders that came before us to set up this exercise were the only ones in these ruins. Due to the presence of this half-orc, this would seem not to be the case."
"In addition, I surmise that this half-orc set upon that other Pathfinder group, and they are the ones that dispatched him. What use would there be for any other group to have green dye on hand, and attempt to use it as a weapon? Also, the fact that they did not reset this trap or remove the body - or, for that matter, erase the X's that have been alerting us to the presence of the traps - suggests that they may still be in here, captives or dead themselves."
Having had his say, he waits for commentary from the others.
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Cacumattus listens to Boram's theory, and offers his own. "Hmmm. Or this fellow wasn't alone, and when he triggered this trap it was one of his companions that it hit, and said companion took lethal offense..."
He shrugs, nods to Marra to acknowledge her suggestion, and gestures for Aetherys to lead on.
Another minute down the hall the party finds a room. The dungeon’s red hue is dramatically accented here with a fresh coating of blood. Three corpses lie scattered around the room, all hacked apart with great force. The arterial spray from the last moments of their lives spatters the walls and ceiling and pools on the floor. A dim crimson glow spills from a wide archway to the north, casting a garish light upon the faces of the dead. An open chest sits against the eastern wall, with broken links of chain scattered on the floor around it.
In the centre of the room, glued to the ground with the sticky residue of a tanglefoot bag, is a fully functional - though damaged - guardian construct. The machine soldier aims its crossbow at the first sight of more life: this thing is definitely hostile.
---
Marra
Frost
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Robot (17)
---
Aetherys
Boram
Cacumattus
Adrianna
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Frost closes in on the robot, and hit the construct with a loud clang noise. Sadly, the noise is greater than the damage caused, and only a minimal dent is left in the robot's armour.
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Marra
Frost
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Robot (18)
---
Aetherys
Boram
Cacumattus
Adrianna
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Another thunk is heard as Marra's scimitar hits home. Again, the damage seems to be fairly limited.
The robot retaliates by swiping it's built-in sword at Marra, and another thunk rings out as the metal hits the halfling's armour.
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Aetherys
Boram
Cacumattus
Adrianna
Marra
Frost
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Robot (19)
---
It is a brave this to lob a bomb among companions and assume it will not hurt them. Boram is experienced enough, though, to pull that off, and the effect is formidable. As soon as Aetherys has her strike ready, the robot is already staggering, and dawnblade's hit - not so much the hit as the discharge of electricity that follows - deactivates the machine soldier with a cranking metal sound.
Something mechanical is stirring in the archway to the north - the presence of Frost, Marra and Aetherys seems to have caused its activation.
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Aetherys
Boram
Cacumattus
Adrianna
Marra
Frost
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Robot - Disabled
The gateway
---
The robot is definitely no longer functional, but from above the archway, two darts fly out. The darts fly close to Adrianna and Frost, but miss their mark. A small spark of electricity can be seen as the darts hit the floor. There are some longer wires that attach the darts to their firing mechanism.
As soon as the darts have discharged, a ticking sound can be heard, and the darts are reeled in - quite fast, but slow enough for the wires to be exposed.
---
Aetherys
Boram
Cacumattus
Adrianna
Marra
Frost
---
Robot - Dead
Dart-based defense mechanism
---
With a simple 'snip', Aetherys severes one of the dart's wires. As soon as she hits the metal wire, though, she feels a shock.
---
Aetherys
Boram
Cacumattus
Adrianna
Marra
Frost
---
Robot - Dead
Dart-based defense mechanism
Dart I - Severed
Dart II
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Boram disables the other wire, and manages to avoid harm to come to himself. Marra's dancing lights shows another two tubes locking onto the adventurers, and two more darts fly at the party. Again, both darts plunk harmlessly to the ground. With the same ease as before, the wires to these darts can be severed
---
Aetherys
Boram
Cacumattus
Adrianna
Marra
Frost
---
Robot - Dead
Dart-based defense mechanism
Dart I
Dart II
---
Marra severs another wire - making that only one left - but gets an electric jolt.
Aetherys severs the last wire, and Boram checks the defense mechanism. He quickly concludes that it is a four-barrel contraption, and with all wires severed, the danger is gone. Boram disables the mechanism, just to be sure.
The bodies lying on the ground - three in total - are wearing wearing armour, carrying simple weapons like quarterstaffs and daggers. There's an archway leading to the north.
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Marra shakes off the staggered effect after a hand full of seconds, "It has some static shocks. Wonder how many more of these machines there are? shall we move on."
If no one grabbed the adamantine dagger off the first dead half-orc we found, Marra retrieves it. "This might come in handy, it's really not my type of weapon and a bit big for me. Maybe Frost or Adrianna could make better use of it?" The halfling offers it to them.
Twice as wide as it is long, this large, oval chamber is illuminated with a murky radiance by dimly glowing overhead crystals. The room is bare of furnishings, just an open space with
a dozen semicircular alcoves around the perimeter. Mechanical horrors identical to those outside occupy a number of these alcoves, but none of the automatons seem active, and some have even fallen over. A door stands in the center of the northern wall.
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Adrianna will take the adamantine dagger since she has done training in it and it would be of more use here than her wooden nunchaku.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Despite the suspicions of Boram, none of the robots in the large hangar make as much as a stir. It's clear to Aetherys why: time has taken it's toll on the machines, rust and rot have overtaken the machines. Some have even fallen apart, toppled over.
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Marra follows along with the group keeping her sword out and eyeing the machines.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The northern gateway checks out - no defense mechanisms installed on this portal. Frost further inspects the rusted, dysfunctional machines, but does not immediately find what makes them - or better, made them - tick.
Beyond the northern door a flight of metal stairs descends through a corridor sheathed in the same brick-red metal. The corridor seems in better repair than most, with no missing panels and functional overhead lighting. The stairs end at a door to the north, while two narrow arches open on either side of the hall.
As soon as Aetherys looks around the corner she sees two figures, a man and a woman, who spring to their feet immediately. A woman, dressed in studded leather armour and bearing very much the same equipment as the dead half-orc the party saw earlier, stand behind a tall man with strange blue tattoos in his face. Halt he says step into the light where we can see you.
Who are you, and what are you doing here? Are you the one sending these machines after us?
We are here on no-one's authority. What are you, outlaws? You better be trying to rob us, we have ways!