The Planewalkers' Journies

[Idran1701]

Plane of Ice - Remorhaz Tunnels
Round 5

Magpie gets ready to block any further escape, as Kongunvir's potion heals a portion of her wounds. While Sylvain still struggles to breathe, Asp conjures another air elemental to block the construct's path. Taking on the form of a whirlwind, it attempts to entrap the construct, but the being clings tenaciously to the ground.

Florence nods to Kongunvir but pockets the vial for now. "Don't need it just yet. I'll be all right." While her appearance belies her statement, she still moves up alongside the elemental, just barely whiffing a punch to her frustration.

---

Round 5
Shawn remains in the construct. Gold takes 10 damage, Shawn takes 8 damage.
Magpie moves to B7 and drinks a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds. She recovers 6 points of damage.
Sylvain fails to stabilize and takes 1 point of damage.
Asp moves to F6 and casts Summon Monster III, summoning a medium air elemental into AA8.
Elemental transforms into a whirlwind and attempts to trap Gold. Gold passes its reflex save and avoids being affected.
Florence moves to AA7 and attacks Gold. She misses.

Battle Mat

Initiative

Shawn: 23
Magpie: 22
Sylvain: 17
Asp: 14
Elemental: 14
Florence: 12
Phelan: 8
Kongunvir: 6
Gold: 5

Status

Asp: 10/22
Kongunvir: 52/60, Combat Focus (3 rds)
Magpie: 14/52, Combat Focus (2 rds)
Phelan: 17/57
Shawn: 12/37

Florence: 8/31

[Jak Snide]

Kongunvir broke into a run. They had the construct now and he was going to make damn sure that it didn't have any opportunity to slip away.

(Run to B9)

[Idran1701]

Plane of Ice - Remorhaz Tunnels
Round 5

Kongunvir runs up past Phelan as the wolf lies at his former master's side. Just as he reaches the construct, it lashes out at him, slicing through his furs and armor and leaving a shallow score across his chest. As it attempts to run away, Magpie gives it another solid strike. This seems to be enough for it, though rather than collapsing, the construct simply...stops moving, frozen in position where it stands.

After a second or two to make sure the threat is neutralized, Florence dashes back to Phelan and Sylvain. "Someone make sure Shawn's all right in there!" Kneeling at the druid's side, she pours Kongunvir's potion down his throat. His bleeding slows to a stop; though still unconscious, and obviously badly injured, he's breathing much more regularly now.

---

Round 5
Phelan does nothing.
Kongunvir moves to B9.
Gold attacks Kongunvir. It hits for 11 damage. It attempts to escape. Magpie gets an AoO, and hits for 11 damage. Gold is disabled.

The party wins! Everyone gains 960 XP.

Shawn:

Spoiler:

You're not feeling well at all - ground, heated up from friction, and mixed with its own oil - but you've managed to become gummy enough to stop the creature. Its internals are still in mostly one piece, though more than a few gears have slipped.

Status

Asp: 10/22
Kongunvir: 41/60
Magpie: 14/52
Phelan: 17/57
Shawn: 12/37

Florence: 8/31

[ChristianC]

Magpie sheathed her blade as the construct lumbered to a halt, eyes glimmering slightly before she turned to Phelan and the downed druid... only to have Florence run past, barking orders.

The construct didn't need telling twice and nodded, turning back to the recently downed foe she gripped the golden plating covering the gears and things inside and tugged as hard as she could, hoping to tear it off.

[Jak Snide]

Kongunvir nodded to Magpie. She'd fought well and deserved his respect, though part of him remained bitter that it wasn't he who'd struck the killing blow. He stood watch over the friendly construct as she tried to pry open their foe, shield at the ready. If the mechanical contraptions stuck in Phelan's friend had exploded then who knew what tricks this thing might have locked inside it.

[Kelne]

Asp, rather than doing any prising, walked over and knocked on the carapace, "Shawn? You got it. You can come out now."

