Beyond the Eyes of the Iron Gods: An Iron Gods Adventure Path (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Azariah moved around, leaving room by the door so others could enter, and took a swing to hit.

Scythe: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Damage: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (1, 3) + 6 = 10

Round 4, wrap up

Stella launches a magical attack at the machine, and a small ball of acid flies across the room, through the opening in the wall left by the machine, and strikes the body releasing a hiss and a foul burning smell.
As the machine turns to face the new threat and as it does, Stella notices a protrusion on the machines back, a cylinder approximately one foot long, maybe five inches across, which extends slightly from the machine’s back

Azariah jockeys for a position, finding the small room crowded, but still managing to take a downward swing at the machine, but the blade of the scythe strikes the table in the room instead

The machine turns toward Unbolath and Azariah, and suddenly one of its arms shoots outward striking toward them

Who? 1=Unbolath: 1d2 ⇒ 2

Melee Slam vs Azariah: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

Damage: 1d4 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

The slender but solid arm stabs into Azariah's shoulder just above her heart.

Round 5 starts now

Gasping at the brutal wound, Azariah's vision wavered for a moment. She couldn't break off from the attack without letting the creature attack her. The same for her healing magics. Her only choice was to kill it, now, before it killed her.

Scythe: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Damage: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (4, 2) + 6 = 12

Sigh...

Frustrated at her inability to hit with the crossbow Kleora made a gesture and said a few words then sent a blob of sizzling green liquid at the drone.

acid splash: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 181d3 ⇒ 1

Round 5

MW Greatsword, Power attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Guessing a miss. But if anything changes to give me a boost in attack here is the damage

greatsword damage: 2d6 + 9 ⇒ (5, 5) + 9 = 19

That -4 for shooting into Melee is never fun. Though Stella's bard song helps some at least.
@acid splashers. Bard song works on acid splash. You might want to add that +1 to hit/damage next time you do it.

Ritmush gives an irritated frown as Unbolath and the scythe lady both move up to fight the construct, wincing as the machine lands a solid strike. Mah, why they gotta stan' in tha' wayah' tha' shot.
Crossbow: 1d20 + 1 + 2 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 1 + 2 + 1 - 4 = 191d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Confirm: 1d20 ⇒ 91d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5 Nope. Still, 9 damage a solid shot. And ritmush does before nearly everyone else so if it drops the thing we can do other actions. Like deactivating it in a way that doesn't destroy it.

He looks over to Stella on her question and points to the protruding cylinder "That thin' ovah there."

Stella would look for a way she could move to deactivate it.

"Everyone, keep focused on it. If you can, get that cylinder out of its back so we can turn it off."

Still providing bard song, IF she can get to the spot where she can pull out the cylinder she will do so, or at least start slowly making her way there if she has to go around.

If Ritmush drops it before Unbolath's turn he would instead try to grab whatever cylinder everyone is talking about, out of its back.

Round 4, wrap up and Round 5 conclusion

Azariah swings at the machine but the pain in her shoulder makes her wince and pull back too son, driving the weapon harmlessly into the ground

Kleora fires a magical attack at the machine, and manages to send a ball of acid into the broken shell where Unbolath’s sword cracked it open. There is a loud hissing sound and a shower of blue sparks flies toward the tall warrior.

Unbolath is mid swing with his greatsword when the sparks fly in his direction, and he turns his head to protect his eyes. The sword flies over the top of the machine.

Ritmush loads and fires another crossbow bolt into the body of the machine and for a moment it appears as if the missile has cut off the things energy supply and it seems to freeze in place.

It is exactly the break Stella needs as she lunges at the machine with both hands, grabbing hold of the cylinder on its back and yanking it free with all her might.

There is a loud

*POP*

Followed by a single soft

*crackle, crackle, spurt*

And then a grinding noise as the legs of the machine fold up under it and it crashes to the floor motionless.

Azariah staggers back until her back is against the wall, and lets out a moan as she reaches with one hand to her wound, while with the other she tries to keep her grip on the scythe.

Val steps back into the room once she notices the action has died down, takes one look at Azariah,

and faints.

Stella would hurry to Azariah and places her hands upon the wound singing a soft chant.

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Sighing in relief as the blessed energies infused the wound, Azariah nodded at Stella. "Thank you." Looking at the fallen machine, she wondered out loud, "What was that?"

