Kharax calls for Torracha to bring some life to the Cobbler before stepping back, trying to reduce his exposure to the numerous thugs.
Maruf claws the man as he stands, but it's not enough to drop him!
Richard fires the stun gun at the thug near Maruf, stunning the man, and dropping him!
Alpha rushes down the stairs and takes a wild swing!
Maruf drops, then Kharax heals him!
Garmen and the two thugs rush forward, pressing their attacks as they punch and stab Richard and Kharax!
Maruf wakes back up and claws wildly from the ground!
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Alpha hops down to the ground and into the flank with Richard, empowering his shield with electricity.
"Kharax, keep Alpha up!"
Maruf takes a couple swipes from the ground, but misses!
Alpha leaps over the stair rail, casts spell, then smashes his shield into the man to his south. The man's body seizes and jerks, then falls to ground, unconscious.
Kharax tries to defensively cast a spell...
He touches Richard before backing up towards Alpha.
Richard backs up to the stairs and thrusts at the last thug with his rapier.
Kharax puts a healing hex on Alpha!
Richard, finding himself hemed in, backs onto the stairs and stabs the thug.
Garmen and the thug keeping pounding on Richard!
After taking a fist to jaw and a blade to stomach, Richard falls back onto the stairs, bleeding.
Kharax curses in Orc as he pulls out a wand and presses against his android ally.
Once again Kharax curses in Orc.
Maruf continues to claw at the man's legs!
Alpha steps forward and bashes the next thug.
Richard falls to the ground, bleeding out!
Kharax curses, heals Richard a little, then curses again!
Maruf claws at the thug, striking twice!
Alpha finishes the man with a slam from his shield!
Garmen steps up and stabs at the prone Maruf!
Stepping behind Alpha, Kharax jabs the Cobbler with the wand. "Bring. Him. DOWN!", Kharax shouts, trying to encourage Alpha.
Maruf falls unconscious again but only for a second until Kharax brings him back up. Maruf wildly grabs at Garmen, shouting obscenities and making noises that would sound rude coming from a wild animal!
Richard lies unconscious near the stairs.
"It is in the process of being initiated."
"Booting up!"
Kharax heals Maruf!
Maruf tries to claw Garmen, but misses!
Richard lays on the steps, unconscious!
Alpha charges his shield with electricity, then slams Garmen, dropping the man!
Searching the men, you find Garmen carries a potion of invisibility, +1 studded leather, buckler, hand crossbow with 10 bolts, mwk rapier, mwk thieves’ tools, and 89 gp. The four thugs carry nothing more than a potion of cure light wounds, mwk studded leather, sling with 10 bullets, sunrod; each, and gp total.
Kharax stabilizes everyone, then keeping the others out of reach, heals the party with a burst of healing!
"Well, that was... rough."
"M&&@#@ f*!~&%! Why did we fight him again? Something to do with the Technic League? Was he the reason the f~+@ing flame went out?"
With a moan Richard pulls himself to his feet and recovers his dropped weapons. "Thanks Kharax. I don't think I've ever been that injured before. Thought I was about to die... permanently."
To the Cobbler, he says "It might be more accurate to say that he fought us. I was hoping to get a look at this place before a confrontation."
Looking over the dead and dying thugs, he moves to check Garmin to see if he's still alive, and will stabilize him if needed. "Let's get them inside and see what's going on here."
"Stealth is not a capability we possess explains what happened here. Affirmative, we should take this opportunity to search the area."
"Well I almost got in unnoticed..." Richard says, a little defensively as he helps bring the bodies into the warehouse.
Once inside, he uses a spell to heal himself further, then takes his time to search the place thoroughly.
"Yeah, stealth ain't our forte, but man if those guys dun kick hard.", the half-orc resetting his jaw before following Richard in and aiding in his search.
Dragging the bodies inside the warehouse, the first thing you notice is a low, but quite unpleasant hum filling the building. The sound can be felt in the your bonesand teeth, as well as heard.