[ChristianC]

Magpie returned a crooked smile to Kongunvir as he nodded to her.Whether the construct understood the gesture wasn't obvious, but perhaps she too considered his contributions to the fight valuable.

[Besyanteo]

Phelan stayed at Sylvain's side, looking concerned with his ears and tail hanging low, but he managed a smile for his compatriots.

"He's alive... Thank you all. Maybe now I can get him some help. The planes are a big place, someone has to be able to."

[Idran1701]

Plane of Ice - Elemental Vortex

With the creature motionless, it's no challenge at all for Magpie to remove a sheet of plating, revealing Shawn's black, oozy mass strewn throughout the clockwork, gumming up its works considerably.

With a smile back to Phelan, Florence stands. "Is she all right? How is she?"

[ChristianC]

Tossing the sheet aside, Magpie peered in at the oozy mass in surprise and curiosity.

"Shawn?" She asked with a kind of methodical, inquisitive tone as she prodded the mass inside. "Are you all right?"

[Shinigori V2]

From the gold machine, a black ball of..muck...Rolled out, reshaping and refining into Shawn, laying on her stomach. Her outer layer of clothing was still stuck in the machine, but she was at least wearing something like a..form fitting blue and black sweater. She gasped for air for a moment, before vomiting.

She didn't look physically hurt, so much as ill- Very pale, even her hair had a grey tone to it. "I don't...think that was a...Good idea."

[Idran1701]

Plane of Ice - Elemental Vortex

Rushing over to her side, Florence drops next to her and shrugs off her pack. Pulling out a blanket, she wraps it around Shawn, brushing her hair back and laughing lightly. "Probably not. How do you feel?"

[Shinigori V2]

"Bad."

[Idran1701]

Plane of Ice - Elemental Vortex

"Heh. Well, at least you're in one piece, right?" Lifting Shawn up, Florence keeps her close and warm as the wind starts to pick up. Looking around for the first time at their newfound surroundings, she turns back to the wide gap. From this side, the nature of the passage is much more visible, the edge of the opening back into the tunnels swirling with tendrils of energy, like a mystical hurricane. "...So anyone know where we are now? Don't think this is still Ice, not from the sight of that thing, but it looks enough like it."

[Shinigori V2]

"Hey..." Shawn blurts out after a second. "Save that gold thing for me...It should be..S-safe...Oh, and g-grab some of th-those parts...P-please...?"

[ChristianC]

Magpie looked at the crumpled heap of metal, cogs and gold and nodded, prodding out a few of the loose pieces of machinery for the young girl... or she would have, but she paused as she brushed her hands over the inner machinery, her dot-eyes narrowing to tiny slits.

"I would wish to know who made these constructions, they are too complex to have been made out of discarded material like the lesser ones..." she seems to continue observing the 'innards' for a little while, not really taking anything out.

"Should we bury them?" it's a honest enough question, and Magpie doesn't seem to feel emotionally for or against it, just asking.

[Kelne]

"Sure thing," Asp said, cheerfully accepting looting duty, "I'll bet the carapace will make a great sled," he continued, flipping it onto the back side, "That way we can haul everything back with us and sort it out later." An assortment of loose parts went on top, though the more observant might notice that some of those items weren't quite making it to the carapace.

"We should check out that big metal mountain, though. That's bound to be where they're from. There'll be all sorts of interesting stuff there."

[Idran1701]

Plane of Ice - Elemental Vortex

Turning back, Florence peers off into the distance, looking at the ruined structure. "...Makes sense to me. Before we go anywhere, though, I think we should head back for now. Let ourselves get patched up, find someone that can take better care of Phelan's friend. And tell the villagers about their dead, so they can collect them. But after that, I'm willing to go along with whatever the rest of you want to do."

She walks over to Phelan, smiling down to the wolf. "So, will you be coming along with us if we head out exploring? I'd understand either way, but best to know now, I'd say."

