Keth heard the door shatter behind him and glanced over his shoulder trying to avoid the shards of timber coming his way.
Woolf crouched behind The Master as the door at the end of the hall splintered before the automaton.
Meila considered going in with the rest of them, but something told her to stay back. She stops, unclear of why, and suddenly a nearby door explodes and shrapnel covers Sgrack, Keth, and poor Woolf. In her fright she waves her arms and mutters a few syllables, before blending into the scenery. She decides to take advantage of the situation, and slowly slinks along the wall while gazing into the windows.
fail Sgrack takes the brunt of the shrapnel and takes 2 damage
Sgrack Panics at the sight of the construct and tries to smash it with hos massive hammer. Unfortunately his panic got the better of him and he misses and instead smashes his hammer into the door frame.
Just to make sure there is no mistake here, Sgrack's attack roll was 23... is that a miss? Because if so, we should consider retreat, because none of us can hit higher than that except on a nat 20.
Keth saw the formidable strike from Sgraack, glance off've metallic hide and hit the door jam leaving the construct unscathed.
He frowned...They needed a better vantage point.
He Said to Sron Go into that room to your left. Let Sgrack lead the robot out to here. I and Woolf will strike from the doorways here and you come out and get behind him. that will surround him. Melia and Izzie can use their magic from a distance.
Then he said to Sgrack Sgrack lead the creature back here where we all can crush the robot!
He moved to the room to his left and opened the door to move within...Telling Woolf to taobh! pointing at the robot and then at the open doorway.
Acid dripping from his muzzle onto the floor Woolf heard The Master shouting at the others..and then he stood picking his pointy stick up and grabbed the handle of the door to go within the room next to them..he pointed to the open doorway they had entered and gave the command to flank and then nodded to the creature the white giant had attacked.... he cocked his head...back and forth and moved outside turning to look at the master
Sron nods and opens the door going inside. He would strike as soon as the metal monstrosity was in sight.
Sgrack upon seeing the source of the noise has a moment of trepidation ,but than channels that fear into his massive hammer and smashes the thing of metal into a pile of scrap and sparks
As the robot falls to scrap it lets out one last sound
A moment after Sgrack smashes the thing to bits a small girl emerges from beneath a table to the north. The girl has wavy blond hair kept mostly from her face with a hair band. She has striking ice blue eyes and two stripes of red face paint on her cheeks.
Val"Sgrack!... are you alright?"Val says this as she grabs the massive orc by his wrist to make sure he has no new wounds or scars.
Before giving him a chance to respond she pushes past him and finds Sron, she gives him an awkward side hug without meeting his gaze knowing he isn't comfortable with human emotion."Have you brought these people to help find father?"
"They came together on their own. I have chosen to join them," said Sron. "It is good to see you safe,"
Sgrack puts all his might in the swing that brings the robot down and growls when it beeps once more alive. Without thinking twice, he raises his hammer once more before bringing it down again. "Shhhh! Silence! No moving!"
As he sees Val emerging from beneath the table, Sgrack smiles and nods in agreement at Val's question, completely ignoring the small bits of metal piercing his right arm. He still had not grasped the concept of pronouns, but he figured she was asking about him. "Sgrack good. Val good?"
Val:"Yes, I am good Sgrack. That robot merely gave me a fright when in came to 'life'. It has made quite a mess of the wall and door. Can you folks move what is left of it into Kohnnir's workshop I don't want it in the house. Once that is done everyone can meet me inside the tavern so we can talk and I can get everyone something to eat if they want." Val says all this quickly jumping from thought to thought without pause. Clearly this ordeal and Kohnnir's disappearance have gotten to her but she is putting on a brave face and doing what she must.
Meila's glad to hear the massive whack followed by the crunch and splutter of metal and lightning. That being said, she's camouflaged at the moment, so she decides to take the opportunity to sneak around and look at what she can find.
Irizzle enters, muttering things about “time dilation” and a lot of technobabble under his breath.
When he sees the now thoroughly wrecked robot though, his jaw drops open. He seems to have forgotten that the rest of the world even exists. He had had some theoretical discussion about this thing with Khonnir, but had not laid eyes upon it, and certainly not with the knowledge that it could evidently self repair. For now, he simply must examine it.
As you examine the construct it seems clear that its purpose is for repair but the fact that it was depleted of power with no clear means to charge it discovered is strange to say the least, not to mention it was dis-repairing the building.
