Tychi looks at Rand. "Oh? My apologies."
The Tengu knew it was a joke, and was messing with Rand.
Examining the locking mechanism and the door further, it appears that, when opened, the door would allow something relatively large to pass through...the sliding section of wall is at least ten feet high.
Working together, Carran and Figwidget finally disassemble the locking mechanism and, with a very light pull of the handle, confirm that the sliding 'rock' door is indeed unlocked.
Tychi motions for silence. "Seems quiet beyond, but gearworks can be amazingly quiet while waiting to kill you." He looks at Luke. "Did you want to take point this time? You seemed upset last time when someone else did... or rather, disappointed?"
"Tychi is right, no sound doesn't mean nothing is in there. This is just to be on the safe side Luke, do you mind taking the front?"
"Gearworks can be completely silent while waiting to kill you," Figwidget agrees. "Still, they tend to make ticking and clanking noises while moving around...."
He listens carefully through the newly-opened door, before following the others down the hallway.
(Take 10 on Perception for a result of 27.)
With Major Luke Rand poised to attack, Carran and Figwidget slide the door to an open position....although the door is quite large, the opening mechanism appears to have been constructed such that very little force is required to move it.
Your light reveals a plethora of discarded gears, half-constructed machines, and other dilapidated technological wonders filling this isolated cavern. Alchemical apparatuses and complex tinkering tools cover the half-dozen shelves and workbenches lining the walls. Scattered papers with arcane scrawling fill what little floor space is unoccupied by what could be described as unfinished works of mechanical art.
The cavern itself is divided into two discrete alcoves, the eastern most of which is relatively small (a tunnel of some twenty feet) whilst the more westerly alcove opens into a set of caves that continue to the north for around fifty feet.
Both tunnels seem lifeless until your eyes set upon a large mechanical construct slumped at the end of the eastern alcove...it is, unmistakably, a Brass Guardian...it's form exudes menace yet it appears motionless...
Tychi tilts his head. "Mr. Not Figwidget, this appears to be your expertise, and laboratory? I suggest the brass guardian may be dangerous, and we should proceed with caution. Perhaps you could use these parts to build a few things while we recover from our efforts thus far. Assuming we can safely deal with the Brass Guardian who is glowering at us from his current position without loss of life."
Figwdiget looks around the room, his eyes lighting up. "This is wonderful!" he says. "I could spend days in here, seeing what lost treasures there are!"
He starts to step forward when his eyes fall on the Brass Guardian. "...oh."
He looks at the Brass Guardian from where he is, trying to discern if it's still animate.
(Take 10 on Perception for a result of 27 and on Craft (Clockwork) for a result of 39.)
Figwidget - The windings on the Brass Guardian aren't energised...the clockwork is completely inert and will remain so unless someone winds it. On a more detailed inspection, opening panels and examining the inner workings of the guardian, it appears that someone with a degree of skill has been tinkering with the machine...there are newer parts replaced within some of the mechanisms plus evidence of attempted modifications in the programming core....
There is something else though....something that should not be there...flecks of green mineral deposits, not dissimilar in colour to what you saw at the Brass Guild.
Tychi nods. "If the guardian is inert, Mr. Not Figwidget, then I suggest we close the door, and rest here for a while. Nike can heal our wounds, and we can take our time exploring this room. It may provide valuable clues as to what is happening to the guardians in town. It is also a rather defensible location, and if we are lucky, whoever is involved may return and answers be had from them."
Figwidget nods. "The Guardian is indeed inert. If we don't wind it, we should be OK. But I don't understand everything I'm seeing here. There are green mineral deposits in here that shouldn't be here. I don't know why there here. While the Guardian looks safe enough to me, I suppose it's possible that these mineral deposits might form some sort of magical power source for it...."
Figwidget will attempt to take out some key components from the Guardian, so that even if the mineral deposits form some sort of power source, the Guardian should remain inert and not dangerous. (Take 10 on Craft (Clockwork) for a result of 39.)
