"The rats were said to be in conflict with the Smilers, while the Hawks mentioned no presence in the area. As such...I concur."
Two of the rats shot crossbows at the humans. One hits.
One of the Humans takes a shot at one of the Rats. Blowing the brains of one of the rats clear out of its head, killing it instantly.
Thawm starts to summon creatures, and Basil moves closer to get a big blast at the humans. After collecting energy into herself against humans. She steps forward and blasts.
All of her blasts hit, one of which gets a sensitive spot .
Basil's shot kills 3 of them outright. With one holding on by a thread of life.
The rats look to you in awe. They do not look agressive to you, if anything they are thankful. Though one of the smilers still stands, if barely.
Round 1
R1, R4
Basil, Thawm, Gauntlet <--
R2, S3 (-18)
Having re-summoned Gauntlet for the morning walk, Keldor hesitates to get directly involved so easily on no evidence, using his ability to detect evil first before just jumping in...
Gauntlet detects the smilers as evil, the rats don't seem to light up with evil.
With a final strum of the crossbow the last Ratfolk attacks the remaining smiler. But misses.
The last remaining smiler grunts, turns his gun toward Basil.
He then runs for it. The remaining Ratfolk try to hit him as he runs, missing.
Round 2
Basil, Thawm, Gauntlet <--
R2, S3 (-18), R1, R4
Basil re-aims her gun, then fires one shot at the running smiler.
Thawm finishes her spell and a Lantern Archon appears. As Basil takes aim, it follows after the retreating human and tries to blast him with a ray of light.
As Basil's hot and Thawm's summon takes down the last Smiler. They drop to the ground.
The Ratfolk call out "Spare us! Don't kills us!" There are 3 dead Ratfolk bodies. One of which you saw killed in front of you. They cower down a bit "What gang are you with? Spare us!"
Basil holsters her weapon, then turns to the Ratfolk:"There is no need to fear. We wish safe passage to our current destination, and at an later time, an audience with Redtooth. Forgive me for presuming, but I believe you are with her Raiders? We are independent agents, but our Agendas...", she lets her gaze fall on the dead Smilers, waving a hand to indicate them:"...overlap, in certain aspects. I believe cooperation would be mutually beneficial."
"And any guns or ammo those fools just dropped. They won't be needing it, but Basil might."
Thamw proceeds to use Mage Hand to pick up and present different guns and cartridges to Basil for approval.
4x Masterwork Buckler
4x Masterwork Leather Armor
4x Daggers
37x Bullets
4x doses of Soothe
4x Pistols
The ratfolk bow down, "Of course! If you are the same group who took out Birdfood, then Redtooth wanted to speak to you! Yes yes! This is great fortune. Come meet with her in her den whenever you are willing. We believe she has some things to discuss with you, new scrap. Thank you, thank you." They start to back away, in an attempt to run.
Not wanting to scare the rattlings more than needed, Keldor waits to speak until they leave.
"Perfect evidence that evil is not the only thing that rules here. Might sight proves that. I wonder what god they worship?"
As the ratfolks move away the group continues their trek north. They pass more citizens in small hovels and leantos.
As they approach the chaple through this long ravine. At the end is a small widening of the junk. As you approach there is a constant sound of metal agains metal, you can see them coming from a large wall, with hundreds of gears grinding against eachother. A bit of a dizzying sight everything moving at different speeds and sizes.
Near the bottom center are 2 non moving gears. These seem to be where the door would be in a normal wall.
You can see a small switch near the stopped gears.
There does not seem to be anyone here, and the noise is rather loud from the wall. It does look like there is an opening over this wall.
"Hello?" Thawm says, looking around as she approaches.
At a loss to the majestic machine in front of him, Keldor waves at the nearest people and tries to get their help/attention.
"Could you tell us where the entrance to the 'Chapel' is?"
"I would assume here.", Basil states as she points out and presses a small switch hidden near the stopped gears.
As Basil clicks the button the gears rotate and reveal an opening. Through the wall of gears there are 3 stone steps that lead to another large gear door. This resembles a door much more clearly.
