Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Inactive)

Game Master Losonti

At the mention of the outbreak, Tyn perks up.

"Has anyone determined the source of these migraines? Their duration? They have been, in all cases, temporary...right?"

Shesik raises a hand and then quickly hides it again. ”Your honor, may we be permitted to examine the mechanical creature that Master Baine brought back from his first expedition?” she shuffles her feet a bit avoiding making eye contact with Madame Dolga. ”It may help us figure out what we’ll be facing down there?”

"People first started getting them about eight days ago, so right around when the torch went out. No idea how the two things are related, but they clearly are."

Shesik's question is met with a shrug. "You'll get no objection from me on that, but it's in Khonnir's house; you'll need to get permission from his family. Either these two," she says, indicating Zelvin and Hekau, "or Val."

"Are the chambers being explored a new discovery? How extensive is the structure?" The soldier in Xaerai is already running scenarios and calculations. "Four expeditions, probably four or five people to a team...whatever's down there has claimed nearly a score of explorers already." The dwarf looks like she already regrets pledging to give up her share of the monetary reward.

"With your blessing, Councilor, we'll take our leave and get started right away."

Shesik's question is met with a shrug. "You'll get no objection from me on that, but it's in Khonnir's house; you'll need to get permission from his family. Either these two," she says, indicating Zelvin and Hekau, "or Val."

Correct. Such a decision would not be within Councilor Dolga's purview. What was Shesik's purpose in asking the Councilor?

Zelvin frowns. He felt like he had been out of the loop for a while, but maybe that was his own fault. I haven't been so forward about these problems until Mister Khonnir didn't come back, he thought. I wonder if I knew any o' those Brigh followers, or ever saw them at the temple.

He shakes his head to himself and smiles again. "Is there anything special we'll need to prepare to get into the caves?" he asks. "Like a rope, or anything like that?"

Dolga nods approvingly at Xaerai's questions about the caves. "Khonnir only discovered them a week ago, so I have no idea how extensive they are. The only knowledge we have is what Khonnir's team reported, and no one with firsthand knowledge is available. I'll tell you what I know."

"There's an underwater passage connecting these caves to Weeping Pond (#9 on the map of Torch). Khonnir noticed a large number of human footprints on the pond's banks—he was there the day the fires went out testing the water to ensure it hadn't suddenly grown more toxic—and he realized that a sizable group of people had entered the pond but had not emerged."

"You might ask who made these tracks, and, again, we still don't know. Word about town puts blame on the Technic League, but I think that's too convenient and obvious an answer. Khonnir was hoping to find out more by delving deeper into the caves, but who knows what he found in there...or indeed, if he's even still alive?" She shoots an apologetic look at the councilor's adopted children. "Sorry, boys."

"From what Khonnir told us, the caves are inhabited by several enormous vermin and other scavengers, along with some strange humanoids who had the ability to blend into the shadows of the cave walls, and a nest of gremlins. Khonnir believed this indicated a deeper connection in the caves to the Darklands, but of more immediate interest was his discovery of a wall of solid metal deep in the caves. A wall made of a skymetal alloy called glaucite. He said it was like the kind we mine from the hills and surrounding plains, but formed into a structure with doors. It was near one of these doors that Khonnir found the broken automaton that he brought back after his first expedition."

When Zelvin speaks, she turns to him again. "A practical question. You can always find a use for rope, but there's sure to be other things you might need. Once you’re on the job, I'll give each of you a writ that you can show to any of the merchants in town for a flat 20% discount on any gear you need to purchase—I wish I could offer a greater discount than that, but that’s the best I can do. You already know this, but Val has closed down your father's tavern, the Foundry, for the time being. She's told me that any group that’s going into the caves to look for her father can use the tavern, free of charge, as a headquarters and a place to rest between forays."

"Finally, the entrance to the caves is flooded. You’ll need to swim a bit to get to the caves. Joram Kyte has agreed to cast water breathing on any group to aid in entering the caves—free of charge, of course. You can find him at the temple of Brigh or up at Crowfeather Palace when you’re ready to go."

Zelvin jumps excitedly at the brief mention of the Darklands, but then looks down somewhat self-consciously and casually rearranges his expression into one of polite attentiveness. He shakes his head stubbornly at the dwarf's apology and murmurs, "We'll find him, I just know it."

It was hard to put into words, but Zelvin felt like he couldn't leave Torch until he had put everything right first, and that began with Mister Khonnir. And he really wanted to leave Torch. We'll find him, he repeated to himself.