"Hopefully that will make it safe, if we wish to rest here a bit and heal up. Now, as for everything else here.... Oh, and, by the way, I really am Figwidget. My true body is at home in my Vault, but my consciousness, my memories, everything that makes me me is here in this alchemical doppleganger."
Figwidget eagerly looks through the room for any things of interest either to his alchemical pursuits or to his clockwork pursuits. He'll dig through and look for anything hidden (including secret doors), but then after that will look at the notes, components, and devices to see if there's anything particularly interesting. He'll spend time on the search.
(Take 20 on Perception for a result of of 37; take 10 on Craft (Clockwork) for a result of 39; take 10 on Craft (Alchemy) for a result of 31.)
Once the door is closed and everyone feels safer, Tychi and Nike begin searching. Before Nike searches, she'll heal anyone who is down.
Carran takes up a position close to the others bow strung in hand and an arrow notched onto it.
"Better to indeed keep that construct inert, seems these day they are nothing but trouble for us. I'll keep watch while you search the room, if anything comes this way I'll shout and shoot."
He raises his bow and takes care in looking for any enemies or sounds of enmeies coming their way.
"Nike, how much of that curative horn power of yours do you have left? I could use another whack if you don't mind."
Figwidget says, "I'm still a bit wounded myself. If your healinng is limited, I have an extract I can use to restore some health to myself."
Nike's horn touches Carran.
Nike holds the horn on Carran's shoulder, and it sparkles with blue energy twice more.
She also gives Not Figwidget some healing, her horn again sparking with blue energy as she heals his fake body.
"I may do some small healing again four more times, is anyone else in need?" She tells everyone.
Figwidget - pulling key components from the Brass Guardian, you are pretty confident that it is rendered completely safe. Looking around the cave, there is a cornucopia of salvaged clockwork, tooling and oils...given enough time, you could probably construct your own design from the bounty you have found.
All - you also discover eight vials of viscous liquid in a chest at the end of a pile of rags that may, charitably, be described as a bed.
With the door slid to a closed position, it does appear that you have found quite a safe refuge...there is a small crack in the rock that allows you to keep an eye on movement in the tunnel. Everything remains silent for an hour or two until a noise interrupts your rest...a mechanical humming...identical to that which Figwidget believed to be from a flying clockwork...the humming increases in intensity until it appears to be coming from directly outside the door...
Tychi will quietly slip up to the crack and peak through, to see what is outside.
Before we start to rest, Figwidget will attempt to identify the eight vials. (Take 10 on Craft (Alchemy) for a result of 31 eight times.)
He will also take out his Obsession Log, and make some notes in it about the bounty of clockwork and alchemical components found here. "There's enough components here to hold the bleaching at bay for years!" he mutters enthusiastically as he does so.
After the hour or two of rest, when the noise comes outside, Figwidget jumps to his feet and says in a stage whisper, "Flying clockwork outside, or something that sounds like it!"
Tychi winces, turns to Figwidget, and puts his finger over his beak.
Looking through the spyhole into the tunnel, you watch as a small steel construct clumsily hovering upon buzzing wings settles to the ground…eight legs extending to cushion the landing. Upon landing, the construct remains stationary in position…a single eye facing the door…and, a very dim light at the rear of the machine gently flashing on and then off...
Figwidget - the vials contain four Potions of Eruptive Pustules and four Elixirs of Ice Breath, they appear to have been concoted relatively recently.
In an actual whisper, rather than a stage whisper, the Tengu turns back to the group. "There is a tiny metal thing with a glowing light that goes 'red' then 'dark' then 'red' then 'dark' that is now watching the room. I suspect it is warning the owner that we are here. Either this is who is responsible, or we have broken into someone's home. If the former, we can expect a fight. If the latter, we can also expect a fight, but we will not be on the side of right." The tengu rolls it's eyes in amusement.
Nike snorts softly and rolls her eyes not in amusement.
Luke steps into the room, scans his surroundings, and moves immediately to check both the egresses, starting with the eastern alcove (walking in front of the guardian with his shield raised to ensure that it doesn't come to life) and then checking the western tunnel.
"Let me know if you find anything useful in there. Clockwork and alchemical items are not really my specialty." Luke will then watch the western tunnel for a return of the inhabitants.