Meila comes in late to join the group eating and talking with Val. "Hiya. That robot looked really scary, but good thing we gotta Sgrack. I'm Meila. You're... Val, yes?"
Sron contemplates the 'dead' robot. So animated, driven by its programming and ultimately dead by malfunction.
Is this my fate? he wondered. Am I doomed to break down and descend into wanton violence?
Val sees the familiar look on Sron's face and tries to give him a reassuring smile before turning to Meila. "Yes I am Val Baine Kohnnir's adopted daughter and apprentice. I think I have seen you around before but never met you. Not many Elves in Numeria, even fewer still in Torch."
Meila smiles brightly. She places one hand on her hip while the other is busy moving while she talks. "Yeah. I've I've been around here for a long time, uhm my whole life in fact."
She picks up a piece of jerky and chews on it. She's polite enough to swallow her food before talking again.
"So, uhm we're gonna be delving into the place to find your dad. Is there like, anything you can uhm, tell us about him, the robot, what went on in the tunnels, uhm anything really?"
Keth follows Irizzle as he checks out the destroyed Robot. He looks over the Gnomes shoulder. Not knowing anything about these mechanical creatures he remarks. If this thing was supposed to be designed for repairing things. Why would it have become aggressive and with a lack of power how could it have activated?...could someone have altered its design?
Woolf came over and sniffed the wreckage. and around the area
Feeling smart, Sgrack answers Keth's question. "Because robot bad."
He then turns around and follows the others to the tavern, where he sits on his usual table. By usual, it means the table he sits out of the functioning hours to eat whatever is available. He can't help but find himself a bit in discomfort, since being in the tavern with "other people besides Khonnir, Val and Sron" seems wrong, as if he is doing something not allowed.
As everyone makes their way to the tavern Val stops at each of you to make sure she knows your name and asks if she can get anything for you.
"Kohnnir gave me a rundown of what happened down in the caves but was mostly excited about the robot. He discovered a small submerged cave opening on the East bank of the pond along with some muddy footprints. The cave has your common fare of vermin but he also encountered some strange humanoids with camouflage abilities. Kohnnir's team proved to be strong enough to oppose them so they agreed not to oppose him and his exploration. Past these creatures was a wall made of Glaucite with a door built into it. Just past this door he found the robot and brought it back here. He put it in the storage closet so he could work on it later knowing he didn't have the time to right away as he planned to go back into the caves." Val pauses in her speaking to ponder. "Kohnnir is important to me he saved me as a child and took me in and we have made a life here in Torch. Also Torch owes him much with the aide of Joram he was able to devise a means to purify the water coming up from underground to provide drinking water for the town. I can't see life without him let alone Torch. This is why I am offering the Tavern up as a home and base for you. I have closed it to normal business and will offer you all the food you need while you work." You can see that Val has moved some of the tables off the floor and set up bedrolls. "I wish I could offer something more comfortable but the Foundry is a tavern not an inn so this is the best I could do."
"Awe! That's so sweet of you." Meila gives her a great big hug.
"Don't worry. Uhm we're uhm gonna take care of it. Sgrack can handle pretty pretty much anything, and Woolf can sniff em out, can't you boyyyy? What a good dog."
Keth moves into the Tavern and looks around at the floor
His mind lost in thought as to what humnoids might have skin that could camoflage themselves. He turns to the training he had received as he says Thank you
He drops his pack in the furthest corner from the front door.
he added to Meila Hes a wolf
Woolf followed The Master into the room and looked around at the others. when the friendly Elf Woman said his name he cocked his head and wagged his tail...moving over beside her he extended his head to receive pettings.
Val:"Do you, have any plans about how you are going to proceed into the caves? I greatly worry for Kohnnir but many have already gone missing in the caves before him and I don't want any further loss of life on my account so I urge you to be cautious." Val asks with concern in her voice.
”There are a few other leads to investigate in the town before we proceed down into inevitable battle below, we’re hoping they might help us glean more information to assist us in our preparations?”
Keth hesitates. and glances at Val, curious as to why she would care how they were going to proceed...it seemed an odd question for the youthful ward. ...
the wolfish companion walked around the Tavern sniffing as canines do when they are in a new place.
Val:"While I won't stop you from looking for other leads as I know your job is also to find out why the torch went out, I am anxious for news of Kohnnir."
"It is not unlikely that Father's disappearance and the Torch's going out are connected events." said Sron. "Besides, Sgrack is more than formidable enough to protect all of us," he added motioning in the direction of the 'dead' repair robot.
he added to Meila Hes a wolf
"And they're all good boys, uhm well except those who are good girls."
