Felicia finds the opening in the armor again, but unfortunately her blade can't seem to do more damage than it already has.
Kaad's hammer slams into the machine's legs with a thud. The hammer is stopped cold as if it hit a solid oak tree.
The Robot attacks Kaad again.
"I'm really starting to hate these metal men..." Relas pants as he and the others continue to fail to put much of a dent in the automaton. Nevertheless, he knows that they are all depending on one another, so he wheels around and attempts to strike out at the metal man once more.
Kaad takes the stunning punch to the face. Despite the crack of bone, numbness and the feeling of flowing blood, he continues to rage against this cursed guardian with all that he has.
Relas scratches and bites the metal behemoth leaving only scratch marks and chipped claws.
Kaad ignores the loosened teeth and warm taste of blood. He swings at his foe, his hammer thuds in vain, and the robot prepares for another strike.
Palomia takes the handled syringe and injects the red canister into BoB after a brief, albeit slightly disconcerting warning. The canister is emptied and then ejects from the device with a hiss.
BoB feels fire in his veins for a brief moment, and then the injection spreads across his body, vitalizing him.
"Life support system upgrade from organic compound. Prime directive to slay robot still active..."
using guidance
using guidance
Feeling upgraded, BoB's attack take off a solid chunk of metal.
"hlkkhhhh... [dribble] …..sknerrrrrrrr..... [breathe, breathe] .....ghhhhhh...… [gasp] kkhhhhhsnerrrr [unconscious]"
The vials catch Felicia's eye through the melee, "Those are oxyamphetamines! How did I know that? I just remember they have a really... fun effect on me." She seems oddly calm despite ducking and stabbing furiously.
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Felicia manages to find another weak spot just before calling out to Palomia for some drugs.
The iron giant relentlessly attacks Kaad again.
And his attack is quite relentless indeed. Unable to will himself to remain standing, Kaad drops with a heavy thud, his dark blood pooling with Askra's.
The robot pays little attention, and mechanically shifts it's body toward BoB, towering over him.
Kaad feels his soul slip away like a snake shedding its skin. His attempt to bond with others fell short of what he had hoped. Odd, he felt relaxed being freed from his mortal coil. He never knew anything but loneliness in life. Now, he had complete freedom.
The scene played out before him in slow motion. A mace like a steel beam breaking him, yet he struggled to stand. He didn’t hear his Earth Breaker clang against the porcelain floor, just a ringing in his ears. Through an inflamed eyelid he could see the steel guardian look him over, almost hesitant to strike again. Kaad correctly assumed that the guardian was only interested in destroying those perceived as threats. The dispised the idea. He, the Shadow of Torch, one who has endured so much at the hands of the Technic League, now unworthy of fighting? Kaad deeply inhaled a painful breath, and let out a roar that echoed throughout the chamber.
The steel sentinel regarded him again. It braced itself, and threw it’s body into an uppercut that would snap a tree trunk. The punch caught Kaad just below the jaw, and lifted him clear off the ground. He landed on his back, his head unnaturally twisted facing a pool of blood. He could’ve swore he saw his blood mix with Askra’s like the swirl of a whirlpool. How kind of the Lady, he thought as the darkness unshackled him.
“Nice and dark.” Kaad thought to himself, perched on a watertower.
The darkness has long been his friend, protecting him from the League in their pursuit. He finally found a town far enough from immediate danger where he could begin to plot his retribution. Kaad was driven by a scene played over and over in his mind. The public execution of his mother and father, bits of their broken bodies strewn about the city center. They were examples for all slaves that would attempt rebellion. The Technic League demanded swift justice to usurpers. Kaad would have been next, had he not escaped.
He spent his years living on the run. The bounty on his head worth more than his weight in gold. The people of Torch were honest and hard working. They hated the League just as much as everyone else. If anyone was aware of his bounty, they certainly didn’t act on it. In return Kaad stood watch every night, waiting for Technic League agents and dispatching them with liberal force, and a little pleasure.
