GM Rednal's Iron Gods (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

You can buy any of the potions you asked about above - the temple doesn't have unlimited stocks, but it'll take more than a small group of adventurers to deplete them. XD Is there anything else you'd like to take a look at, or are you ready to head back towards the caves?

Nope, caveward bound we are.

Cavebound we go, we've decided on two cure light wounds, four purify food and drink, and one enlarge person.

Caveward you were - and back into the depths of the watery tunnel, the interior caves (and wary inhabitants), and the mechanical features of the ship. Of note: No undead attacking you anymore as you returned to the Science Deck.

That was interesting. Brass wondered what had happened to them. Had the machine they'd wrenched open been a source of the undead, or something else they'd accidently broken, or had something nastier cleared them out?

Well, only one way to know. Brass headed for the room where they'd found Khonnir, to search it for clues, answers and lootable robot parts.

Brass Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Mr Black Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

Perem looked around warily as she walked with the others, unsure if the changes were a good sign or not...

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

A search of the desks against the north wall uncovers several interesting technological devices - most of which are obviously broken, but your check reveals several functioning devices, including a timeworn radiation detector, a medlance, a timeworn brown nanite hypogun, two nanite canisters, and 2 doses of grade I hemochem. Also lots of broken robot parts in the two scrap heaps.

Perem looked through carefully, separating the functioning devices from the rest. "Interesting...now to figure out what is worth carrying and where to go to next..." she said as she looked over the medlance in interest...

"Shiny," Brass said gleefully. She collects the medical equipment, especially the timeworn ones - she had a knack for those - and examined the robotic remains for choice parts. Especially that ridiculously hard metal.

Knowledge (Engineering): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12

"One more door on this deck," Brass noted, "Then we'll have to try another deck, I guess."

Behind the only four doors you hadn't seen (in the southwest area) were a series of small rooms. Each contained a single humanoid body, split open and overgrown with fungus. They looked like something the little plant people had been cultivating.

"Well that's utterly horrible," Brass said, looking at the dead...things...and very glad that she wasn't one of them. She wasn't even fond of being sweaty, let alone having plants growing out of her. She made a mental note to get her body cremated.

"OK, I guess it's time to use the rope and do some climbing," she said with a sigh. She wasn't looking forward to this.

Perem squeaked slightly at the surprising sight. She hoped they had been dead long before they had been turned into this as she tried not to think about what the plant people had done to Brass last time...

Her thoughts her pulled back at Brass commenting on climbing. She considered and then said, "There should really be better ways to get around this thing..."

Eir tilted her head at Perem's comments. "Clarification Request: Do you have any ideas?" she inquired, sounding genuinely curious about Perem's statement. "Addendum: Anything that facilitates our ability to safely and speedily traverse the area is preferable to the alternative."

Brass nodded. "You're right. No way they had to repel up and down the hole to get around. There must be some stairs, or whatchamacallit...an elevator." Brass shrugged with a hiss of steam. "Maybe we can fix those, somehow?"

Part of me wants to make jefferies tube jokes now...

"We could try...but yeah, I was thinking stairs, ladders, with what is still here there should be a more stable and reliable way up within here than rope if we can fix or find it..."

There weren't any pre-made ladders lying around - especially ones that would hold Mr. Black's weight - but there was a lot of metallic rubble.

Well, if fixing the lifts didn't seem to be an option, Brass looked around to see if they could make a rope or chain ladder with the material that was around and what they had in store.

Craft (Stuff): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

Perem attempted to use her skills as an apprentice to help Brass make a suitable makeshift method for getting everyone to the next floor...

Craft: Mechanical: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Knowledge: Engineering: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

After about half an hour of testing, you managed to cobble together a rudimentary staircase made up of scrap metal. Mr. Black looked at it for a few moments.

"...Beep." he beeped, putting a foot on one step, then the next. As he moved for a third step, the structure collapsed beneath him, knocking him to the ground. "Beeeeeeep."

Brass' eyes narrowed. "Oh, think we're funny do we, weak ass materials?" Well, it wasn't like they had any choice but to try again. She wasn't lugging a damned ladder down from town.

Craft (Something): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

"Oh dear..." Perem said. She felt a bit awkward that her complaint on the place's odd design had seemed to lead to this time-eating experiment to get Mr. Black upward that didn't seem to be working well. She once again tried to help Brass get her big fellow off the ground...

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
Craft Mechanical: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

You were able to put things together, but that wasn't quite the same as making something structurally sound, and the next structure wobbled worryingly even before you put something on it.

Eir tilted her head as she watched. "Suggestion: Given the height we must ascend and the lack of materials, perhaps repairing this device would be more effective."

Brass nodded, and tried.

Knowledge (Engineering): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14

As something zapped her, Brass muttered, "I think I pissed Brigh off at some point."

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Perem attempted to help. The branded oracle shifted awkwardly at the comment about Brigh while she attempted to get the lift working.

