Tig-0 responds to percy:
Message: Chain of command inverted. Unable to comply.
although it responds to Elindriel in a more verbose manner: These are an illumination device (), several types of grenades and a force field.
With those instructions, Percy clearly identifies the items as a flash grenade, a timeworn flashlight, a timeworn brown force field, and two zero grenades.
Tig-0 can again be swayed to move down the shortcut, which ends in a double sky metal door. An access panel decorates the side wall.
Force fields are powered by a surprisingly light pair of slender, silvery bracelets. When activated as a standard action, dozens of tiny biofeedback needles pierce the wearer's arms to interface with the nervous system; this process is somewhat painful and the wearer must succeed at a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid being dazed for 1 round as the force field is activated. Once active, the device generates an invisible and intangible field of force around the target. The force field blocks solids and liquids, but not gases or light (including laser beams). The user of a force field can still breathe, but she cannot eat or drink.
Activating a force field is a standard action that consumes 1 charge, after which point the field consumes 1 additional charge every minute it remains active. While a force field is active, the user gains a number of temporary hit points that varies depending on the force field's power. All damage dealt to the wearer of a force field is subtracted from the temporary hit points it grants first. As long as the force field is active, the wearer is immune to critical hits (but not precision-based damage, such as sneak attacks). A force field has fast healing that replenishes its temporary hit points at a fixed rate each round, but if the force field's temporary hit points are ever reduced to 0, the force field shuts down and cannot be reactivated for 24 hours. Force fields are automatically reduced to 0 hp by disintegration effects. A force field can be deactivated as a free action.
The charge capacity, amount of temporary hit points granted, and rate of fast healing these temporary hit points have varies according to the force field's color code, as detailed below.
Color Capacity Temp HP Fast Healing
Brown 10 5 1
When activated, a flashlight creates a beam of normal light in a 60-foot cone. It also increases the light level in the area beyond this initial cone by one step, out to a 120-foot cone. It does not increase the light level in normal light or bright light. A flashlight has no effect in areas of magical darkness.
A grenade is a small, cylindrical device that is designed to be thrown as a splash weapon or fired from a grenade launcher. Before being thrown by hand, the grenade must be primed with a quick twist of a dial at one end and then armed with a click of a button at the center of that dial. Priming and arming a grenade is a free action; a grenade launcher primes and arms all grenades it fires. The grenade detonates at the beginning of the wielder's next turn, hopefully in the area targeted. When a grenade detonates, it damages all targets within a 20-foot-radius spread. A successful DC 15 Reflex save halves any damage dealt by a grenade.
The type of damage dealt by grenades varies widely and depends upon the nature of the specific grenade. The different types of grenades and the damage types they deal (along with any additional effects their damage deals) are listed below.
Flash Grenade: Blinds creatures for 1d4 rounds (DC 15 Fortitude save negates).
Zero Grenade: Deals 5d6 points of cold damage.
The panel is actually quite straightforward to command, offering only a single button.
The door slide aside, opening to a large room.
The southern edge of this rectangular room is damaged, offering an obscured view of vertical red lights that suggest a massive, bottomless, circular chamber beyond. A wire mesh catwalk encircles most of the room, accessible by three ladders and a staircase. Discarded scrap sits in tall piles around the room, casting long shadows to the west, and two long tables stand in the center of the floor with various components spilled across their surfaces. The piles part to the east around a circular, fifteen-foot-wide pit. A large button stands by the pit’s edge. At the eastern extreme of the catwalk, a wide, metallic red slab serves as a door.
The 15-foot-wide, 20-foot-deep pit emits a red glow. Inside the room, there are four fiery humanoids.
Three of them stand over the tables in the room’s center, while the fourth hacks at a dead robot with a chainsaw in one of the alcoves on the catwalk above. The three seem to be in some sort of heated argument
The fourth suddenly causes a terrible screeching sound as it uses its chainsaw of a defunct robot, filling the room with a ear-deafening noise. This is just as well, though, since the sisters’ conversation below turns into full-blown fisticuffs over a technological bauble, until the victor seizes it and scolds her sisters.
Tig-0 calmly orders the party:
Observation: Malfunctioning units.
Directive: recycle defective units.
New sub-designation: Shut down malfunctioning units.
Confirm new designation?
Hagnar replies, "Confirmed. Malfunctioning units will be shut down or made to cease functioning. Sub-designation requires one of those grenades to be applied to the three central 'units'..." He points to the fire creatures in the center.
Hagnar will then turn his attention to the humanoids and observe them in an attempt to identify them and discern any weaknesses.
These creatures are Azers, outsiders from the plane of fire, and hard-working inhabitants of the city of brass. As creatures of fire, they are vulnerable to cold.
"These are Azers, outsiders from the plane of fire. They are vulnerable to cold, which is why I recommended using a zero grenade on them if we must..." Hagnar replies to Percy.
"Con-firmed," Lirianne says with a grin. Shooting first is the quickest way to shoot last, after all.
As Ceobryrn lobs the zero grenade, she moves forward, shouting "Freeze!" and empties both pistols at any available targets.
Ceobryrn lobs the grenade in, and the 'ting-ting-ting' sound it makes as it crosses the floor causes the Azers to look up, but way too late. The tremendous freezing cold immediately wipes out the three of them.
The last Azer, seeing himself overwhelmed, immediately surrenders.
Don't hurt me! the Azer says, speaking in common this time. We are working for Jethzerai. Don't hurt me, I don't want to die like that!
