DM Brainiac's Iron Gods (Inactive)

Game Master Brainiac

Didn't the GM say we have a scroll of raise dead? Or is this it? Do I need to make a new character?

It's resurrection, actually. You can head back to town and Joram Kyte can use it on you if the party is willing.

"We should hurry back, we don't know if there was anyone else working with him targeting anyone left back in town. We can see what to do about Fireday when we get back, we do have the scroll and Iomedae may not want to keep him just yet."

Just roleplaying the shaman. I am happy to raise you back.

Gylwinth nods to Coen, taking in his word, then turns to the others, signalling they too have a say in the decision.

When it's over Kaska just plops down on her butt, sitting on the floor and looking at Fireday in shock.

Coward! she thinks her herself. You stayed away with your bow because your knee was hindering you. You knew you should have moved forward sooner. You waited because you were afraid, and now this.

"Yes, we must go back to Torch at once. We will need to wrap him well with something so he can be pulled as we swim..."

Viv kneels down next to Fireday's savagely slashed body and carefully lifts his head into her lap. She brushes his synthetic hair aside and wipes off some of the viscous fluid that passes for blood, and leans forward to gently kiss his cheek.

"If he can be returned to us," she says, "it is not yet his time. Too soon. He had only just started to re-learn the world."

You wrap Fireday's body in Sanvil's cloak and carry back out through the caves, swimming through the lake to emerge once more in Torch. Then you hurry to the Temple of Brigh to speak with Joram Kyte.

The old priest is saddened by the loss of your companion, but his eyes are full of resolve. "I can use the scroll Councilor Freddert gifted you to call his soul back from the Great Beyond. If he is willing, we can restore him to life."

Assuming you agree, Joram performs the ritual of resurrection.

As you stand in the temple, you reflect on your experiences in the caves. Good or ill, you feel like they have strengthened you, readying you to face even greater challenges to come.

Everybody has gained enough XP to reach level 3!

Gylwinth welcomes back Fireday with a warm hug, an impossibly rare thing for the older shaman: ”There are more stories to be sung about you. The wind and the rain may not take your body yet.” His eyes are wet as he speaks.

Later, he mentions: ”Perhaps we should visit Sanvil’s shop? He may have the remedy for Baine...”

