Linpul passes the tracking chip to Uran. She expresses the process of being chipped with large arm motions.
"Some of the robots like to grab you, and they've been especially fond of me. Once they get their metallic claws around you they inject a small device like this one into your arm or wherever they can jam it in. It's not that hard to remove, but it is mentally a bit unnerving. After all, you know your own body best, it's easiest if you pull it out yourself with a small blade."
She cleans up some of the blood with a rag revealing an arm with no wound thanks to her healing magic before continuing.
"Apparently the robots can track you anywhere you go if you have one of these in you. Problem is I don't know if anybody else can track them. Useful if you have a way of following them, but useless if you don't... or if you've been tagged, for study."
Linpul shudders at the last thought.
"While aboard a section of whatever was beneath Torch I was chipped twice on separate occasions. The things are weakest when they grapple you, but that's when they chip you. Your only hope is that your friends can bring the drone down fast enough."
Dr Lendaro stays close behind Rakdon, and scans the area.
"Scrapwall... yes? Looks like a place which could keep a couple gnomes' interest for a while."
Rakdon and Lendaro head towards the gate. When they reach it, a man with a hawk tattoo on his face, a longsword at his hip, and a longbow on his back, greets them.
"Who are you and what do you want? This is Scrapwall, town of loners, outcasts and exiles." He glances at the elf and human. "What are you, Technic League scum?"
|
Rakdon says with a bit of sensitivity like he took offense. Hey buddy, we were being chased, we are just trying to get away from the men chasing us. We took care of the first group, but we had to move away before a second group came in as there are more of them.
if you need it for my character to know how many miles I traveled since then.
"I am Dr Lendaro, and this is my merry band of highly trained mercenaries. We have a piece of property to return to Marrow."
He gestures for Uran to present the leg. "Technic League? Pfft... I should say not."
The guard shakes his head at Rakdon.
"I don't know what the f#@% you are talking about." He then turns to Lendaro. "You're adventurers then, I guess. Boss wants to interview you."
The gate opens and the guard motions to one of the gatehouse doors.
Uran brandishes the leg taken off the undead horror. He waits to see what the guard will do, but when offered entrance, he looks to the rest of the party.
"An interview Hum? Well what is he interviewing for?"
"And importantly, what is it we exactly wish to accomplish here? We should be careful not to get too drawn into things - at least without a plan," adds Sarainy.
"I wouldn't mind knocking down any remaining Smilers down a peg or two if any of them still remain in this town", Thera whispers.
Linpul stroked her chin for a bit before speaking. Mid speech she was nudged by the now larger than her beetle.
"Adventurers huh, I can live with that. let's take our time going to see the boss, get a feel for Scrapwall. You never know what you might... yes Tetsuda I will try and find you some bananas to eat. Now sit down. Excuse me sir, do you know any place that will sell any fruit?"
"Bananas. Good luck with that. You think we got fruit here? Plenty of garbage though." The guard chuckles at Linpul.
-----------------
Following where the guard entered, you enter a common room with tables and chairs. A woman with a hawk tattoo on her face is seated at one of the tables. "Hey, you're the adventurers, hmm? Let me get straight to the point. I want you to take out the ex-smiler currently in the Hawk Palace. If you do this for us, I'll give you information about Scrapwall-anything I know, anything you want to know. By the way, my name's Sevroth Slaid, and we're the Steel Hawks. What do you say?"
Examining the woman, you see that she has no weapons on her. She leans on the table, closer to you as you enter.
I'll be MIA for the next few days, going up to Auckland to watch the Australia / New Zealand grudge match for the Cricket World Cup. I'll be back Sunday evening NZ time, so feel free to GMPC me in the meantime
What have we let ourselves in for... Not sure if we can trust this woman.
Sarainy believes the openness and direct speech of the woman is truthful, but she isn't telling the whole story and deposing this Smiler is likely in her best interests.
Rakdon sees the tattoos of a hawk and realizes its their namesake, the Steel Hawks. Using Arcana, he cannot sense any magic coming from the ink.
Aside from Slaid, Sarainy addresses the group, "Do we need the assistance of this ganger? While it might be helpful to have an 'in' with a local gang, we know very little about this place. For all we know the Steel Hawks are the weakest gang and will be of very little use to us."
Unless everyone is confident that undertaking the job for the Steel Hawks is the best course of action, Sarainy adds "Perhaps I could have a wander, speak to the local people and find out more about the Steel Hawks and any other major players in Scrapwall?"
If it has anything to do with killing Smilers, then Uran is in.
Linpul appears confused.
Why are we resistung killing cannibals? I will never understand some people.
The gnome had set her pack down before diving into it to find the mask and retrieving it.