It was that night that he saw her, a mote of light in the darkness of his world. Kaad didn’t believe in purity, or anything inviolate, but he thought he found something as close as possible. She was a young girl, with blonde hair and blue eyes. A clever person would only need one glance at her to see what she would become. The way she carried herself, the way she calmly observed her surroundings wherever she went. She maintained an unassuming image of a young girl, but it was her eyes and a slight furrow of her eyebrows that gave away the depth of what she would be capable of. She was like a torch, soaked heavily in gasoline and waiting to ignite. She would burn brightly, with intense heat, and shine for miles.
Kaad was fascinated with the girl. Looking at her was like bathing in the sun. He had been driven by pain, fear, and revenge, but she gave him something else. It was a desire to protect or nourish, and though he would never admit it, it was something akin to hope. Kaad kept an eye on the girl as she walked the city in the darkness. He waited for his quarry to appear, a Technic League agent with an agenda involving her. The thought of a Technic League agent snuffing her out made him livid.
Through the streets and a few dark alleys she walked and he trailed. After weeks of waiting, the agent finally revealed himself. He appeared from an empty doorway and snatched the girl, covering her mouth quickly with a rag. The girl struggled, but coudn’t put up a fight. Kaad however, appeared in a flash, raging with all of his might he caught the agent with a heavy hammer blow. The agent’s was well trained, and retaliated with a quick jab with his short sword. Kaad ignored the blade, and crushed the man’s leg at the knee in one strike.
The girl rose from the ground and scurried to her feet. She gasped and sprinted down the alley away from the fight, taking one last look behind her, and making eye contact with Kaad. His rage receded for a moment. He looked down at the assailant, writhing in pain.
“Young girls? Is that what the League is after now?”
“Devil-blooded bastard.” The agent spit blood.
Kaad pressed his foot to the man’s shatttered knee..
“Why?”
“Go to h-” The man screamed as Kaad pressed into his knee.
“Why?”
“He wants her, he...” The man gasped, his eyes squeezed shut.”want’s Val.”
“Who?”
Kaad saw the man’s eyes roll back, and noticed the blood leaking onto the dirt behind his head. The man was dead a moment later. Kaad burned him at the purple flame that night, looking into the bright sparks as the body burned away he recalled the look on her face.
“Val.” He thought. “They’ll never put you out. Not as long as people like me can see the flame in people like you.”
"Fleshling down, inital readings detect no life force. Must destroy robot."
Fijit channels positive energy again.
Felicia taps buttons on her collar to see if she can get it to translate to Androffan. She begins yelling things like Deactivate, we are guests, and threat detected in another area in the languages she hears until she finds Androffan
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BoB lands a solid blow on the machine.
Fijit channels, healing all in the area.
Felicia messes with her collar until she finds a language the machine can understand, which actually works!
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Immense power startles Askra awake. She sees the metal menace standing near her, and Kaad's recumbent form.
Noooooo! Kaaaaaad!!!!
Quick as she can she retrieves her fallen blade and slices at the hated metal foe...all the anxiety fear and sorrow mixed together in her thoughts and action. Her weak swing misses completely, almost decapitating Felicia on the way.
"Jean!!!" the Kellid cries, her last shred of society now gone.
Round....9?
Move Action: Retrieve Weapon!
Standard Action Attack!!!!
[+3 BAB, +2 Str, -1 PA, +1 weapon focus, flanking]
[two hand Str, PA]
"N...no...Kaad!" Relas cries as BoB pronounces no detectable life force from the fallen tiefling. He turns his eyes back to their foe, something that looks like fury burning within. "RAAAAHHHH!" he roars as he throws himself at the metal man, a flurry of teeth and claws.
Askra cries out for Jean after her failed stirke. She turns to see the petite woman hunched over, her pale face in pain as she coughs.
Relas attacks decisively, with his teeth and claws landing in the right places with incredible power, but as much as he can give, the steel behemoth can take. Relas refuses to give in.
With a shaking hand Palomia casts Guidance on BoB.
Felicia has another idea, speaking to the robot in androffan, which again miraculously works.
