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"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. " - Arthur C. Clarke
"Ooh, what does this button do?" - DeeDee, Dexter's Laboratory
In the Northlands of Wachara, there is played an eternal game of chess on the grandest scale, marshaled by the great wyrms of the region in defiance and disdain for the mortal countries forming under their very noses. In the domain of one such wyrm rests the mysterious Silver Mount and the wondrous devices within.
Be a shame if someone were to...study it.
Cygnus, NG Android Shifter. A defect marked for destruction in search of the druid who sheltered him.
Orbit, N Human Dynamist. A young runaway with an older man's face, worn unconvincingly.
Salvatrix, LN Tiefling Warlord. An older traveler with a fascination for older technology come to study the local ruins.
Tessaro Zelda, LN Harpy Zealot. A devotee of Elegy, Avatar of Invention, come to Torch to study the curious light.
Zegal, NG Aasimar Cleric of Atargatis. A traveling medic who wanders in search of those in need.
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Part I
It is a universal truth that a single adventurer, possessed of a useful skill, will still make far more gold working with a group than going solo. Thus it was that this varied group found themselves bound together as they met on the road to Torch. Arriving late in the day, they wandered around town for a short time before finding an inn to spend the night in.
Zelda rose before the others and poked about in the morning light for further information, learning, among other things, that a number of people had vanished, including Khonnir Baine, in the past week after the namesake violet flame of the town had gone out. She was recommended to check in at the town hall and ask after Councilor Steelclaw. Somewhat irritated that both the phenomenon she had come to study and the mage the Elegean church had recommended her to were missing, the harpy returned to the inn, hearing whispers along the way that the Technic League might have an agent lurking about.
Orbit, it seems, had been busy, from the disgruntled look on Salvatrix's face and the grin on his. As Zelda approached, he enthusiastically declared they would be going to stake out the graveyard because he'd heard the gravekeeper was secretly a Khemostite planning to raise an undead army, and he wanted a front-row seat. He was summarily shot down as the party finished their breakfast...with no small amount of concern at the bit of toast he prepared with his butter and jam. Zelda took advantage of the lull in conversation to recommend a visit to town hall.
They were greeted by a kobold woman, Councilor Dolga Steelclaw. The party asked after the light, and Dolga brought them up to speed: the light of Torch had gone out about eight days ago, and several separate teams had gone to investigate. Only one had yet returned, led by Khonnir Baine. He had retrieved a strange metal creature from the caverns below and found a wall of glaucite, an alloy of skymetal, before returning. More, he discovered what appeared to be a door. This recent disappearance was the result of a second expedition to learn more, three days ago. Dolga explained that there was a reward of 4000gp for his return, and the council had agreed to throw in the scroll of resurrection they had procured should Baine be alive as well as a separate reward for reigniting the light...in addition to offering a 20% discount at local merchants for anyone attempting to recover Councilor Baine - Salvatrix interrupted with a rapid-fire acceptance of this. Finally, she directed them to the Foundry tavern owned by Baine and run with his daughter Val, also commenting that when they were ready to investigate to visit Father Kyte at the temple - the Black Hill Caves were partially underwater. Dolga promised to get the writ for the adventurers by the next day, and they departed to investigate this Foundry.
The Foundry was deserted, a sign hanging on the door declaring it closed until further notice. Knocking at the tavern and house yielded nothing. Zelda then tested the door of the foundry itself, finding it unlocked and a young ael woman within sweeping the floor. Orbit declared the place amazing and immediately began running around despite everyone objecting. Salvatrix strong-armed the hyperactive, and Zelda explained that they were looking for Khonnir Baine and had been sent to look for Val. The woman confirmed this was she as well as most of what Dolga had told them. Zelda, a devout Elegean, expressed a strong interest in the machine Khonnir had recovered, and Val led the group to the house to show them.
The instant the door opened, the drone buzzed to life. Zelda and Salvatrix pushed past the ael to attack the drone, which Zelda immediately crit with her claws, ripping off one of the drone's arms in the process, and Salvatrix nearly destroyed in one hit. The drone then proceeded to ignore them, turning its attention to the wall. Unsure how else to deactivate it, Zelda shot it again, and the drone collapsed. Sheepishly, she apologized and held out the hand, which Orbit immediately took and attempted to pull all the wires out. Salvatrix ripped it from his hands and gave it to Val. Grateful for their help, Val offered the Foundry to them as a place to sleep, free of charge.
With limited options on what else to do (Orbit's insistence that the cemetery was the place to be once again dismissed with exasperation), the group ventured to the Inventor's Temple. The elderly halfling priest greeted them warmly, brightening at another member of the faith and their promise to seek out Khonnir Baine. He produced his rod of metamagic in preparation to bless them with water breathing, which Orbit identified, launching into a surprisingly long technical explanation before abruptly dismissing it as boring. Nonplussed, Kyte cast the spell for them, and they set off into the mid-afternoon light.