The noise of the gear wall is still pretty loud, but it looks like an entrance to the main building that moves into the scrapwall itself.
"Think we should lead with the holy symbol?" Thawm says after the gears part.
Hearing Thawm's comment and nodding, Keldor suddenly agrees.
"Hrrrrmmm. Good point."
With that, Keldor dismisses Gauntlet and resumes his normal appearance before entering the 'chapel.'
"Always better to be respectful of other gods, especially when they appear to be possible allies. Bringing an otherworldly entity inside with me could be considered...awkward for religious diplomacy."
Preparing yourself, the group enters the chapel. It opens up to a gear shaped room that contains 4 quite artifully carved statues of Brigh built from junk and rubble. Each one with the goddess creating a different clockwork creature. A clockwork wyvern, giant spider, boar, and lion.
A moment of quiet when one of the southern statues of Brigh steps out, seemingly a golem of some kind. It steps forward, arms lowered. Gears spinning inside it. It steps the center of the room, but just stands there. Seemingly waiting for you to respond.
Oh hells, I bet these things are guardians of this tower. Better play nice...
Thawm clears her throat. "Hello, ms statue-of-Brigh. Please excuse us for showing up so suddenly, I believe Dinvaya sent a clockwork bird to call upon us? We also come bearing Joram's own holy symbol to prove we mean well." Thawm says, presenting the holy symbol to the animated statue.
Stepping closer to the creature unarmed, Keldor looks appreciatively at the intricate clockwork design.
"Beautiful work! What is it? Even Gauntlet is not even so intricate looking. Is it powered by an inevitable or elemental? I've seen a lot of gnomish clockworks of course..."
He seems genuinely in awe of the clockwork creation...assuming that is what it is.
Keldor looks over the gears, it does not seem to house anything that would let it run on a power source. It seems that it is wound up, then can move on that wound energy.
Shortly after Keldor looks into the creature a beautiful blond half-elf walks out of one of the gear spoke doors. She is wearing goggles on her cropped blonde hair. She is cleaning off grease from her hands with a rag. "I assume by the lack of battle sounds, you have been invited in. Ah yes the new comers."
She squints her eyes a bit "Wait... Did you say Joram?" She stops moving 25 feet away. Looking down at you slightly. "How is he doing? I assume he looks old now."
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Staring at the pretty blonde half-elf in grease and goggles, Keldor's mouth hangs open for a minute, then he talks...badly.
"I'm...we...from Torch? Yes. Torch. Send...SENT to investigate. Hellion! That...whatever it is. Thing. Yes? Yes. We...are here now."
He then smiles and attempts a dashing look that never makes it out of the ridiculous stage.
Thawm chuckles knowingly in spite of her propensity to study by herself. "What my friend Keldor meant to say was: 'enchanted and yes, Joram is getting on in years.'
Also, I think you just broke our resident clockwork tinkerer, do you think that you can fix him if you take a closer look?"
Looking aghast at Thawm, Keldor waves her off.
"I am certainly NOT broken...like she says..."
Stopping suddenly and bit red-faced, Keldor pulls himself together finally.
"I am...Keldor of the Whisthawk family. My family has served Kyonin for generations. I am personally both a summoner of the Inevitable Eidolon 'Gauntlet' and now also a Paladin of a Erastil. If you need my family's credentials, I have them somewhere in my pack. I was merely admiring your clockwork golem's amazing energy source before you arrived. I have seen such potential energy clockworks in the past, but not on such a scale! It is an honor to meet you Lady...?"
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Basil leans to Thawm, then asks without whispering: "Do you think he is interested in her biological waste, as well?"
Stepping closer to the blonde half-elf, Basil stares at her as if trying to memorize any detail about her body she can: "He did not have such a reaction to Sevroth or Uri. I wonder what triggers it. Would you mind undressing so I can check you for anomalies? I am medically qualified to do so."
Keldor just slaps himself in his face and stands there, covering his eyes.
"This is just...wrong. Just wrong."