Jethzerai, a salamander. Like us, he is an inhabitant of the plane of fire, trapped here ages ago when Karamoss' schemes malfunctioned and destroyed the portals to the plane of fire that existed here.
Many of us have been trapped here, but Jethzerai knows a way out! He can reactivate the portals, and bring us home. We don't know his exact plans, but we know that if the portals opens we have to be quick! It leads to Izn-Al-Ign, a particularly powerful volcano on our home. Once the portal is open, the machines opening it will probably be destroyed quickly.
Opening a rift that close to a planar super volcano would effectively bring an interplanar apocalyptic nightmare right on the doorstep of Absalom.
"Perhaps we can help you find another way home - it is not our intent to trap you here in our world, but you must understand that we can not allow our world to be destroyed by this plan..." Hagnar says to the remaining Azer.
Look, I just want to get home from here. Between you and me, my trust in Jethzerai is limited, so if you can find another way... the Azer speaks, slightly fearful of the party. You'll find Jethzerai beyond the bridge leading to the forge core. Thread carefully, Jethzerai has installed a trap in the room beyond.
This 120-foot-long skymetal bridge slopes gently downward, spanning a large void. The bridge has been haphazardly repaired and creaks under any weight, although it does seem to be sturdy. Dozens of similar bridges are visible above and below, stretching from the edge of the Forge core at various heights. The flickering flames traverse some of these bridges, illuminating parts of the dark, red-walled cylinder that stretches for hundreds of feet above and below.
The Forge core is a massive cylindrical structure suspended within an immense shaft.The first room in the core is the one the Azers warned about being trapped: it is a small octagonal room behind a double door.
There is indeed a trap here. Some kind of spraying device is mounted in the ceiling of this room, and will likely activate as soon as somebody steps inside.
Hagnar also detects the trap, and says, "Let me see if I can do something about that..." He takes a set of tools out of a belt pouch and begins a process of disabling the trap.
The triggering mechanism was giving him a particularly hard time, but an inspiration hit the Investigator. While he wasn't able to disarm the trap, at least he prevented it from going off!
Hagar almost sets of the trap, but fortunately manages to avoid triggering it at the last moment.
Hagnar eventually manages to dismantle the trap and open the next set of double doors.
A door from the north is the only ground-level entrance to this fifty-foot-tall chamber. The floor slopes slightly downward to the south, scored by channels that run from a wide, shallow pit to six slate-gray rings that hang like portholes along the room’s curved northern wall. From the center of the pit rises a short skymetal dais supporting a gigantic, freestanding elliptical ring. The six rings on the wall bristle with haphazard augmentations—wires, parts harvested from robots, and sundry other components. To the west, a console covered in buttons, switches, and flashing lights hums with power on a small platform, and two smaller panels glow on the wall behind it.
Analysis... Tig-0 says as he enters the room. These rings are small portals. Power levels are outside of operational boundaries. Power level: irresponsible. Activation at current state would cause overload.
Portal four is damaged beyond repair.
[b]New directive: return portals to regular power level. Confirm new designation. Tig-0 then moves to interact with the control console.
The wires and other components wrapped around the portal rings act as conductors, augmenting the interplanar connection.
Protective power dampeners have been removed from the portals. A successful check lets a character find replacement parts among the scrap here and jury-rig them to dampen the portal’s power.
Jethzerai has scrawled runes around the circumference of each small portal, causing the machines to summon more intense flames than normal.
Large power cells have been snugly integrated into each portal’s design and locked in place with magical adhesives of Jethzerai’s design.
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Know (Eng)
"Fascinating, The wires and other components wrapped around the portal rings act as conductors, augmenting the interplanar connection." Percy remarks.
Know (Eng)
"Protective power dampeners have been removed from the portals. Curious"
Know (Pla)
"And it seems Jethzerai, I presume it was him, has scrawled runes around the circumference of each small portal, causing the machines to summon more intense flames than normal."
UMD
"Uncanny,large power cells have been snugly integrated into each portal’s design and locked in place with magical adhesives"
Boffins, get those conductors out whilst I look about for some spare parts and dela with these runes"
Boffins' little dragon hands gets stuck in with some fine tools.
Disable
Percy looks for the parts...
Know (Eng)
Then he sorts the runes...
Know (Pla)
Hagnar inspects the items and helps Percy, his companion in geekness!!
Tig-0 orders Ceobryrn: Designation: return portals to regular power level. Confirm new designation.
Percy has some trouble with the engineering side of the things, but the runes are right up his alley, and he manages to rearrange them, lowering the power level of a portal somewhat.
---Round 1---
Percy (18, fail)
Boffins (13, fail)
Aetherys
Lirianne (aid)
Hagnar
Ceobryrn
Elindriel
---Round 2---
Percy ( K(P), 25, success)
Boffins
Aetherys (aid)
Lirianne
Hagnar
Ceobryrn
Elindriel
---Round 3---
Percy
Boffins
Aetherys
Lirianne
Hagnar
Ceobryrn
Elindriel
---
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I think its like this:
In round one there were two fails.
Boffins tried fishing out the batteries - but couldn't get them out.
Disable Device
Percy tried to locate spare parts - but nothing came to hand.
Know:Eng
(Assists may or may not have got them over the line of rolled)
In round two:
Percy got rid of the runes.
The issue of the Batteries and the Spare Parts remains, so either:
Disable Device check or Know (Eng) are required, or assists to those.
Hagnar attempts to remove the batteries after watching the pseudo-dragon.
He holds them in his hand, wondering why they are warm to the touch...then shrugs and pockets them for later study.