Despite the placid current, Orbit found himself nearly swept away until Salvatrix towed him along into the caves proper. Cygnus scouted ahead, uninhibited by the dim light, and came across a trio of fire beetles. He shifted into the aspect of a bear and attacked. Zelda joined in with her bow, followed shortly by Salvatrix throwing her shield and Orbit doing similar with a starknife; both demonstrating an eerie skill with their chosen weapons. The beetles put up a fight in return but did not last long.
Yet if this was their reception, perhaps Khonnir Baine's sudden disappearance was already all too simply explained...
Notable Quotes:
Orbit: When the bartender's not looking, I move his dishcloth across the bar.
DM: ...okay, is this a magical ability, or do you need to roll to gaslight?
Zelda: You are not allowed to touch anything metal.
Orbit: But why nooooot?
Salvatrix: Can we get him a leash?
Orbit: What's a machine?
Salvatrix: An abomination.
Orbit: WHOA, I didn't know suits of armor could move! Make it go again!
Zelda; It's not armor, it's a machine.
Orbit: It's an abomination? You mean like Cygnus?
Salvatrix: STOP TALKING NOW.
Joram Kyte: Aah, you seem quite knowledgeable.
Orbit: Yeah, I had to read a lot about it, but it was really boring.
DM: The priest of one of the gods of knowledge twitches slightly.
Zelda: So do I.
Orbit-OOC: Yeah, he kinda realizes it halfway through the sentence and just...kind of...trails off.
Bartender: "What'll it be?"
Salvatrix: "Your breast beckfast."
Salvatrix: "What did you -do-?"
Zelda: "Nothing. It attacked me." "... I didn't say it did it well."
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Part II
Proceeding through the lower-ceilinged tunnel, they almost immediately found the body of a local larinn called Parda, a popular brawler. Cygnus scouted ahead and was ambushed by a skulk; Salvatrix helped him make short work of the creature. Cygnus scouted forward, followed by Salvatrix and Orbit...the latter chattering along without a care in the world and asking the tiefling many questions about her tail. Salvatrix told him to A) not touch her tail and B) stop talking. Orbit asked if they were having a quiet contest. The tiefling responded with an enthusiastic affirmative, and he fell silent.
The next room was covered in a rusty growth and a thin layer of frost. Cygnus identified it as brown mold and warned them to keep any source of warmth away. Orbit caught sight of a body within the room and, recognizing it from rumors heard about town, began tugging at Salvatrix's arm and gesturing wildly - but silently. Salvatrix finally asked him what he wanted, to which he first declared that he had won the contest and then identified the corpse as Gerrol Sonder, one of the local explorers, recently engaged and his fiancee desperate for closure. Alas, lacking anything cold, they moved on and left the mold-ridden corpse behind.
Cygnus scouted ahead, catching sight of a pair of skulks, one of whom saw through his stealthy approach. At a loss, he waved. She responded by throwing a knife at him. Cygnus threw it back. Orbit and Salvatrix ran to help, shield and starknife flying into the fray and returning. The skulks threw more knives, one pinning Orbit to the wall. Zelda's bow joined in, and the pair of skulks soon fell. Zelda and Cygnus worked to free the young weapons mage from the stone, and the harpy became immediately fascinated by the metal door. As they milled about the room, a fourth skulk made her presence known, asking parley.
Zelda and Salvatrix looked at her skeptically, but the sole survivor made her plea clearly - "You are strong. Have gremlin problem. I give you things I find if you solve." As proof, she held up a silverdisk and a vial of alchemist's fire. Zelda hissed at the mention of gremlins and was immediately won over at the promise of alchemicals, and Salvatrix agreed to her terms...with a promise of not attacking them also secured. Cygnus and Zelda scouted ahead, the android pointing out traps for the harpy to disable, and the gremlins put up minimal resistance. As promised, the skulk offered them a bag of various adventurers' spoils, including a bottle of liquid ice, which Orbit cheerily piped up they could use on the mold, and five curious brown cards of a sleek material.
But there was still no sign of Khonnir Baine, and such a tantalizing door lay just ahead...
Notable Quotes:
Orbit: OOH BUGS!
Salvatrix: I did not get brought on to babysit.
Cygnus: Oh, I have track! #%&, I am the scout!
Cygnus: No, I am paying attention. I just don't care.
Salvatrix: Shoot. I can't charge.
DM: You need American Express.
DM: Zegal, you're up.
Salvatrix-OOC: I keep thinking you're saying Steven Seagal.
Cygnus-OOC: Zeeegal.
Orbit-OOC: Zeggy!
Zegal-OOC: ...if you're done?
Orbit-OOC: Zeg-zag. Okay.
Orbit: Are we there yet?
Salvatrix: Boy, don't make me gag you.
Orbit: OH, we're trying to be sneaky. I can be sneaky!
Salvatrix: Can you try silent?
Orbit: Sure! Want it to be a contest?
Salvatrix: ......yes.
DM: She'd be grateful to anyone who could bring him back.
Salvatrix: We only have one resurrection.
DM: His body.
Salvatrix: That makes sense.
Zelda: I take a stab at pulling out the dagger.
