Oh on the contrary. Not only do I insist that one of you stay here, I also insist that you travel with one of my clockwork creations. Raven! Come! Dinvaya strides out of the workshop and across the chapel to another room fully expecting you to follow as the messenger raven from before jumps from its perch to settle on Dinvaya's shoulder. Anody stays behind engrossed in whatever he's doing. This new room is a little more than 10 feet by 10 feet but the walls are absolutely covered by gears and springs, and wiring that seem to be attached to a crank. The gears are turning and clanking against each other with well oiled precision with a sound that is brings to mind an incredibly harmonious pendulum. Standing to attention in front of one of the walls is a collection of clockwork creatures and watching over all this is a giant white and gold mask of a woman, the same as the golems in the chapel are wearing.
Dinvaya points with her hammer at one of these creations, a clockwork approxmiation of a hunting dog. Two emerald crystal eyes stare out from the hound’s brass, bronze, and iron-forged body.
Hound! Dinvaya commands and the clockwork dog's head turns to its master. You are to follow these people. Attack what they tell you to attack and stop when they tell you to stop. If they attempt to attack any clockwork or leave Scrapwall you are to stop them. Dinvaya crouches to the hound to open a chest cavity in the construct, and it is truly bizarre to see it hollow. Raven! If these two attempt to leave Scrapwall, or attack any clockwork then you fly to me to report!
Rising back to her feet, which is oddly imposing considering she's not a tall woman, Dinvaya puts her hands on her hips and gives the two of you a look, daring you to disagree with her terms. There. Four in your party instead of three.
"The League are the last I'd associate with -- I've spent most of my life trying to avoid their attention!" squeaks Criek, tail drooping between his legs and shooting a sidelong glare at Anody. I understand the appeal of, well, everything here, but at least I kept my hands to myself!
"And, as Sharae said, if we're to complete a task for you -- which we said we'd like to -- letting one our number lay fallow would severely hinder us! ... but I suppose we have no choice, if we're to prove we are who we say? And, much as I'd love to stay and learn from you, perhaps it would put your mind most at ease if Anody remains in your sight?" the ratfolk shoots another frustrated look at the gnome before turning somewhat dejectedly to leave.
After a few steps towards the door, he stops and turns back, realizing-- "Er, and what was the task we're to do for you, anyways?"
As Dinvaya opens her mouth to respond there is a sudden humming dooooo-veeeeep sound from her vicinity. Dinvaya jerks back from the pistol she is still holding in her hand as it suddenly comes to life and starts to dimly glow.
Bronze and Gear preserve me what is this? the flustered Cleric exclaims as she drops the weapon to the ground
A triuimphant voice floats in from the direction of her workshop Remote Diagnostics!
Dinvaya pinches her brow as she tries to visibly restrain herself.
"Oh dear," Criek anxiously tries to stifle a giggle at the absurdity.
"He's harmless, really! Er, charming, even, once you get to know him? Just, well, likes to, uh, explore. I don't think the Technic League would put up with him long enough for him to ever be their agent, to tell the truth?"
"I'm sure if we wait just a few seconds, he'll even tell us exactly what it is he's diagnosed? In, uh, excrutiating detail?"
Sure enough the Professor walks in to the chapel, beaming, with the new tablet in his hands. When this, ah, tablet, showed not just one but two devices in its range of operation, I just knew that both of them would be operational to some capacity. The cyphers were a bit hard to decrypt and I had to delve quite deeply into the... oh what a nice clockwork doggie that is.. in any case... Anody falters as he sees the others, including the dog with the raven in its chest all staring at him. Oh dear, did I miss something?
Sharae can't help but be discomfited by the repeated instructions to the clockworks about what they are to do if she and her companions were to attempt to leave Scrapwall.
It seems we have some way to go before we have earned the trust of this woman.
Outwardly, she smiles graciously, "You are quite the marvel... two magnificent clockworks to accompany us!!! We shall endeavour to protect them from harm. Now, you said that you had a task for us?"
Whilst she is talking, Sharae arches a single, quizzical eyebrow at the professor...
What have you got there?
...and please, for the love of Desna, do not break it!!!
