"Get off me, gearbox!"
Shea shoves her hands out and sprays a 30ft cone of acid over the constructs
The machine-men react quite quickly to Shea's spell, although they still take some damage. It seems to affect them considerably more than the ball of fire Shea used earlier.
One of the constructs attacks Brother Cyrus, while another decides to electrify Shea...
The claws find their mark, and Brother Cyrus feels their sting... But there's no electricity this time around...
While the jolt is more painful than the last one, it's clear that it also takes a lot more from the gear-man.
- - -
- - -
Tai Leng takes his best shot at the Gear Titan.
If those hit, he also tries to give it the same treatment as the smaller machines. The bigger they are, the harder they fall after all.
Tai Leng hits the creature, but can't get through its plating . The impact of his fists come close to finding a gap in the construct's defenses, but ultimately fail.
During his assault, Tai Leng sees a number of alchemical bolts hit the titan, shot by 4 crossbowmen on the room. The creature ignores the projectiles, despite being visibly damaged by them, moves forward and with a giant hand pushes away a heavy desk as if it were made of paper.
A middle-aged man who stood on the other side of said desk now finds his back against the wall... And his left arm grabbed by a mechanical monstrosity.
One of the smaller gear-men charges at Tai Leng, while another continues his attack against the masked man.
Fortunately for their human opponents, this time the gear-men aren't successful at their assault.
- - -
Cyrus continues to slash the gear-man he is engaged with.
Brother Cyrus destroys one of the constructs and shatters the chain linking Sha to another one of the creatures.
The Paladin's actions are answered with violence. A nearby construct springs a long, retractable needle and stabs Brother Cyrus.
In addition to the pain, Brother Cyrus can feel a burning substance being forcefully injected into his body.
- - -
- - -
Shea runs back cause getting grabbed sucks, and then blasts the weakest looking one with a bolt of lightning.
Brother Cyrus' visions blurs for a moment... He can feel the poison running through his veins...
His misfortune isn't over. A nearby construct slashes at him with mechanical claws.
...But even poisoned, Brother Cyrus easily deflects the attacks...
- - -
The gear-man next to Tai Leng attacks him once again.
The masked man too is attacked by a construct...
The first attack goes through his defenses, but it takes less than a moment for him to regain his stance and deflect the second strike.
Meanwhile... Under a storm of arrows, the gigantic construct still holds the middle-aged man. The titan stretches its other arm towards its hostage, when a blueish blast explodes on its mechanical elbow... It's first time the monster reacts to an attack.
Tai Leng follows the creature's gaze and sees its attacker... From behind an overturned desk, a raven-haired woman points a very odd-looking pistol at the construct. Tai Leng recognizes her as the "imperceptible" woman he saw earlier, although she now wears much more practical clothes than her previous flowing blue dress... More fit to a travelling scholar and/or high end secretary than a casino hostess.
She shouts something in a language you can't quite make out, and the middle aged man replies in kind. The oversized construct doesn't produce a sound, but his eyes glow red and a large harpoon flies from its shoulder.
The woman just barely avoids the attack by diving behind the desk at the last moment. The harpoon buries itself into a wall, but is soon rapidly pulled out by a coiling chain linked to the giant construct's body. Pieces of stone and mortar are forcefully eject from the wall alongside the harpoon...
- - -
"Damn, there are a lot of these!" Cyrus shouts as he swings his blade in an upward slash.
"If we don't hurry this larger one is going to kill everyone in here!" Tai warns.
Then he tries to slammajam it again.
The mechanical humanoid proves faster than expected and blocks both of Brother Cyrus' strikes... At the same time, the holy warrior's vision begins to blur, and his reflexes dull. The poison running through his veins finally revealing its effects...
Tai Leng attacks with two rapid strikes, but the creature's plating completely block his first attack and partially absorbs the impact from the second one , while its sheer size stops the Tien martial artist from getting a good grip.
A gear-man repositions itself slightly before attacking Brother Cyrus.
Both of its attacks miss, although one is closer than you'd like...
The masked man continues his fight against the constructs. Swiftly evading the assault from the creatures flanking him, while simultaneously striking them with a bladed whip attached to his bracelets.
You hear the sound of metal hitting metal... A moment later, pieces and of a shattered automaton bounce into the room from the main corridor. They are soon followed by a humanoid figure: The falconer who attempted to follow you when you went upstairs. His eyes glow bright green and his hand holds a scimitar that sheds lime-green smoke.
"By the twin bells... WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!?!" he shouts, obviously surprised by the battle raging in front of him.
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
In Shea moment of hesitation, the gear-man who had her chained steps forward and tries to grab her agian... This time using just its mechanical claws.
