Tychi attacks with his whip sword...
Nike Gores the thing...
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Nike then draws back 30 ft to enable another charge...
Tychi's sword doesn't strike any of the exposed components of the Clockwork and, despite Nike managing to gore the machine, it is still standing when Nike attempts to back away...
...she is agile enough to avoid being struck by the machine as it clambers after her... Yet, when it is fully over the iron wall, it 'bounds' after the unicorn and pummels Tychi...
A second clockwork, climbing across the wall, slams into Lector...a huge metal fist grabbing the cleric - and slashing him with the embedded mechanical blades wthin it's palm...
...it is at this point, when the tide of battle hangs briefly in the balance, that the Hill Giant reappears... a stupid grin leering across its face as it raises the cannon crudely melded on to its arm...
Casey turns his attention to the giant, a nasty feeling in his gut at what's about to transpire. "Dadgum it we're standin' in it now. Casey takes aim at the cannon giant and fires repeatedly at it.
Lector roars and fills the area with an aura of chaos. "Drop me and fight me you coward!" He yells.
Figwidget's eyes go wide as the cannon-wielding hill giant shows up. "This is not good," he mutters. Knowing he's going to need more battlefield mobility than he has right now, he pulls out his Universal Formula extract and quaffs it, making the last-minute adjustment to turn it into an extract of Fly, giving him a 60-foot fly speed.
He then flies forward, also climbing as he flies. (How high is the ceiling? He'll go as high as he can, or to a height of 25ft as he moves 25ft forward. Hopefully, this will keep him out of range of the brass guardian nearest him. Map updated.)
Tychi unleashes a bellow and attacks the creature in front of him.
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A salvo from Casey's gun hits the Brass Guardian holding Lector tight... The noise of metal smashing against metal almost drowns out the noise of the machinery within the room... But it will take a lot more to bring the Guardian down...
As Tychi's blade pierces the carapace of the Brass Guardian, there is a sudden wrenching and shrieking of gears... And, moments later, it explodes...
Despite her bulk and proximity, Nike sidesteps the explosion with ease. Unfortunately, Tychi takes a small piece of shrapnel to the shoulder.
Nike gives another bugling challenge and lowers her head and charges the giant. Nike's bugle signals her call to her goddess to bring forth righteous wrath on the giant... She charges forward, horn lowered...
Nike slams into the Giant - her horn piercing it's stomach with a sickening 'pop' sound... Yet the Giant, as dull-minded as it is, merely laughs off the injury before smashing the unicorn twice... and then, with the barrel of the cannon grafted to it's arm, swiping at her with a swung 'arm'...
Meanwhile, Lector's plan partially works... The Guardian grappling him continues to do so - blades and spikes continuously cutting at him - whilst the other Guardian, which had seemed ready to attack the bound cleric, moves away...
Tychi manages to nudge Nike out of the way of the first two hits, but the third connects, not that Nike notices the slight damage in her fit of righteous anger.
Tychi looks at the blood staining Nike's shoulder, and let's out a piercing angry whistle at the giant.
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Nike rears up and drives her hooves into the creature, before slamming her horn into the giant.
Figwidget flies forward, descending 5 feet, so that he'll be within 20 feet (one range increment) of the hill giant. He tosses a bomb at it, omitting Tychi and Nike from it using his Precise Bombs discovery.
Casey takes a step away from the guardian near him and fires again at the one holding Lector.
Tychi's blade whizzes and whirrs around his head - somehow he endeavours to miss the hulking brute with a number of his swings... But two of his sweeping attacks do find flesh, one very deep...
And then Nike stabs it once more... And Figwidget generates another small explosion...
Meanwhile, in the main chamber, Casey Jayne hits an - exceptionally easy - target twice - and, for his troubles, is slammed hard by the Brass Guardian.
Seeing the irksome monk steer his steed away from his blows, the Giant shifts his focus to Tychi... Yet the frustration clouds it's concentration and all but the final swipe of the cannon shaft miss heir intended target...
Meanwhile, the swirling chaos around the Guardians results in an inevitable outcome...