Dinvaya takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. As she fiddles with the gear amulet on her for a moment the expression on her face is of one trying to commune with the divine for guidance.
She opens them and mutters Invention is sacred to The Whisper in the Bronze and this one is nothing if not inventive. So be it.
She turns on Anody YOU will stay in the chapel as my guest to ensure your friends do not reveal my whereabouts to The Technic League as they move about Scrapwall. THEY will be accompanied by my creations as chaperones for the same reason. I will allow you to tinker with objects in the chapel but you must ask me for permission before doing so. I would suggest quite highly that you will accept these more than generous terms.
She turns to Criek and Sharae As for what I have been trying to say. There is a manticore that has made its home under the tallest pile of scrap in the city. It is... strange and mutated.. by the toxic environment of this place. As well it is ferocious and has made prey out of gangers of all factions. If you kill it and display some trophy of this conquest then you will gain prestige in this place and strike doubt in the underlings of the Lords. That is the task that I would set you.
Anody considers this with an uncharacteristic silence. He notes the helpless expressions on his friends faces and says Oh dear
Then he pulls himself together and tries to be brave. I think perhaps this is good fortune. The violence, and... blood and death and similar that we've been confronted with are not quite what I expected when I came to Numeria. I may be of more use to you two from the back lines as it were. I..
Anody digs out the older computer from his backpack This is a counterpart to Dinvaya's device. Ah, Criek, you should have it. It may come in quite handy. And
Anody points to the pistol that Dinvaya's just dropped and says diffidently and formally Ah, Cleric Lanalei? Apologies for being so rude and thoughtless before but, it turns out that weapon has a fully charged battery and this tablet device was able to interface with it from a range and activate it. It is of course, yours, but it may be more useful for someone who is going out on a dangerous expedition?
Dinvaya seems mollifed by Anody's change in tone So be it, you may borrow this weapon in your quest to slay the manticore. It hunts as it wishes but you may find it in its lair which is, as I said, under the tallest pile of scrap in Scrapwall. It should be easy enough to find. It is east after you leave my valley and deeper in the city.
With these instructions given Dinvaya shuts the chest cavity of the clockwork dog and retreats into her workshop. Leaving the pistol behind.
The clockwork dog turns to stare at Criek and Sharae.
Anody looks at Criek and Sharae Oh dear I think I've made a mess of things haven't I?
Criek smiles at Anody thinly, with a mix of sadness at parting from the gnome, envy that he gets to remain in Dinvaya's workshop, and frustration that the gnome has chilled the party's welcome. "I'm sure you can patch it over while we, um, deal with this m-mutant m-manticore?"
Looking down at the tablet Anody has handed him, he asks, "We used this tablet to track the power relay in Torch, and you used that one you have there to...remotely diagnose? this weapon -- will you be able to track us through the tablets?"
Once farewells are wrapped up, Criek motions to the clockwork hound, hoping to get it to follow him as they depart. "...here, boy?"
They are able to detect each other but I will have to work on it some more with uhh.. Anody glances at the workshop The good cleric's permission of course.
The clockwork dog cocks its head at Criek and then pads over. It seems like Dinvaya went through the trouble of implanting some 'dog like' behaviors into the clockwork creature, as well as soft material on its paws to prevent the metal from clanking!
Ahh.. constructs Anody says looking at the dog. Unfortunately cure spells won't work on it but I believe there are other magics that can help keep it running. Make Whole and the like Anody says reluctant to let Criek and Sharae go without advice. The pistol has a glowing counter on the side that tracks how many 'charges' are left. If you can find charged batteries, they look like silverdisk but they're glowing... then Criek you should be able to 'reload' the weapon as it were easily enough. Ah well.. fare well then
Sharae picks up the pistol, it is a sorry looking thing... tarnished by time and, at some point, heavy use. Turning it over and over in her hands, the desnan feels the strangest of affinities with it - somehow the grip feels natural within her palm and the gun itself, effortlessly balanced... despite herself, Sharae smiles.