"I say we go and teach the cannibalistic people a lesson in humility... namely by removing all their teeth and or removing them from society by force. We do that we get our questions answered right? Even about somebody who would be wearing one of these?"
She holds the mask up to her face, which is clearly too small for the elf sized mask.
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"I'm sorry, think you misunderstood me Linpul. I am all for ridding this land of the foul cannibals - Yet we should do it on our terms, for our gain. Not just to make life easier for this Steel Hawk gang."
"Who knows, perhaps this ex-smiler could lead us to the rest of the smilers? Rather than just taking him out and never learning their whereabouts."
"If we are doing the Steel Hawks a favour, then what will they do for us? Nothing in this place should be given away for nothing, or so it seems Sarainy. We will remove these 'smilers' on our own terms using our own methods. Tell this woman we need a day or so to set up a base for our activity before we go after the 'smiler', buy us a little time to learn more before we blunder in. Ask them about any temples, if we want to do homage to the gods."
Well it seems you will need time to think this over. Feel free to stay here in the common room. Use it as your base of operations...I got this tattoo when I joined the Steel Hawks. Sevroth says the last to Rakdon. She ruffles Linpul's red hair. I know you'll make the right decision.
Once Sevroth is out of the room, and everyone is getting settled, Sarainy makes her move.
"I will be back in a few hours, think we need to find out more about this place... Maybe someone could come with me to offer some assistance?"
"Check the local taverns if you need me."
With that Sarainy leaves, off to gain information about the gangs and dangers of Scrapwall.
Sarainy learns a lot of things from Scrappers and even gang members as she walks around and enters some of the watering pits.
Rakdon sets up a place in the commons to get some rest.
She learns that Scrapwall is mostly filled with outcasts and exiles.
Scrapworth is respect and is gained by being brave, vicious, ruthless. More Scrapworth protects you from being bullied by the gangs and causes people to notice you.
The Current Gangs in order from weakest to strongest is:
Steel Hawks
Redtooth's Raiders
Smilers
Lords of Rust
The Thralls of Hellion were disbanded recently. Also there is a woman follower of Brigh in the Clockwork Tower, a mutant manticore flying over the twon and makes a nest, an arena in the center of the town where Scrappers fight to earn Scrapworth, and a haunted area to the eastern part of Scrapwall. There are also a number of non-gang members called Scrappers scattered about town.
Finally, Sarainy learns that the Lords of Rust gained power recently following a mysterious deity named Hellion. Their base seems to be underneath Scrapmaster's Arena and is housing some kind of powerful weapon.
Thera prefers to follow Sarainy. SHe might not be particularly skilled in gathering information, but she is still perfectly capable of handling anyone that attempts to bother Sarainy on her mission.
--------------------------
In the morning you wake up. Sarainy and Thera return with no problems.
The Steel Hawks offer you some dried strips of meat and hard, dry bread, along with gray gruel for breakfast.
The gnomes tiny fists make a swat for the hand rustling her hair.
"I don't always make the right decision, but the hair makes me look taller, don't touch it. I had it just the way I wanted it this morning. Oh I'll fix it later. If anybody needs a bodyguard out in the town let me know."
---The Next Day---
Linpul pokes at the meat with her fork. The last time she saw meat she could identify what it was, and that wasn't too appetizing.
Wonder when I'll know what I'm eating. I still have a few days worth of food for Tetsuda so that shouldn't be so bad.
She casts a quick spell of purification on her food to make sure there wasn't any strange parasites or poisons in it before eating the bread and the gruel.
"So, anybody up for some adventuring? Maybe try and find this former smiler and see what we can do? Hmm, I wonder if I can find this person."
Sarainy thanks Thera for the company, and buys her a few friendly drinks while they are out and about picking up information.
Seeing her unease in trying to canvas the locals for gossip, she asks Thera "So, not one for taverns? Or just not the talkative type?"
===========
Once everyone is up and about, Sarainy casts Prestidigitation on the gray gruel - using the magic to vastly improve the flavour.
"I can't do anything about the colour, but hopefully this should at least make it taste good..."
Responding to Linpul, she says "I am definitely up for some adventuring. Found out some information too; as expected the Steel Hawks are the weakest gang in this town - no wonder they want our help."
Taking a mouthful of the gray glue like gruel, while trying not to look at it, Sarainy adds "And that Hellion demon-god? Heard quite a bit about it. Apparently not only was there a gang dedicated to his worship, the Thralls of Hellion, although they disbanded... But it also looks like the worship of Hellion has now gone over to the biggest gang in town, the Lords of Rust."
Sarainy takes a moment to smile at Tetsuda, who is badgering Linpul for food.
