In amongst all of the broken rock and rubble on the ground leading into the western tunnel, there are several unpleasant looking maggots... these are the same Rot Grubs that Figwidget discovered in the Clockwork Spy...
Tychi hoots softly. "I hear the voice of the wind, in tandem with the voice of the stones. They tell me there is machinery to the north, far to the north." He nods in the direction of the northern route.
Nike snorts and rolls her eyes.
After double-checking the map, Luke will say "We should head southwest, cause the map looks like it links up with that area we saw metallic legs earlier." Major Rand will then move to cover that tunnel, clearly used to having his orders followed.
"I couldn't catch up with the invisible gug," Figwidget says, "so I don't know which way he went."
With a shrug, he says, "That's not helpful, I know, but just so you know there's nothing I know. If you know what I mean. Um. Right. Southwest sounds good to me."
With the invisible Gug apparently fleeing from the area, everything seems to be quite and safe…satisfied that there is no immediate danger, you retrace your route to the foot of the steps in the side tunnel. The juvenile Gug, still tied, watches disinterestedly as you move into the tunnel. From a better angle, you can look up the steps (which lead about ten feet upwards) and see that the metallic legs are connected to an equally metallic torso…and the unmistakable figure of a construct standing impassively at the top of the steps.
Behind the construct, you can see that the steps lead to a room of approximately twenty feet in diameter…shelves line the walls of the room, although, from this distance, it is not possible to see what is on those shelves.
"Hmm another construct," Carran whispers to the others.
"Any chance of covertly getting into position and attack it?"
Carran hugs the wall as he took a quick peek at the construct, his bow drawn and ready.
"Let me go up first and get it's attention, then follow up behind me and attack it once I have it distracted."
It is notable that this Construct is not of the same design as the Brass Guardians you have encountered / are used to seeing...whereas the Guardians are bulky, well armoured constructions, what you see before you is a spindly amalgam of metal limbs, wires and translucent vessels...what is most alarming though, is the clear hemispherical dome atop the construct...containing a brain and two eyes floating within a milky liquid...the eyes follow the motion of anyone approaching the steps.
Figwidget points at the blinking red light behind the construct. "Light there blinking; no idea what it means," he whispers to the others.
He looks up at the construct. "Bizarre. Kinda scary looking. Not like anything I've built myself. I'd love to take it apart and see what makes it tick." He tries to see what he can tell about the construct from this distance.
It also appears that it is armed...the long arms lead to syringe tipped hands / fingers...pipe work running down the arms to feed the syringes...
It would also appear that the device is exiting it's dormant state, valves and pumps gurgling into life as the milky fluid within the hemispherical dome starts to bubble...
"Figwidget, do you think breaking that dome atop that construct will do us anything good? Perhaps blind it even?"
Carran fondles his special quiver with blunt arrows, indicating he think he might be able to break it with enough arrows if it would help.
Tychi looks at everyone, and shakes his head. "Not everything needs to be attacked on first sight." Nike 'gently' nudges the rest of the party out of the way (putting 1.5 metric tons of equine flesh behind the nudges if need be), until she is standing at the bottom of the stairs. Tychi looks up, and then bows from the saddle.
Nike clears her throat, and takes the lead. "Greetings, stranger. We are not here for violence, not by choice. We are simply investigating some odd happenings. We would talk, if you are still capable of such?"
Tychi then nods. "Indeed, we would talk, if you would, good sirrah or madam."
As Major Luke Rand is manoeuvred from the steps, the increasing activity from the construct subsides...a small valve at the rear of the device lifts and, with a hiss, a small plume of green steam is emitted...
However there is no response to either Tychi or Nike's greeting...with no one on the stairs, it appears that the device is returning to a dormant state.
Figwidget groans. "It's not clockwork... it's mostly alchemical, I think. It's probably also mindless, just like the clockwork automatons. But... if this is like some of the constructs I've heard tell of, it's partly made out of the remains of dead people. Brrr! Necromancy, alchemy together... some things just shouldn't be tried. Don't expect it to answer you. And... it's waking up. It may just attack us, but will certainly attack if we attempt to pass it."
Figwdiget thinks what he's heard about these kinds of things, and in particular is interested in any special defences they might have, and in any special attacks (poison? what do they do with those needle?) they might have.
Nike snorts. "Undead are an abomination."
Carran looks to Tychi with a raised eyebrow.
