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...and then Kalev full round attacks.
Taking that bardiche across a national boarder constitutes an invasion.
The carriage shoots out of the tunnel and onto one of the viaducts of Delve. The cluster of towers that forms Fort Pinnicle looms large ahead of you. You are swallowed by one of the brick-lined enterances on it's flank and shudder to a halt in the same gloomy station you were first carted into when you entered the hidden city. As you step off the cart Mrs. Hettika also disembarks: "I will file your citizenship papers now. I will see you again in four days. Thank-you again for everything you've done for Delve so far" With that she walks away down the platform. Private Karnekson moves the other way towards a large elevator at the far end. "Follow me, guys" Entering the elevator you're sent downward with a rumble of gears. The movement of the box lurches sideways for a few moments before clanging to a halt. The doors rumble open and you find yourselves in a huge, virtually empty hall. Dozens of elevator enterences ring the oval edge of the space, and great sets of double doors some 100' high dominate both ends. One set is firmly shut, whilst the other is slightly ajar - you can hear the clamour of the city through it. "This is where the troops training in the citadel enter and leave when the shifts change. This hall is packed three times a day. And when a regiment deploys, those inner doors are opened and a thousand men and their machines march out. It's a sight to behold, I can tell you" As it is, there are only five lonesome figures in the hall. Four of them have spindly limbs and thin plumes of steam rising from their backs - automata, though more clumsy looking and lacking the heavy armour of the ones you fought. The fourth is a young man in plain overalls. He and the machines all carry mops. "Good shift, Jurgan?" Karnekson calls out as he leads you towards the door "As good as ever, sir!" The man calls back before continuing his work. Karnekson remarks: "It's always useful to be friendly to the caretakers" As you're about to leave you see one of the constructs starts to limp, and it's engine labours slightly more loudly. Jurgan shouts something at it in a language you don't recognize and it freezes. He starts to walk towards it as you leave the chamber and step onto the wide streets of the Crown tier. This is the tier that is supposed to be where Delve worked spend their golden years. It does indeed seem rather plesant. Elegant horseless carriages puff by, and the occasional group of middle aged men and women stoll by you in outlandish and intricate clothing, chatting merrily. To your surpise, the street is dotted with green trees. They are baths in a golden yellow light the shines over the rooftops of spacious looking detatched houses. It's source is an orb too bright to look directly at that sits in the distance inside a complex glass structure lined rows of green vegatation. This must be the Shaded Sun. After fifteen minutes of walking you come to a wide plaza. At it's center is a hole in the surface of the tier through which four vast chains run. Each chain carries a stream of glass-sheathed platforms - two of them move upward, and two of them downward. Each chain is hemmed in by a pair of lesser elevators that rise fifty feet from the tier's surface. Whenever a platform rises or falls to be level with the surface of the tier, one of these elevators matches it's speed for about a minute until it reaches the limit of it's travel. It then moves up or down to it's starting position, leaving it's counterpart to move with the next chain-bound platform. "The loading lifts were only added a year ago. Before that, the Hoist was endlessly stopping and starting. It's far quicker and easier to ride now." You cross the plaza and climb a wide flight of stairs to the top of one of these loading lifts. The platform thuds into position in front of you half a minute after you reach the top. Walking onto it, you wait a whilst long before it starts to descend. The moment it does, the surface of the Hoist's platform is revealed, seperated from your own platform by a gap only a couple of inches wide. Karnekson steps over the threshold and you follow. A minute later the wall of the tier rises up behind you and cuts the loading lift from view. You are on your way. You descend for about fifteen minutes, down through the huges pipes and ducts of the Crucible tier. When you reach the next loading lift you are joined by a few dozen men and women in a variety of uniforms and half a dozen in what look like casual garments. The platform is filled but not uncomfortably so. Chatter surrounds you. A group of soot-covered men carrying heavy tools stands next to you. One of them looks over to you and says politely: "Welcome to Delve" There a murmer of assent from others around you. After that, the other passengers go back to talking amongst themselves. Most of them, along with yourselves, step off the Hoist platform at the next loading lift. You are carried down to street level and step out onto the Cradle tier. The cradle is much denser than the Crown. Flat-roofed houses run either side of the street in an unbroken line, punctuated only by much larger square towers that reach halfway to the tier above and by the collossal supports of the tiers themselves. You walk for another ten minutes. There are many more people on the pavements here and the vehicles that lumber down the roads are larger and burdened with obsidian, vats of water or piles of crates. It's busy, but it doesn't feel crowded. You come to a building that stands out from the others. It stands in one of the terrances but it's front is fully open and lined with a work surface like the bar of a tavern. Piles of crates can be seen in the room beyond. A queue of people is being served by five staff members of some sort. Karnekson opens a bag slung over his sholder and pulls out a small device. It takes the form of three sets of dials able to show numbers from 1 to 999. A fourth set of dials has been neatly riveted to one end, also with three digets displayed. "This