Luckily for the mage, it stumbles... And Shea swiftly evades the creature's attack.
- - -
Shea turns to zap the one that just tried to grapple her
after she blatantly misses she keeps on moving around, Perhaps if she puts one of the stronger guys between her and it, it will attack them instead! Genius!
Cyrus grunts with exertion as he parries the last blows of the gear-man, claws drawing sparks along his blade. He shoves the claws off and tries to work his blade into the opening.
He glances at the Falconer before refocusing on the enemy before him.
"Give us a hand with these would you? We can sort things out later, but I'm pretty sure these bloody things aren't supposed to be here!"
- - -
- - -
Somewhere else in Blue Shell...
You're called by your sergeant to his desk. The only time this happened was a couple months ago, when you first joined the city guard, and even then, all you got was his name and a rather lazy and short explanation of the general rules...
- Do as you're told!
- Don't bother the captain.
- Don't bother the sergeant unless it's "F%!+EN SERIOUS".
- Don't get in the way.
- Do as you're told!
- Do your beat.
- Finish the paperwork.
- The armada is a bunch of snobby bastards. F!*~'em!
- Stay out of Sunset Wings.
- Wednesday is pork stew day.
- DO AS YOU'RE TOLD!
So far, your work has been quite easy and uneventful, even boring... You joined the force to help the community, but your battalion at least doesn't seem to care much for their duty... Part of you wishes you had been assigned to the north district or to the docks...
In any case, you still go talk to the sarge.
"Lookit here, noobie..." the sergeant groans from behind his desk as if even talking was more work than he's paid for. "I gotta job for you. Sum dim-wit's been pestering the big-wigs... They gonna be tried these days. We don't want them messing around our work, so you go find them's friends and find their stories. I don't wanna hear they been dirtying our good name... Just go to the docks and get sum statements from them's friends, ok?"
Without bothering to look up from his booklet, he throws a piece of paper with a few names, and very little text below each of them...
Foreigners... Even a Lizardfolk! Probably more tourists getting too drunk for their own good. Another boring job from a sergeant that just doesn't want the legwork... Still... Your remember the rules... And it beats doing paperwork or walking down the same boring streets again and again...
Sir, yes sir!
Camille takes a black book, some ink and goes to interview those people.
Tai moves to flank with the bearded man and then pound sthe big gear man some more.
Tai Leng successfully strikes the giant construct, but fails to leverage. The creature is damaged, but not grappled.
As if motivated by revenge, one the smaller machines charges at Tai Leng, trying to to constrict him with claws and chains.
Tai Leng is grappled by the creature, and once again feels the jolt of electricity running through his body... However, this time he's expecting it, and knows how to at least attempt to resist it.
The larger mechanical monstrosity seems to have taken notice of Tai Leng and the black-haired woman, quickly scanning both of them for a moment... But for some reason, decides to keep his focus on the middle-aged man, using his enormous mechanical claws to grab his arm, completely enveloping the man's limbs.. You hear the sound of cracking bone followed by an almost inhuman scream of pain... Blood drips through the mechanical monster's claws.
Astoundingly, the old man remains conscious (if just barely)... But is visibly terrified, severely wounded and in great pain.
The recently-arrived falconer hesitates for a moment, then rushes towards the office and strikes at the construct currently grappling Tai Leng.
The attack is successful, and metal cuts through metal, releasing Tai Leng.
The black-haired woman repositions herself slightly before shooting the monster...
...But her bullets bounce harmlessly off the construct's plating.
Meanwhile, Brother Cyrus too is targeted by one of the creatures...
...But armor and skill easily deflect the attacks.
- - -
Meanwhile...
However, there's a small list of known contacts of theirs... An alchemist called "Sir Dayne The Loud", the dockmaster Monstenier, and apparently a half-elf... person... That hasn't ever been accused of any crime that warrants more than a couple nights in jail, but is still seen with suspicion by the higher ranks. His name is Ayren.
There's also the ship they supposedly helped investigated: The S.V. Night Marlin... They've also been seen in the temple to Tsukiyo in the Dragon District and in the notary office, but most often in the Mad Shark inn.
Shea does a good old 5 step away from the golems and explodes a burst of crackling electricity all around her.
Camille sighs as she is not really a people person. She takes a look at the half-elf's prontuary and then goes to the Mad shark asking for the suspects of Ayren.
Lightning crackles around Shea... Electrifying two constructs!
...And Brother Cyrus.
One of the creature short-circuits, causing its chest and head to explode. The other is highly damaged, but still stands.
- - -
- - -
Meanwhile...
Camille is greeted by a friendly-looking girl with brown hair... Her smile does fade quite a bit when Ayren is mentioned. She takes a closer look at Camille's insignia and answers...