"Unless we come across a construct that raises its arms and says I came here to talk, I mean no harm, I'll raise my bow and assume it's coming right for us. Since that attack back at Alkenstar I trust these kind of automatons even less."
He listens closely to Figwidget and nods.
"Got ya, possible homicidal construct and undead to boot. Perhaps shooting or breaking that glass atop of it might help after all."
As to Carran's question, if the floating brain and eyes are indeed part of the machine's programming core / visual sensors, then maybe destroying the dome would have a debilitating effect upon it
Nike - The steps are sufficiently steep to prevent a charge…
Tychi nods, then leans over quietly to whisper to his companions. "Friend Carran, Friend Luke, neither of you are in any shape for a drawn out combat. If I might suggest? Friend Luke fall back and watch our backs. Friend Not-Figwidget, do the same. Friend Carran, shoot the glass from as far back from the base of the stairs as you can, and then move away. Nike and I shall ready to charge the creature if it comes down the steps into the cavern after you shoot it. Thus we will bottle it up at the bottom of the stairs, and Friend Carran can shoot it past us, and Friend Not-Figwidget can throw harmful chemicals on it as Nike and I battle it."
"I'm fine, actually; but, you're right. we should probably engage it with ranged attacks and then wait to see what it does."
Figwidget says quietly to the others, "Looking at it, I'm guessing that slashing and piercing attacks are probably not going to be as effective as more blunt attacks; its armor and construction look to be resistant to that sort of thing. Look out for the syringes! It looks like it's got different vessels and fluids it can put into them, and they're likely to all have different effects, and I don't really want to find out what they are. Well, not here... maybe in my lab... but! That's an investigation for another time and place. Aiming for dome with the brain and eyes might be a good idea, as it's probably a core part of the construct's control."
"Shall we then?"
Carran moves back as far away from the stairs as he can get while still having a clear shot.
"One shot, one disabled construct."
He draws a silent breath, notches a blunt Arrow, raises his bow and aims in a fluid motion, draws back the string and looses the arrow.
While Carran moves back and readies to fire, Tychi switches out his whipsword for his kusarigami. He holds onto the sickle end and whirls the weighted end about, using the double weapon as a single ended two-handed weapon. The weight isn't as deadly as the sickle, but it sounds as if bludgeoning is the method of the day, not slashing. Nike readies to charge the thing when it reaches the bottom of the stairs.
Carran's arrow whistles through the air, the eyes of the Construct following it as it arcs directly at it....the machine starts to activate but, too late, the arrow strikes the glass dome...causing it to crack...milky fluid starts to seep through fissures that are developing around the hemisphere...
The pumps, valves and whistles across the device continue to accelerate as it exits it's dormant state...yet, in your state of preparedness, you are all better prepared than it...
Tychi and Nike wait until it walks down the stairs. Assuming it does, Nike charges it when it reaches the foot of the stairs.
Tychi then goes into a flurry of blows, using both arms to swing the weight on the end of his Kusaragami's chain in a devestating whirl of metal on metal destruction.
Figwidget shrugs, figures what the heck, hopes that his friends have this in hand, and decides not to throw a bomb here. He gets out and loads his magic crossbow, ready to shoot next round if in fact the construct is still extant.
Carran sees the others wait for the construct to approach, he nods and unloads a barrage of blunt arrows in the direction of the construct.
Then he moves aside 5 feet to not get in the way immediately.
Arrow after arrow slam into the construct, the armour is dented, valves and vessels rupture, strange coloured steam starts to pour out of the cracked hemisphere....
Luke rears back and throws his shield at the construct, then snaps his finger and it reappears on his arm.
Major Luke Rand's shield fairly fizzes through the air and crashes into the struggling construct...the force of the blow shatters the remaining glass in the hemisphere, the brain and attached eyes slopping out the side like so much spilled broth...there is a final relapse of steam and the machine falls forwards, sliding down the stairs towards you...completely inert...
The source of the red blinking light becomes immediately apparent...Figwidget's Clockwork Spy is attached to the rear of the Construct's torso...it too seems inert and lifeless...the red light now extinguished...
Nike snorts and slams her hoof into the brain, to make sure it's dead.
Tychi begins to put his chain weapon away. "That seems to have gone rather well. We should endeavor to minimize our damage taken in this manner going forward." He dismounts easily. "I will take the lead up the stairs, being unwounded. Nike, please watch the stairs for us, so we are not attacked from behind."