"That reminds me. You gnomes are interested in technology right? Heard there is a lady in town who worships Brigh. If memory serves that's a god or goddess of invention. Apparently the lady is in the Clockwork Tower, might be worth a look into?"
The gritty environment and Sevroth Slaid had made an impression on Dr Lendaro. He found himself repeatedly daydreaming fantasies of fighting back to back with her. He as a grizzled gangleader of young toughs, and she as his hard-edged spitfire sidekick. "Grey gruel? Ha! When I'm in charge it will be steel-cut oats. They'll adore me."
He struggles to give Sarainy his full attention as she unloads the info.
"Good work Sarainy, a fair start anyway. Visiting this elderly lady of Brigh sounds like a low-risk endeavor. If mention was made of her in what little information you've been offered... she may be worth our time."
-Defeat Birdfood at the Hawk Palace
-Slay Mutant Manticore
-Go to Smiler HQ
-Fight in the Scrapmaster’s Arena
-Go to Dinvaya and the Clockwork Chapel
-Meet with Redtooth’s Raiders
-Check out the Receiver Array
-Go to the Haunted Canyon
Linpul holds up her hand and spins the gears on her cyberart.
"Well not all gnomes worship the Whisper in the Bronze, but I give her my prayers. She also might have information on the elf that we are looking for."
"We can kill the wildlife anytime, but finding allies first is something that will help us. I would like to visit the Lady of Brigh, we might pick up some useful information." Solaria smiles, hoping her contribution is helpful.
You head through the town of Scrapwall. There are a lot of onlookers at the edges of the street, orcs, ratfolk and cloaked humanoids. They don't dare mess with a large group at the moment.
Eventually you head west to a large clocktower.
The tumultuous sound of metal grinding on metal issues forth from a constantly churning, grinding wall of gears that blocks off the western portion of this narrow valley. Only two larger gears remain motionless, situated at ground level in the center of the wall where one might expect to see a pair of doors.
"Wow, have never seen anything like this before! And to think, it's probably all gears and tech, no magic arts at all."
Turning to Uran, eyebrows raised in a grin, Sarainy asks him, "So... Seen anything like this in Alkenstar?"
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"not quite the same...the Great Arsenal is a sight to behold, but this....this is unbelieveable!"
Uran gawks like the visitor he is, while the party continues through the town.
Solaria keeps close to Linpul, "Many eyes are on us, we should move as fast as we can through this place."
She looks up at the cog wheels, "Linpul you know what all this means, is this the home of a follower of Brigh? It is indeed unusual, even for a gnome, begging your pardon." She stops away from the 'door', "You know if I lived here, I wouldn't just let anyone walk up to the door unannounced." She looks around the clock tower, at the surrounding roads, to see if they have still attracted attention, or whether it is now quiet or not. "Let's see what we can find out about the welcome people get on entering the clock tower? What do you say?"
Solaria and the party see no one near or around the Clock Tower. The last Scrapper or Ganger they passed was several minutes ago.
The gears continue to grind together, with the two door gears remaining stationary.
Linpul takes a look at the door. Religion wasn't her strong suit, but breaking into places was.
"Gimme a second, there might be a trick to opening the door, a pattern, a way to let ourselves be known. You know, like knocking or yelling at the building, but that's not going to fix much unless you have magic."
Or she could be overthinking things as she moves forward to knock on the door before trying to open it.
Linpul examines the doors, and finds a hidden lever to the side beneath a smaller turning gear. She pulls the lever.
Suddenly, the doors begin to turn against each other, issuing an excruciatingly loud grinding noise. A pathway opens into the chapel.
The gear shaped room depicts several statues in various states of repair. Each of the four female statues is made of scraps and junk, and in the process of creating a different clockwork creature: spider, boar, lion, wyvern.
In the center is a gear shaped altar.
There are three doors to the north, west and southwest.
Everyone seems to ignore Rakdon's question.
After some time looking at the statues and doors and not doing anything, the gears at the front slowly turn closed, and the female statue at the southern portion (fixing the wyvern), stirs to life. All the bits of scrap and junk on the floor glow.
The golem lurches to life and looks menacing.
1. Lendaro, Linpul, Rakdon, Sarainy, Solaria, Tetsuda, Uran
2. Golem
3. Thera
"Err... Sorry Rakdon this is all so, alien to me. But it looks like danger!"
Seeing the golem lurching to life before them, and Uran next to her, Sarainy calls a blessing to Sarenrae and casts Heroism upon him.
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Seeing the creature rise up from the junk on the ground, Uran takes aim and fires at it. He also feeling the surge from Sarainy spell kick in.
Attack-ranged touch:
Damage:
Uran's bullet strikes the creature in the heart but its pieces of metal seem to blunt the damage of the attack. The creature makes no noise from the gnome's assault.