Askra pants heavily, looking out of blood and sweat smeared eyes to see Jean.
"What the gickshit…."
The Kellid girl pauses, and wipes her brow clean. She's exhausted, battered, bruised, shocked and electrocuted. But still defiant.
"Huh….hyew guise….Ah……Utt! Hunh. [attempts to stand up straight, groans, and settles for leaning on greatsword] Khonnir. He's here, in this…..masheen thing. [indicates Khonnir inside healing pod-ma-jig] Just tellin ya all, yanno, before this machine [here indicates robot] goes completely berko and kills anymore of us. Like it did Kaad. Kaad."
Askra wants to move to Kaad, but eyes the roh-bot suspiciously.
"Anyone able to ….I dunno. Abolish this thing?"
-Askra says, with the class and sophistication of a Kellid.
BoB takes notice as the machine seems to go into a non threatening state.
"Prime directive is to destroy robot life form. To eliminate robot threat. Secondary directive to help this team out. What are your commands for BoB? Robot still active. Should I continue to destroy?
BoB raises his sword high above his head and holds awaiting a command on how to proceede.
Fijit supposes that a machine of it's size and weight would take about five more strikes from BoB before being destroyed. All of which would have to connect with at least the power of his last attack.
The large robot shifts it's weight, quietly inspecting the party.
Ask pants heavily, leaning into her blade. She shakes a little as she thinks hard. She considers the paused mah-sheen creature, and then looks to BoB.
"BoB - if you are a metal man, and you have...direktivs - does this metal man have direktivs also? Why is your direktiv different?"
"BoB is a portotype, Programming was incomplete. Master programmed BoB to hunt robots as Prime Directive. He sent BoB to Dolga before executed by Techno League. Dolga gave BoB Secondary Directive to help Fleshling Team. BoB is trying to override prime directive with secondary. BoB not programmed to do this. Hurry BoB must destroy robot."
You can see his arms starting to shake as it seems his artifical intelligence is starting to grow and expance as he seems for th moment able to hold off his programming.
"Palo we can't run, it'll just chase us down," Relas says softly, looking as unnerved as a vaguely panther-like eidolon can at the sight of his master thrown so badly off-kilter. "Can we tie it up? You guys have rope, right? That would slow it down at least!"
"I... apologize in advance for the after effects... go ahead." Felicia braces for the stick and readies her blade for when the lull in the machine ends.
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The green canister empties and ejects with a hiss. Felicia becomes acutely aware of her joints and muscles.
With guidance
As the mighty bot starts to move and become defensive again BoB's programming takes over and his sword crashes down but glances off the metalic defense of the beast.
The guardian glares down at BoB and raises it's mace with an angry tone buzzing.
Felicia strikes from the rear, her weapon find's the machine's neck and rips apart its metal neck with a shower of sparks and electricity.
Kaad slams the robot's loosened head with his hammer, breaking it off. The guardian shutters, then collapses with a heavy crash.
The room goes quiet, and Jean leans against the wall, sliding down to the ground in a cold sweat. It's the first time you notice Khonnir had stopped screaming sometime during the fight.
"Good...good job you two," Relas says quietly. He gives Jean a worried look and then turns his eyes to where Khonnir is still contained within his strange prison. "I don't know that I can be much help with trying to get him out of that thing, but let me know if you think there's something that I can do for him...or for Jean. And I...I think Palo may need a few minutes too," he adds sadly. Acutely aware of his summoner's mental and emotional distress, Relas softly pads over to where she sits slumped against the bed and carefully sits down next to her. He says nothing, simply allowing his presence and proximity to be a comfort to her.
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"If BoB is not needed, shutting down for internal repair. Strength and reflexes both damaged."
The large androids head slumps again as the tip of his blade rest on the groun held firmly still. His nanites surge and craw around his body repairing the tears in his flesh and working to repair his internal systems.
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Physically and emotionally drained, Palomia inspects the pod. Khonnir lays motionless inside, with some bloodstains dotting his clothes. The pod opens with a simple latch, but the glass door is thick and heavy.