"Interesting. Either it's creator failed to instill appropriate safety commands in it, or its magic has degraded over time."

Ritmush rushes to catch the young girl before she lands on her face, picking the young girl up and shuffling her over to the kitchen table in a semi-comfortable position.
"Don' spose yah coul' do that tah' her wall could ya?" Ritmush asks over his shoulder as Stella fixes painful hole in Azariah's torso.
" Dunno wha' tha' thing is. As tah' wha' it ain' I can say from roun' here is'ah good start. If yah wanna drag it back inta' that room it jus busted outta ah' could probly show yah' somma' wha Val was doin' til she's awake an' able tah answer tha' 'erself."

When the machine ground to a halt Kleora quickly dismissed the grease patch on the ground. Kleora then quickly approached the table where Ritmush laid the young woman and looked her over to see if there was anything obvious wrong with her. She gains a panicked look when she can't tell if the girl is alive and said, "Oh no, I think she's dead!"

Heal: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3

Heal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Startled, Azariah moves over to check. After a moment she sighs with relief. "No, I think she just fainted. See, if you press on this part of her neck, you can feel her heart is still pumping blood to her brain. And her eyes respond when you open them to the light. She should come round soon. If anyone has some smelling salts, I can probably wake her now."

Unbolath drags the machine to the other room so it is out of the way. He takes some time to examine its inner workings and tries to understand how it functions.

Seeing that the ladies have Val taken care of he moves over next to Unbolath. "I have some knowledge of machines. I'll help you take a look at it."

Kn: Engineering: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Stella herself stared at the contraption that she held in her hands. Was this the power source and if so why was the thing going beserk.

Know:Engeneering: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Relieved that the young girl is alright, and knowing that she isn't of much use on that front, Kleora walked over to Stella and examined the item in her hand, "Wow, never seen one of those intact before, it looks like it's a power core. Did you pull it out of the thing somehow."

Knowledge (engineering): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

"I haven't either and was hoping to glean something from it. I can tell it is a power source and from the markings here and here, it inserted in like this." She demonstrates.

"This technology is not that familiar to me though. Maybe you can shed some light on it for me." Looking up she looked at Ritmush and smiles.

"Thank you for pointing it out Ritmush, I was having trouble finding it. Your help was invaluable."

Torch, the Foundry Tavern, outside and inside

Day 2, morning

After Ritmush carries Val to the table, Kleora rushes to check if the girl is injured. When she panics for a moment the room goes suddenly silent, but as soon as Azariah is healed of her injuries, and hears Kleora’s pronouncement, she quickly moves in to offer her help, and discovers that Val is only unconscious.

Unbolath drags the strange machine/creature back through the damaged wall and places it on the floor where everyone can gather around it for a closer look at its workings.

When John enters the room he takes one look at the machine and realizes he has never seen anything like it before.

Stella examines the device in her hand, and tries to recall a bit of the learning she received back in school. She can tell it is a device that stores energy, and is not magical in anyway, similar to a simple battery, she assumes, but its internal design is a mystery to her. In her hands it feels a bit cool.

Unbolath takes a fair amount of time examining the wreckage of the machine. He can clearly see how the machine uses what appear to be, simple, mechanical levers to be able to move, but he cannot determine how the legs and arms receive power. He begins to wonder if the machine was in fact, partially magical in nature and if it might be possible to detect a lingering magical aura on the machine even though it has been destroyed.

When Val wakes up she sits up quickly and looks at the hole in the wall, and then begins to cry.

Watching the woman cry, Azariah said, "Oh, don't worry dear. We can fix that. Probably."

Finishing her examination Kleora said, "It's definitely an energy core though beyond that I'm not sure." She considered a moment and then continued, "I'd like to study it more, maybe I could learn something more about it."

"I have no problem with that, then again, it isn't mine to allow you to study it." She said and smiled letting her have it.

Moving to Val she would kneel and gently touches her arm. "What's wrong?"

