Evelyn moves swiftly through the shadows, arriving in cover.
{Double move to square M8}
> Brand is Up!
Brand smiled. Now, for part two.
He reached out and placed his hand firmly on the tree.
Sorry buddy, but your still needed for the fight.
He looked up at the war machine.
"Dodge this"
Brand smiled. Now, for part two.
He reached out and placed his hand firmly on the tree.
Sorry buddy, but your still needed for the fight.
He looked up at the war machine.
"Dodge this"
Brand reshaped the trees trunk and, overbalanced, the massive tree toppled over.
The War Walker raised its metal arms defensively in a futile attempt to ward off the falling tree.
Wood met metal, crushing the walker beneath the trees bulk and cracking the crystalline cockpit cover of the machine. Smoke escaped from under the bole, the air sizzling with sudden heat and the drip---drip---drip of burst hoses.
"Bzz---No! Save me! I'll tell you everything-"
The war machine exploded into fire and black smoke as hot machinery met dripping oil, hurling metal and wood in all directions in a thunderous blast.
The explosion filled the second elevator chamber with incredible concussive force and a wave of searing flame. When the echoes finally faded, all was still save for the sizzling piles of twisted metal and burning hunks of fallen tree....
Following the blast, Maitreya lies on death's door, his body battered and burnt. The rifleman lies not far from the monk, a jagged shard of metal jutting from his body like a twisted spear.
His eyes stare sightlessly at the columns of smoke rising from the debris of the War Walker and the magically created tree.
The Walker itself has largely ceased to exist as well, its mangled remains having taken a massive bite from the balcony and tumbled into the space below with a final clang.
The air sizzles and hisses, mixed with the crackle of flames.
Evelyn will cast twice on the fallen Monk.
Maitreya stirs and rolls onto his hands and knees for a moment, breathing deeply.
He finally straightened and surveyed the destruction.
"My thanks for the assist, Evelyn. That blast was.....unexpected. I'm afraid we'll get no answers from our foes now that death has claimed them."
Amelia floated downwards to check on the rifleman her elemental had stopped.
Amelia floated downwards to check on the rifleman her elemental had stopped.
The rifleman lay sprawled on his back, a jagged spear of metal jutting from his chest. He stared sightlessly at the ceiling...dead, smoke still rising from the holes burned into his yellow cloak.
Maitreya watched Amelia float downwards. "The blast.....I don't think he felt any pain..."
Brand scratched his head.
"I didn't expect such a violent blast from it. I figured the power crystals wouldn't have been combined with a liquid fuel system that would have caused such a catalytic and energetic response."
He looked around at the devastation he had wrought.
"Sorry all! At least we don't have to worry about them anymore."
He cautiously walked towards the wreck of the war machine.
The exploding War Walker destroyed a semi-circular span of the balconies floor and tore great gaps in the waist-high wall that girded the platform as well. The bulk of the machine lay on the floor of the chamber some forty feet below, though some smaller pieces lie strewn across the remaining balcony surface.
Brand is able to scrounge a flywheel as wide as his chest, a small sack of assorted gears, springs, and other clockwork parts as well as a chunk of what used to be part of a weapon housing, still boasting a powerstone in it's socket...one still aglow with an amber light.
Amelia began slowly gliding down the hallway, fading into the shadows as she went
"We should keep moving. A little more quietly perhaps."
Evelyn also starts moving into the shadows.
"But which way? We are now leaving the elevator behind us unguarded..."
Maitreya paused, rubbing his chin in thought. "The machine guarded the elevator. It stands to reason that the enemy used it to descend even deeper into this place and guarded their path of retreat."
The monk indicated the elevator. "so...Down, into the belly of the beast. We have lost the element of surprise with that blast but our will is mighty. Where there is a will, there is a way."
The enigmatic martial artist walked over to the elevator and began to clear debris from the metal disc.
Finishing the clean-up, Maitreya stepped back. "THe explosion seems to have had no effect on the mechanism. Sturdy, but then, anything made by dwarves is well known to be so. Shall we?"
Amelia glanced at the filthy metal death trap that the monk had cleared and then back at the monk.
" I am able to traverse the pit under my own power. I will follow behind"
Evelyn, stealthily, scouts the North and South of the great chamber, to see if there are more people there, or if they have already bolted for the elevator behind us.
Evelyn discovers a number of chambers to the north, apparently once used as storerooms given the marks crates and barrels have left in the thick layer of dust on the floor, dust showing the small footprints of some sort of small reptile or bird.
To the south, she discovers several more similar chambers and then a smallish chamber lushly carpeted in cerulean blue, the rooms walls lined with chairs and boasting a pair of double doors in its southern wall.
Adorned with dwarven runes and bearing a gilded ornamentation of a dragon in flight, the doors stand firmly shut, thier handles the graceful necks of drakes roaring in challenge.
Evelyn returns to the others.
"As I thought, there are chambers both to the North and South which beg further attention, especially if we are going to allow these slimes the opportunity to simply flank around us, and trap us down here as they once were."
(Evelyn relates the specifics from above)
" Oh, I knew I liked you dear Evelyn"
Amelia looked to the monks
" If you boys are done with your toys, I would appreciate it if you cleared the way for the ladies"
Maitreya bowed with a smile.
"To where are we bound, fair ladies, the northern storerooms, or the southern room of dragons?"
" Dragons are always fun! though im not sure if any of us are good with locks or traps..."
Maitreya frowned...."Locks? Traps? Why would anyone trap a door meant to be opened regularly? I hadn't considered traps....hmmm. I know that I, myself, have no experience with them. Do you Amelia or Evelyn?"
