Unwrought Souls (Part 2)

You're trapped. In a room full of ominously unstable bottles of every color under the sun. Outside you can hear the sound of scuffling feet wandering away from you. Further, further. The sound of cloth sliding. Then silence. The sound of your own breath is all you can hear.

"OK.. it sounds empty, but be ready," Rona says. "If we keep control of the space, make them come to us, we can minimize how many of them we have to fight at a time."

Morgan nods and says "don’t forget these jars in this room are not bad on their own, but mix them and you will meet your god or goddess."

Tump thump th-thump thump. A familiar children's tune is being sent into the room through the medium of something striking the door, but it's incomplete.

Thump thump.

There we go.

"I'm ready," answers Nadara, quietly, glancing around again. She still has her pistol out.

"Just tell me what I need to do."

And then she looks up.

"OK, scratch that: not empty," Rona observes. "Same deal, though. Whoever our designated tank is, open the door when we're ready and get ready to block anything that charges."

Rona takes step back, draws and notches an arrow, and prepares to fire on anything hostile when the door opens

"..got company? What, is it the Jotun Scouts?" asks Nadara, glancing up towards the door. She looks ready as well, concerned, but perhaps it is merely someone out to sell cookies.

GAME: Morgan casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 8 DC: 17

"...I am actually an honorary member of the Jotun Scouts," comes a small voice from the far side of the door. "Don't shoot when I come in, ricochets are dangerous." The door opens to show off the smallest Jotun Girl Scout ever: a 4'7" half-Mul in a plain black cotton outfit carrying no weapons or significant gear other than a small bag, the amulet she's wearing, and a baldric of shuriken. Kore blinks up at the room. "...Hello. You were easy enough to find."

Yelrona blinks. "Well, we weren't exactly hiding."

Morgan sighs "to be honest I am not good at hiding."

"I know, Morgan," Kore replies rather gently. "I know."

"AHH," says Nadara as her gun goes right off.

Kore did, in fact, compltely shock her when she starts speaking to answer her.

BLAM.

The bullet does, at least, not hit her.

"Did you... All not notice me following you?" Kore asks slowly, blinking as she surveys the room at large. "Am I really that unnoticeable? I feel like no one ever realizes I am in the room."

On the other side of the door, behind Kore there is the sound of moving fabric, and the double tap of footsteps. This sound is somewhat easy to forget however as there is a much louder sound of a bullet going off. It goes off in completely the wrong direction to hit Kore, but it does hit something else. Namely the metal golem. Square between the eyes. It's a perfect shot really. And it's eyes begin to light with a sinister glow. If that wasn't bad enough the pit-pat of feet was one of the bodies standing up. A low metallic voice speaks up. "DAMAGE. STATE COMMAND."

Yelrona is a little confused about what just happened, but sets that aside in favor of the more important fact, which is that apparently they aren't being attacked by a roomful of animate corpses. "Guess you must be," she agrees, starting to walk out of the room. "You should give stealth lessons, it seems. I--" she cuts off as the voice comes from outside and calls out "Stand down and recite all current orders!"

Morgan was about to give the same command that Rona said but does not as she does not want to cause confusion to the said Golem "Wait a Golem just spoke, they do not do that." Said softly to her group.

"...A golem. Have you been attacked by any golems today?" Kore asks slowly. She turns around to study the thing and stays very still. She seems to be trying to avoid attracting its attention by keeping still - even if this does leave her within the reach of the thing in question. A faint frown crosses the tiny half-Elf's lips. "...Huh. It's an interesting design..."

Morgan palms her own head "I forgot about the other kinds of Golems that was stupid of me... and insensitive."

"Yes, I hate this place," replies Nadara, reloading her pistol swiftly as she eyes it. "Tell us your last command," she says to the golem.

"VOICE PRINT UNIDENTIFIED. VOICE PRINT UNIDENTIFIED. VOICE PRINT UNIDENTIFIED. VOICE PRINT UNIDENTIFIED. INTRUDER ALERT." The metal golem shifts and the body does as well. The corpse is much faster, moving toward you quite quickly quickly. The metal golem just barely manages to shift itself out of its cubby hole.

"They don't?" Rona asks Morgan, puzzled. She knows several War Golems who talk just fine, and Zahier was active during the time of Kulthos, when they were being built. But perhaps this isn't that kind of golem? Well, whatever... she's no expert on golemology. "Oh, I see," she says as Morgan clarifies. "Well then --" and then everything goes squirrely. "Incoming!" she shouts, drawing an arrow again.