...Lector is dropped and both Guardians simply move away...
The cannon shaft glances off Tychi's shoulder, and the bird grabs his shoulder dramatically. "Oh, the pain, the pain... how shall I ever survive the pain!" He says in a high pitched voice.
Then he goes back into quisinart mode, the whip sword flashing in the light.
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Nike snorts, and rears up after Tychi's attack, and adds her own fury to the onslaught.
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A bit surprised by the actions of the guardians, Casey shrugs it off and turns his attention to the cannon giant.
Tychi’s attacks are fast, furious and, against most opponents, would almost certainly be fatal… but the lumbering giant is too well-armoured and too impervious to pain to realise when he should be defeated…
…and when Casey launches another salvo, the small fountains of oxygen-red blood that spatter the wall behind it still fail to give the giant the much-needed clue…
Lector grimaces as he is released, then turns his divine fury on the retreating construct that dared to grapple him.
Still flying high beyond the hill giant's reach, Figwidget pulls another flask from his belt and tosses it at the huge creature - this time the explosion is more than enough to fell the giant... moaning stupidly, it falls backwards with an impact that shakes the ground...
...whilst, elsewhere within the complex, one of the Brass Guardians continues to be adversely affected by the aura surrounding Lector. The second Guardian, having retreated far into the room, is no longer affected by the swirling atmosphere of chaos... and charges forward, slamming into Casey Jayne, grabbing him and lifting him from his feet...
...deep into the building, to the east where the Ice Devils previously escaped from, a fire has broken out...
Grapple ME will you? Let's see how you like it... A gargantuan anaconda appears out of the ether and attacks the fleeing brass guardian.
Seeing that he and his allies have taken a significant beating, he moves to the center of them and channels life energy.
Casey attempts to break free.
Figwidget says, "This place is going up-- there may be pressurized vessels in here that will explode! We should get out of here soon!"
He whirles in place tosses a bomb at the Brass Guardian holding Casey Jayne (or that just dropped him, as the case may be).
Realizing that he's only got three bombs left, Figwidget hopes it will be enough....
Hovering above the Brass Guardian with Casey Jayne in its clutches, Figwidget throws one of his dwindling supply of bombs… it fizzes and crackles as the armour of the clockwork buckles from the blast. The bomb is placed accurately enough to omit Casey from the shrapnel spraying around the room… but Casey, still struggling within the clutches of the machine, finds himself truly captured…
Meanwhile, outside the facility, the fleeing machine finds itself caught within the tightening coils of Lector’s otherworldly serpent… metal crunches and bends as the snake squeezes…
Unable to charge the last creature, Nike moves over close, and Tychi uses his trick riding abilities to dismount on the roller area.
He then unleashes his whip on the golem, which can't dodge as easy due to holding on to Casey. "Thank you Mr. Casey Jayne, your strategy of pinning the golem down by letting it grab you is, while unorthodox, very successful!"
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Tychi then remounts (again as a free action, using his trick riding), and Nike moves back to the upper hallway with the rest of her action, readying to lead the way out into the courtyard.
Tychi’s flurry of attacks sends the Brass Guardian reeling yet it isn’t quite enough to make the machine drop Casey….
…but it matters little as the swirling chaos that Lector seems to wear causes the clockwork to, once more, retreat away from battle…
Outside, Tychi and Nike arrive in time to see the other Brass Guardian respond to the coiling anaconda by grappling the enormous serpent – blood spurts from the animal as spikes and blades across the machine’s torso puncture flesh…
…and then, at last, the colossal crab-like clockwork moves into attack… scuttling across the courtyard, an enormous pincer reaches out and clenches around the snake. There is a tortured cracking of bone as the metal vice clamps down…
Nike returns, and Tychi uses his trick riding abilities to dismount on the roller area.
He then unleashes his whip on the golem, which can't dodge as easy due to holding on to Casey. "Mr. Casey Jayne, please stop playing with the baby golems. The mommy golem is outside, killing the giant snake, and it seems very upset. There is no room in the courtyard, we should leave by the front door, and lure it out..."