Ritmush, who had no experience with unconscious people excepting drunks had been hovering around his new friend with obvious concern. Eyeing the new arrivals but letting them check her over. At least one of them seemed to know what they were ding after all. Plus my ghost friend would say if there is a problem. She knows everything. Stella's arrival to her side and well intentioned question heralds Ritmush giving a light noise of annoyance.
" Well'ah spect' tha' big gapin' hole ina her pantry migh be one thin'. We'h did jus' go throu' tha' effert ah' gettin' tha' damn thin' turned on earlier tahday an' now not only is it broken, there's chunksa' wall everywhere! Bran' new door tho' so ah' guess it ain' al bad." Ritmush complains, hand going to his chin as he examines the new portal with everyone crowded around the broken machine.
"Coul' fit onea them fallin' blade traps righ ovah there." The human mutters already off in his own little world.
"Oi, when yer' don' proddin that thin' ah wanna turn. It launched ah' net at meh an I wanna' figure ouh' how. Sure as heck didn' throw it." Ritmush comments as he pays more attention to what everyone was doing with his friend awake again.

"There may be more to it than that. Hence why I asked."

Suspecting there may be magic involved, and not just pure technology, he casts detect magic, and concentrates for as long as needed if any auras are revealed.

When Stella asks Val, “What’s wrong,” the young girl drops her head, keeping her eyes closed and says, between gulps of air and her efforts to stop herself from crying,

Val says

It’s…it’s just that Khonnir, Khonnir is going to be so mad. He…he found that machine just a few days ago, and then…and then he disappeared, and now I ruined it. I shouldn’t have messed around with it. I shouldn’t have. And now it is broken, and the house is broken, and Khonnir hasn’t come home. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do…

Stella gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, the wall can be fixed and so can the machine. Khonnir is missing, he is one of the ones we were going to go look for to bring home. We will make sure we find him. Now take a deep breath. Walls, can be fixed. There are a lot of people in this town that would help. If not, when we come back we will do just that. My mending spell is really slow but it will get the job done."

The young girl seems to brighten up when she hears Stella say that she and the others are going to go looking for Khonnir

You are going to go find Khonnir and rescue him. Oh, that is wonderful news. Yes, your right. I can get the door fixed. And because you are doing so much for me, done so much for me already. I can let you use the tavern as a base of operations for your expedition, if you need it. I shut down the tavern when Khonnir disappeared anyway. I can't run the place by myself. So you can stay there when you need to rest or make plans.

The party can now use the tavern as a base. There is enough room for everyone, and I think there are a couple of good trees outside that Ritmush will like.

"Thank you," Azariah replied, smiling. "We'll try and help out when we can, too. Hopefully get thing sorted for when he returns."

" So this Knonnir's a parta'h yer warre- uh.. 'family' righ? An' he left somewhere an' din' come back after tinkerin' wit this thin?"
Ritmush considers, stroking a beard he very clearly did not have in thought. The human then looking over at the wall in question and shrugging "Ah' dunno think it adds ah.. 'Character' tah' tha place. Lessa wooden box now. The human comments as he walks through the new opening to the machine on the other side.
"Man ah' dunno where he foun' this thin' sah' shame it was'n able tah talk. Mebbeh it woulda' ben' able tah give us a clue." The human complains as he kicks one of the robots trailing legs before twitching and standing a bit straighter.
"Wait.. can yah do tha'? Ah mean now tha' it ain' movin' if we fixed it ah little bih coul' ya?" The human mutters quietly to himself as he circles the robot.

John tries to comfort Val, "I think Khonnir would be happy you are in one piece and it is not rather than the other way around. Besides he shouldn't leave dangerous things around that could hurt you while he goes and disappears. Did he leave and notes or say anything to you after finding this thing and going back under?"

"Well, there is no magic that I was able to detect in the automaton."

Unbolath stands there quietly as everyone considers their next move.

"Perhaps we should launch our search for the owner."

Kleora nodded, "Yes, we'll be helping you find him, that's part of why we came here." She held the power core as she walked up and said, "Don't worry about the machine, I bet we can find a way to fix it, especially since this is intact still. Now what can you tell us about what Khonir was up to when he went missing."

Val says to Kleora

Well, Val says as she hops down from the table. She is a short girl, probably no more than fifteen or sixteen years old. [b]I don’t really know what he was up to. He found some sort of cave complex under the hill. He wouldn’t tell me where the entrance was, he kept saying he didn’t want me trying to follow him either and gave me a stern lecture about keeping the house and workshop in good repair while he was gone, oh he is going to be so mad. But, anyway, he came back with that machine a while a go, and was all excited about finding something like a fortress or wall of metal, something like that and he couldn’t wait to resupply himself and set out to learn as much as he could about it. He never told me much about the caves he was exploring, only told me that it was too dangerous for me to go with him

Ritmush nudges the robot he continued to examine with a foot. "Shame this buck'at ah' bolts ain' able tah offera' clue."