The tunnel outside your cavern remains perfectly quiet...the clockwork device hunched impassively in position...the light insistently flashing on and off...
Carran looks at the door with great interest and mimes to the others.
Shall I shoot this bugger?
He draws tighter his bowstring to indicate he is ready to go out and shoot the thing.
Damn constructs and clockwork devices, we should kill them all while we're in these caves, they're not safe.
Figwidget pulls a piece of paper and an inkpen out of his handy haversack. Writing quickly, he scrawls out the words, "It's recording everything we say! Be careful what we say!"
He shows this piece of paper to the others.
Taking Figwidget's paper, Luke writes out in a neat, efficient hand Should we just destroy it then?
Carran shrugs as the others don't undertake any action, he slips outside, draws his greatsword and smashes at the spying clockwork device.
Following Carran, the Major moves to the the device and attacks as well.
Sliding the door open, Carran steps towards the hunched clockwork. The machine registers the approaching ranger, it's single eye tracking his movements…it's legs straighten from a crouched position…the sound of accelerating clockwork signalling the machine getting ready to act upon it's programming…and then...Carran's blade cleaves it in two, half of the machine left lying on the floor whilst the other half is propelled along the tunnel for a good ten feet by the force and sweep of the blow. The light that had been flashing on and off at the back of the clockwork is permanently extinguished.
The rest of the evening and night passes without incident; from your position safely ensconced within the secret cavern, you observe no further movement within the tunnel. Morning is signalled by a deep rumble from within the mine…similar to the one that occurred yesterday…the ground shakes with sufficient force to dislodge several glass vessels on the workbenches in the cave, two crash to the floor scattering shards of broken glass across the floor of the cave.
Tychi and Nike watch as they smash the small clockwork into a bazillion pieces. "Well, apparently whoever sent it will now know for sure we are here. I hope it did not belong to an innocent bystander who just happened to live out this way."
"We should probably check out that water area and make sure it doesn't lead anywhere....important."
Half of this sloped passage is submerged in water, the stagnant liquid getting steadily deeper farther west toward a barricaded tunnel. The ceiling at the western end of the passage hovers only five feet above the water line, and rotted wooden boxes and crates are stacked up in the northern corner of the flooded area.
Without moving into the water, you aren't able to see how far the cavern extends to the north or to the south...
Luke says "I'll go down and see what's what. I'll be right back."
Major Rand then inhales a massive breath and dives under the water.
"Hmm, shall we try to find out how deep this cavern really goes? We might need a good and strong swimmer to push that barricade aside. Any volunteers?"
After Carran bisects the clockwork spy, Figwidget will examine it, to see if there is anything unusual about its construction. (Take 10 on Craft (Clockwork) for a result of 39.)
Before we leave the next morning, Figwidget spends some time preparing several extracts.
Figwidget says, "We have four potions of Eruptive Pustules-- nasty and unpleasant things, but they give you a measure of defense, for you grow pustules that will erupt and splash acid on anything that attacks you. They're good against swarms of creatures. We also have four Elixers of Ice Breath, that will allow you to breathe a frozen column of ice. Who wants any of these? I'll hold on to them unless somebody else wants to take them."
Tychi smiles. "Unless someone is very good at swimming, I don't think we'll be going into the water."
Nike snorts. "I don't swim under water."
Tychi nods. "Perhaps we should go deeper and investigate the rumbling and see if there is a cave in?" He turns to Mr. Figwidget. "Mr. Figwidget, did you find anything out about the guardian or the small automaton that Mr. Rand and Mr. Carran turned into confetti? As to the potions, none seem useful to me. We should return them if it turns out the owner of this cubby hole is not behind the issues with the guardians."
Nike nods in response, not happy about the apparent looting without knowing the owner is a bad guy or that the room is abandoned.
