Belwick, using Alisanne's tools, successfully completes the operation. Using two power cells, he first attaches a cell to the Ossie. Then, once Ossie has power independent of the complex, he can be moved. But before he's moved, Belwick attaches another power cell to the trap switch, keeping the island afloat.
All that remains then is to transfer Ossie into the Grand Master, which Ossie is able to talk the pair of adventurers through.
The Brain-In-A-Jar shuts down, and the lights on it dim.
The body of The Grand Master stands and rips the miniature cockpit out of its chest. It brushes itself off. The horrid visage breaks into a toothy grin. It laughs and you shiver.
Encounter Begins. Party is Surprised--Disadvantage on Initiative.
ROUND 1
1. Ossie The Bone Devil (13)
2. Belwick (12)
3. Venn (6)
4. Alisanne (5)
5. Caelius (2)
6. Baghotir (0)
Infernal Sting: Vs. Belwick
Then, it strikes. Its tail lashing out to sting Belwick. The stinger connects, for 15 Points of Piercing Damage and 22 Points of Poison Damage. Belwick is also Poisoned
Claw Vs. Belwick: Critical Hit for Slashing.
Belwick is down and dying.
Claw Vs. Alisanne: Hit for Slashing.
The Monster seems delighted to be outnumbered and in a scrap. It taunts you in the same lanugage you had telepathically projected at you before, but now it comes from this monster's fanged mouth.
Belwick needs to make a Death Saving Throw and then... Party is up.
There is no map. We're doing this narrative/Final Fantasy Style. There's little or no room to move. Everyone is in reach.
"THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T MESS WITH THIS S*+#!"
Venn, angered at the party bringing about their own demise, hurls himself in to the fray.
He marks the anathematic thing as his prey and rushes:
for
for
Venn connects twice.
ROUND 1
1. Ossie The Bone Devil (13) HITS
2. Belwick (12) DEATH SAVE
3. Venn (6) 2 HITS
4. Alisanne (5)
5. Caelius (2)
6. Baghotir (0)
Condition: None
- - -
”Curse your inevitable betrayal! My friend was nothing but nice to you, you fiend!” He worries about Belwick, but feels the urge to strike while he can. Baghotir attacks!
He then uses his bonus action to help heal Belwick, casting Lesser Restoration to end the poison effect.
"This is all your fault, Belwick. You can't die until you've apologized."
Alisanne backs as far away from the mech as she can. She glances around quickly and sees a large apparatus heaped in a corner.
"Hey! A little help here!"
At her words, the contraption vibrates and contorts itself into a vaguely humanoid shape, standing tall and ready for orders.
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"Oh s!!+!" Caelius curses as he was not expecting this bran to betray them after all their assistance. His hands are sweaty as they fumble around for his blade and shield. He draws it and slips in around the Grand Master's new brained body. His sword clangs off the dense shell once more adding more damage to it.
HP 84/84
AC 21 (14 w/o armor)
Short Rest Die 7/7
Second Wind 1/1
Action Surge 0/1
Superiority Die (D8; Disarming Attack, Sweeping Attack, Menacing Attack): 3/5
Belwick gasps as life returns to his body! The weird, wrecked machine animates and takes on a vaguely humanoid shape.
The Monster hisses at Alisanne, reacting to the sudden Divine Magic. It waves its finger at Alisanne, as if to say, "Naughty, Naughty".
Caelius enters the fray and scores a pair of hits, and Baghotir wades in, cleansing the poison from Belwick and scoring a hit of his own.
He slashes down at Belwick, looking to slay the mage.
or Advantage Vs. Prone and Hits for
Belwick once again is down and dying.
The devil turns its attention on Venn.
Hit for slashing and it tries to sting Venn...
and misses!
ROUND 2
1. Ossie The Bone Devil (13) 2 Hits, 1 Miss
2. Belwick (12) DEATH SAVE GO
3. Venn (6) GO
4. Alisanne (5) GO
5. Caelius (2) GO
6. Baghotir (0) GO
Venn loses his magical focus, but not his mortal focus. He continues to hack at the monstrosity, "Quit killing the noble!"
for
for
Venn scores two hits, and the devil is Bloodied
Venn, if you want to add some flavor to that bloodied condition with some narration describing an injury, go for it.
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"No matter how many times you return, I'll thrash you!"
Venn drops a strong attack from a high vom tag stance. The blade rips downward, cutting a swath of damage that exposes wires within the creature's bones.
He swings back, this time upward to leave a massive gash in the femur. Sparks fly and a spider crack forms around the point of contact.
The electricity illuminates Venn's face, highlighting a scowl to match the violence.
+Heroic Inspo!
Belwick's eyes open, only for Ossie to once more cut him down. The nobleman only manages to contribute a Wilhelm scream to the melee.
Belwick, I know you've done your best work on your back, but we need you on your feet!
She then throws some invectives at the demon.
and DisAdv on next melee attack.
or
The spell doesn't penetrate its defenses.
The Cleric and The Fighter remain.
Condition: None
- - -
Baghotir continues to press his attacks. ”Leave our noble alone!”
With his bonus action, he swings again!
