GM Rednal's Iron Gods (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

The thug just blinked at Brass. "Oh, yes, I suppose that explains the massive increase in fires in town. Oh, wait. There hasn't been any. Besides, we weren't testing it - just guarding it. Acting like bloody bandits, you are, coming in and messing with stuff what ain't even yours..."

"True," Brass admitted cheerfully. "And you, of course, are paragons of truth and honesty, in this deserted warehouse with it's concealed entrance. Nothing untoward here. Tell ya what, this is clearly all a big understanding. We just rescued one of the town elders, Khonnir Bane, so they owe us a favour. Let's us, you and that take a walk down and let them decide what's going on, since I'm sure they'll see us in a pinch. Since you, or your boss, will have all the records and papers to be here we'll get a scolding for sticking our nose where it don't belong and you can get back to what you're doing.
Sound good?" She smiled cheerfully. "Mr Black can carry you, no worries there."

The massive machine looked down at them.

Intimidation: 1d20 ⇒ 11

"I've been called worse." the branded woman said with shrug, "We were sent here to investigate by an elder...I'm not sure what that makes us though I feel a bit like a kettle at the minute, pot. she turned from the thug to the machine.

"You didn't build it - it's not from around here, you weren't trying to test it, you were just guarding it...It was clearly on, so someone was testing something. If it's being used or on, it's being tested, even a sword is tested every time it is used." she said, still holding one of hers firmly. "It's clearly more than a rather odd noise machine...but I don't get where it is transferring energy from or if we can prove if it is or isn't connected to the issues in town... if we can prove it isn't connected or a threat, then, it would fall out of our remit, we'd have to look elsewhere." she said, again trying to offer an olive branch. Perem would rather get answers and move on than fight about it but it seemed lately that was less of an option. Going back without at least being somewhat convinced it wasn't a threat seemed like a bad idea.

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 2
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

The thug looked distinctly unhappy at the thought of going to talk to the Councilors. "I mean, it's true, unless you can prove a connection to something, you haven't got much of a case." he said, squirming a bit. "How about we all just pretend this didn't happen? Our boss won't fire us, you won't get looked at all sorry-like for having half an explanation for beating some people up..."

Brass gave them a funny look. "But we have a great excuse for beating you up. We were asked to look at an abandoned warehouse, there was a wierd noise that made us ill, when we investigated we got jumped on. We gave you the chance to stop fighting and talk and you kept attacking. Then we fought some more and Mr Black boped you." She looked at Perem. "That's about right, right? I got hit in the head a bit when they jumped us."

Perem considered what the person and Brass said for a few moments, "Most of it, I also offered to heal them..." Perem said with a nod, "We can't test anything about it like this though, it might be best to discuss it with a member of the council or Joram. We could just say we came to the warehouse as requested and came across an odd advanced activated item and seemed to have turned it off but press that it needs investigating, they might have those who can assess or get imprints from it to see any risks better than I can at this point. There isn't a need to bring them in if they don't know anything about it but we can't ignore an unknown risk especially if those holding it don't know enough to give a proper risk analysis. For all any of us know, that noise was meant to drive people away before it explodes." Perem considered with a shrug, glancing back at the machine. While she was sure Mr. Black or Brass could drag one or two it, it didn't seem worth it to the oracle unless they knew something, but unless they knew something, she couldn't just leave it in their hands without informing others.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 7
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

The thug shrugged slightly. "I mean, it's been humming for awhile, but heck if I know how it works. Anything's possible with those machines."

Brass shrugged. "Guess they don't know much, then. Pass the whole thing to the council and head back to the caves?" she suggested, lifting the box containing the machine with a whirl. "Once we've rested and healed up, anyway."

Perem nodded with a reluctant sigh, ready to move on from this cycle of unanswered questions.

Nodding to Mr Black to haul the miscreants away, Brass hauled the box down to the town to dump the problem on someone important looking.

There were a few places to drop off such an item - particularly the church of Brigh or the Town Hall, where they'd be most likely to know what to do with such advanced technology. There was also the option of getting it examined by an expert who would hopefully be able to tell you more about it.

"For now, we should probably pop it in the town hall, see what Bane thinks once his brains get unscrambled." Brass suggested with a shrug as she juggled the device to a more comfortable position.

Perem agreed, "They may know other experts as well..." She considered that as well as they walked back towards the town hall.