"Oh I remember we're gonna get water breathing magic from the priests, and then we we're gonna swim. And uhm... we're gonna talk to the scrapyard person, since his shed acted like a torch. There was one one or two other things, right Sron? I've I've forgotten."
"The Ropefists," said Sron quietly. "There is more than one reason to believe that they are involved somehow."
Keth looked at Sron and nodded saying Agreed! perhaps a bit too emphatically.
hearing a familiar 'good boy' coming from the elf woman he looked up with a doggy grin and wagged his tail then resumed smelling.
Val:"Well I don't want to delay you any longer so let me get you all some lunch and set you on your way."
For anyone who doesn't ask for anything specific Val does her best to guess what you may want. She disappears into the kitchen for a short while and comes out with a small variety of local fare some river fish from the Sellen, some local caught venison of which she provides a larger than average portion to Sgrack knowing he doesn't get a good meal often. Numeria isn't known for good soil so available vegetables are only the roughest of them with bitter greens but most of you are used to this. She also offers some pitchers of water and juices. "Let me know if there is anything else I can get for you all."
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"Hum... they are making plans. I should not disturb them. Did Khonnir, missed the caves? Where is he then? No, I think I do not understand. Val wants we to be safe I think..."
Irizzle: "There few other lead 'vestigate?' town before down battle, hopping might help more information?"
What is 'vestigate'? A thing made of lead? Not sure, but there are a few of them somewhere in town. I think we need these 'vestigate' to battle. Does hopping with might will help? I really doubt... this small person is insane I think...
Val: "Stop look lead job, find Torch out Khonnir."
Val is not happy. She does not think these lead 'vestigates' will help. Khonnir is out there in Torch? Or in caves under Torch?
Sron: "Unlike father disappear Torch event. Sgrack protect."
"I also don't like Khonnir to disappear from Torch... of course I'll protect them and Khonnir!"
Meila: "Remember water magic priest them swim. Talk person Torch."
"Hum... don't remember seen a magic priest made of water. Do we need to find him? Not sure... she speaks weirdly. Talk to which person in Torch? There are many!"
Sron: "Ropefists. More reason believe."
This person we need to talk is a Ropefist? Bad thing... Ropefists are bad people.
Val: "Not want delay long lunch. Away."
Val don't want us to wait long after lunch... she is correct. We should be away looking for Khonnir, not fighting the Ropefists or looking for the lead 'vestigates' or talking to magic priest made of water! She is correct.
Sgrack hums to himself as he eats whatever is brought to him, remembering to say thanks to Val. Aside from that, he tries to pay attention to what is discussed but is soon lost by the many difficult words he is hearing. In doubt, he asks. "Val right. Khonnir not safe. Khonnir not wait fight Ropefists. Not wait find magic water priest. Not wait find lead 'vestigates' in Torch... What be 'vestigate'?"
Meila is one of those people who insists that she isn't hungry, but mooches off people later on. She'll just have some water.
Meila nods her head to what Sgrack is saying, but it's clear she has no idea what his words mean.
Keth, having less manners than many, attacked the food that was brought with a fervor. He looked at Sgrack as he ate and watched the others as they talk. He could see the careful thought behind furrowed brow. He puzzled over what The Orc was saying.....
Sgrack, The Ropefists may have information of the caves, or even be behind Khonnir's disappearance so we need to question them. We may have to swim and if the distance we have to swim is long, we may need something to help us breath underwater.
He pauses not sure what 'lead vestigate' is. He goes back to eating the venison put before him.
Woolf moved to sit by the table Keth was sitting at and drool pooled up on the floor below his cocked head...as his eyes focused on the meat put on the table by Val. His feet gave eager steps back and forth.
Then The Master pulled off a big chuck of runner and dropped it on the floor in front of him. A few sniffs and then he gobbled the meat down fast. He looked around for who could give him more....
Val:"Oh my! I have forgotten our furry friend here." Val rushes back into the kitchen only to return a moment later with her hands behind her back. "Can you sit like a good boy?" Val waits for Woolf to either sit or acknowledge her in some form to know that he understands that she means to give him something. Failing that she looks to Keth for a sign that it is ok. Once this happens she will put a plate with a nice size raw fish, bones guts and all before Woolf as she recognizes that he is a Wolf and would appreciate whole prey. Assuming Wolf is not food aggressive she will afterwards place a bowl of water next to the fish and give him some head scutches once has he begins to eat.