"Take that you bastard!" he shouts as he whittles away a little more.
Hammer strikes bone! Two hits for 24 points of bashing damage.
The devil seems to enjoy the pain, and relishes it.
Caelius is unnerved at how much this devilish machine enjoys the ain. He tries to locate some sort of the weakness in the abominations fleshy electr-mechanical body. He spots a weakness and drives his blade into the actuator and slips it out the other side of the devil's body with his blade.
HP 84/84
AC 21 (14 w/o armor)
Short Rest Die 7/7
Second Wind 1/1
Action Surge 0/1
Superiority Die (D8; Disarming Attack, Sweeping Attack, Menacing Attack): 3/5
Caelius scores a pair of hits.
The Longsword of Kord bites twice and the devil is close to death. But the monster isn't slowed down--it wants to die.
Scorpion Tail Vs. Venn: HIT for piercing damage, Poison and he is Poisoned.
It then follows up with two claws...
and One hits for slashing.
ROUND 3
1. Ossie The Bone Devil (13) 2 Hits, 1 Miss
2. Belwick (12) GO
3. Venn (6) GO
4. Alisanne (5) GO
5. Caelius (2) GO
6. Baghotir (0) GO
Condition: None
- - -
Baghotir swings once more, trying to do what he can to end the threat!
Struggling to hold on to his hammer, Baghotir tries again with his bonus action!
Baghotir scores one hit!
Bloodied and a pale shade of green, Venn doesn't relent. He's seen this play before. His comrades will keep him going, and if not, such is the cycle of life and death:
for
for
the rangers technique changes, opting for a pair of horizontal swings for center mass. Each hacking as if he were felling a tree.
Venn's two hits slay the devil, which dissolves into black ichor before combusting and turning to ash, which scatters and is no more.
A cruel laugh echoes.
Everyone earns 1000 Experience Points.
"Destroyed twice, there shan't be a third time."
Venn doesn't look so good.
"Well now. That'll explain why the body was still around after we first slew the Grand Master," Belwick says, picking himself up off the ground. "The mind of the original devil was in the jar, having somehow been extracted from its body. It was never completely slain until now."
The nobleman is battered and bruised in spite of Alisanne's healing words. "We were duped by a devil. Myself chief amongst us, I'm embarrassed to say. But I take some heart in the fact that we still attempt to see the good in others. And in this case, we had the help needed to fix the book. The island will stay afloat."
"I need rest, and I think I'm not alone. If no one objects, I will cast a warding spell so that an alarm sounds if anything wanders in. It'll give me time to study all we've found as well."
Belwick tries to keep the reproach out of his tone when he turns to the East Wind. "You are part of my retinue now. With your training, please do not hesitate to come to my aid when I am attacked."
Baghotir watches their enemy turn to ash. "I guess the brain was the devil. Huh."
"I agree, we should rest. I should also caution - it's been a long day, and I'm running short of spells. I still have a few powers at my disposal, but it's a waning list. We've had some tough fights here, and may have more ahead of us."
"Happy to continue on, but I wanted to make it clear. I can heal us up a bit during our short rest, and maybe have a few tricks for another tough fight, but then I'm down to my hammer and ax." He grins though, happy to grit it out.
He looks to secure the room, putting himself at the door so if they're interrupted, they have to go through Baghotir first.
Alisanne looks to the East Wind. "If we rest here, will we be disturbed? Are there other forces here that we need to worry about?"
Turning her attention to the group, "I have a bit left in me, if we want to continue exploring. If you all need a significant amount of healing before we do, then I'll likely be taxed as far as magic goes."
The East Wind answers:
"You can rest, but time is short. This miniature island isn't connected to the main. It must be powered by those cylinders now that the brain is disconnected. But the main island is aloft based on the laborers below. If they stop working, then I don't know how long the island will stay floating on air.
Since you defeated the master, all of my brethren have fled or are fleeing."
"Hrm. As time is of the essence, and I don't want to fall to the valley floor below, let's heal and press on. We'll just have to do the best we can with what we have!"
He'll do some healing during a break (10m cast - Prayer of Healing (3rd)). Everyone receives...
"I have some healing yet - who needs it - or should I spread it around some more?"
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Alisanne offers her Handy Haversack to Venn. "Let's load up with loot and take as much of this out of this location as possible. I'll try to remove the book, but I want all of you out. If I get it wrong, I don't want all of you going down with me."
Before doing anything else, Alisanne approaches the book with care. Apart from what was already revealed, she wants to make sure the book isn't otherwise trapped. The devil could have been lying.
Look's safe!
As a precaution, Alisanne casts Fly on herself. She then takes out her tools and proceeds to try and disable the mechanism which will plunge them all to their doom.
I need to know what's going into the Handy Haversack. After that I will narrate the results of Alisanne's attempts to remove the book without setting off the trap.
"Good thinking. But please allow me a few minutes to identify the magic we've found, in case it can help us."
Belwick will proceed to cast Identify on all of the magic items they've found. The process will take 30-40 minutes.
Baghotir gathers what he can to help carry. He’ll focus on the (likely) heavier tech items.