He scratched the back of his neck. He wanted to like Joram Kyte, but something about the priest had always rubbed him the wrong way. He was kind and sympathetic, and surely Zelvin wouldn't be here if the man hadn't insisted on the temple taking him in, but he also certainly got his money's worth out of Zelvin while he lived there as a boy. Zelvin always went to bed sore and worn out from all the physical labor. If Mister Khonnir hadn't have come along, I'd probably look like an old man, worn out like an old tarpaulin, he thought glumly.

Shesik glances at Zelvin's odd reaction to the Dwarven counselor's words, but her attention is brought back to the elder wizard's investigation. "You say master Baine found human footprints? How was he so sure they were human? Could they have belonged to robots or something similar? Something like the automaton he recovered?" She leans forward anxiously awaiting a response.

Is there no end to these murderous robots?

"Khonnir Baine is highly intelligent. I believe he could distinguish the footprints of a robot from those of a human-like being by weight, gait, and stride length.
Additionally, Khonnir Baine did encounter humanoid beings inside the caves. These humanoids have the ability to blend into the shadows of the cave walls. I do not know if the footprints of these beings are easily distinguishable from those of humans.
While I consider it likely that there are robots to be found in the caves, our information suggests that there are other entities to be found in there as well.
I believe we should go speak to Val about examining the automaton."

"Well, let us not dally then. Time may be of the essence if we expect to bring anyone from the expedition back in the preferred living state!"

"Agreed. Let's head back to the tavern, and see what Val says." He shakes his head ruefully.

With a polite bow to Councillor Dolga, Xaerai turns on her heel and follows her new companions out.

"So Val is the eldest?" she asks Zelvin and Hekau on their way over to the tavern. "How long have you three been living here?"

"Val and Mister Khonnir came to Torch a few years ago, and he adopted me and Hekau after that. So even though Val is younger n' both of us, she's been part of the family longer," he explains.

(I don't know exactly how many years ago Khonnir came to Torch. I picture like seven or eight years? I said Zelvin was living at the temple to Brigh before Khonnir adopted him, so I imagine he was in his late teens when he began his apprenticeship.)

"I am not certain of my age. I am the newest to the family, having been rescued by Khonnir Baine five years ago. Val is recognized as having the closest relationship to Khonnir Baine. If he is deceased - which I hope is not the case - I would expect Val to inherit all of his possessions even in the absence of a written will.
It seems proper for her to have authority over his belongings in his temporary absence. Even if that authority is not based in law, it is based in compassion; treating Val with deference rather than confrontation may avoid aggravating a difficult situation for her.
Of the three of us, Val is most grieved by Khonnir Baine's disappearance. I know that Zelvin also hopes for Father's safe return. And, although I do not process emotions as they do, I would regard Father's safe return as beneficial for him, for his family, and for the people of Torch."

So seven or eight years for Zelvin, five for Hekau? Sounds about right.

Shesik shrugs and turns back to her recent companions. "Very well, let's go see if your sister will let us take a look at your father's trophy." At least this one is already dead, hopefully it'll stay that way. "Then, I guess, we go swimming." Thankfully most of my gear is weatherproof.

She follows the others without a thought to the elder dwarf behind them.

Eight years sounds about right. Sorry for the delay, yesterday got away from me.

As promised, Dolga gives each of you a writ for a 20% discount at any merchant in town, then dismisses you with wishes of good luck and safe returns.

The journey to the Foundry Tavern (Location #12 on the map of Torch) doesn't take long. A collection of three buildings rather than a single combined structure, it consists of the tavern, the foundry, and Khonnir's home behind it. He often debuts new inventions to fascinated crowds, and the tavern is almost always packed. Space in the foundry is often rented out to traveling smiths and metalworkers.

Please roll a perception check, and arrange yourselves on the eastern side of the map on slide 3.

Hekau approaches the Foundry, unaware that anything may be awry.
Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Really unaware!

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Zelvin is moderately aware of his surroundings, though he speaks nervously as he leads their new companions to the tavern, dwelling with distaste on the thought of needing to convince Val of something.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20 (22 vs constructs or traps; additional +2 to avoid being surprised in the surprise round of combat)

Shesik follows the brothers to the home they share with their unusual family. Her gaze wanders over the three buildings, keeping watch for anything out of the ordinary.