Searching the warehouse, it quickly becomes apparent that it was serving as a front for something, as all the crates are empty!
Alpha although annoyed, resists the sound. "What are they attempting to hide here?"
"It's under here!" Maruf starts tossing crates aside with reckless abandon.
"If it's the cause of that noise, perhaps we should be more gentle with it?"
Richard detects for magic and tries to hold back Maruf from setting off a technological catastrophe.
Tearing open the crates, Maruf finds a strange device.
"I do not recognize this item."
"I think it polishes shoes."
"I think we're going to need Sanvil for this..."
Richard looks to their captives.
"First, let's wake up Garmen and see if he can enlighten us."
After tying up the gambler, Richard sings a healing spell over him. Once he is conscious, he will begin his line of questioning by pointing at the device he was hiding.
"Care to explain this?"
Garmen awakens with a start, as he gets his bearings, his eyes narrow at the party. At Richard's question, he says. "Explain what? That you come upon my property, accosted my employees, and are now holding me against my will? Does that about cover it?"
"Yeah, that about covers it. What's that shoe-shiner over there for?"
Richard looks at the man for a moment, trying to read him. Though Richard is unusual among androids for his developed emotions he doesn't always understand humans. With a sigh, he takes his companions aside.
"Unless someone has a better idea, let's move Garmen to that office and go get Sanvil to look at this tech."
"Affirmative, he is being uncooperative."
"Sounds like a good idea; see if Sanvil's again willing to cooperate instead and show his worth."
"Well, it's on his advice that we are even here. And I'm not convinced we didn't just assault Garmen and his thugs with just cause. If Sanvil's reluctant, I say we don't give him an option to say no."
The party tracks down Sanvil and has the man take a look at the humming device. getting down on his knees, he goes over the item, occasionally mumbling to himself. Finally he stands. "This appears to be a device for relaying power without wires. I'd call it a....power relay! Quite remarkable!" He then goes on, describing the device in more detail.
The power relay consumes 1 charge of the generator’s available yield per hour to maintain its own power supplies, and can be programmed to transmit any remaining charges of available yield to any object capable of receiving broadcast power, to a maximum distance of 150 miles. This distance is halved for every 5 feet of metal or 20 feet of solid stone between the generator and the power relay. Power transmitted by this device is lost unless the device is programmed to transmit to a specific target capable of accepting a charge in range. Before a power relay can transmit, it must be linked to the target of its transmission to establish the transmission protocols. This consumes 10 charges and takes 1 minute to complete. Once completed, the distance between the power relay and the target of its transmissions can vary up to its maximum range. A small screen on the side of the power relay provides constant updates on the link, including bearings, distances, and the nature of the object to which it is linked.
This device essentially functions as a power generator that provides an hourly yield of charges to its target. For example, if a power relay that provided a yield of 40 charges was linked to a laser pistol, that laser pistol could be fired 40 times per hour without needing an additional charge. Power relays can only function a limited number of times before their delicate internal mechanisms burn out. Each time a power relay is used to initiate a new energy transfer, there’s a cumulative 2% chance it burns out and becomes useless. Once a new transfer begins, a power relay can maintain that link between the generator and its target indefinitely (as long as there’s always an available yield of at least 1 charge from the generator to keep itself powered).
"A power... relay.." Richard tries to wrap his mind around the concept, but is coming up short on both the purpose of a device and the significance of one being hidden in a warehouse by Garmen. After going over the device with Sanvil again, he has a few questions.
"By the hum, and headache I'm getting, I'm assuming this relay is functional and receiving energy from a nearby generator. Is there a generator in Trunau? Also, what is it doing with the power it is receiving?"
"What's it doing with the power? Relaying it, I'm guessing! Must be drawing power off of something and I'm guessing it has to do with our missing flame!"
Sanvil studies the device for a moment, then says. "As best as I can tell, its drawing power from somewhere in the vicinity of Black Hill."