The golem says "I will answer both of those inquiries in one word, Fayences"
Both Drak and Trogg know that this the name of the caverns in the mountains near Chamarel, beyond that they do not know much.
The party then unleashes their trap and attacks.
Rybal charges forward, swinging his blade at the creature's legs.
Drak charges to the other side of the creature, flanking with Rybal.
This man in white doomed his creation to destruction.
Trogg cries, "Sic 'em, Clarence," as he snaps a wand into his hand and taps Malthu with it.
Clarence charges toward the non-living man-thing and tries to sink his teeth into it.
Jazz pours over the text looking for each scrap of information he can find. The bounties are haphazard and vary from town to town however each set of about 3-5 are in relatively the same region before the next 3-5 that might be a weeks travel away.
The details that are listed about bounties are usually who has given him the contract, state, private or church. As well as details he scribbles down about how to confront his target. Varis's entry is bare however which is strange, it even says he completed it. Making this all the more suspicious.
Rybal moves in trying to trip the golem but Rybal's weapon bounces off it's exterior. Clarence can't manage to go through it's armour either. Both Drak and Malthu however cut deep dealing a significant amount of damage to the golem. The golem is sent reeling and it smashes into the bookcase and falls over.
It reaches at it's side where the Malthu cut it and an ooze like substance is coming out. The golem stares at it in complete shock, this is the first time emotion seems to be registering from it's face. The golem then shrieks at the group in a blind panic. "Blood? Why is there blood? What.. what did I ever do to you?! Why are you in my home brandishing those weapons at me. I'm going to die aren't I? You are all going to kill me!! I won't let you take her if it's the last thing I do, you hear me! Snow never hurt anyone, Arrrggghhh!"
The creature lurches forward and attacks Malthu.
The enraged golem's strike narrowly misses Malthu's face, Malthu didn't fancy finding out how strong that punch was.
Drak will assist with defending Malthu for the moment until he has a better idea of what the hell is going on, throwing a distracting attack then disappearing - not wanting to feel a blow from the golem.
"Down, Clarence," calls Trogg. "What is your name, and who is Snow?" he asks the golem. "We may be able to help you."
What are the floor and walls made of? Clarence will five foot step away from the golem - burrowing underground if the floor is dirt, climbing a wall if the floor is solid and there's a wall handy, or just stepping back.
Rybal hesitates for a moment, perplexed at the others breaking off the attack. He raises his shield high and waits to strike.
Are you saying that...thing is the girl we're looking for?
The golem calms down after he sees the group ceasing their advance. However his hands are still up defending himself ready to punch anyone who comes close. "I am ..." It pauses for a while, you see worry across his face. "Why is it hard to remember? .. Dragash, I am Dragash. I have to be...nothing else can be possible" His eyes narrow as he looks at the group.
"Snow is my friend, she has done nothing wrong, nothing to harm anyone. You are here to kill her and take her wings. I won't let you." His demeanour is stricken with fear. How is this the same golem that was forcing you to leave? What triggered the sudden change in personality? Either way it now seems adamant in defending 'Snow' as opposed to just kicking you out.
Drak's voice eminates from where is invisible Malthu, how do you feel about wrestling a golem
Drak has a short time of invisibility left.
What is this Snow
Drak will look around and move deeper into the basement , looking for anything, or particularly anyone, that might be what the mad golem is raving about.
Rybal turns to Malthu and starts speaking in a low, guttural language.
You think we should try to find the others now and let them in on this, and also get back to a single group?
"Dragash, we mean no harm to Snow, we were merely investigating the disappearance of a halfing child when we found you standing in our path."
Trogg takes advantage of the lull in the battle to glance around the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
Looking around the room there isn't much more to find other than what the group has seen before. The only thing that the group keeps getting drawn to is the entrance behind the golem that it was guarding. It might still be guarding in this state, maybe that's where it thinks Snow is?
The golem slowly lowers its hands unsure of the situation. Guarded still but calmer.