"Why, not at all. Brand seems to have developed an interest in all things mechanical. Perhaps he would like to investigate while we maintain a safe distance."
Maitreya simply bowed and shook his head. "I don't believe Brand has any true mechanical skill, only the echoes of a past life. In my quest for personal enlightenment I have counted on loyalty and it's cousin bravery to always carry me through. I cannot allow someone so young and inexperienced in the ways of the world to unintentionally put himself in potential harms way knowing that I did not face the same risks? You and Evelyn get to where you feel safe. I will call for you when the door is open."
Past life? What in the hells does that mean?
Brand shook his head.
"Alright then to the door!"
The doors take up nearly the entire width of the wall, mounted on massive hinges of blue-black steel. Lacquered a deep brown and banded in strips of reinforced iron, the doors have been intricately carved in scenes of thunderstorms amid majestic mountains, the dark clouds dotted with sinuous winged shapes that can only be dragons in flight.
The handles afixed to each door are just as Evelyn described,curving draconic necks topped with gilded dragon heads with gaping mouths. The golden forked tongue of each serving as the latch.
" I would think it prudent to proceed while your resistance to certain energies is still in effect"
Amelia called from the distance
"Tick Tock"
Brand took a deep breath as he looked the door over.
Other life? What did he mean? Ok Orson calm down. Get with the now. Stopping cultists. Maybe they went this way?
He cracked his knuckles and moved slowly forward. Mait, see anything? Scuff marks? Depressions in the stone?
"Ah....a reference to mechanical time measuring systems. Sadly, some things cannot be rushed."
Maitreya took a slow walk around the chamber.
"I don't see any of the signs of something physical. No triggers, or nozzles, or track marks on the floor. No creases on the ceiling, either."
The monk leaned in closer and studied the doors surface.
"Some of these carved dragons are raised from the surface slightly. Buttons, most likely and some of the horns on the dragon handle heads, four on the red dragon head and four on the blue dragon head, are meant to move....This is some kind of complicated combination lock. Whatever is behind this door, it's obviously valuable. I highly doubt or friends in yellow could open it. The question is....dare we risk it?"
Brand considered the monks words. He'd noticed the hidden hinges on the dragon horns but the raised dragon buttons on the door had eluded him.
Maitreya looked at Brand, then back at the door. "Any ideas how to open it?"
The monk walked back to the spell casters and explained the complicated dragonhead opening mechanism.
"You two have been awfully quiet. Do you have any ideas that can help?"
"You could kick it..."
" Or punch it...."
Brand took a half step forward and then stopped. Curiosity killed the cat.
"I say we leave it for now. There might be some indication of how to open it deeper inside. Perhaps it's what our yellow friends are searching for. Anti-climatic yes, but I don't care enough to be injured or worse for it until we know more."
Maitreya laughed at the ladies suggestions and then paused.....Could it be that simple?
The monk walked over to the nearest draconic door handle and pulled.
The door swung open smoothly.
"We never checked to see if it was even locked."
The monk stepped through the gap and out of sight. His voice trailed back. "Incredible....You've got to see this."
Amelia moves forward
Brand stared, dumfounded.
"Um, Ok. Ah, hmm...uh...'
He turned to Evelyn, putting his hand under her arm.
"m'lady, shall we?
Evelyn grips the monks arm tightly, searing it with acid...
Acid Damage:
"I trust you get the point that I am not your mommy either?"
The chamber beyond the dragon doors is nothing short of majestic.
Curving supports of yellow-white frame the space every ten paces, rising to a high vaulted ceiling painted like the night sky with the star sign draconis in the center, each star a gleaming jewel the size of your fist.
Metal draconic heads stud both sides of the space, set in the wall like torch sconces, balls of eldritch flame flickering in their open maws, lighting even the darkest corners of the room.
But it is the machine that draws your eye.
Set in the rooms heart, a massive construction of curving spires and crystalline globes catches the dragonfire torchlight and sends arcs of reflected light onto the floor around it. Complex beyond measure, the machine seems to be comprised of many dozens of arced arms, each set slightly past the next, like the layers of an onion, though inclusions and odd projections defy this simple analogy. Powerstones stud the machines base like a ring of giant eyes, burned out, powerless....spent.
Your attention caught by the machine, you almost fail to see the metal man standing inert at the room's far end. Broad shouldered and squat, the thing brings a dwarf to mind in a crude sense, though one formed of shaped brass and tin and with a beard of golden chain links. It's powerstone eyes - one red, one green - point to the floor, a large wind-up key jutting from it's back.
Evelyn grips the monks arm tightly, searing it with acid...
Acid Damage: 1d6
"I trust you get the point that I am not your mommy either?"
Brand rubbed the sore handprint on his arm. Remind me not to try to help walk the blind person again.
"Well since were here to explore! Lets turn it on! Maybe it knows why the men in yellow would want something down here."
The wind-up key clicked and clacked as it turned, the resistance slowly building until Brand could no longer physically move it further.
Stepping back, the young monk could hear mechanical whirring and several distinct pings from within the metal dwarf's breast as a dim glow began in the constructs powerstone eyes. It straightened with a screech of complaining metal and its head turned to fix Brand with its bi-colored gaze.
It's voice was deep, tinny, and echoed slightly.
"Remote Guardian 4-6 Activated...Chronal Matrix Inquiry....Chronal Matrix Unavailable....Input Required...Awaiting Input."
The mechanical man looked from one companion to the next.
"None of you are authorized to be in this area. State your purpose here or I shall be forced to summon security forces immediately!"