GAME: Yelrona rolls knowledge/arcana: (2)+7+5: 12
GAME: Kore rolls Knowledge/Arcana: (7)+6+4: 17
GAME: Morgan rolls knowledge/arcana: (3)+17: 20

Morgan backs up slowly as she has a very rational fear of magical golems "Iron golem stop, parlay."

"Oi! Stop!"

Nadara is trying.

Of course, her voice is not going to be recognized. It's shrill and kinda raspy to boot. Good luck with getting that to be responded to.

"Right. So. This is a very strange, um, golem..." Kore blinks at it a couple of times. "We should maybe go elsewhere since it isn't attacking us yet?" She looks around as if to gauge the reaction of the group around her and then swallows, hard. "Or I could try to disable it. ...Mmm." She actually ventures closer to the golem. Insane elf.

"Elsewhere works for me," Rona agrees, having no desire to fight an iron golem. "Or if you can find out what voice it will listen to, I can try to mimic it."

Yelrona backs away from the golem and calls on Tarien for assistance. "Hey, Tarien! What do you call a seven-foot iron golem threatening you? ... Whatever it wants!" Her holy symbol glows in response.

GAME: Kore rolls Disable Device+2: (10)+16+2: 28

Kore is quite nimble. The flesh golem dives toward her and she pauses for a second. "...Ack! Okay. This is looking- interesting..." She shifts her weight from left to right and then dives past the golem once it's stopped, heading for the rion one. "Just a moment," the Elf is calling quietly. Then there's rattling. There were tools in that small bag of hers, it seems, as well as various vials and other odds and ends. A goblin army knife is among the things she puts to use here. And then the Iron Golem is shuddering to a stop. "...At least it won't yell 'intruders' anymore..."

Morgan eyes goes wide as she sees what Kore did "I will enchant a item at cost if you teach me how to do that." But with all the explosives in the room she thinks a bit more protection. With a few words her aura shines a little red for a few seconds.

"...Oi, Rada. I'll dump some gold in the ocean for you in exchange for a blessing right about now," shrills the goblin. She proceeds to make a gesture in the air and the smell of brine seems to fill the room. Perhaps her prayer was answered and the God of the Seas will grant you his favor?

The corpse stumbles toward Yelrona, getting closer and closer to her.

GAME: Yelrona rolls 1d20+17: (11)+17: 28
GAME: Yelrona rolls 1d20+17: (18)+17: 35
GAME: Yelrona rolls 1d20+17-5: (6)+17+-5: 18
GAME: Yelrona rolls 12+2d6+1d8: 12+(11)+(7): 30
GAME: Yelrona rolls 12+2d6+1d8: 12+(7)+(7): 26
GAME: Yelrona rolls 12+2d6+1d8: 12+(10)+(2): 24

Yelrona invokes Tarien's Judgment and peppers the corpse with arrows.

GAME: Kore rolls ranged+1+1+2+1: (4)+9+1+1+2+1: 18
GAME: Kore rolls ranged+1+1+2+1: (2)+9+1+1+2+1: 16
GAME: Morgan rolls Knowledge/Arcana: (8)+17: 25
GAME: Morgan rolls ranged+1: (3)+7+1: 11
GAME: Morgan rolls 1d3: (1): 1

Morgan points her finger at the golem sending a light blue ray that chills the air for a tiny bit hitting the golem "That should slow him down a little..... I hope."

GAME: Morgan casts Ray of Frost. Caster Level: 8 DC: 16
GAME: Nadara rolls 1d20+10: (3)+10: 13
GAME: Nadara rolls 1d20+10: (11)+10: 21
GAME: Nadara rolls 1d20+6: (1)+6: 7 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Nadara rolls 1d6+3: (4)+3: 7
GAME: Nadara rolls 1d6+3: (1)+3: 4

Blam blam!

The twin shots fire from Nadara's pistol as she swiftly adjusts the chamber and pops more rounds in.

She's good at that for someone with just three fingers on each hand. Maybe it's an advantage! Who can say?

At any rate, two holes get blown in the corpse, leaving it a smoking ruin.

She seems pleased with herself.

"DAMAGE. STATE COMMAND." The metal golem reactivates slowly, taking a step toward the person who had deactivated it in the first place. And toward the corpse that they just dropped.

GAME: Yelrona rolls disable device+2: (12)+10+2: 24
GAME: Kore rolls Disable Device+2+2: (11)+16+2+2: 31

Yelrona runs over to the metal construct and does what she can to help Kore fiddle with its fiddly bits. "We need a more permanent solution to our problem..."