Orbit: Um...
DM: You fail.
Orbit: Ow, that's my shoulder, you know!
Salvatrix: It's a battle scar. Chicks dig battle scars.
Cygnus: If they do, chicks dig weakness.
Salvatrix, Orbit: Hey!
Cygnus I also take a stab. An un-stab at pulling out the dagger.
Orbit: NO. NO MORE STABS.
DM: Cygnus effortlessly yanks the knife free.
Cygnus: You are weak. Beep boop.
There are less gremlins in the world. This is good news for everyone.
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Part III
GM note: Cygnus rebuilt as a Hunter to cover Zegal's withdrawal from the campaign.
The gremlins dispatched, Cygnus turned his attention to the glaucite door behind him. After examining it for a few minutes, he found no way to open it and ushered the party toward the other door. Zegal took the bodies of the two explorers they had found, explaining that he would take them to the temple back in Torch above. The rest turned their attention toward the other door that Zelda had managed to open.
Inside, they found a hallway of the same metal and another repair drone like the one that Val had shown them. Cygnus, noting how busy it was attempting to repair the wall, walked past and began rummaging through the debris. This must have registered on the drone's radar as a threat, for it attacked. This did not last, thanks to Cygnus' sword, Zelda's bow, and Salvatrix's shield. Now unthreatened, Cygnus resumed looting, showing Zelda the odd devices he had found. The harpy explained their functions in layman's terms as best she could and claimed the e-pick for herself. The android continued on alone to scout and was promptly critted into negatives by a strange tentacle creature within a rocky shell. The others ran to his aid, Zelda keeping a safe distance while Salvatrix and Orbit kept it busy in melee. After taking a good chunk off of Salvatrix, the creature, identified by the tiefling as a ghelern, dropped. Zelda and Orbit set to investigating the creature while Salvatrix forced a potion down Cygnus' throat, muttering something about priorities. Once conscious, Cygnus healed them both, and they continued on.
They easily spotted the trail of footprints from Baine's expedition, and Zelda also pointed out a strange skeleton with too many arms. It did not last long. They continued along the path, finding and dispatching three others. Orbit, meanwhile, convinced the trio could handle the skeletons without him, decided to do some investigating of his own - licking the sand to see if he could determine whether it was of this world. Once finished the the skeletons, the other three just...stared at him.
Zelda flew ahead to see where the path ended, not at all fazed by the illusory wall at the cavern's rear. After some fumbling (and a painful shock), she disabled a malfunctioning nozzle that was spraying electricity over the room. This done, she motioned the others through, none fooled by the wall.
They continued on, coming to a door with a thin slot in a panel on the frame. Zelda inserted one of the brown cards they had received from the skulk Sef, and the door opened with a beep. Within, the group found a room absolutely filled with glowing technological devices, just waiting for proper...investigation. The devotee of the goddess of innovation and the hyperactive 13-year-old practically salivated with glee.
Notable Quotes:
DM: What do your elf eyes see?
Cygnus: I am a robot, beep-boop. They are superior to your fleshbag eyes.
Cygnus: I am incapable of feeling irritation, but I think I understand how you humans would.
Zelda: Really, it's going to keep repairing itself?
Salvatrix: How else would it have lasted this long?
Cygnus: Duracell?
Salvatrix: I use my tush- TAIL. TAIL. To retrieve a potion.
Zelda: ...what are you doing?
Orbit: I was trying to discern if this earth is native.
Zelda: ...how much time have you spent tasting dirt?
Salvatrix: Don't answer that.
Salvatrix: If you do not put your shoes back on this instant, we will go right back to the inn, and NO CEMETERY.
Salvatrix: I will gag you. You will go back to the inn and sit on the bed.
Cygnus: Some people pay for that service.
Zelda: Oooooh!
Orbit: I wanna touch!
Cygnus: I slam the door on Orbit.
It's full of blinking lights and levers and buttons and glowing screens and goddess knows what else! Eeeeeeee!!
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Part IV
Zelda and Orbit immediately ran inside to inspect the glowing panels, Salvatrix keeping right on top of Orbit to prevent him from touching anything and assuming the others to be mature enough to know better. Zelda promptly poked a glowing golden panel, causing the walls to whir and several of the panels to wink to static. A projected image of the desert dome appeared above the table...and Orbit proceeded to spend some time passing his hand through the image until Zelda finally told him to stop. Zelda then turned her attention to the screens, pushing buttons on them...turning one off and on again, then causing a display in Androffan to appear...this attracting Salvatrix's attention and earning the harpy a "stop touching things!" lecture. While she was occupied with this, Orbit ran off to test the nearby door...slamming it immediately shut upon seeing the kasatha within.
Orbit quickly relayed what he had found to the party, only for the kasatha to open the door and follow. Salvatrix delayed its advance, parrying its blows as best she could with her shield. Zelda yelled that its shambling walk marked it a juju zombie, and the tiefling ceased to pull her punches. Orbit hurried back to the front to help, catching a few nasty shots from the creature's shortswords that left him barely standing. Zelda and Cygnus harried it with arrows to little effect while Salvatrix forced it to focus on her, eventually managing to drop the antagonistic creature. Out of healing, they arranged themselves to put Orbit in the middle while they inspected the room the alien zombie had been guarding.