"*sigh*... What did he do this time? No... Nevermind. I don't want to know." she says waving her hands. "Look... I haven't seen him in a couple days. But if you wait long enough, I'm sure he'll show up eventually. He always does..."
Camille asks about the other suspects.
"Oh... The new guys? They haven't been here long, but they seem ok. The even helped Lizzie once." she then lowers her voice to an almost whisper. "That Armada guy is a dick! I bet he's setting them up or something!"
I see... - Little notebook and pen in hand, Camille go to meet that Lizzie and ask her her story with the "new guys".
Cyrus' divine protection defends him from the majority of the blast though he still lets out a shout in surprise.
"Miss! I think you might be a bit of a s!*%ty wizard." He says as he shakes off the currents still running through his armor.
Tai grunts in pain but keeps whacking at the big gear man.
"Sorry, Sorry sorry, I'm a real good wizard I swear!"
The gear-man attacking Tai Leng turns around to face its new enemy.
The creature hits its target twice. The man only grunts in response.
Still clutching the middle-aged man's arm with one of his claws, the giant construct spins his torso to try and slam Tai Leng.
However, the Tian warrior quickly bends backwards just enough to let the giant metal fist completely miss him.
- - -
Meanwhile...
Asking for the girl called Liz, Camille is eventually approached by a tall red-haired woman wearing clothes that are entirely too formal for a tavern in the docks... Specially the half-concealed breastplate under her shirt. The sword and dagger at her belt seem very fitting, however.
"May I ask you what you want with my sister? Today is her day off, and I'd prefer for her to not be bothered."
Sister eh?, Well, Don't worry citizen, I just need to ask her some question about the people who help her with the Otyugh situation.
Cyrus keeps hacking away!
Brother Cyrus attacks the construct next to him once more. The creature successfully blocks his initial strike, but the Paladin grips his sword by the back of the blade and forces it down and through the gear-man's defense. Sparks fly as metal cuts through metal.Moments later, all that's left of the construct is a non-moving pile of metal with a blade deeply carved in what used to be its chest.
Brother Cyrus pulls his weapon out of the gear-man's remains and looks around for his next target.
On the other side of the room, the masked man destroys one of the constructs harassing him.
The falconer strikes at the construct twice, but the creature swiftly evades his blade.
The black-haired woman once again aims her pistol, more carefully this time... And shoots the titan straight in the head. The monster's recoils slightly with the impact, and even shows significant damage from the continuous assault... But doesn't express any reaction.
- - -
- - -
Shea takes a 5 foot step back. And shoots a bolt of lightning into the surviving Golem that was near her.
"I am too a wizard!"
She shouts to the little voice in her head that dares question her Wizardhood
Shea's lightning does some serious damage to the construct attacking the masked man, but doesn't quite put it down... The creature staggers and cracks, buts still stands.
- - -
Meanwhile...
The red-haired warrior stares at you with an unapproachable, but not quite hostile expression on her face.
"Is that all?"
So, Tai-Leng and Brother Cyrus?, you seem to know them. If you were so kind ton point to me where I can find them I will stop bothering you and your sister.
Tai Leng continues slamming the huge gear man .
Then he slides quickly around the creature to hopefully out a damper on the smaller construct's attacks.
Two man-sized constructs remain... They relentlessly attack the falconer and the masked man.
Tai Leng attacks the huge construct, dealing visible damage to the creature. In response, the gear-titan finally shows some reaction: It becomes perfectly still for a moment, you see the light generated by its mechanical eyes sweep the middle-aged man, only to focus on his arm, then turn red as a massive blade springs from a giant mechanical arm and makes two quick swings. The first attack goes straight through middle-aged man's arm, cutting it like hot knife on butter. The man screams in pain as blood sprays on the wall. No longer attached to the limb held by the monstrosity, the man collapses on the floor, bleeding profusely. The black-haired woman shouts a couple words... You do not recognize the language she used, but her tone is that of ultimate despair.
The second attack is a downward slash is made at Tai Leng...
But in its haste, the monster fails to compensate for Tai Leng's speed. The massive blade opens a huge cut in the floor, digging so deep it's almost unbelievable it didn't get stuck.
- - -
Meanwhile...
"You will stop bothering us regardless." Brenda replies in a matter-of-fact tone. "They have my gratitude, but we aren't close friends. I do not know where they are. Even if I did, I do not think they would appreciate me telling their whereabouts to anyone who asks."
She politely bows very slightly, then excuses herself and goes talk to the brunette to whom you talked earlier.
Thanks for your cooperation, Citizen. Though it's a shame you can't help me more, ...I guess, In the end I still need to talk to your sister, you know...