Tyn follows in and takes a look around as he does so,

"Go figure, the envy of all other local taverns closed down, and I'm no longer slinging booze at one of the establishments no doubt benefitting from its absence. One door closes..."

He shrugs

"Not that I am complaining, mind you. Just the irony of it all!"

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

He winces as another painful surge erupts in his cranium. He starts muttering again,

"Blasted aliens and their foul technology! I will find the source and ram it up some extraterrestrial behind!"

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Xaerai frowns at Tyn. "Why doesn't it affect the rest of us, if you think a device is doing it to you? My uncle had migraines, but he didn't go around blaming gremlins or whatnot."

Feeling his normally self-assured expertise has been slighted, a pang of anger erupts from the depths of whatever infernal heritage from which the Teifling was originally bred. He scowls at Xaerai, waggling his finger at her,

"Now listen up you...you...you"

His eyes narrow and then he cocks his head,

...You know what? You have a great point there Little Miss! And here I was afraid my defenses were waning."

He runs his hands over his metallic horns, smiles and claps the dwarf on the back,

"Ha! Thank you for reassuring me, there. But seriously though, their abominable heathen robots will be eating Alkahest Cakes for breakfast! And I won't hesitate one bit to shove some of the spare parts up the kaboodles of their masters if given even half a chance."

He then pauses and starts stroking his chin,

"Hmmm...gremlins you say?" He shakes the thought out of his head-at least for the time being.

Xaerai glares at the tiefling. "My name is Xaerai Stormforge, 'Tyn Foyle'. If you Little Miss me again you'll be little missing some teeth!" With another baleful glare the dwarf turns and continues her march to the tavern to meet this Val person.

Zelvin watches Tyn Foyle and Xaerai face off with his mouth agape, not sure what he should do, and then he jumps. "That scream sounded like Val!" he cries, and he races toward the small stone house behind the tavern.

My audioreceptors must be malfunctioning...
Hekau follows Zelvin.
Zelvin, when you move yourself on the map, feel free to place Hekau just behind you.

Jaw set in a grim line, Xaerai follows as quickly as her shorter legs will allow.

Shesik starts as the faint sound of screams emanates from ahead. ”Someone’s in trouble. In the house.” She crouches into a fighting stance and advances to the ally between the Khonnir's foundry and the tavern. Peering around the corner towards the home of the Baine clan she quickly looks back at the others and waves them forward.

Xaerai and Tyn, feel free to take a move action as well.

As the party rushes toward Khonnir's home, they can hear the sound of crashing furniture coming from the house, but no more screams.

The party is up, do your thing!

Tyn tries to fight back an approving smirk as Xaerai unleashes her caustic retort. He thinks to himself,

"Definitely gotta be some infernal somewhere down that bloodline. How adorable!"

Had the alarm not been raised, he probably would have gotten a knuckle sandwich served up on short bread. As such, all expression of his amusement fades before it even had any chance to think about showing. Not exactly sure how "lucky" this turn of events is for him, he follows his allies toward the ruckus.

Zelvin rushes forward. "Val?" he shouts. "Val!"

Double move.

Shesik hurries down the narrow ally towards the house. Frell, what if our quarry woke up? Gotta stop it before it tears through the whole town.

That’s a double move toward the house.

All amusement gives way to a panicked sense of divine purpose as Tyn sprints with reckless abandon to catch up with his new friends.

An image of his adopted father appears in his mind's eye,

"This is it boy-o! Time to shine...time to BOOM!"

Full round movement (4x Speed) Defenses for next round- AC:12 Touch:10

Hekau follows behind Zelvin.
Unknown situation... more information needed.
Double move.

Movement from initially hearing the screams + a double move this turn should get me here.

"Hekau, Zelvin, how large was that machine your da done brought up from the caverns below?" Xaerai advances on the house in a steady lope, shield covering her torso and hiding her right hand from the house, which draws a muzzle-loaded pistol which has clearly seen hard use.

As the party rushes toward the house, the sound of chaos continues to emit from inside. Another scream, louder this time, is immediately followed by the crunching of wood.

The party is up again!

Continuing her approach to the house, Xaerai covers the windows with her pistol and calls, "Val, are you there? I'm a friend, Hekau and Zelvin are here too. If you can, stay put we are coming to get you!"

Shesik hurries forward and attempts to open the door. ”Val, help is coming! Make yourself safe, keep away from it!” she hollers as she hauls on the door.