She chuckles to herself, "Oh Brigh, you are an interesting bunch. Your kind have always fascinated me. I am intensly curious how you work, but it seems you have a soul in there, so taking you apart would be more necromancy than I am comfortable with. My working theory is the ancient tech uses extremely tiny gears. You are just a very complicated version of my friend here." She looks over Basil, ignoring some of the ridiculous words said.
"Well friends of Jorum are friends of mine. Did he send you to investigate Hellion, or what? Please be specific. I have my own concerns about Hellion. I wouldn't mind trading notes, before we contaminate each others ideas with the others."
She gestures to a work bench that is clear enough to sit down on.
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"He definitely is interested in her waste." Thawm whispers back at Basil with a chuckle.
Thawm smiles and says "thank you" as she makes her way to the bench to sit down.
"Well, first of all, we've noticed that Hellion can grant spells to his followers. That's quite concerning in and of itself, and anyone capable of that needs to be investigated. Whats more, Hellion's followers don't seem to care about the welfare of others, and we can't have an evil godling ripping apart half the realm-"
It's where I keep my stuff, after all...
"-or whatever it intends to do. It's probably in everyone's best interest to put a stop to it. In short, we're pretty sure that Hellion might cause a lot of trouble, and we're definitely here to investigate."
She nods "Yes... Hellion worries me. His priests' ability to wield divine magic is unnerving. A greater force could be at work. And greater forces that mix with divine magic are rarely a good thing. I would be careful if I was you, if there is indeed a growing god here in scrapwall and ruling the Lords of Rust, its probably best not to speak out loud about it."
She finishes wiping her greasy hands, deeming it good enough. "I have seen many gangs rise and fall here in scrapwall, but the Lords of Rust are the first I have been honestly concerned about. Their faith in this faceless entity Hellion smells of Blasphemy, or worse. They seem to wield powers that concern me. I may not look it, because of my partial elven blood, but I have grown old, and my days of dealing with this issue are behind me. If you are here to deal with, or at least learn about Hellion and the Lords, I am here to help. You are welcome to stay here, in this temple. People have treated me well, I think they are partially afraid of me. And if you are friends with Joram, that means you are very likely not with the Technic League. Which is a good thing" she taps her hammer and grins.
"So.. what is your plan?"
Thawm frowns at 'technic league'.
"Yes. Definitely not technic league."
Then she shrugs. "We were thinking of making friends first and picking fights after."
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Keldor, now more composed, approaches and agrees with Thawm.
"The Technic League is not an organization we admire. We had a run-in with their kind a day or so outside the town, and they seem very...self-centered and...evil. Just evil. Erastil has shown me that. Regardless of their spoken motives, they seem an untrustworthy bunch by any measure."
Keldor smiles then.
"You don't look a day over 100 however."
Then he looks down at the ground a bit dejected suddenly, his face crestfallen.
"We were hoping you would know more about Hellion. We are at much of a loss as to who or what it truly is. I suspect it is not a full god yet however. There are ancient and powerful entities that can offer divine powers, but they are NOT gods. Most of them SERVE gods however. Could this be one? A powerful servant of some evil entity 'hiding' behind and offering the power to Hellion and his minions to further their own agenda? And if so...what did the power-device have to do with it? We discovered them siphoning power from the 'Torch' over a distance using a technological device of unique nature that also caused a mental disruption and headaches to almost the entire town of Torch while it was active. I'm only just now starting to comprehend the level of the Torch's true power potential because of it. The servant of Hellion we captured was finally helpful and led us here, but she knew little but how much anger she had against people like us and the power Hellion offered to assuage it."
At hearing there where Technic League outside the city "Hmm, wonder what they are up to. Never a good thing"
"Thank you. I appreciate the flattery, but its not needed." She adjusts the goggles on her head. Maybe a bit flustered.
"Whatever this Hellion entity is, I doubt it's a good thing. Be it a growing demigod, or something worse. Power from Torch huh? I knew they where siphoning power from somewhere, didn't realize it was torch. They where gathering it into a receiving array at the far side of the city. Might be smart to check that location out at some point. At least before you deal with the Lords directly.. You might discover what they are up to. What are they using that power for, does not bode well." Clutching her holy symbol, a mechanical head on her belt.