The writings on the wall in what appeared to be ivory paint were...concerning, largely due to the fact that none of them had any idea what they said, though the image of a dripping scythe made any likely interpretations rather bleak. Orbit pestered Zelda for paper and copied down the writings as best he could, while Zelda mused over the scythe - to her mind, it closely resembled the symbol of Von Kruul, avatar of madness, but...not quite, almost as though recreating a never-seen description. She sketched the symbol, then, nudged by Cygnus, noted the plastic card beneath the table, this one with a black strip. The tech zealot happily collected the card. Salvatrix took stock of their condition and supplies and suggested they retreat to the surface before they A - were attacked again or B - ran out of Kyte's water breathing. The party agreed and hurried along their cleared path, making it back to the Foundry to collapse, exhausted, after a much-needed meal prepared by Val, who also provided them with potions of cure light wounds.
The next morning, Cygnus and Salvatrix joined Val in the forge, the latter two working on their own projects while Val tinkered at her lab table. Zelda wandered off to check in with Father Kyte and share their findings with the tech priest. Kyte was quite enthusiastic to see they had returned alive and mentioned that they might be well-served by speaking to the merchant Sanvil Trett, another about Torch who might be able to help them out with their discoveries. Orbit slept, ordered to be on strict bed rest for the day after his close call. Thus it was that not one of them noticed the knock on the door until much later, after Zelda's return, when Val found the envelope slipped beneath the doorframe. Inside was an invitation for "the latest expedition" to visit Silverdisk Hall as well as four certificates for 100gp credit. Val expressed mild disdain, muttering something about the proprietor Garmen Ultreth, and everyone promptly bombed their checks to learn anything about this upstanding citizen. Cygnus suggested they look into the place. Salvatrix suddenly groaned - she would have to pass on the offer...because she had promised to take Orbit to watch the graveyard for the undead army that did not exist. Cygnus dispassionately replied that this meant more for him and Zelda. The tiefling glared.
The meeting went about as well as expected. Cygnus, completely blind to emotional nuance, immediately asked to redeem his gift certificate for tokens and the tokens for coin. Garmen explained that he should really try some of the games first and get some enjoyment out of his stay. Cygnus replied that he was not capable of fun and wanted the money. But he did agree to try a game, as did Zelda. Aaaand the dice immediately betrayed the house, netting the pair easily double their gift certificates and a polite request to vacate the premises from a bouncer. They agreed and returned to the Foundry for a good night's sleep. Salvatrix and Orbit, meanwhile, stayed out at the graveyard all night. Orbit, having slept all day, had an abundance of energy, much to Salvatrix's chagrin.
The next morning, Salvatrix downed approximately a quarter of her body mass in coffee, to Val's concern. The ael was told to shut up and keep it coming. Zelda came in to join her. The lucky gamblers gave a part of their winnings to Salvatrix, who thanked them and grumbled about the evening's babysitting-induced insomnia. They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Val let the visitor in, who - after Val reminded him that Khonnir was not there - introduced himself as Sanvil Trett, and he had come to meet the party. Zelda chatted with him about their findings, finding a very curious and receptive audience. Trett eagerly encouraged her to come to him with new findings, taking a particular interest in her description of the desert dome below. He departed with a bow.
It was about this time that Salvatrix noticed that Orbit wasn't there. Zelda theorized that he was in bed, still recuperating from his injury. Zelda went to check on him, finding his bed a disaster and the window open. Cygnus mentioned that he had spoken to Orbit that morning. Orbit had been very disappointed in not being able to watch the undead army rise, and Cygnus had jokingly suggested he make his own...though the nuance was lost in the android's monotone voice. Salvatrix resisted the urge to throttle him, and the trio set off to locate him before he caused trouble.
Driven by attention deficit disorder, Orbit began at the library to read up on necromancy (and was under not-so-subtle supervision from the concerned library staff the entire time), then wandered to Silverdisk Hall and promptly lost a small pile of gold...as well as seeing a sketch of Cygnus and Zelda behind the counter with a label of "watch these two," then wandered back to the library as he remembered he'd wanted to try and translate the writings he had found. Cygnus and Zelda finally caught up to him there, Salvatrix having given up at Silverdisk Hall and returning to the Foundry to sleep, declaring it to be their turn, she watched him yesterday. Orbit hadn't managed a complete translation, but he'd hit on the general gist - a muddle of emotionally-confused prayers to the Madness. They poked around the market to stock up on healing supplies, pooling their resources to purchase a wand of cure light wounds, before returning to the Foundry.
Early the next morning, they asked Father Kyte for another blessing of water breathing and returned to the cavern to make another attempt at finding Khonnir Baine...or, as it was becoming increasingly likely, his remains. Zelda used their newly-found card to open a new hallway. But while the harpy's attention was on the shiny, shiny electronic devices in the room before them, it was hard to miss the large splotches of blood around the door to the north...