Viv stays and watches as the priest performs the ceremony from the scroll. Her eyes flick back and forth between the priest and Fireday. She watches, completely absorbed, as his mortal wounds close and his synthetic body knits. When he suddenly stirs she jumps slightly in place. Then after a moment, a lopsided grin crosses her face.

~~~~~~~~~~

Later, when Gylwinth suggests visiting Sanvil's shop, she says, "Didn't he have a cure all when we defeated him? Would that work? But we should still visit his establishment. Especially if more Technics might be waiting there."

Coen claps Fireday on the shoulder and offers a wry smile that covers up some of his worry and fear.

"Welcome back Fireday, we kept your stuff, the man who eviscerated you is dead, and I think we've all learned an important lesson about friendship and if at all possible and killing mages quickly."

When the topic of searching Sanvil's shop come up, he addresses some of his worries regarding the implications of the note and the fact that he was working undercover. "I think we should check his store especially because Technics might be waiting, after we check on the other people on his list. If they are there and he doesn't return they might act on it or destroy any evidence left behind.

As the ritual is performed, Fireday opens his eyes and gasps his first breath of life anew.

"I...I saw her...I saw Iomedae! I remember standing among the stars, as if I was floating in the Dark Tapestry, but yet there was solid ground beneath my feet, and then...there was a bright light, nearly blinding me, and Iomedae stood before me, towering over me. To her right, Brigh stood, gears quietly ticking, and...a butterfly woman...glittering with a gentle starlight. I don't know who she was...but they all spoke to me. That like all of you, I had been chosen to stop a force of powerful evil, and they reforged my soul into something stronger...and then the light was inside me and around me, and...then I awoke!"

He embraces each of them in turn, and Joram Kyte as well.

"Thank you! Thank you all for giving me this chance to finish what I started! We have a destiny waiting for us, and we must go to meet it!"

After Fireday has calmed down a bit from the excitement of becoming a living martyr, he listens to the others planning to investigate Sanvil's shop, and he nods.

"I know how the League works, and they are relentless in pursuing those they seek to destroy. That is how I was 'born' actually. The Technic League had been hunting the android I was and had succeeded in slaying them, and then they regenerated and my spirit took their place. The same thing would have happened again had you not intervened...I would be gone, and another person would have awoken among you not sure of who they were or why they were here. While I'm eager to extirpate the League's presence from this town, I understand caution may be useful here, for we must protect the light of the world before striking at the darkness."

Gylwinth gives a warm smile to Fireday as he greets back, thinking He's delirious!

Viv breaks into a lopsided smile and claps excitedly. "You've returned! Fireday, it's wonderful to have you back!" she says.

"Now let's go get into trouble and danger again right away!"

Coen chuckles but his face becomes a bit nervous and the good feelings leave after the realization that Viv is serious.

"Mayyybe we could keep the danger it down to a minimum? I mean, someone did just die... and I can't speak for anyone else but I'm going to mention that I am still low on power."

"Right... but no telling if someone else is going to make a move when it becomes clear that Sanvil is not coming back. We can't afford to wait too long," Viv says by way of explanation.

Kaska seems slightly different, unsure or even a little sheepish, when she greets Fireday upon his return. But she says simply "It is good you are back among us" to him.

+++++++++++++++

She interjects herself into the discussion on when to go to Sanvil's, saying "tomorrow will do". The finality in her tone of voice makes it clear she is not open to other options.

"Great! In that case, I nearly got cut in half. Fireday's back as whole as ever, can I get some of these scrapes patched up?" says Viv. She peels off her armor chestpiece and rolls up her gambeson to peek down at the nasty gash she got from Sanvil's sword.

"We should let the town know and watch to see if anyone acts tonight though. I still think there might be Technocrats in town. If they hear another agent was killed, they might move on us or leave town to report and get assistance. I don't want to see anyone else get killed because we didn't act either."

"Well, let's rest then, but first, we should go and see if what we have found on Sanvil can help Baine, then visit Sanvil's shop. Then we rest and tomorrow we go back, yes in those... tunnels, yes?"

Joram casts a spell of restoration on Fireday, returning some of his diminished strength. The priest tells him that he'll have to return in a week to get back up to his full vitality. He then channels positive energy to heal your lingering injuries.

Fireday has a permanent negative level until a week has passed and he can get another restoration spell cast on him.

You return to the Foundry, where Khonnir Baine is convalescing under Viv's watchful eye. Displaying the pharmaceuticals you recovered from Sanvil, Khonnir points the to cure-all. "That one. Sh-should w-w-work."

With your permission, Viv takes the syringe and injects it into her father's neck. He groans and holds his head for a few moments, then blinks in relief. "Oh, thank the gods! That did the trick--the nanites have been purged from my brain. My thoughts are much more clear now. Thank you, my friends. If there's any way I can return the favor, please do not hesitate to ask."

"Dad!" Viv cries, throwing her arms around him. The wizard hugs her back.

Fireday smiles faintly, then frowns at his face-covering, which was still covered in blood he'd coughed up when Sanvil stabbed him. He takes it off.

"Small justices like this are why we live, though you'll probably still want to lay low, Khonnir. The cure-all we have you was in the possession of a Technic League spy, one who was watching us and looking for you too. We don't know if he brought friends. And we still need to return to the ruins so we can relight the fires of Torch."

I think you got me and Val mixed up!

Viv grins excitedly once more. "Now all we have to do," she says, "is figure out why the torch hasn't re-lit! Khonnir, did you see anything while you were down there that would explain why the torch is still failing?"

Gylwinth wishes to say something. His eyes, filled with tears, tell of his relief. He has many questions, but he knows these have to wait for now. He is content just to smile and listen for now.

Fireday crosses his arms and nods.

"We may already know that too: the purple-haired woman the tribe spoke of, the one who paid them to stop anyone from following them, Khonnir included. If we find her, we will likely find the means to reactivate or repair whatever device creates the torch. I had suspected she was an agent of the Technic League, but our encounter with Sanvil suggests the League is as much in the dark about what has happened as we were."