Squeezing the trigger, ever so lightly to 'wake it' from the dormant state, Sharae looks at where Lanlei suggests the counter might be, "Ahhhh, yes... I see"
Speaking aside to the professor, "You will be as much help here as were you with us 'in the field' as it were... don't worry, we won't be gone too long - and, in the meantime, it might be useful if you could learn a little more about our sponsor" ...and then, more generally, "Come along then Criek... let us see what Desna has woven into our journey this fine day".
Bidding their friend farewell Criek and Sharae leave the holiness of The Clockwork Chapel behind, accompanied by their new clockwork guardian, and make their way out Dinvaya's little valley. It is getting towards late afternoon and early evening now and as they move back away from the chapel the harshness of the rest of Scrapwall once again makes itself apparent to the two outsiders.
LEAVE YOUR OLD PATHETIC LIVES BEHIND! PROVE YOURSELVES STRONG AND EARN TRIUMPHS IN THE SERVICE OF HELLION! THE FALL OF THE WEAK IS PREORDAINED! THE AGE OF HELLION IS HERE
The loudspeaker blares out as the group makes its way to the tallest pile of junk that scrapwall has to offer.
Unfortunately Scrapwall is in places a maze of junk piles and mounds of scrap that leads the party into one dead end after another and it takes them longer than it might have for them to get close to where Dinvaya said the manticore's lair is.
It is one such dead end that the three of you hear a terrible squeaking and chittering. Emerging from a particularly filthy jumble of dripping sludge and rusted junk is a tangle of diseased looking rats! They look like they're... stuck together but as tangled as they are they move straight towards the group with an unerring and unsettling speed!
A particularly loud burst of chittering from the bizzare conjoined rate creature leads to what looks like an explosion of rats from all directions! You are surrounded by aggressive rats of all kinds in this sad and filthy back alley of Scrapwall!
By the barest of margins the party is able to act before the swarms of rats is able to!
The clockwork dog, which has been following the two of you with the patience of a construct stands stock still as the furry bodies of the rats circles the group and draws closer...
Appalled at the monstrosity that is the tangled pile of rodent life, Sharae quickly has the pistol in hand... and, breathing lightly, she squeezes the trigger.
Trying to keep his head as the rat king's chittering buzzes in his head, Criek attempts to buy some room by bombing the swarm --
-- and pointing to the clockwork hound, then at the rat king, urging "Dog! A-Attack!" in hopes of keeping the monstrosity from reaching them too quickly.
Sharae's new weapon fires a blast of freezing cold particles at the monstrosity they're facing. It deals a glancing blow and the chittering from the thing increases in volume.
Criek's well aimed bomb does so much damage to the advancing swarm that even the commands of The Rat King are unable to keep them united. Rat bodies fly everywhere and the remaining survivors scamper back into the hunk piles from which they'd just emerged.
The clockwork hound leaps into action at Criek's command and runs to the merged rat creature.
Its iron and bronze jaws close with a snap on one of the filthy bodies dealing some damage
The Rat King retaliates at the Clockwork dog and it suffers many bites from the conjoined abberation as the creature rotates to allow as many of the rat bodies it is made of to sink its teeth in Dinvaya's creation.
Three bites sink in through the dog's armor
And they actually manage to impart some nicks and scratches on the shiny carparace of the artifical creation.
The dire rats for their part are driven by the King's commands to assault Criek and his astounding bombs. They both move onto the alchemist.
But while the first rat's pounce comes close, neither it or the flanking rat are able to get through Criek's defenses.
Swarm Dead in one shot!
Rat King 11 damage
Dire Rat 1 0
Dire Rat 2 0
Clockwork Hound 2
Criek attempts to spin free of the rats flanking him, then smashes a bomb down on the ground where he just hit, to catch them both in the blast!
Criek spins away from the snapping jaws of the Dire Rats and in the chaos his bomb almost slips out of his grasp! It lands where he wants it to though and both of his attackers are engulfed in the resulting explosion.
The first rat, again, seems to be more spry and active than the second one, but again it doesn't help it any. Both of them fall and let out death squeals before going still.
Swarm Dead in one shot!
Rat King 11 damage
Dire Rat 1 Double Kill!
Dire Rat 2 Double Kill!
Clockwork Hound 2
Keeping her distance, Sharae fires another blast of absolute zero towards the mass of rats...