Notable Quotes:
Orbit: You said I could press buttons!
Salvatrix: I said you could come in the room.
Orbit: Why did you think I wanted to come in the room?
Zelda: We have a madman in this cave.
Salvatrix: But what about the intruder?
Orbit: I ask it in Androffan where the bathroom is.
DM: It does not appear to understand you.
Salvatrix: I...turn my head to stare at Orbit.
Orbit: ...I really have to go.
Orbit: Selfie with the dead alien!
Cygnus: I am not programmed for enjoyment.
Garmen:
Cygnus: Is your eye in disrepair? I can heal you.
Salvatrix: Have you seen the miscreant?
Cygnus: Early this morning. He wished to slaughter bandits.
Salvatrix: WHAT.
Cygnus: He seemed upset that the undead army did not rise last night. So he wished to slaughter bandits. I advised him that this was a poor decision.
Zelda: Oh, thank gods.
Cygnus: I suggested he raise his own.
Salvatrix: WHAT.
Cygnus: It was a jest. And he went to his room.
Zelda: He's not in his room.
Cygnus: Oh. Then he is probably off raising an undead army.
Salvatrix: Your jests need work.
She knows nothing of proper experimenting procedure. Harrumph.
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Part V
Zelda immediately beelined for the glowing screen at the desk, completely ignoring the blood along the northern corridor. Unable to read the screen, she called over the others. Cygnus identified the creature on the flickering display as a weedwhip; Salvatrix verified this, describing the text as "like a book." The screen then changed, and the tiefling declared it needed a restart. Zelda began pushing all of the buttons on the machine, first just making symbols matching the buttons appear, then decided to start pulling on the cords. Eventually, she got the machine turned off and reactivated...at which point it began asking for a password. Frustrated, the harpy grudgingly suggested they follow the blood.
In the hallway, they noted mechanical rubble quite similar to the medical drone that had attacked them at the Foundry, concluding that there must be more robots afoot. Coming to a fork in the hallway, they went south. Zelda opened a door to note a couple of odd oozes that she identified as boilborn...and simply closed the door before they could be noticed, not wanting to risk them exploding. They continued on, meeting no resistance...though finding themselves at the door of a strange circular room. The harpy hung back, not trusting the floor to not drop out (despite...having wings...), but Orbit ran in to push buttons...to no effect.
The room opened four ways; they found a locked door marked with a white strip. Zelda tried both the brown and black access cards to no avail. The group determined that they needed to double back to find a white card, first trying the room to the immediate north...partly due to the blood trail. Within was a medical drone and an ominous looking table with lots of pointy scalpels and syringes attached; the drone was quickly dealt with. The room yielded no card.
Their next attempt was in the room with more blood leading to it, which followed adventuring logic. Within, Zelda's first comment was on the lack of blood on the floor. Cygnus and Salvatrix were more concerned with what the android identified as a cerebric fungus, which incidentally was carnivorous and had likely eaten the blood, and the party set to putting the creature down. Still no card, but they did find a lot of dirt samples. Reluctantly, the harpy decided that this meant the card was likely in the room with the "disease oozes." Backed up by Zelda's arrows, Salvatrix ran in to keep them from reaching the frailer members of the party, tanking their dying explosions with practiced ease. There was, however, no card.
With some irritation, they returned to the entrance, checking the storage closet they had initially overlooked and claiming the spoils within...including a lockbox with the same white marking. Zelda fiddled with it for several minutes, finally springing the latch. It contained several explosives, but not a keycard. Returning to the "weird space oubliette" that Salvatrix said was likely just an elevator, based on the writing, they tried the southern route, finding a mass of dirt and overgrowth claimed by a weedwhip. The plant, while a danger to farms, was no danger to the party and easily fell. Further investigation into the room revealed the bodies of yet more explorers, these covered in fungal growth and split open at the torso. Cygnus determined this meant they had succumbed to the same mold they had found before...and become the incubators for vegepygmies. It did not take long for them to locate said creatures, felling most of them easily, their larger leader taking a good chunk out of Salvatrix before the tiefling slew him. Still no card.
They did, however, find an unlocked door. Within was yet another medical drone and another, hardier, construct. The medical drone focused on Salvatrix and Cygnus until being reduced to a heap of scrap metal; the second robot stayed at range, firing blasts of nonlethal damage until the pair forced it into melee. Zelda continued to shoot arrows at it, finding minimal effect. Orbit likewise struggled to pierce the thick metal plating on the creature. Shortly after the fight began, they noticed a soft, rhytmic thudding from a pod in the corner of the room. Cygnus cast lead blades on Salvatrix, allowing her to reliably deal enough damage to leave a mark. Finally, the robot fell.
They hurried over to open the pod and helped pull out the person inside. Zelda perked up, recognizing the man as matching Khonnir Baine's description. The wizard was incoherent and struggled to walk. Cygnus noted several small incisions across his head and body and recognized the familiar feeling of nanites within the man. The android's eyes glowed briefly blue as he activated his nanite surge, attempting to damage some of the tiny machines. This did nothing for Khonnir's condition, but he reasoned it might make it easier for a proper healer to treat. Rummaging about the room, they discovered some pi[air crystals[/i], which they used to safely transport the man back to the surface.