Setting the core on the table Kleora said, "Do you know anything about what supplies he picked up and what he took with him? Maybe that would give us an idea of where to look for these caverns."

Unbolath looks around the place for clues.

Val begins cleaning up the broken pieces of the wall as she answers Kleora

He didn't take a lot of food. Nothing for a long journey, But he did place most of his supplies in separate watertight leather satchels, and then he sealed each of them with a thick layer of wax. I figure he must be headed toward the pond, or the creek. It's funny though, no one ever goes carelessly into the pond or the lake as the water is sure to make you sick if you get it in your mouth or eyes anywhere upstream of the temple where they purify it, and downstream is shallow enough to cross without getting water over your knees, so, hmmm, maybe he was going into the pond or the lake after all, but that seems crazy.

"Yeah, that meshes with what we were told," Azariah mused. Waterpoof cloth was deffintely going to be important, especially for food and more vulnerable equipment, such as powder and shot. She'd have to check they had enough.

Val continues to pick up pieces of the broken wall and then she moves to the doorway and throws them outside. She turns around at the door and says to all of you standing there

I don't know anymore than that. When were you planning on setting out to find him?

Ritmush tinkers with the flap on the machine and looks back at the clean and shiny net it had shot. "We'll tah beh honest ah' wanna looka' this thin' fer a bit. All's been said so far is yer Pa's in tha' hills an if that view ah got before ah came here isa' sign there's alotta hills between here an' wherever he got up tah."
The human staring blankly at the net launching device and puzzling over it does not prevent his natural kobold born looting talents from kicking in. The young human rapidly coming into possession of the strangely made net.
"Neat." Ritmush states as he hold it up and looks at it.

I am a tracker. If we have a starting location such as this pond, we may be able to track him, although the trail may be too old.

Inside Bing's Bells and Whistles

It is evening, but not late

Dolga Freddert says, to Azariah and Kleora

The situation first, then the deal, Dolga says with a smile, Shows you are smart pair. Let me try to make this brief. Our famous fire, what gives the town its name, as you both know, went out eight days ago. My friend learned that a group of explorers discovered a way below the hill, by going underwater at Weeping Pond. Now, I don’t know the details of what was found by this expedition, or how many others might know about this way below the hill, but my friend may have tried to look into it. The situation then is this, simply look into this way under the hill and see if there is any sign of my friend, by the way, the friend I am talking about is Khonnir Baine, a well respected member of this community. The town is offering a reward of four thousand gold pieces for Baine’s safe return. As to the deal, well, if you take on this challenge on behalf of the town I can provide you with discounts at several merchants in town, for supplies, and our priest may have a way for you to explore the pond safely. I will speak to him and make those arraignments. Aslo, I understand that Khonnir Baine’s apprentice, his adopted daughter, Val, has closed the family’s tavern, and she might allow you to use that place as a base of operations. You can hire some help, but I can’t help you with that cost, and how you divide any reward is up to you to figure out. First thing I’d do if I were you is get a good night’s rest, and then go see Val about using the tavern of hers and her father’s for a while, and then see Joram Kyle as soon as you are ready to look under that pond, but before you go check with Val

Dolga shared this information with Kleora and Azariah, now why we haven't established if they shared this with the rest of you, I don't know, but if they decided not to share it with the rest of you...now would be a good time!

Yes this would be very helpful for the hired help to know ;)

Azariah explains what Dolga told them to whoever hadn't already heard about it.

Ritmush shrugs as he plays with the shiny new net. "Well tha's gonna make thin's easier ah' guess. Seems thar' won' be time tah look at this thing much more then ah' wanted tah' figure out how it shot that net. Wonder if there's a way to jus.. unhinge this whole chunk so ah' can take it wit' meh." The human mutters mostly to himself as he continues to prod the machine and attempt to obtain things that didn't technically belong to him.
Aint his robot either what with it breaking his house and all. I'm just doing him a favor.