He’ll stuff away what he can of the Components of value to tinkers, inventors, or artificers, worth 1,500 gp (link) and coinage (515 cp, 11,215 sp, 1,925 gp, and 85 pp - he does not bring the various containers and coffers) as well as the smaller gemstones for completeness (425 tiny gemstones worth 1 gp each, 44 small gemstones worth 10 gp each, 15 small gemstones worth 50 gp each, and a black pearl worth 500 gp).
As he stows the stuff, he stops a moment, realizing just how much cash this is! Holy cow.
Belwick casts his rituals and determines the properties and powers of the following items:
And
And this is a reminder that Identify does NOT reveal the presence or strength of curses or other... Magical Shenanigans.
Belwick is pleased with his findings. "The armor is quite practical, and is probably useful for Alisanne or Venn. The manual is incredible, but the effort needed to create this ghastly construct is beyond our means. I think the Quartermaster would find it interesting. The elixir is an excellent cure all. And the pipe is fascinating, though I can perform most of the magic it contains. Does anything fancy anyone?"
"Oh, and the armor must not be placed in any other extradimensional space. Unless you want to be sucked into the Astral Plane."
The party loads up packs and pouches and evacuates the treasury while Alisanne works.
It is a close thing, and it requires all of her focus and attention to detail, but she disarms the trap. The book is safely removed from the pedestal.
Gearbox has been watching the entire time, learning.
The book is Kwalish's personal journal and laboratory notes! Studying it may provide clues as to Kwalish's journey. His laboratory notes include diagrams, instructions, equations and theories. They could be used to duplicate his works, with time, labor, and the materials in the treasury.
The book and lab notes would be worth thousands of gold to a wealthy sage.
"Well done Alisanne! Well done!" Baghotir is impressed by her subtlety and skill.
With Venn down 40, and Belwick too still down a fair bit I expect, Baghotir uses his last second level for another healing for everyone - though less powerful than before.
for all
Then he spends his last spell to boost Venn a little further since he's often forming the front line.
for Venn only.
He has two potions of healing for emergencies...
"Let's free the slaves, and get everyone off this soon-to-be falling rock. Maybe we find the apparatus elsewhere as we go. It doesn't seem to be in this chamber anyway."
With the book secured, Belwick would look in it to see whether it contains the instructions necessary to craft the apparatus of Kwalish that they've been sent here to retrieve. "At the very least, we can see about building what the Quartermaster asked for. It may be enough in the end."
The hour grows late. It will be dark soon.
During another short rest, Belwick can examine the book.
Kwalish's Journal details the events leading up to his departure from this place:
-After travelling here, following rumors of a crashed, planer craft, Kwalish set up a lab and began exploring and experimenting. His entourage were all slain when they encountered a Sphinx. Using the new Arcana he discovered here, he set a trap for the Sphinx and subdued her. He then used the powers of this place to preserve all of his companions as Brains In Jars, promising to construct or find new bodies for them. The Sphinx, he grafted arcane technology onto her brain and set her as a guardian of this place while he continued his research. His research concerned two things: The Planar Craft itself and the location of a lost city called Daoine Gloine, some kind of pre-Suel settlement.
The tunnels below lead to the heart of The Planar Craft, but he hadn't gotten in before things took a turn.
Using the technology of the monastery, he located what he believed to be the locaiton of Daoine Gloine.
Kwalish describes a room that you all recognize as the room where you battled The Grand Master. In that room, he activated some kind of planar gateway, intending to use it to take him to Daoine Gloine. By mistake, he opened a gateway to The Nine Hells and two devils came through the gate.
In the last entry... Kwalish states that if he is forced to flee, he will go to Daoine Gloine and regroup, using the secrets there to come back and drive off the Devils.
The Lab notes provide enough instruction to build a flying barge, like the one that you used to cross to the monastery, or some kind of crawling machine to move over the Barrier Peaks. You also find instructions to open a portal from the Grand Master's throne to Daoine Gloine.
There is also mention that there WAS An Apparatus Of Kwalish here at some point. But there's no wreckage or remaining parts that look right.
To fullfill your quest for The Quartermasters of Iuz, you can attempt to construct an Apparatus of Kwalish from the notes--but that will take time and raw materials. You could try to pursue Kwalish and follow him to Daoine Gloine.
Baghotir shrugs, "Tricky business this. If we free the slaves, or they free themselves, this rock will fall into the valley - but we don't know how quickly. Could be we don't have time for a proper long rest, overnight as it were."
"I say we free the slaves and go through the portal to Daoine Gloine now. Hope that there's rest to be had on the other side. I don't see any other way to do it that doesn't involve us being slavers just to get some rest, you know?"
"Maybe we can learn how fast this place will crash below. Might be we do have time for a rest before going through the portal. I dunno." he looks to the smart-folk.
He'll get his gear together, and prepare to head below and free some folk.
"Can we even free them if this rock is set to crash immediately?" Caelius asks. "I agree with Baghotir, we need mre information before we free them. Perhaps we can signal ohers smarter than ourselves to look into this matter while we continue through the gate?"
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The East Wind tells you, "I once heard one of the overseers say that if the work fell behind, the fuel in the, 'Engines', would last for but a single day."