Kharamell spends more time with the items he could not identify earlier trying to get a better feel for them.
"You are both kind and just, Dinvaya."
Nyssa pays without comment. She does tell the cleric about what happened in the old ruins. The strange vision, the disembodied voices. The shadowy assailant. "Can you tell us what this means? These things are beyond my experience, but I don't think it is just a random incident."
Kraig goes with Nyssa and Cem to make sure they don't get mugged by a toddler with a spoon.
Dinvaya rubs her chin and answers Nyssa as best she can. "Well, who knows. None of us have been there. There's always been that strange haunting to the east. Been there probably before any of the gangs got here. Definitely before I arrived. Astral travelers from another plane, searching for another astral traveler. That's my best guess."
Čemifobbar likewise pays Dinvaya without complaint.
"Thanks for escorting us, Kraig."
A toddler with a spoon?? Thinking of it, I guess I was that weak!
"What is astral?" Nyssa wonders. She knows about the hammering of steel. She knows a lot about the art of sword-play, and how to hit a bull's eye with an arrow. Of the planes and spheres where the gods dwell, she knows little enough. She has heard the word before, of course. Hearing of something, and actually understanding it are two different things.
"Never mind. You'll just give me a headache." Nyssa smiles.
"Is this 'Astral' connected to the spirit world? Is that why there was strong undead there?"
"Astral means of the stars. Some people say there are worlds beyond ours and all you have to do is fly up through the skies to reach them. Some might consider it planar also. Perhaps these creatures and this Hellion is from the Plane of Earth. Who knows."
She pauses in her tinkering, gives a smug looking glance at Nyssa that seems to say "any other questions to enlighten you?" Then the smugness disappears from her eyes, becoming her normal neutral self and continues ratcheting and hammering the golem.
In the vision, we were falling from the sky, toward the ground." Nyssa's brow furrows in concentration. "Could it be that the haunted ruins fell from the stars?" Nyssa shrugs. "I guess it doesn't really matter." Nyssa's face takes on a fierce look. "As for Hellion, I'll let you know what we find out. They are a threat to Torch, so must be dealt with."
"I'm grateful you could heal us, Dinvaya. Although this talk of planes and such is a bit heady for me. Should we return to the others, now?"
"Yeaaaah, you can fly to another world. If you could do that then wouldn't all the birds be gone?"
"Nah, Kraig. They like it here." Nyssa's face is serious, but there is a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
"I don't see why, it's full of people who eat each other." Kraig looks up at where the sky would be if they weren't inside. "So there's another world up there just droppin' metal boxes full of doors and ghosts on us. Wonderful. We should build... a giant net, to catch them all."
Perhaps you answered yourself, Kraig. If sky-places are like the things the drop here, they are only metal and even their people are searching a better place coming here. Says Valt, with a serious tone and a pensative stance.
"Brigh be praised for the healing she provided. And you too, Dinvaya, thanks." Nyssa takes her leave of the priestess, heading back to the temporary base.
At the base, she begins to prepare for the attack on the Lords of Rust. Checking her gear to make sure all is in order and honing her blades. She has no thoughts of returning to Torch. Instead, her mind is fixated on the mission at hand.
When the party is ready, you head to the Scrapmaster's Arena in order to challenge the Lords of Rust.
When you reach the arena, you see hundreds of seats filled with mostly orcs, ratfolk, and several other scrappers hidden beneath hoods or wrapped in rags and cloaks.
An enormous battlefield sprawls here-a fighting arena that measures several hundred feet in diameter, ringed by mounds of junk and refuse stacked in tiers for seating. The ring has an arched opening in its westernmost end to allow access to the arena, while against the eastern side, a large metallic structure akin to a squat tower protrudes form the hard-packed earth. A wooden stairway wraps around the tower’s sides, and a twenty foot-tall stage protrudes from its western façade, overlooking the arena below.
A large wooden platform sits twenty feet above the battleground to the west. The squat metal tower it extends from is obviously part of a different, much older structure. A large nest of furs and rags and bones, appropriate for something the size of a small giant, sits in the middle of the platform.
Atop the tower is a large troll, an autograpnel in her hand.
"The challengers have arrived! The Seven Torches gang dares fight against the supremacy of the Lords of Rust!" The troll shouts down
from her perch.
A loud ruckus comes from the crowd, some cheering, some booing.
Čemifobbar just smiles, casually bows toward the troll and then stands up slowly.
he bellows back.
Nyssa draws back on the string of her bow, a black-feathered arrow nocked. She aims high, an arching path that is aimed for the loud mouthed troll.
Tess shrinks at all the eyes turned on her; crowds are definitely not her strong suit. She stays crouched and small with her bow in hand, tapping her fingers on it reassuringly.
As the yelling back and forth starts already, Tess starts whispering words in a dead language...
"It appears that they have prepared for our arrival." Kharamell will ready his pistol.
Alexis just grins, rapier in hand.
Helskarg roars. "How dare you challenge me, Helskarg! You think you can defeat a Lord of Rust." As she talks Nyssa's arrow stabs into the troll's side. She glances down at the nuisance, and begins climbing down her platform.
A pair of ogres from the northern stairs appear and begin running towards your position. A half dozen orcs join them, running from the stands.
1. Nyssa, Valt, Tessara, Kraig and Alexis
2. Enemies
Tess mutters a second spell, biding her time while the enemies close.
Nyssa studies an orc, then looses an arrow at it.
"Got to cull the herd."
Kraig drinks one of the black potions they found earlier and feels strength surge through him. "Our opponents just keep getting uglier as time goes by."
Valt moves near Kraig, and starts casting a spell to make the sturdy man even more menacing, while Iophiel positions herself at the summoners back to protect him from the wave of enemies.
Alexis starts to sing
Nyssa's arrow stabs through the throat of one of the orcs. The orc slams to the ground mid run.
Tess moves behind the party, casting one final spell then reaching for her arrows.
"Have to look my best for this crowd" says Čemifobbar as he casts a Shield spell on himself. And take up a defensive posture waiting for that lot to charge in. Trusty Falchion at the ready.
Kharamell will cast Fireball at the two orcs and Helskarg.
DC 18
He then moves to the back of the party while imbuing his pistol with elemental energy.
"Yes! I am the god of war!" Kraig bellows. The giant man rushes towards the right hand column of orcs.
Alexis maintains her song and through it casts a spell on the party
Kharamell's fireball burns through the two orcs and troll, leaving two scorching piles of black flesh.
Giant Kraig charges through the battlefield and slams the orc to the ground.
Nyssa studies the troll, looking for weaknesses. Then she looses one of the arrows she got from Redtooth, at the troll.
You got those ogres, right, Čemifobbar, Kraig?"
"Looks like Kraig is Orc-crushing for now"