An examination of the sparking tube reveals that a coupling link that once attached the device to the panel has torn free - even a cursory examination of the sparking tip of the broken cord reveals that such a repair could easily be made at a forge (although probably not anywhere else - it looks to be made of glaucite, and that particular metal requires serious heat and tools to manipulate).

Brass took a look around for the missing part, or at least the metal needed to do so.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Perem looked around with Brass while considering what could be done...

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

The coupling link is there - you've already found it. The need to repair it is the major issue here. Once that's done, you're fairly certain the room will start working again.

Collecting the damaged machinery, and really regretting there wasn't another somewhere, Brass sighed. "We're not in a rush, but I hate having to return so soon."

Perem nodded and took coupling link to look it over to see if she could repair it with what they had to hand here...

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Profession Mechanist Apprentice: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Nnnnnnope. The material it's made of - Glaucite - can't be easily manipulated with portable tools. The book is pretty firm about this, actually. Starmetals in general - and, really, many things about where you are and where you'll go in the future - aren't easily manipulated. It'd be sort of like, oh, trying to use a stone hammer to shape titanium. ....I suspect a large part of this is to stop characters from peeling off wall parts of the areas and quickly becoming filthy rich. XD

Without any way to work the metal it was time to go.

Perem sighed with a shrug, handing it back. Part of her mind was curious as to where whoever made this got such tricky metals and another part of her was frustrated at how unaccessible the design to this place was. With nothing else she could think of, she traveled back with Brass. "Maybe Joram will know where we can fix it..." the apprentice said...

The path outside was quite familiar to you by this point, going back and forth as many times as you had. Even the tunnel full of water was starting to feel like more of an annoyance than anything else, given how wet it tended to make things. Joram took one look at the item you'd brought, then a second and a third. "Huh. I don't have the tools here, but the Foundry Tavern can work it. Forge burns hot enough for it. You ever worked Glaucite before?"

"Nope," Brass replied, looking at the metal. "Other than the horrifying heat, what do we need to know?"

Perem considered for a few moments before shaking her head. She'd come across many metals in her time as an apprentice but she couldn't recall coming across this one. She listened intently.

Joram grinned slightly. "Well, first thing to know is that it's not a true, natural metal. All Glaucite is artificial - it's an alloy of adamantine and iron. Not as hard to work with as the pure stuff, but a good bit tougher than iron. It seems to be the material of choice for certain machines here in Numeria - most of the desirable properties of adamantine, including excellent toughness and durability, but without having to find enough of the bloody stuff to build anything big with. There's not actually that much adamantine in there - just enough to change the properties of the iron."

Perem nodded with great interest as she listened to Joram. The apprentice considered the alloy before looking to Brass, "With the right heat and tools, I don't think it will be too hard to repair..." though she considered that true of many things that turned out otherwise.

"Yeah, this is part of a larger mechanism. Once we fix it the thing should work." Hopefully.

Looking at the tools, she asked, "So will it be simpler to melt it down and re-forge it one piece, or weld it together again? Would welding even hold?"

"Once you've got the tools, most metals are pretty similar. Looks to me like this bit is out of position." he said, tapping part of it. "Get it back straight to match the other side and it should fit right back wherever it's supposed to go."

"Alright," she murmured, starting work.

Knowledge (Engineering): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
Craft (Stuff): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

"Thank you for your time and expertise." Perem said to Joram with a nod before following Brass to get the repairs done.

As you turned to go, Joram paused for a moment, then nodded very slightly. "By the way, I heard that some odd things were happening by a warehouse on the north side of town. I don't know if it's important or not, but there's a chance it's related to what happened with the Torch. You may want to look into it." he said as you left.

As for the tool itself, it took almost an hour in the forge to bend it half the width of a finger back into position. It would only budge at all under the hottest temperatures, and it took time to heat up again, slowing the repairs beyond anything needed for common metals. Still, the job got done well enough.

Shoving the piece away in a bag, Brass rolled her shoulders toloosen them up after labour. She was going to need a bath. Again. "Wanna check out that warehouse before we go back down the hole and find something else is broken?" she asked with a grin.

She nodded, "Sounds like a plan" Perem said with a pleased grin that the work had gone so well and to have reason to check out something else than the problems back in the underground...

The warehouse in question isn't hard to find - a few quick questions with people you know are enough to get directions. From the outside, the building looks rather old - and all the doorways have been boarded up.

Brass was reasonably sure that between them she and Mr Black could smash through the walls, given time. The boarded up doors and windows wouldn't slow them down...but would be noisy. So instead she resorted to looking around, rather than glorious destruction.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Mr Black Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Perem attempted to assist in finding a way in - or at least any signs that they should try to do so.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Mr. Black carefully examined the building... then paused by the back door and beckoned you closer. The wood across the door was real, but none of it was actually nailed into the door, meaning the door could be opened if unlocked. That was a pretty big oversight for a supposedly abandoned place...

Brass nodded her thanks to Mr Black, and began trying to pick the lock.

Disable Device: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19