Figwidget says to the others, "These are well-made clockworks. The little flying device was almost certainly recording what we were saying. I wasn't able to salvage anything out of it that would allow me to play back any recordings, though. It may well have been made right here in this workshop; some of its components look very similar to things laying about here. As for the Brass Guardian, it's also well-made. The core of it, though, where normally you can change the direction and standing orders of a clockwork, was completely resistant to any attempt to change it. And, there's this strange green mineral inside it, that I don't usually see in clockwork, that I don't understand. There was the most of that mineral in the programming core."
Figwidget pauses, before saying, "I don't really know what to make of all this. Only that there's somebody out there quite talented with clockwork, and who is doing some things with clockwork that I am not familiar with and don't understand."
Wading out into the water, Major Luke Rand prepares to dive downwards...then realises that the murky water is, at it's deepest, waist deep...
Looking to the north it would appear that a spring of water running from the cavern ceiling is the cause of the flooded chamber. At the northern end of the cavern are numerous crates and storage boxes presumably left here by the old miners. The boxes are labelled as having held food stores and mining equipment, but the severe water damage has destroyed everything inside the crates.
The cavern also extends to the south, following the passage for twenty feet, Major Luke Rand notices that there is a perceptible flow of water...and narrowly avoids losing his footing at the edge of a sinkhole through which the water is draining from the cavern.
The mine cart tracks do indeed stop at a 'barricade' but behind the barricade it appears that the tunnel has been collapsed in on itself...it will be nigh on impossible to re-excavate the tunnel...
Wading back to the group, Luke will say "Looks like a big flooded area, with a sinkhole that the water is draining into. Looks like a natural spring is causing this, and the water is either moving, or there's a massive area that holds all the water that's funneling into it. Looks like we need to head north."
Figwidget bounces on the balls of his feet twice, and says, "Well, perhaps for you folk, this water isn't terribly deep, but it looks like I'll be over my head if I venture into it...."
"You shouldn't need to wade into it. I checked everything out, and there was nothing in there that I could see. we should probably head north, and then if we need to, we can come back and check out that area."
Tychi nods. "Feathers don't work well in water, I'm not a duck. And Nike is not built for swimming down sink holes. I agree, north is good."
Nike just nods, moving to reverse the harness on the carts. "Figwidget, is there any spare parts you want to take from that room that would fit in one of the carts, for fixing old mine equipment or spare parts for other things?" Nike asks, fixing the gnome with one blue eye, obviously tired of pulling empty carts for no reason.
"I Agree with Tychi on that, on the account that most catfolk don't like water, myself included. North seems a good way as this area is blocked."
When they eventually come north and arrive at a nother junction, he looks both ways and at the dead end to the right back of them.
"Somehow I would've expected more to be here, not another junction. How about going right here?"
Confronted with what, on the face of it, looks like a dead end, you turn back on yourselves and head eastwards, past the secret cave, to the main entrance cavern. The soft morning light illuminates the entrance to the mine and the air, briefly at least, seems fresher...
With Nike towing the mine carts, you turn northwards, back into the mine...the light from Nike illuminating the rough hewn tunnel as you move along it. Arriving, fifty feet along the tracks, at a junction, the rails lead in the following directions:
- to the south east, where they abruptly stop at the tunnels' end after fifty feet
- to the north east, where they disappear into the gloom
- and, to the north west, where they also disappear into the dark...
In addition to the various directions that the rails lead, there is a set of steps to the north that lead upwards for around thirty feet... From somewhere in that direction, you can hear the sound of heavy items being dragged around, low guttural voices and, intermittently, the sound of splintering wood.
There is a loud barking noise from somewhere beyond the top of the stairs and the sound of things being moved around abruptly stops.
Tychi pulls himself up on Nike, as the unicorn releases her harness with her teeth. "If I might suggest, you might want to prepare, in case the voices and barking are hostile?" Tychi whispers as he readies his whipsword, and spends a ki point to give Nike 24 temp hp.
Nike snorts softly as well. "I would like to point out that attacking things, say like small unarmed devices, or non-hostile people, is not a good idea." She glares specifically at Luke and Carran. "Luke, you have already all but killed an ally, only through luck were you spared that sin. I suggest you hold your temper until we know they are hostile."
"Apparently something wants us to come upstairs instead. Who's up for some fighting?"