Notable Quotes:
Zelda: "I pull the power cord."
DM: "The machine shuts off."
Zelda: "I plug it back in."
DM: "The machine lights up again with a new screen. Salvatrix, it says it wants a password."
Salvatrix: "GOOD JOB."
Zelda: "It said it wanted to be restarted!"
Cygnus: "It is called a weedwhip. You should not eat it. It smells and tastes bad and is poisonous."
Zelda: "...next time, lead with poisonous."
Cygnus: "The smell and taste would make you not want to eat it."
Zelda: "So would the poison!"
Salvatrix: "WHY are we following the blood?? Shouldn't we be going AWAY from the blood?"
DM: "Do you sit on the beds (in the surgical chamber)?"
Salvatrix: "NO."
Zelda: "Yeah no, that thing looks like the final boss of Mother 3. Not touching it."
Zelda: ".... why is the blood gone?"
DM: "Congratulations! You do not contract leprosy!"
Zelda: "So we should find four or eight of these plant-halfling-monster things hiding around here."
Cygnus: "Ah actually it's 1d6 per corpse."
Zelda: " 1D6??? That could be as many as thirty...!"
Salvatrix: "Twenty-four. Should we be letting you near the tech if you can't do math?"
Zelda: "SORRY I'M BUSY PANICKING!"
Just because I can fly doesn't mean I want the floor disappearing below me! Also it would mean I would have to carry the others out if they fell, and that would simply not be happening. I could maybe carry Orbit. MAYBE.
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Part VI
Once back to the surface, they faced the prospect of causing a ruckus by openly carting the severely injured Councilor Baine through town. Zelda pulled Orbit aside to give him the special task of hurrying to the Foundry to bring Val to the Elegean temple, going so far as to bribe him with chocolate. He raced to the Foundry, first looking through the house...and discovered that the bedrooms had been ransacked in their absence. He found Val and passed on the message...and promptly forgot about the rooms as they hurried to catch up to the others. This done, the harpy draped her coat around the man for more covert transportation to the temple for treatment.
Salvatrix carried Khonnir to a back room for Father Kyte to examine, then left Zelda to explain what had happened while she waited out in the foyer. Both of the women managed to note the odd thickness of Khonnir's gloves, the last finger on each being particularly wide. Kyte gave Zelda the bad news: the machines would require a remove disease to fully deal with, and he had not prayed for such and would have to see to it in the morning. Orbit and Val arrived shortly, the ael sprinting back to see Khonnir, now at least coherent thanks to the lesser restorations Kyte did have ready. After being (gently) tackle-hugged by the ael, Khonnir attempted to answer Zelda's questions, though he was still rather disoriented from the ordeal. At Kyte's suggestion, Val and Khonnir would stay overnight in the temple. Zelda stopped to meet with Councilor Steelclaw to inform her they had recovered Baine alive. As promised, Dolga handed over the reward of 4,000gp and a scroll of resurrection, which Zelda gratefully took to the party.
Satisfied, the party set off to sell their wares...Zelda buying a small chocolate bar to fulfill her promise to Orbit. Not satisfied, Orbit took some of his earnings and bought an immense bag of chocolate, promptly eating the entire thing upon returning to the Foundry and spending the rest of the day sick. Salvatrix picked up the promised reward from Sonder's fiancee — an adamantine spiked shield — and spent the rest of the evening in the workshop on various tasks to help repay Val's hospitality.
Zelda headed to her room to rest...and found the place ransacked. She frantically checked for anything missing, and while nearly everything - including her alchemical supplies - had been gone through and moved, nothing actually seemed to be missing. She then hurried to find the rest of the party, first Orbit - who mentioned that yeah, he'd meant to tell them but forgot -, then Cygnus - who had left only his spare outfit in the room and claimed to be livid that he saw a single sock slightly out of place -, and finally Salvatrix - who was quite used to the adventuring lifestyle and had left absolutely in her room. Further poking around showed that Val and Khonnir's rooms were likewise searched, but to the party's knowledge, nothing was missing. The tiefling showed no surprise that there had been an issue at a tavern where the only four people who had returned alive from the cavern were staying. With the hour growing late and the group still worn out from their excursion below, they decided to deal with it in the morning.
The next morning, Orbit slipped off to town to find a moneychanger while the others late. They discovered him missing and were not pleased upon catching up to him at a butcher's stall, having been unable to find a proper bank. Salvatrix marched Orbit back to the Foundry, still irritated at his antics from the night before and putting him on janitorial duty. Cygnus and Zelda made their way to the temple to check on Khonnir and Val. Father Kyte announced that Khonnir was cured, though it had taken him multiple prayers to do so. The adventurers determined that they should probably tell the pair that their house had been robbed. Upon hearing more details, Val rather unconvincingly stated that she didn't know who could have done it. Cygnus called her on it, and Val clarified that there had been rumors of a Technic League spy in the area...which made the lack of theft make sense. Zelda and Cygnus turned to each other and began to formulate a plan to find their potential spy...