Nike snorts but readies to back herself up onto the stairs, so she can guard them.
Figwidget says, "Hmm, interesting. Why did this guy attach here?"
He takes the clockwork spy and looks at it, trying to see if he can access any of its audio recording.
The construct has, with the force of the blows received, been smashed to so much junk. Detaching the Clockwork Spy from the rear of the larger machine, Figwidget is able to carry out a rudimentary repair to the playback mechanism…listening to the audio recording reveals little though - the sound of you talking as the Clockwork Spy was originally set on it's path then a strange ticking noise followed by an extended gap in the recording. The next section of audio is very obviously the fight between yourselves and the Gugs, again followed by an extended gap. The last section of audio is very brief, starting with the sound of something striking, and breaking, glass followed by several similar impacts….then nothing. After playing the audio once, the inner workings of the Clockwork Spy overheat and fuse together….rendering the machine utterly inert.
With Nike guarding the foot of the stairs, you cautiously climb the steps to find a relatively small chamber (no more than twenty feet in diameter). The shelves that you previously saw are lined with various alchemical components, mechanical parts and notebooks…in amongst the mess you find:
Two Elixirs of Hiding,
Three small jars of Silversheen
A Bead of Force
A single jar of Restorative Ointment
A Rope of Climbing
Carran looks around the room with a careful glance, taking up as much as he can while Figwidget discerns the the alkchemical items on the shelves.
"Glad that fight was easy enough, though I'd wonder who would put a brain in such a thing."
He watches Figwidget for a moment before his eyes go over the shelves and wall again. Then he makes a startling discovery.
"Figwidget? If you're almost done with those items I'd suggest we'd get out of here. I see water coming out of the wall, perhaps this section has a source of water behind it. If it breaks, we might be in serious trouble."
"Probably the same person who would turn the city's defenders against it. My guess is an insane clockwork maker."
A wicker comes up the stairs. "Insane Clockwork Maker? Isn't that redundant?"
Tychi gives a small amused hoot and backs out of the chamber. "I believe Mr. Carran has the correct idea." Tychi then moves down the stairs and returns to the saddle.
"Yes, that looks bad," Figwidget says, looking at the southern wall becoming wet with rivulets of water, as he stuffs the items they found in his Handy Haversack. "I'll have these items if anybody wants them, here in my sack," he says. "In the mean time, let's get out of here, and hopefully find higher ground, before it's too late...."
Can Figwidget estimate how much danger they're in?
Also, Figwidget will look at the wall that's bleeding water to see if he can notice anything else of interest there.
The rivulets of water quickly become slurries of mud as the structure of the wall starts to get carried off with the water…you have barely a moment to react though when three familiar figures 'flow' from the wall, smashing the shelves to the floor…the ground beneath your feet becomes slick with mud as rocks start to jut from the ground .
Dead eyes gaze at you as the stench of decay fills the room…
The Guecubu's closest to Major Luke Rand and Figwidget flail and bite at them...
The rearmost Guecubu reaches into the ground and, it's jaw slackly wording something unintelligible, sends ripples and waves through the stone floor of the chamber.
Tychi grinds his beak, dismounts, and climbs back up the stairs. "I'm really thinking that these spirits are becoming too annoying." He stops at the spiked earth, unable to move forward.
Figwidget feels for the elixir still flowing through his blood....it's still there....just about....
Carran will unleash a storm of arrows on the one that just created the stonespikes on the floor.
"Open wide."
Figwidget, still hovering, flies backwards five feet. () Once there, he throws a bomb at Guecubu #2.
Tychi holds where he is, and waits for a chance to attack or pull a downed person out of the room.
Major Luke Rand's shield slams into the grotesque creature three times, bone splintering as it is smashed this way then that…
As the blows rain down upon the Guecubu unfortunate enough to appear adjacent to the Major, Carran and Figwidget vent their fury at the Guecubu who had ruptured the ground…arrows sail towards it (two striking true) followed by an explosion as Figwidget's bomb detonates beneath it…
Sparks fly as fragments from the bomb spiral into the two nearby creatures...the smell of charred bone fills the room...
With Major Luke Rand obligingly stepping between the Guecubu, they fall upon him attacking rabidly and without mercy...
Yet for all of their fury, only one of their attempted blows finds it's target...it is enough though for icy fingers of doubt to start clawing at Major Luke Rand's mind...