"...Well, if we yank out this gear and then we start here---" Kore is to work with the goblin army knife, currently using it as a wedge to remove a stubborn plate. "I think I just need to keep removing internal bits. Even though it's stopped. Um..." She frowns as she works, periodically passing items to Yelrona as she assists with the process of disabling the golem.

It is a long lengthy effort to disable it as best you can, but it doesn't seem inclined to turn on again.

Yelrona helps where she can and watches admiringly otherwise. "That's a neat trick," she observes. "Where'd you pick it up?"

Yelrona begins searching the room methodically once the golem is dealt with, trying to understand what is here and what it's for.

"...so... what now?" says Nadara, reloading her pistol once more casually as she looks around.

"Smart thinking," she adds to Kore and Yelrona. She's starting to poke around the room more actively, now. Maybe she's looking for TREASURE.

Morgan says "We should look for other secret rooms, and I so want to study this golem."

"Just don't turn it back on," Rona cautions as she searches the room. "I really do _not_ want to fight that thing."

You search the tower that you've found high and low, but all you find are the bodies, the alchemy lab, the inactive golem, and the room full of glass bottles.

Yelrona frowns once they're done searching. "OK. So I say we take advantage of the volatile reagents and rig something to blow this place up after we leave, so nobody can use it to create more monstrosities. Anyone got a better plan?"

Morgan looks a bit put off and says. "No books no journals of a mind that surpases my own." She looks to Rona. "Range the green with the purple, but give the rest of us a nice head start."

Assuming nobody strenuously objects, Rona begins assembling a device that will shatter some of the most volatile reagents from a distance... either with the tug of a VERY LONG rope, or the repurposing of some of the iron golem mechanisms to serve as a timer, or whatever else she can think of.

"...so perhaps we ought to just...wait?" suggests Nadara. "Maybe whoever came here will come back?" She looks between the gathered.

"I'd be willing to stake the place out and set off the trap if they don't return in a timely fashion- or if they do for that matter," Kore suggests quietly while she watches the construction. She's oddly at ease being this close to a large alchemical bomb. Then again, she didn't display a strong tendency toward self-preservation with the golems either.

Yelrona doesn't slow down her assembly, but hey, they've got time. "I'm not willing to leave the place unattended, but I'm fine with waiting a while to see who shows up. I can even trap the entry hall. How long do you want to wait?"

"Up to you. I ain't got any place to be," replies Nadara, giving her shoulders a lackadaisical shrug. "They're likely to see the mess we've made, of course. Maybe we can just attach a note to the chest that says 'Ho ho ho now we have a golem'."

Yelrona is puzzled. "So, something doesn't add up. The only entrance we know of was uncovered by a mudslide. So... how did the others get in and out?"

It takes Yelrona some time, but you head up and out a safe distance from the lab. Waiting for the moment when it'll go up, or when someone shows up. However nobody does. So finally you light it up, and when goes up it's not with a little boom. It's with an earth-shattering roar of raw magic that explodes and explodes again. There's a weird pop, and several large tentacles appear like wraiths in the flames. They vanish with another weird pop and suddenly... Everything /implodes/. And the lab is gone.

Yelrona nods with satisfaction.

"Was it under the mudslide or simply hidden?" Kore inquires thoughtfully. "Even if it was actually buried a simple Dimensional Door spell would be sufficient to get inside..." She'll settle into hiding nearby without any complaint, however. Kore stays fairly close. She seems pretty confident in her concealment skills.

And then things begin to implode as tentacles are flaring about and magic explodes to life. Kore stares silently. Her usual blase reaction, augmented with a bit of mild surprise. But there's no comment to clarify her thoughts.

"...the fuck was that?" says Nadara after a moment fo slack-jawed staring.

"And why is it always tentacles?" she then asks a moment later.

Yelrona shrugs. "Tentacles are efficient."

Morgan shrugs as she says "Magic is the most wonderful macguffin." A statement that makes most scfi fans a quiver of hatred.

"Oh, get off that. They are not. They're ridiculous and stupid looking," says Nadara with a huff.

"Sorry, Rada! Don't mean that! Know you love your tentacled sea beasts!'

Yelrona says, "What do you call two squids who look exactly the same?"

Morgan sighs "Dont encourage her."

Yelrona says, "I-Tentacle Twins."

Morgan booos that one.

-End-