Notable Quotes
DM: "So how quietly do you move Khonnir through the city?"
Zelda: "I pull Orbit aside. I have a job for you. Extremely important. I need you to go to the Foundry and get Val, and have her meet us at the temple."
Orbit: "...wouldn't someone else be better for this? Like Cygnus?"
Zelda: "No. You are the perfect person for this job."
Orbit: "Okay, what are you gonna give me for it? Maybe chocolate?"
Zelda: ".... sure, I'll buy you some chocolate."
Orbit: "Yay!* <runs off>
Zelda: "There. Now we move quietly through the city."
---
Orbit: "So you said he [Khonnir]'s sick 'cause he's got a bunch of little robots in him?"
Cygnus: "Yes."
Orbit: "Robots like you?"
Cygnus: "No."
Orbit: "Oh. So like the ones in the ruins?"
Cygnus: "Yes. But very very small."
Orbit: "Okay, so why don't we just cut him open and kill the robots when they fall out?"
---
Zelda: "Someone ransacked my and Orbit's rooms. I was looking to see if the same happened to anyone else."
Cygnus: "I have not yet been to my room. I will go investigate."
DM: "Did you leave anything in your room?"
Cygnus: "Just my spare outfit."
DM: "It's been... mostly put back in place, but it's clear someone went through your closet."
Cygnus: "There is a sock out in the middle of the floor. Someone has made wreckage of my room. I am upset."
---
Orbit: [bursts into the foundry smithy] "Salvatrix, I don't feel so good..... BLEAAAAAAUUUUGGHHHH...." [vomits into the dousing pool]
Salvatrix: "You.... you...! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!! " [Throws tools at Orbit as he flees the foundry]
---
Salvatrix: "Who gave him [Orbit] all that chocolate?"
Zelda: "I believe he bought it himself."
Salvatrix: "With what money??"
Cygnus: "We were just paid for our services to the city."
Salvatrix: "... oh. Right. Damn."
---
Salvatrix: "I'm going to go into the city and find him."
Zelda: "I'm going to come with. If only to keep you from killing him."
---
Orbit: "I slowly turn around toward the door."
DM: "Salvatrix is there, blocking the doorway. Zelda and Cygnus are behind her."
Orbit: "What do they look like?"
Zelda: "I look like I could use about three more cups of coffee and would rather be working than dealing with this."
Salvatrix: "I look like I could use about three more cups of coffee and would rather be killing someone."
---
Orbit: "Do you have a back door?"
Butcher: "Not for you."
---
Zelda: [to Orbit] "Just remember. Whenever you think of asking for an alternate escape route to run away from us, I can fly faster than you can run." [Shoulder-pat, walks away]
---
Cygnus: "I believe I have a plan [for finding the Technic League spy]. You just need to go into the city and spread a rumor that you have some device you are interested in selling to the League, and that you are willing to meet with interested buyers at our residence."
Zelda: "... this seems like a bad plan." [OOC] "Also I am not trained in Bluff."
Cygnus-OOC: "And you think the guy with negative charisma is? I've got a -4! That's why I'm getting you to do it!"
Parts VII-VIII
The next morning, Zelda set about town to listen for word on potential leads, scoring a number of rumors about the town - everything from the Sovereign himself coming to Torch to marauding ratfolk bandits, to there being multiple spies in Torch, to Ulreth being in the League, and, bizarrely, to a drunken bet at the Foundry leading to a pair of kobolds climbing Black Hill to drink the odd fluid leaking from where the torch once was. The harpy set out to investigate, gathering a few samples before heading back.
Shortly after her return, Sanvill Trett stopped by, having heard about Khonnir's return, and struck up a conversation with the party about their ventures into the caverns, unsubtly hinting that he would be interested in tagging along. Zelda and Cygnus grew suspicious, questioning Trett's experience after knowing firsthand the dangers of the caverns; Trett grew evasive and ultimately excused himself. After talking it over with Salvatrix, they decided to try and follow him, soon tracking the merchant to Silverdisk Hall. Recalling their recent ban for beating the house, they opted to lurk in the foliage.
Trett exited the building a short while after, and they cornered him with little attempt to hide their efforts. Trett did absolutely nothing to allay their suspicions, doing more to make matters worse, but he was now quite suspicious of them. They reported this to Salvatrix...and found her and Orbit throwing rocks at each other as some sort of training exercise. Salvatrix suggested they return to the caverns in the morning and bring something back to bait the Technic League spy, whether or not they were right about Trett, and make sure word got out about it.
Zelda took advantage of the peaceful afternoon to corner Khonnir, asking him some follow-up questions about the Technic League, recalling how nervous he and Val had been on it being brought up before. With a little persuasion, he confessed that he had once, under another name, been a part of the League. By the time he'd realized how bad the organization was, he was in too deep. He'd finally cut ties the day he found a man called Ghartone trying to use a girl - Val - as the base for an experiment. He attacked Ghartone and set the lab afire, fleeing with the young ael and disguising himself as a human due to the relatively low population of children of Arachne. Zelda promised not to let the information get out but thanked him for trusting her.