"You really mean it, you aren't hunters? Then why the weapons why would you bring them to find a child?" He makes the motion to sigh but no breath comes out. "Snow is my friend, she grew up alongside me. For these past 25 years of my life, it has been a good time. The older she got the more people came looking for her. I wish that was not true though."
Rybal raises his eyebrow at this statement, he starts to piece together what might of happened. He can tell that this golem was recently made by the sheen and the fact it doesn't have much wear or tear. Rybal gives a think and he has an epiphany. This creature is a wax golem .
The group starts to pack up with the information they gathered and look out for their friends.
Something at the back of his mind kept bothering Rybal, and as the golem spoke of its past it finally came to him, realization dawning on his face.
I have seen your kind before--you are not who you think you are. You're newly created, and your folk are only made to kill or replace those whose likeness you are made in. You are not Dragash. If you haven't killed him already, you will as soon as you meet him. Your memories are not real, and you were never a person, just a lump of clay brought to life by magic, and the magic of an evil man if I can tell right. A golem is only held to the morals of its creator, even when it thinks it's a person. The time for talk is done.
Rybal, not waiting for the others, again tries to use the reach of his weapon to hook the creature's leg and trip him.
The half-orc swings his blade around at the creatures legs, then looks around to the others expectantly.
Fire...this creature fears fire above all else.
Hoping that Rybal knows what he is talking about Drak pops out of invisiblity attacking the creature. Drak doesn't have any fire but he does have his trusted swords and will go all out in a dizzying display of bladework.
+4 if prone
+4 if prone
+4 if prone
Clarence decides to step forward and join the fun.
Rybal deftly sweeps the golems legs and it falls to the ground. All the while shouting "I am Dragash, no you lie! I am .. real.. It finishes saying as Drak drives a knife through its neck.
The golem grasps at it as if he was losing breath not realizing he has none of his own. It finally splutters and is disabled lying still on the floor.
As the party recomposes themselves they hear movement upstairs, when one of them goes to look who it is they see Jazz, Rikaku and Variel looking for them.
Rybal nods approvingly, then approaches the door cautiously.
The golem said Snow had wings. Any of you casters have something handy for that? If it comes to violence, we need to be prepared.
Armed with some questionable knowledge from Varis, Rikaku and the others set out to find the rest of the group. They start off at the halflings' house and wind up trailing them back to their current location.
"Snow?!" Rikaku splutters when Rybal mentions the name, before realising his outburst and trying to cover it up. In the end, he sighs resignedly before anyone can start looking at him too angrily. He dumps his pack on the ground and withdraws a white book from within it.
"Rikaku found in mansion. It diary written by Snow from 150 years ago."
Rikaku will translate the interesting parts of the diary for the party members who do not speak Draconic. No doubt they'll be interested to hear Dragash's name come up in it.
He hesitates before continuing, "Rikaku sorry no say before. Just..." The kobold's eyes begin to shine brightly as he flicks his tail and rustles his wings. "Rikaku think Snow is dragon too, kin to him no doubt! Felt... possessive."
Jazz looks at Rikaku with
"Nice work on that... thing," Jazz says, raising an eye toward the demolished golem. "What happened with the missing Halfling?" he asks, moving into the room and sort of floating around it with an eerie Elven grace. Once he's heard, he explains what they learned in the time they were separate:
"Well, we tracked down Varis again and questioned him about Lionel. Varis was hesitant to speak on the subject, he said that Lionel had gotten into some trouble with some people and he wasn't exactly sure why but it had something to do with some people Lionel had killed. Varis did have an old satchel of Lionel's that was left here, which he gave us, and when we searched it we found a logbook and an Elven cipher. Variel and I decoded the cipher and found a bounty hunter's log book of hits and targets, so Varis at least seems to have told us the truth, just not the whole truth. Whether or not Varis knows Lionel was a bounty hunter, we're not sure yet, but it was curious to note that Varis was listed as a potential target in the log book... however, there were no notes, award, or crimes listed."