[Jak Snide]

Kongunvir was more than slightly astonished. Shawn's shapeshifting abilities contributed to that but what was even more alarming was that Phelan's friend seemed to have survived. He hoped the man would make a full recovery; nothing was worse than watching someone you knew suffer a slow and inevitable death. Magpie's question brought him around.

"A burial for murderers and torturers? I think not. Leave them to rot or break them apart for scrap."

[ChristianC]

Magpie nodded at the dwarf and looked at the pieces again.

"Very well, then I believe we have nothing more to do here. We should see to Phelan's friend first before we continue on."

[Jak Snide]

The dwarf nodded and gave the gold construct one last look. The lunatic responsible for creating this thing was out there somewhere, possibly close by. He wasn't sure how he felt about that yet.

"Sure. We'll see if the gods smile on him."

[Shinigori V2]

"W-wait..." Shawn struggled out, coughing a bit. "Not j-just the gold one, get m-me as m-much of that c-crap as you c-c-can..."

[Besyanteo]

Phelan looked between Florence and Sylvain, torn. However, his indecision didn't hold long.

"You've helped me get my friend back. The least I can do is help out some more, once he's somewhere safe and warm."

[Idran1701]

Plane of Ice

Gathering the parts and components Shawn asked for, the party returns to the village, carrying Sylvain carefully with them. While the villagers are of course quite sad to hear the fate of their lost members, it's not an entirely unexpected outcome to them. The families of the hunters even show some small relief that their loved ones avoided the fate inflicted upon Sylvain, and were instead allowed to pass away.

The village cleric does what he can to heal the party and care for Sylvain, still deep in his unconsciousness. With the threat of the constructs gone, the rest of the village flow out of the meeting hall, returning to their homes to rebuild and recover. Sylvain is left in the hall for now; the warmest place in the village, and the best place for him to stay for the moment. The cleric assures Phelan that he will be well cared for while here, that he will do all he can for the badly-wounded druid.

While the party has recovered from their wounds, it has been quite a hard day. but then again, the sooner they investigate, the sooner they can return. The choice is theirs to investigate today or wait for the next day to come.

---

If no one shows any strong preference, I'll go ahead and go with them heading out today. Everyone's hit points are entirely recovered in either case.

[Jak Snide]

Kongunvir was eager to head out once again. They'd had their injuries seen to and a few skirmishes wasn't enough to tire him out. The others had been hit harder though, Shawn in particular, and so he wouldn't press the issue if they decided to rest up for a while.

[ChristianC]

Magpie wooden 'flesh' seemed to clear up slightly as the healing powers mingled with the green light sustaining her and the mithril regained some of its luster. Magpie herself, despite her injuries (the potion had, however, alleviated the worst of them) did not complain or rest, but rather helped out as much as she could.

"I am willing to press on," she commented as the subject was brought up, "But I believe the health of our comrades is more important than expedience."

[Kelne]

"I think we should head back out," Asp said. As if there had been any doubt about his vote. "There shouldn't be anything left to threaten the village while we're away."

[Idran1701]

Plane of Ice

Recovered as best they can, the party regroups and returns to the tunnels. Phelan easily leads them back along the path to the depths of the constructs' base, and from there through the rift back to the other realm. The structure still looms in the distance, and it's a short hours' journey before they reach the edge. Closer to its mass, they can see it was once a massive complex at least a quarter of a mile across, made up of various buildings all connected to one another with metal tunnels, the entire thing made of what looks like nothing more than steel covered in a thin layer of frost.. Most of the walls are burst open as if from a massive explosion within, some scarred with scorch marks and others simply bent outwards. A hole into the interior gapes open nearby, in the side of one of the connecting tunnels, but what seems to be the proper entranceway is a ways further down; one double-door hangs open, barely holding on its hinge.

[Jak Snide]

Kongunvir looked over the complex, trying to ascertain how long ago the damage had been causes.

"With luck whatever blew this place apart took out whatever was inside it. Might be that the ones we killed before were survivors rather than scouts or a vanguard."