Another blast from Sharae nicks the rat creature
Three more bites from the mergerd rat thing get past the hound's defenses.
And the hound recieves another scratch.
The hound retaliates.
And one of the rats in the mass goes limp.
Momentarily fearful that the clockwork is getting excessively damaged, and that there will be awkward questions to answer later, Sharae drops her pistol and rushes at the mass of rats with her starknife drawn...
Criek hurls a bomb at the rat king, trying to chill it enough to slow down its flurry of snapping teeth, then moves forward, drawing his sword in hopes of offering a flank.
Criek's bomb goes awry.
Fortunately it goes long and the only entity to be splashed by damage is the rat king itself
Even though it is splashed heavily by the bomb the Rat King turns on the new enemies hemming it in eager to sink it's teeth into flesh rather than the metal of the hound.
They all hit with Sharae getting the worst of it.
The hound bites, but misses its mark for the first time.
Swarm Dead in one shot!
Rat King 36 damage
Dire Rat 1 Double Kill!
Dire Rat 2 Double Kill!
Clockwork Hound 4
Sharae 12
Criek 5
Criek slashes at the squirming mass, attempting to hinder it by entrapping it in the surrounding junk -
Reeling from the pain of the bites, and mentally starting to stress about the diseases that vermin carry, Sharae slashes twice with her starknife... blood arcing where her holy blades cut through flesh.
Assailed from all sides the multiple mouths of the creature start to shriek in pain as Criek's sword and then Sharae's knife stab and slash deeply into the mass. A final deep swipe by the starknife causes the cluster to give a jerk and collapse into itself in death convulsions.
Sharae and Criek hear excited murmuring and look up to see some local scavengers pointing at you, the shiny bronze dog, and the many many dead rats including the 3 foot long hideous monster that was the Rat King. They scatter when they see you notice them.
The Bronze hound keep biting at the dead rat creature.
Sharae, only now catching her breath, softly commands the clockwork to stop its attack upon the slain creature, "Cease... let it be..."
Retrieving her gun from where it lies, the beginnings of a frost upon the ground where the muzzle impaled itself into the soil, Sharae asks after Criek, "You are not too badly injured? I can call upon Desna's healings to soothe your wounds. In any case, we should not linger... we are being watched".
Criek doesn't respond to Sharae's query at first, standing still for a moment before shaking himself and looking up at her.
"Hmm? Oh, a graze, I think, nothing serious? More shaken, really - could barely land a shot. I don't know that my kind have any true relationship to common rodents, but we at least have some empathy. Whatever...this...was doing to them, I think I could hear some echoes of it."
He turns his attention to the clockwork hound, trying to assess its condition. "how did our chaperone fare?"
The Clockwork Hound stops biting at the dead rat king at Sharae's command. Criek examines it and finds a few scratched bite marks here and there on the surface of the construct but nothing serious at all. It seems like it might be somewhat resistant to physical damage.
Criek gives the hound a pat (*thunk thunk*), pleased to see it also has not suffered much damage from the combat.
"I agree, we should move on quickly before attracting too much more attention? Between Dinvaya's golem and this thing, I should want to avoid any further battles before we find the manticore, lest I have nothing left to through at it!"
The ratfolk flips the hood of his cloak back up and leads the way out of the dead end, once more trying to navigate towards their quarry's lair.
You three make your way out of the dead end and get your bearings back. You find and enter the long narrow passageway at the base of the largest mountain of junk in Scrapwall that Dinvaya told you leads to the lair of the beast. It's getting to be evening time by the time you get close to the lair itself.
As you make your way past the landmarks that indicate you're getting closer and closer to the manticore's home you see a shadow pass over you. You look up to see the manticore zip past. It doesn't notice you but you can see coming down for a landing as it disappears around a corner. You're very close to your prey's lair and it has just come home! You can hear it roaring.
Even as the manticore, somewhere out of sight, roars its territorial warnings Sharae has her pistol in her hands... her fingers, ringed in fine bands of white gold and coloured fabrics, growing accustomed to the shape in her hands.
"Maybe I should take a look at what we're dealing with before we charge in?" offers Criek, pulling a couple of vials from his bandolier. "Wait here a moment?"