"Well, it's the woman who went before us with the hobgoblins isn't it? She sabotaged the lift and paid the skulks to kill anyone else who went into the tunnels. It's safe to say she didn't want to be followed and that's only something you do if you want to take everything from a ruin or you're going to do something you don't want anyone else to know about. And you don't hire hobgoblins for charity work."

"Right. What I mean is that I'm starting to think that this woman ISN'T a Technic League agent at all. After all, the way Sanvil spoke indicated he didn't know what had happened to the other attempts before ours, and he was looking to take the credit for the discovery, and he came alone. Had he known about our mystery woman, he would have brought thugs of his own, if only to keep the hobgoblins occupied while he focused on their leader. But that also means we have more questions to answer: who is this woman? Why did she put out Torch's flame? And why does she not want her work discovered and possibly undone by others?"

"But we didn't see her down there, nor did we find anything to explain why the torch is out," says Viv. "She must've gotten out before we arrived, and so far there's no indication of what happened down there with the torch. How can we find out where she went?"

"What we're saying is that she DIDN'T get out, Viv. The sabotaged doors were to prevent others from following her, an extra precaution should someone get past the tribe the way Khonnir or we did. She's still down there."

Oops, sorry Viv! Got you and Val confused, as you said. Also note that the woman brought orcs with her, not hobgoblins.

"It's likely she's on the next level of the ruin, past the lift," Khonnir opines. "I should be able to repair that fuse for you given a day or so to work. Once it's replaced, the lift should be operational and you'll be able to pursue this mysterious woman. Whoever she is, her presence bodes ill for all of us in Torch."

Gylwinth hesitates. This was not his fight. He had a responsibility to his tribe, but now, he also felt a bond of duty with these people. A bond brought by having faced death together, as one. He felt a renewed sense of purpose with them. Something less abstract than the tribe.

For this reason, he surprised even himself replying: "Then we'll come with you and keep you safe while you make the repair, and bring the fight to her!"

"Oh, I'm not going back in there," Khonnir says. "I'm lucky to have made it out with my life. I won't put Val through that again. I'll do the repairs here, and give you the fuse so you can go back down there. But I'm happy to help out in any other regard--I can identify any technological items you find."

"I don't know enough about technology to do that, even if you repair the fuse," says Viv. "Any of you boys... ?"

"We can get it done. It's pretty simple, and worst case there's magic for it."

Original post due to misreading the text, ignore me.

Wait, what are we talking about now? Not knowing enough to repair the fuse or not knowing enough to identify tech items?

Viv does not have the Technologist feat and therefore didn't know if we had the capability to replace the fuse, or if Khonnir would have to go do it. Obviously some of you have the feat now and can do that, but Viv didn't know that, hence the comment. Sorry for the confusion.

No apology necessary, thanks for the clarification! I kinda like the contrast we're doing where Viv is an android who knows very little about technology, while Fireday is becoming skilled at divining its mysteries! ;)

"Exactly. Khonnir can do what must be done here, and when finished we bring it down to the ruins for the final step. Having looked around the ruin thoroughly while we were down there, I think I've developed enough understanding to do simple workings."

I might or might not take Technologist later, depending on whether there's tech-gear that we wind up needing to use that would work best in my hands. In my mind Viv is less technologically inclined and more socially inclined - she is somewhere halfway between android and humanoid, not especially involved in the technology needed to create her but also with only a partial understanding of emotions.

"All right then! That's good news. We should all be refreshed and ready to go... I guess let's check out Sanvil's store for lurkers, then run off to the caves before someone else does and ruins everything."

Sanvil's stall in the market is all but empty when you arrive to search it. It seems he took his inventory with him into the caves where you confronted him. However, you do discover his ledger, which contains a few notes at the end about his investigations around town. Included are his observations of your party going to and from the Foundry, but of more interest are his suspicions that local crime boss Garmen Ulreth may have something to do with the torch being extinguished. He writes that Garmen and some of his thugs have been up to something in an old warehouse on the east side of Black Hill. Sanvil isn't exactly sure what's going on there, only that Garmen has been quite cagey about hiding his association with this particular warehouse.

"Well, this is certainly interesting, but it seems the clearest path is the one leading us back in the caves, with that thing that should make the lifting platform work."

Kaska gives both Khonnir and Val long hugs, glad they are both going to be alright now.

+++++++++++++

"True," Kaska replies to Gylwinth. "But until it's been repaired we wait. And while we're waiting, we might as well take a look."

Fireday spins his spear-staff a bit and nods.

"We should still be cautious, though. While standing before the gods was the honor of a lifetime, I hope to do much more before the next time that happens."

"Sooooo... warehouse?"

Fireday nods.

"Warehouse."

Gylwinth gives his companions an acquiescing shrug.

The warehouse is located on the north side of town, not too far from the junkyard. The large building appears to be abandoned, with all of its doors boarded up. However, looking more closely, you find that this is only a disguise for one set of doors--the doors are locked, but the boards nailed over them don't actually impede the doors' use.

Viv looks over her shoulder, then carefully and quietly pushes one of the doors open.

"C'mon guys," she whispers.

The door is still locked.

I admit that made me laugh.

"So what's the plan, should we knock? I don't really know this guy."

"Give me a minute and I'll see if I can open it."

Kaska tries picking he lock.

Disable Divice: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 8 + 2 = 29

After jimmying the lock for a few moments, Kaska is able to pop it open. You ready yourselves before opening the door.

The interior of the warehouse is filled with crates and boxes of various sizes. A raised catwalk runs around the main room, and a few doors lead into interior chambers. Once inside, you immediately notice a soft but quite unpleasant hum filling the building that can be felt in the bones and teeth as well as heard. It threatens to give you a headache.

You spot four men and women among the crates and on the catwalk, wearing leather armor and sporting coils of rope wrapped around their fists. They shout when they notice you entering. "Intruders!"

Coen, Fireday, and Viv can go before the thugs. Map updated.

Everybody must make a DC 12 Fortitude save upon entering the warehouse or suffer a splitting headache, taking a –1 penalty on all Intelligence-, Wisdom-, and Charisma-based skill checks for 24 hours.