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 2
Knowledge Local: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18

The Town Hall halfway explodes with excitement as you arrive, and runners are off in moments. It doesn't take long for Councilor Dolga to show up, and she let out a grunt as she looked at the large, boxed device. "Hmph. Sharp worksmanship, controls, probably for adjusting, looks like a connector of some kind... what exactly was this thing doing?" she asked, looking up at the four of you.

"Making an unwholesome noise, mostly. My guess is something internal is shot to hell or it's missing a whole lot of insulation. Or it simply wasn't being used right. We only examined it long enough to stop our ear drums from going pop." Brass grinned. "Wouldn't mind a chance to look at it again later, especially if you work out more about it."

"And my head, it still hurts a bit from the racket that was coming out of it. It looks like it originates from under the Black Hills." Perem reported.

Dolga frowned a bit more. "Weird noise, eh? Never a good thing with this technology. Well, I'm sure the Brighittes will figure it out before too long. What are your plans now? Any news on what caused the Torch to go out?"

Shaking her head, Brass replied, "We needed to get a part fixed before we could go deeper, and then we got sidetracked by this. We'll heal up overnight and then go see what we can find."

Perem nodded slowly in agreement, "Hopefully there won't be many more issues below..." Perem said tiredly, rubbing her head a bit. "...I don't think that bit has anything to do with it but if yanked out of something that is involved, we may have to come back for it and hope it isn't too damaged." she said with a hint of worry.

"What part?" the Dwarven woman asked, immediately interested (well, more interested) about a topic involving repairing things. "Going by that nice hunk of metal you walk around with, must've been pretty bad if you couldn't fix it on the spot."

Brass made a face. "Not enough heat. It was made of Glaucite. I couldn't fix it with what we had."

Perem nodded in agreement, "Down there...are many odd things that can be hard to get around on the fly...for us."

"Ack. Wretched stuff, innit?" she said. "Come, come - let's get this sorted out, then." With that, she beckoned you towards her forge. "Just as well that it's small, I suppose. I once knew a dwarf who made a golem out of the stuff. A whole bloody golem! Easier and cheaper than pure adamantine, sure, but he had to decorate the stupid thing with depressions to fill with gold. Straight friggin' lines, and the stuff was so hard it dented the anvils faster than what we were working on. Ever tried to form a straight groove on a deformed anvil? Worst. Job. Ever." As you reached her force, she pumped the bellows a few times... then about a dozen more times, filling the entire workshop with painful heat. "Step outside if you want - this'll take a bit." she grunted. An hour later, though, the metal had finally been pounded back into position - and cooled to the point it was safe to handle.

"Cheers," Brass said cheerfully, stowing the part. "Thank you for that. Unless there's anything else, we'll take our leave, get some sleep, food and a bath, and try that damned lift in the morning."

If the councillor (and Fate) agreed, Brass did just that.

"Thank you" Perem said with a small bow before nodding in agreement with Brass's plan.

You did, in fact, manage to head out and get some sleep. The night passed by quietly enough, and when the sun rose, you were ready for your next expedition into the caverns - and knew the route well enough that you found it fairly simple to navigate the dangers and return to the area of the lift.

Refreshed, restored, cleaned and in freshly polished armour, Brass felt much better. This could only mean certain doom. Still, the clanking engineer cheerfully headed down the to the lift, and after a couple of minutes to check that the rest of the machinery was cleaned up and would make good contact, she began the process of installing it.

Knowledge (Engineering): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11

Perem felt a bit better though not entirely. She went with Brass down below and after a few moments tried to help put the shinied up piece in.

Knowledge -Engineering, aid another: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

*Pat pat*

It was probably a good thing that reinstalling a part wasn't too difficult... despite the strangeness of the technology. The repair job had been good enough to work (goodness knew you weren't going to be able to bend the stuff to fit). As you pushed the metal back into place, the entire room hummed for a moment, then a soft white light lit the chamber as a panel on the wall began shining with an up arrow.

Well, that had been frustrating, but at last everything seemed to be working. Without anything else to do Brass went and pushed the arrow. She hoped it didn't activate some kind of arrow thrower.

"Ooo" Perem said excitedly at the sight of the shiny arrow. She looked around after Brass pushed the button to see what happened...

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 5

...her head was still a bit fuzzy though.

The chamber hummed for a moment - then the entire platform abruptly rose into the air, rapidly ascending until it reached the next level. The door hissed open a moment later, revealing a large room and a pair of doors beyond.