"Hmm the servant you speak of, is this the Android Priestess? Very impressive! Her replacements are not much better, but still impressive"
"Take my advice with whatever grain of salt you wish.. But you might need to get the attention of the Lords of Rust. To do that, you will need to accrue some 'Scrap Worth', a strange value system here in the city. Basically you have to prove yourself. Rumors abound here. That is how I heard of your exploits. Once you gather enough scrapworth the Lords will likely invite you to take part in a battle in the Scrapmaster's Arena. This will be the easiest way to get close to the lords and a chance to attack one of their leaders, a troll Helskarg. Below the arena is some sort of device that the Lords supposedly have. Maybe this device is what they wish to power."
Thawm nods knowingly. "Make friends until a fight picks us, then.
I like that plan.
By the way, how approachable is the erstwhile power receiver?"
"Yes, Make yourself known. Make friends if you can, among the scum here. As for the Power Receiver, there is a path. Just north of the Redtooth territory. This path is hidden in the scrap. Along the way is the home of the Manticore. Not sure if you have seen it flying about, but there is a mutant Manticore that lives among the scrap here. Past the nest you enter the Lord of Rust's domain. Though mostly just the people live there. You might be able to slip by. Along that south wall of the city is the Array."
She thinks for a second "You know. Killing that Manticore would bring you some scrapworth. Without a doubt, if you are looking for methods of making yourself known."
Thawm nods approvingly and looks to the others for input.
Keldor ponders out loud.
"Is the Manticore evil? I thought such 'creatures' were at least semi-intelligent. If it is a mutation as you say, then it could easily be non-violent to those of similar nature. I would speculate making friends with it might gain us more 'scrapworth' than just killing it could. But that is only a wild guess in this strange city."
Then he shrugs.
"Either way we need to check out that array. Since that direction could get us the attention we need, then I say we try it first. It can't hurt to kill two dragons with one arrow."
A bit of a scoff "yes, that Manticore is as evil as Lamashtu. It kills and takes things. Also its mutation from the radiation that seems to be everywhere around here seems to have rattled its mind. It might have a bit of intelligence, but I would say its regular killing of innocents counts as evil. I have healed many wounds of people who have just escaped its clutches."
"Yes, gaining friends, and doing things for them will likely help you out. Though not sure who you would join up with. There are not many in power around here. Smilers to the north, and they are not someone a Paladin of any kind would want to deal with. I guess the Redtooth gang might be more your speed. I already know you helped out the Hawks. You could have done worse, for sure."
"I was mid project. I am going back to it. But you re welcome here. I will make the back room. " she points to one of the spokes off the side. "I will set it up with 3 beds for everyone. I will also provide healing free of charge while you are dealing with this threat. At least within my power. Let me know if I should request anything specific from Brigh to help you along. Stay strong, and remember Scrapwall is not for the weak of heart"
Keldor nods at the woman's words.
"We seem to be meeting more and more 'mutations.' This would not be our first. I would not mind getting a bit more information on the...radiation I think its called?...that causes this phenomenon. I've heard its deadly to most living things? I can only assume you have had some experience with such things? Does magic, arcane or divine help against it?"
She turns as she is leaving "Yes, Readiation. Seems to be semi unique to the old machines you will find here. There are pockets here and there of it. More likely inside old ruins than outside. Brigh has given me access to a method to help defend against that type of disease. I don't have any prepared now, but I can prepare it in the morning. I am not sure if you would encounter it, but it would be good to be defended by it"
She taps her hammer "If there is anything you want me to ask Brigh for, spells or protections. Please let me know. I will back here. I can work and talk at the same time."
She walks out, goes into a side room. She leaves the door open and you start to hear metal against metal clanging.
Re-summoning Gauntlet, Keldor starts pacing the room, glancing at the clockwork golem every once in a while.
"I wonder if I could make a clockwork horse...I think I could use a nice horse that doesn't disappear in a few hours...just wind it up and go!"