"One last thing: whoever this Lionel is, he seems to have been quite the successful man. Surely a powerful warrior, I wager he's also pretty smart to exist for so long and so successfully in such a dirty business. I've had my share of experience with bounties and man hunts, and it's an ugly, dangerous world."
"If Dragash was alive over a hundred years ago, it seems unlikely that he's still alive. Old age would have got him if that thing hadn't. I wonder who created it, and why - another twisted wish, perhaps?"
Drak will leave the puzzle solving to the others for the moment. Instead he will take his time and comb through the basement, looking anything that may have been missed. After all, there was a man-golem-thing that required immediate attention and with that out of the way Drak can now focus on details that could have quite easily been missed before.
The basement as expected is just an emergency room.
There is nothing out of the ordinary in this room itself, however as spotted before the secret door behind the book case is the only thing suspect here. Taking a little while to listen behind it there is no wind heard. It must be a sealed from the outside then, the only flow of air seems to be moving out from this room down the passageway. Opening the bookcase Drak can see it's a tunnel network. Likely another way for someone to get away. Only the person fleeing knows the proper way, others might get lost. These halflings are careful.
Trogg peers at the tunnel floor, uncertain what he will find.
Trogg notices that there is frequently used corridors, they seem to have the most mud and dirt compared to other passages. However the most recent tracks seem to not that there was two people. They seemed to have suddenly appeared out of nowhere before walking forward. Trogg feels he can probably follow the tracks to their destination.
Rybal looks at the dwarf with curiosity, setting down his weapons for a moment and rummaging in his backpack.
I'll trust a dwarf's intuition in a cavern, sure, but I don't mind having a backup plan as well. The soldier produces a rope with a grappling hook attached to it, securing the hook onto the door jam and uncoiling the rope.
This'll get us a bit into the passage, and if you all have some rope we could tie to it we'll have a better chance of finding our way back out in a hurry.
"Smart thinking," Jazz says, "We could also mark the way with chalk or charcoal, if we have any, but that wouldn't be quite as obvious if we were leaving in a hurry."
Jazz follows close behind Trogg and Clarence, his rapier held at the ready and eyes darting around the tunnel walls.
Isn't this just an escape route? What are we expecting to find? We should be looking at finding whatever Fayences is.
"It may not be related to this golem - disappearing child - mystery man incident, but there's some tracks in here that look worth following. It is possible whoever made them teleported here."
"I wonder if Fayences is the place the goblins were telling us about."
Probably a waste of time but who knows, we may get lucky. It might be interesting to see where this comes up at least. Prehaps if I ever need a quick escape I could use it in the future.
Drak just shrugs and readies himself to go into the tunnel.
Rikaku will follow the rest inside, carefully watching for signs of any danger inside this mysterious place.
Rybal shoulders past the others and next to Trogg, keeping his weapon and shield at the ready.
The party band together and go on inside, those with darkvision can see as clear as day. The others will need lights to see the way but there are lanterns on the wall that can be lit and taken if needed. The tracks seem easy to follow, thankfully so this place is a labyrinth of presumably useless tunnels. Trogg's inner compass seems to guess they are heading west out of town if they keep going.
They eventually reach a crossroad of 4 passages, one they just came from, one with no tracks, one with the highest foot fall and the last with the freshest tracks that they are most recently following. It seems that the passageway the new tracks go down is unused except these new tracks. There isn't dried mud traction, marks of common use or much dust in the direction. This likely means the exit is not that way but for some reason the group that came in here took that passage.
As the group readies to go down to a passageway Rikaku and Malthu hear something.
Hoof beats echo in the chambers behind you, they sound as if they are getting closer. As they are about to reach you, the sound stops for about a second. The sounds picks up in front of you then it sounds like it is circling you. Then it disappears again.
Everyone can hear a horses whiny echo through the corridors, afterwards an eyrie silence befalls the underground maze.
Rikaku glares all around him into the darkness, clutching his spear and hissing. "Rikaku hear horse step, but nothing there," he says quietly. "Ghost horse is here?"
Trogg stares down each of the tunnels in turn.