"You will not bother her. Or we are going to have a problem." she says with a threatening tone at the same time as she not-so-subtly rests her hand on the hilt of her sword.
I have direct orders that I intend to carry out no matter what. If that imply a friendly conversation with your sister, so be it. I advise you to remove your hand from the sword hilt and to threat not a city guard or YOU will have problems.
"I'm a captain of the Red Eagle Company. And I see no warrant on your hands or silver badge* on your chest. My sister is a honorable citizen of Blue Shell. She will not have her day off interrupted by over-eager militia."
Cyrus pales a bit as the man is cut down, but proceeds irregardless! He moves up beside the Falconer and tries to hack the construct down and out of the way.
Sparks fly as the gear-man blocks Brother Cyrus' sword. Its mechanical eyes still glowing red.
- - -
Tai Leng slams the giant metal man even harder this time.
"You think I'm a bad Wizard? Well how many Wizards can do this?"
Shea shoots a spike of Ice at the nearest german.
"See? That's the same spell I've been using, but I changed the elemental composition, That's like real hard for fuddy duddy traditionalist greybeards!"
Shae destroys the last gear-man in the main hall.
Tai Leng rips apart part of the titan's plating with his last two strikes. The monster turns to attack him, but freezes for a moment as his eyes glow yellow. You can see its grip tighten around the severed arm of the middle-aged man.
With broken gears, exposed wiring and constant electric sparks, the creature turns east and with a powerful blast of steam, speeds away, easily pushing aside 2 archers, crashing a weapon display rack and breaking through the nearest window, shattering not only glass, but also metal bars and frame. A trail of steam and rust left in its track...
A loud crash can be heard as it lands on the cobblestone of the streets below, followed by the sound of a valve building up pressure.
Still in the room, the last standing gear-man freezes, braces itself and starts emitting a loud, increasingly sharp buzz.
The black-haired woman rushes to the middle-aged man's side, taking off her coat and using it to try and stop his bleeding. One of the archers attempts to aid her.
The falconer and the still-conscious archers look at the humming gear-man in confusion.
"What in the 7 hells?" one of the archers exclaims.
"SHIT!" the falconer exclaims before turning around and running as fast as he can.
- - -
"Looks like you had a bit of a golem problem up here."
Tai Leng doesn't like the sound the last gear man is making, so he decides to get it away from him.
"Cyrus, please move. And close these doors once I'm done."
- - -
Cyrus steps aside and picks up one of the broken doors.
"Get back inside and take cover quickly!"
"Uh oh"
Shea runs and hides behind Cyrus and his mighty door.
Unsurprisingly, shortly after Brother Cyrus holds the barely-standing doors, you hear a loud BOOM coming from the other side. A shockwave of fire, metal and steam crashes through the damaged doors.
Tai brushes himself off, wounds already closing. There is a large shard of wood sticking out of his chest.
"Predictable, but no less effective for it. It's a good thing noneof us were cuaght out."
Shea is battered by fire and debris, causing her to pass out, the magical aura around her vanishing.
Cyrus hurls the door to the side and runs over to the bleeding out man and tries to save him.
Neither Brother Cyrus touch nor the potion being poured by the black-haired woman seem to have any effect on the limp body of the middle-aged man...
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO...!" she babbles incessantly as reality sinks in...
Eventually she gently lowers the man's body to the floor, then stands up in haste and ferociously shouts something to the nearest archer, then does the same to the other men. All of them are startled and momentarily shocked into inaction by her words and tone, but then proceed to rush through the main door and down the corridor, some of them do so while screaming orders to other guards.
With a face filled with rage, the black-haired woman rushes to the overturned desk and starts scavenging its drawers for ammo and weapons.
Through your peripheral vision, you see the masked man coming out from behind a damaged pillar. He mutters something to himself, them dives outside through the broken window in the main hall.
Another loud boom comes from the streets. And an arching trail of steam and iron dust forms in the night sky.
Shea snores
"Yes Arch mage, I will accept your abdication"
After loading herself with three more pistols and four ammo packs, the black-haired woman looks at the three of you and speak with a harsh tone.
"I don't know who you all are or what you want... But either help or get out of the way! If you plan to just stand around, then at least guard this room until they bring a priest!"
"I am unclear. You wish us to guard the room, but stop 'standing around'. Should we guard while sitting?"
"No. Either stand guard here or help me hunt down that... Thing." she spouts before rushing down the corridor.
"Sorry for your loss."
Cyrus looks around for a cloth of some kind to drape over the man. He then glances at Tai Leng.
"I know we were looking for a Bone Dagger or something, but I feel like we've gotten sidetracked."
"Wait..." the woman halts and looks at you, intrigued. "What do you mean bone dagger?!"
"A merchant who paid our bail asked us to come here to get this dagger back. It has a bronze blade and bone handle. Do you know where we can find it? Otherwise I imagine our patron will be a bit cross. This whole mess is a disaster though. I'm still not quite sure what is going on. I'm Cyrus by the way."
Shea is just sort passed out on the floor, If only there was a Big Strong godly man who could give her that good touch. Or at least pull the potion out of her bag of holding and dump it in her face, She would really owe that person. Perhaps even enough to offer them her magical assistance in future ventures.