is a block counter, known to most as a 'ticker'. Delve currency, for want of a better term, is the block. That's the value of one of those small chunks of obsidian that you saw Mrs. Hattika ignite. Most people have three allowances of blocks - one for food and drink from the Sun, one for furniture and tools from the Engine and one for enterance to shows at the Octagon, the Mirrorhall and other entertainments. As they spend their allowance these dials tick down. They're wound back up again every six days." He points to the fourth reel "That's exclusive to you guys. It counts your arms allowance. Because of your status as mercenaries with the right to leave Delve you're allowed to own your weapons, armour and wargear. Hence, you've got that counter to let you save for them. You won't be able to get military kit from an outlet like that one because security isn't tight enough. You'll have to go to Gisslerom Factory." He passes the counter in his hand to Vhailor, the takes more out of the bag and passes one to each of you. "Flip it over and you'll see a silver plate and a sharp stud. Prick your finger on that stud and your image will appear on the silver plate. That stops anyone else using your allowance. I was going to take you through through how the outlets worked, but there's just been the weekly rewinding so they're pretty busy. It's easy enough - just talk to one of the storekeepers" The soldier-come-tourguide checks a slip of paper and leads you to a tall, thin tower. He takes six keys out of his bag and hands each of you one of them before going through the door at the base of the tower. It isn't locked. You ascend flight after flight of stairs, passing nine floors and getting right to the top of the tower. Passing through another door you see find youself in a circular room with a large stove at the centre and four tables surrounding it. Ten doors lead out of the room in addition to the larger one that you came in through. "The room numbers are on the keys. Says here that the four other rooms are all occupied, so you'll be meeting your neighbors soon enough. I'm going to leave you all to it - the Helix Order won't wait. Be in that enterence hall in Fort Pinnicle in three days and twenty hours time. You need to get into lift sixteen. Until then, enjoy your new hometown." He leaves, closing the door behind him. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- "Sirs, Madam, I am Olivia Kerrow, First Adept of the Helix Order fifth conclave. We are a mercenary regimate beseiging the structure you know as the choking tower, which is in fact the chimney of an underground city filled with the withered, brainwashed servants and ever-turning machines of Farkus Xoud." This little revelation results in raised eyebrows but the concil keep their composure. Olivia continues in the same dejected monotone: "To fight this war we need to buy in spell components, scrolls, potions, ammo, food and everything else a regiment at war needs. We weren't getting the funding we needed from our employers but the bonus on offer for victory made it worth looking for...other revenue streams" "It's complicated to explain, but the nature of Delve's war machines means we have an abundance of obsidiance chunks and bits of scrap machinery. This can't be carted to nearby towns and sold, but my superiors - NOT me, I'm just a foot soldier - hit on the idea of staging undead attacks on Iadenveigh and having one of our recon units collect funds from you for stopping them. The attacks were strung out just enough to keep them dangerous but managable." "That's the whole truth. I'll answer any questions you have. I don't want to die" There's stunned silance. Bordana breaks it, and her voice is almost a whisper as she keeps her rage in check: "I see. Well then. Now that the attacks have stopped, it seems the 'Flameslingers' are no longer required. Time the get RID of them" Tarrend turns to her "We need to be careful. These imposters are powerful enough to kill many of our own if we don't set thing up right. We should call a meeting, get them in a room away from their carpet and hemmed in on all sides. Then we can reveal their secrets and let the townsfolk do the rest." Kelt doesn't take is eyes off Olivia "I'll be at the head of them. Huron is mine. Obadiah, you say we should spare this woman the rope? WHY?" Obadiah, before you can answer the door of the hall slams open. One of the men whom you recognize from the contingent guarding the bridge stands there panting for breath. "I have to interrupt...there something come from the east...plume of steam and smoke..." Bordana draws her knife "I'll watch her. The rest of you go, now!" Obadiah, you run with Kelt and Tarrand into the town square and up the central street. You round a bend and see the bridge in the distance, several fields after the buildings end. Something has come to a halt in front of it. It looks like a fortified barn has been built onto iron wheels and driven across the countryside. Steam rises from it and you can see the unnatural motion of the machinery jutting from it's rear half. The doors at it's prow are open, and a figure charges out. At this distance you can't make out what it is but you can tell it's larger than a troll. It crashes over the bridge and, with a crash audiable from where you stand, breaks through the barricade without slowing.
"Do not be alarmed by the protests, Baron. That will be the complaints of lawbreakers and oppertunists who hoped Kardas would be soft. I have seen it in the past. Most of your subjects will be quietly relieved that emotionless armoured figures stand between them and the horrors of the forest rather than their own sons and husbands."
This is the aim for half a dozen levels time Also, since I can match the prepared or known spells of any class if I need to, I could make allied spellcaster work quite well if anyone else wanted to take it. +1 round to the duration of Valen's battlefield control spells could be nice, though I would then be casting them too which might be a bit OTT. +1 HP restored by all cure spells if healing in tandem with Acune, though, could be very useful. |