As agreed upon, they visited the temple for more water breathing and ventured once more into the caverns. With little left to do, they explored the science deck in more detail, mostly to kill time. Salvatrix and Zelda examined the circular room, determining it to be some manner of lift, and Salvatrix discovered a damaged coupling that she was certain she could fix once back at the Foundry. She detached it carefully, and they decided to take one of the drones that had attacked them up to the surface as their inconspicuous bait. Once back, Salvatrix and Orbit went to meet with Councilor Steelclaw to ask her to help spread the rumor and ferret out their League spy. Steelclaw sighed, hoping that the Technic League wasn't connected to the other rumor she'd heard - some Olori heir had gone missing.
They arranged an order to take watch, Cygnus setting up a few natural alarms and traps before taking his shift. These were tripped near the changeover for him and Zelda, and he crept out a side door to ambush the burglar, summoning a stirge to assist. Zelda flew out a back window and over the Foundry's roof to shoot the man, who was soon identified as Trett. Trett managed to get off a couple of shots from an arcane pool before being subdued, and he surrendered to the party rather than be killed, telling them he knew plenty of helpful information if they would spare him, most notably telling them that Ulreth had something going on in a warehouse to the north. They decided to look into this, leaving Trett tied up in the forge for safekeeping.
Notable Quotes:
Zelda: "Well, that went horribly."
Cygnus: "Indeed. Why did you let me talk so much?"
Whoops, lost track of this. Rushed recap!
Parts IX-XII
Trett gave them enough information to go on that they turned their attentions to Ulreth's warehouse. After a bit of a false start, they had managed to subdue the thugs working inside, though not without a seemingly unrelated migraine. Questioning them proved...difficult as Ulreth had most definitely not hired them for their brains. However, Salvatrix did manage to learn that a "purple-haired woman" had paid them a fair sum to store a box for her. Zelda set to searching the crates, discovering an unusual device. She wasn't quite able to determine its purpose, but between them, the group reasoned it was probably some sort of communications gadget. More importantly, they knew how to turn it off, immediately ceasing the electronic whine in the air and the headaches that came with it, curing Torch's malady almost completely by accident.
Salvatrix decided that they had a golden opportunity here in more ways than one, first raiding Ulreth's office for any incriminating paperwork...and finding a sizeable coin purse tucked into the desk in the process. She set Orbit to work on helping her review the accounts, finding the boy surprisingly good at the job. Waking up the unconscious Ulreth, she proposed a deal - he would sign over the rights to the warehouse and Silverdisk Hall in exchange for still receiving a share of the profits and tje freedom to leave town alive before his violet benefactor returned to discover his screw-up. Without much of an alternative, he agreed and skipped town. The group reasoned that the mysterious purple-haired woman would likely come back and decided to stake out the warehouse that night. Zelda promptly took the mysterious device to Father Kyte, who was delighted with the new toy, before returning to aid in their sting.
It took a day before their efforts bore fruit. A group of thugs wearing armor covered in scrap metal crept up to the warehouse, only to be firmly trounced. They were evasive when questioned but did eventually mention a few pieces of information - that Meyanda was the name of the purple-haired woman, she was an android from a place called Scrapwall, and she spoke with the voice of Hellion. None of the party had ever heard of Hellion and were therefore quite surprised to hear the name spoken of with the reverence reserved for gods. With little option remaining, they resolved to return to the caves, first checking in with Khonnir and Val...who asked whether they'd made plans regarding Trett. After a pause, they simply dumped him at the town hall for the Council to deal with, washing their hands of the matter.
They continued into the caves, now armed with the coupling Salvatrix had repaired to restore the elevator's functionality and grant them access to the final floor. The party fought through the sparse guards and odd creatures, coming across an angry gargoyle guarding what appeared to be a shrine of some sort. They defeated it soundly and moved to open the final door, and the headaches began anew as a loud electronic whirring assailed them. The android priestess Meyanda awaited them with a collector robot, getting off a few good spells and shots with her strange pistol before finally being brought down by Cygnus's refusal to let her out of melee. Cygnus tied her up for later questioning while Zelda and Salvatrix figured out how to reset the devices in the room...sending a brilliant purple light up into the sky, restoring Torch's namesake.
Meyanda was left in the custody of Father Kyte after a brief questioning, wherein they learned a bit about Scrapwall and Hellion, mostly the bits about subjugating organic life. Deeming this their best next destination into figuring out all of this Hellion business, the group decided to plan a journey. Kyte asked them to look out for an old colleague of his who had been driven into hiding by the Technic League, a priestess called Dinvaya whom he had last heard of around Scrapwall. Zelda agreed to look out for a sister in faith, and Kyte recommended them a path leading by an old fort called Aldronard's Grave...
End Chapter 1