"That dagger again..." the woman seems genuinely surprised (and a tad confused) by Brother Cyrus' reply. "Look. My father will want to talk you. I suggest you either come with me or wait for his call in one of the guest rooms. That... Thing..." -she says almost spitting the words with visible rage. "...Might be of your interest as well. If you choose to wait, talk to Krieger downstairs. Tell him Miss Reyes told him to bring you to one of the red rooms. He'll find accommodations for you. You'll be safe there." she takes a quick at Shea "Good luck... And thank you."
With those words said, the woman leaves the room, rushing down the corridor with a pistol in each hand.
"You too." Cyrus watches the woman leave before throwing Shea like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder and walks downstairs to meet with this Krieger fellow.
Brother Cyrus walks down the corridor wondering who the hell is Krieger... His path is littered with broken remains of gear-men... Including a number of tiny, elongated octahedrons that glow very faintly with a subtle blueish light.
Eventually you also come across a young man sitting unconscious, leaning on the wall. Closer inspection reveals he's the young gambler who was invited into the VIP room before you. He has a long, clean slash on his chest and his shirt and trousers are soaked with blood.
A few feet ahead, you can see the stairs that lead to the VIP room with the bar.
"Is he alive, Brother Cyrus?"
"I'm not sure." Though he lacks any refined training, Cyrus feels for a pulse and hovers a hand over the man's mouth for any sign of breath the way he has seen priests do before. If he feels anything, Cyrus will attempt to resuscitate the man with a relatively plain looking stick of wood.
Shea sits up. "Ugh, Thanks man, I owe you." Rubs her sore knoggin. looking around at the unfamiliar people "Did we win?"
Take 10 on Heal for 11.
Cure Light Wounds Wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
For Shea: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
The young man (and Shea) wake up. He's clearly disoriented for a moment, and as he looks up and sees you, he flinches and gasps... Then breathes deep and relaxes a little.
"Oh, I thought I was gone there... Thanks." he sighs, then asks with a tired voice "You... You're not with the bird guy, are you?"
"I don't know him. He helped break some of those machines before leaping out the window. This night has been a mess. Let's get you back downstairs. We're heading back down ourselves." Cyrus helps the man up.
"Jumping through the window?!" the young man says startled. "That falcon of his must be stronger than I thought!" he adds.
"Still... I'm glad that you're not with him. We were coming here together... I thought he just didn't his turn stolen by... You, actually... But when I mentioned I had a gift for Mr.Reyes, the guy just slashed at me out of nowhere!" The young man pulls the cut on his shirt. "This? It was his scimitar! Freaking thing was sharp as hell! F*cking lunatic almost killed me! I'm lucky he didn't bother to check if I was really down!"
The young mans sighs...
"To think I even considered getting a falcon myself..."
"I'm sorry, we may be getting things mixed up. There was a man with a bird mask. The Falconer turned tail and ran the moment things got dicey."
"Bird Mask?!" says the young man, surprised. "No, no, no. I meant the guy who had a falcon (that he ditched). I didn't see anyone wearing a bird mask."
The young man looks around for a second, and sees an abandoned handbag a few feet away from you. Two dozen different weapons around it, including daggers, maces, pistols, brass-knuckles and even a whip. A couple of them are clearly magical, the others seem "just" very well-crafted.
"Ah! My stuff!" he exclaims with a relieved expression as he slowly tries to stand up. "Bastard rummaged through everything... Well... At least it seems he didn't take anything... Must have been in a hurry." he adds as he starts collecting the weapons... Then he stops, with a look of sudden realization on his face.
"Ah... Where are my manners!? My name is Cedric. Thanks for healing me. I don't know how long I'd have lasted otherwise..."[/b]
Cedric tips his head slightly.
"So... Did you get to play? Did you win? Were those things part of the game?" he asks excitedly.
"We didn't play anything and I'm pretty sure the Proprietor got his arm ripped off and died."
Cedric widens his eyes, extremely surprised.
"WHAT?! Mr.Reyes is dead?!" he stares you for a second, hoping you'll confirm it's just a bad joke. "That's... That's..." he stutters unable to find fitting words.
"That's just my luck!" he finally shouts, angrily. "You know how long it took me to get a match with him? OVER TWO YEARS!" he punches a nearby wall. "Of course he dies the day I finally get an invitation!" he then picks up the remaining weapons on the floor.
"Let's get out of here... I can't bear to look at this corridor anymore..." he says with a resigned sigh. Then he looks at the shattered remains of gear-men around you. "And I don't want to risk people thinking I had anything to do with these things." He kicks one of the glowing pieces, which in return discharge a small jolt of electricity on him.
"Aah!!!" he gasps startled as the little octahedrons bounces away, still shedding its faint blue light...
"Urgh... Dumb gizmos..." he complains.
"Well... What are you waiting for? Let's go!"
"I feel like death."
Shea drinks her potion of CLW
"That didn't help at all.. oh well, lets go!"
"Right..." Cyrus is disappointed in the young man's concern over losing his chance at a match as opposed to Mr.Reyes' death. He walks downstairs.