Dont know if the door is locked or barred, but if it isn’t it should now be open.

Being just a bit more wary of his surroundings, Tyn moves in closer to support the rescue effort.

"Is that door locked? If it is, then let me have a crack at it!"

Double move (defenses back to normal)

Hekau approaches. Single move.
Probable cause of disturbance: construct recovered by Khonnir Baine.
Probable weakness of construct: electricity.
Accessing spells...

He uses a standard action to prepare Shocking Grasp into his open slot, using his Magical Epiphany feat.

Zelvin continues to race forward, stopping behind Shesik and trying to peer past her into the house. "Val! Val!" he cries, nearly panicked at the lack of a response from her.

The door is unlocked and, thanks to Shesik, it is now open, in case that alters anyone's turns.

The door at the end of the hallway slams open and then shut as Val flees through it, barely pauses at the sight of Shesik, and runs to shelter behind Zelvin.

"Thank Brigh you're here!" the young girl exclaims in between rapid, almost panicked breaths. "That machine father brought back just woke up and started smashing up the room, and when I went to see what was going on, it started chasing me! You've got to stop it before it wrecks the whole house!"

As she says this, the same door she came through shakes once, then twice, as something heavy impacts it repeatedly. The third time, however, the door explodes outward in a shower of splinters as a vaguely humanoid machine bursts through. Propelled by three legs in a tripod, its single blazing red eye locks onto Shesik and advances toward her with a shuddering, grinding pace.

"Awọn ilọsiwaju ni ilọsiwaju," says the machine, in a language none of you have ever heard before.

The party is up again! If you have the Technologist feat, or Local Ties (Engineering), go ahead and drop your Knowledge (Engineering) checks here!

Note that Hekau does speak Androffan, if that is what the language is. As the Player's Guide notes, he could not get it as a starting language from a high Int, but could get it through a rank in Linguistics, which he has done.

Construct is hostile and activated. Assessing capabilities:
Knowledge (Engineering) with Local Ties: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Although Shesik is blocking the doorway, Hekau still sees an opening.
I believe I can still attack but with cover on the touch attack; if that is not the case, I will change my action.

Increasing magic output to maximum...
Going to use both Focused Spells and Nanite Surge for Hekau's "one big spell" per day.

Hekau casts Shocking Grasp and moves up to deliver the spell with a touch. The circuit-tattoos on his skin glow brightly as he reaches past Shesik to deliver a powerful jolt of electricity to the construct.
Touch, Nanite Surge: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
Damage, Focused Spells: 5d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 2, 1, 5) = 17

"You're not exactly a looker either, pal," Xaerai drawls at the robot, leveling her pistol but not liking her field of fire. "Shesik, back up! I'll take the shot!"

Knowledge (Engineering): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Readied Shot: 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 3 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 15 Damage: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 4) + 2 = 7

Interestingly, I believe both Khonnir and Val speak Androffen, something I remember from my previous game. But I think it's cooler if Hekau speaks it and Zelvin doesn't, so I'll assume for whatever reason Khonnir didn't teach it to him.

Knowledge (engineering) with Local Ties: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Shielding Val with his body, Zelvin also readies a pistol shot for when Shesik steps out of the way.

Activates Arcane Strike as a swift action.

Literally just slapped my own forehead, I completely forgot about that. Sorry!

Before the machine can take any further hostile action, Hekau surges forward with his electric touch, instantly overwhelming its fragile circuitry. Smoke pours from its "head" as electricity arcs off of its frame until, finally, it tips forward and crashes to the ground.

From behind Zelvin, Val pokes her head out and, in surprised relief, runs to give Hekau a grateful hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Good work, Hekau, you just instantly killed the poor thing! :P It happened to have a vulnerability to electricity, so you actually did 25 damage to it.

Zelvin puts down his pistol as the robot collapses. He tentatively approaches it to look it over more carefully. "You know, I reckon this is a repair drone, built to seek out and mend other technological devices. I wonder what made it wake up all of a sudden? It was clearly malfunctioning; weren't going to do no fixing on Val, that's for sure." He grins at Val and the others.

As Val runs past her Shesik, stunned that her worries are true, freezes for a moment. When Hekau's spell drops the device, she kneels down and examines the smoking ruins before her.

Speaking over her shoulder to the others she asks, "Anyone here know what it just said?"

Knowledge (engineering): 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 3 + 2 = 18
No Technologist feat yet, but she still wants to see what she can make out about this thing.