Cocooned in layers of magical protection, he scurries down the remainder of the passageway to peek around the corner and take a read on the battlefield.
Criek turns the corner and down a small passage of scrap (about 20 feet long, 10 feet wide) he sees the opening of an oval cave, it seems the size of a large dining hall and glowing green with toxic sludge.
The cave floor is a foul tangle of bones, grisly remains, the toxic waste that gives it its unearthly green glean, and rubble. There are razor sharp mounds of barbed wire and rusty chains strewn about as well. It seems like the place would be very difficult to move around in without hurting yourself on the sharp edges that are in plentiful supply.
The manticore is like nothing you've ever seen or read about. It has the the vaguley human head, the lion body, the dragon wings, and the spky tail that you know about Criek, but this one seems to have been mutated and deformed by something. Its fangs glow green, as do its eyes, and the fur on its body seems to be falling off in patches. If it's like other manticores though you do know that it can hover in the air and launch spikes from its tail along with biting like a lion.
This one seems to be roaring and angry about something. It is snuffling about and completely fails to notice Criek. Criek on the other hand does notice what the manticore seems to be searching for. A terrified small cat is crouched over a bone in a discarded piece of tubing. It is trapped between the manticore and the exit of the cave and the manticore's sniffs are bringing it closer and closer to the tube the cat is hiding in!
a glowing manticore!? Criek wonders what manner of magic or disease may have caused the manticore's condition -- and whether it might be contagious.
Before Sharae has time to say anything, Criek is gone... phasing into nothingness as he gulps back one of his vials. The Desnan looks to the clockwork hound and then, more to herself rather than her mechanical companion, she murmurs, "He'll be fine... I'm sure of it"
Hearing Criek's whispers, and inwardly breathing a sigh of relief, Sharae turns the corner... she sees the manticore, vile thing that it is, and she sees what must be its prey. She doesn't hesitate, and throwing caution to the wind, she brings her pistol level...
The manticore roars with fury as Sharae's blast of freezing cold particles hits it flush on the side of its monstrous head. Its old prey is forgotten as it turns to face the new, far more dangerous intruders.
Manticore 8
Smiling inwardly as the manticore shifts its attention towards her - and away from the defenceless animal that it had been hunting, Sharae whistles at it, "Over here... pick on something your own size!!!"
Sharae, Zero Pistol vs Manticore: for
Sharae's second shot also hits the manticore, it seems like the beast shrugs this one off far more easily though.
Manticore 11
Sizing up the situation, Criek hisses back to Sharae, "We've got to pin it down in its cave -- keep it from getting to open air!" And from getting to that...cat? Let's get this over with, for the sake of all involved."
surprise round
As Sharae turns the corner and fires, Criek also launches a bomb at the manticore -
round 1
Stepping closer to the cave, he continues to bombard the thing.
"Hound, attack!"
The Hound bounds forward into the lair of the beast and starts to chomp on it's corpse as the four bombs Criek hit it with finished what Sharae had started. It's dead.
As the smoke from their volley clears and the manticore collapses, Criek realizes through the hum of his battle nerves that they've killed their quarry.
"I...suppose we ought to go collect our trophy? I imagine quite a number of people heard the racket we just made and may soon investigate, and we should like to be on our way before that happens?
...And...what *are* you doing here?" he asks the cat crouched in the rubble. "Are you our competition, come to collect a trophy for yourself?"
The ratfolk retrieves a small piece of jerky from his pack and attempts to offer it to the cat as he approaches the cave.
The cat lets out a plaintive mewl and seems like it really wants the jerky but it's too unnerved by the metal dog methodically chomping through the manticore's tail to come out of its hiding place.
Noticing the feline's reluctance, Sharae commands the hound to cease its attack upon the devastated manticore... and then, kneeling down to soothe the cat, she makes encouraging noises.
...and, whilst watching to sea if the cat warms to her and Criek, she muses aloud to her companion, "I think that the good folk of Scrapwall probably believed we just walked into our doom... I don't suppose anyone will be rushing to our rescue... nor, if Lanlei is to be believed, do I think anyone else will be rushing in to challenge the beast's dominance of the scrap-pile. No, I think we have a little time".