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Tychi then remounts (again as a free action, using his trick riding), and Nike moves back to the right hand hallway, preparing to squeeze through the hallway back toward the entrance.
The anaconda tries to regain control, fighting to the bloody end.
Meanwhile Lector summons a grasping hand to grab the crab.
Figwidget flies over to the closest set of doors. Are they open? If not, he'll descend as he gets near to them and open them. If they are, he'll instead fly out and try to get into a tactically reasonable position. I'm guessing this thing has a ginormous reach, and he'll try to stay out of it.
"A shame that we're fighting this," Figwidget says. "I'd love to take it apart and try to figure out how it works!"
Looking at it, can Figwidget detect any particular defenses, or any weaknesses that we might be able to exploit?
As Tychi’s blade rips through the armour of the Brass Guardian that had dropped Casey Jayne, there is a sudden screaming of decelerating gears and valves rupturing – and, in a rapidly expanding blossom of shrapnel, it explodes…
Meanwhile, outside the building, the snake continues it’s life or death struggle against the Brass Guardian – held by both one of the so-called ‘Protectors of Alkenstar’ and the behemoth Clockwork Crab – it cannot gain any purchase upon the Guardian…
…and then, summoned from nothing, a hand of pure force attempts to hold the clockwork crab in position – but it is no use, the construct is too large and too powerful to be held in place…
– beyond the standard clockwork traits that you anticipate, it seems that the armour across the crab is exceptionally thick and, from its material of construction, it is also likely to have elemental resistances – it’s main method of attack, you have already seen – the immense powerful claws hold and constrict its foes. It is also quite likely, given the instructions that the ‘machine gave’ to the hill giant previously, that somewhere within the metal body of the machine, someone is actually ‘driving’ or ‘riding’ this construct…
Tychi, while remounting Nike, neatly avoids all the shrapnel, not even getting a scratch from it.
He then unleashes his whip on the golem, which can't dodge as easy due to holding on to Casey. "Mr. Casey Jayne, please stop playing with the baby golems. The mommy golem is outside, killing the giant snake, and it seems very upset. There is no room in the courtyard, we should leave by the front door, and lure it out..."
Fixing his hat now that the guardian has let him go and exploded all over him. "That's a good idea. Better to fight it out in the open."
Casey then takes to the skies.
Figwidget figures that perhaps the only hope against this behemoth is that it might be too big to move fast, and he might be able to get inside its defenses. If he can find the way into it, he might be able to confront whoever it is who is driving the crab, and disable it.
(Plus, Figwidget would love to take the crab apart and add it to his collection....)
The gnome flies above the crab, staying out of reach. He looks at the crab. The first thing he's looking for is an entrance for a person/driver. Failing that, he's looking for air vents; surely whoever is driving it will need vents. Figwidget does have a potion of gaseous form stashed away that he might use.....
Holding the giant snake in an ever tightening grip, the Brass Guardian squeezes…
…and then, ripping and tearing, the anaconda is slain by the enormous crab machine…
– hovering out of reach of the Crab, you can see that there is indeed a person-sized hatch towards the rear of the construct… and, in the event that it is locked in position, there are also multiple vents and grilles across the entire shell of the crab…
Meanwhile, within the building, Tychi and Nike are confronted with a growing wall of flame – it isn’t yet large and intense enough to harm them as they run through… but the facility is very much on fire and must surely now be doomed…
Nike races down the hallway, ducking under the flames on occasion, and exits into the main entryway.
Seeing the openings to get inside, Figwidget figures he'll have better luck facing whoever's inside -- or, better, sabotaging the clockwork from the inside -- than fighting the beast from the outside.
He pulls his Gaseous Form potion out of his Handy Haversack, and drinks it, using his Enhance Potion discovery to make it function at his caster level.
(Next round, Figwidget will take a double move to get to the vents on the crab. I figure it'll take him a couple of rounds to get to the crab, as his fly speed is now only 10 feet in gaseous form.)
Lector casts displacement on himself and moves forward with a grimace. He also whispers a word of advice to Tychi...
Casey notices an exit to his left and goes that way.