A cloying, animalistic stink fills the air of this hemispherical room. To the north and south, curved ramps lead up to hallways leading out of the room, while several doors sit in the east wall. Flickering lights flash and strobe on the ceiling, and the gray metal walls are scorched, dented, and partially broken in places, exposing colorful wires or metallic struts within. Four mounds of rubble, cloth, and bones lie scattered about the room.

Well, this looked like a nest. Raising her gun and scanning the room, Brass stepped off the odd moving platform and tried to ger he bearings.

Brass Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
Black Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Perem followed Brass, her eyes behind her goggles moved to look closer at the wires and scorch marks first in interest before trying to take in the rest of the space...

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 7

As you scan the room, the four mounds shiver slightly - then four catlike creature with striped pelts and whiskers that jut from long muzzles filled with sharp teeth hop out of them... and immediately begin howling.

"What the hell are these?" Brass muttered, trying to work out if these were as dangerous as the bones suggested, or simply noisy scavangers.

Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

I assume they're magical beasts, and thus this is Arcana.

Perem shrugged as she reached for her swords, eyes on the felines, "Dunno, might test something though..."

With swords in hand, she held them out...and howled back at them loudly...

Handle Animal: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10 Want to check that the -1 is still in effect? This is with it still in effect. And yes, she's totally channelling a mix of Jurassic World and what I've seen many people do when cats yowl at them which normally causes great confusion all around.

@Brass: You have no idea what they are.

@Perem: You still have the headache and its associated penalty. It hasn't been 24 hours quite yet.

As Perem howled at the creatures, they charged her, opening their jaws wide.

Bite (Perem): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
Bite (Perem): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
Bite (Perem): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Bite (Perem): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18 for Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Fortunately, only one of them managed to get a good chomp in.

"Fine, we'll just fight instead." She attacked the one that bit Perem.

To Hit: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Damage: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (4, 1) + 6 = 11

Mr Black lumbered forwards to hit as well.

To Hit (Mr Blac): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20
Damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Perem tried jumping back from the odd felines - almost got away before that last one. "OW. That didn't work...let me try this..." Perem said before taking a swing at the one that bit her...

Attack-Short Sword: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Brass struck her first target, and it went down with a pitiful yelp. Mr. Black followed up with a thudding hit that downed a second. That left just two, and by this point they were much too invested - though they did manage to flank Perem, raising a ruckus the whole time.

Bite (Perem): 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 2 = 10
Bite (Perem): 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 2 = 7

Their bites were, sadly for them, unable to come close to landing.

Perem twisted and turned in the confusion of attacks and yelping and ruckus...

Attack-Short Sword: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4Damange: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

...she swung again, but between what remained of her headache and the confusion, she didn't seem to be testing anything very well...

Brass clicked her tongue. Sometimes it was really, really silly to attack the people in steam-driven armour with a robot companion.

To Hit: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Damage: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (3, 3) + 6 = 12

Mr Black also went smash.

Slam 1: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
Damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Slam 1: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17
Damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

*Looks back* Wow, the dice really don't like Perem right now. o_O

Perem's strike missed - as did both of Mr. Black's first swinging blow. His second strike and Brass' weapon attack were enough to get rid of the other two canines, however, leaving the room blessedly quiet and no longer a danger to be in.

"Weird little things," Brass noted before she began to check the room for anything interesting. Maybe the odd little things had dragged back something useful or exiting to make a nest.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Perem looked around warily before she nodded in agreement with Brass.

While Brass looked for interesting parts, Perem looked around for any sign of the best way to go...

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 4

Looking around, you don't see much you haven't already spotted. However, you do note that the main doors directly across from the hover shaft are locked. The other three doors (one pair of double doors to the north that lead east and two small, individual doors, also leading east) are unlocked.

Locked was more exciting, so Brass tried it first.

Disable Device: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Perem kept a lookout while Brass tried the locked door, considering the other directions just in case they needed more rectangles for this one...

The device fizzled a bit as Brass tried to pick it, and it didn't click open. It did, however, have an interface like the one you used a rectangle on before, and it looked rather similar to the previous one with the odd white droids. Swiping the same card through, the door hissed open.

This short hallway hums and buzzes with the sound of machinery. Four glowing and flashing nodes are attached to the walls to the north and south, each periodically firing off bolts of electricity.