[ChristianC]

Magpie walked with her sword drawn, looking from side to side as she anticipated some kind of trap. These explosion-like holes unnerved her...as much as a machine of wood and mithril could be unnerved, and she stepped cautiously up to one of them to peer inside.

[Kelne]

Asp was very definitely impressed by the metal complex. Awestruck, even. Of course, in his case, this awe manifested as a burning desire to go exploring, and Asp headed straight into the gaping rent, heedless of potential lurking dangers.

[Idran1701]

? - Abandoned Complex

While Kongunvir and Magpie take a cautious look over the structure, Asp leaps in through the gaping hole, heedless to any danger beyond. Past the wall stands a large chamber at least 75 feet to a side, the non-functioning bodies of dozens of silvered constructs littering the floor, all showing signs of combat damage to various degrees. Some of the inner workings of each lay strewn about the floor, scattered towards the massive rent.

Much beyond the hole, the complex remains too dark to see more than the vaguest outlines of what remains here; some source of light will be needed to journey beyond for those without darkvision.

As for the damage itself, Kongunvir looks over the large gash. The edges are still sharp, without any wear or rust. This damage was relatively recent, though whether it was a matter of hours or weeks he's uncertain.

[Kelne]

Having taken a good look around, Asp stuck his head back out of the hole, "Lots of wrecked clock-things in here. Looks like they've been in a fight. Did anyone bring a torch? I've got to start carrying that kind of thing." After all, not every dark, cavernous place had inhabitants considerate enough to leave easily borrowed light sources lying about. Maybe he should have prepared a light cantrip this morning. Oh well, live and learn.

[Jak Snide]

Kongunvir shook his head as he moved forward to take a look inside. The dwarven race had little use for illumination when on the move. "Fighting what? An invader, or was it among themselves?"

[ChristianC]

"Perhaps they were experimenting problems controlling Phelan's friend." Magpie spoke slowly, looking over the area herself before finally lighting a torch.

"A few of us are unable to see through this darkness, I apologize for any inconvenience this causes..."

[Besyanteo]

Phelan, for his part, wandered into the complex and began sniffing around carefully rather than speaking. He didn't expect to pick up much more than metal, but if he did he wanted to pick up on it before they got close to the theroretical thing(s).

[Kelne]

"Don't know," Asp said, heading back in again now that there was light to work with, "I don't see anything else, so it could've been among themselves. Maybe they discovered one of their leaders was only gold-plated or something."

[Idran1701]

? - Abandoned Complex

With the added light, Asp gets a better look at the interior of the complex. Stacks of raw materials, perfectly shaped cubes of what appears to be simple steel a foot to a side, are collected along the walls of the room, though some piles seem to be tipped or shoved over towards the rent. Nearly a dozen scorch marks can be seen around the room, fairly evenly distributed, with all around three feet off the ground. Doorways lead deeper inside, metal sliding doors bent inwards and completely out of their tracks, barely hanging in their tracks. No visible writings or markings can be seen along the walls, ceiling, or floor; they look completely bare, and in fact forged in a single piece, without any rivets or weld marks.

---

Not going to be going room-by-room since this is a huge complex and that'd take forever. Just give me a general idea of what sort of stuff your characters will be looking for, either in general or specifics, and I'll respond to that. And if/when something of specific note - a big find, combat, stuff like that - happens as a result, it'll be in my DMing.

Also, a minor update: Shawn didn't come along after all, she still was feeling fairly mangled and so stayed behind. Florence stayed with her.

[ChristianC]

Magpie moved cautiously through the ruined facility, keeping her eyes peeled for anything that might hint at the nature of this strange place, hoping that her own knowledge and experience might aid her in finding out something about the constructs they just so recently encountered.

[Jak Snide]

Kongunvir stepped inside to search as well. At any other time he'd have paid more attention to the craftsmanship of the place, ruined as it was, but he couldn't afford such indulgences while there might still be danger lurking nearby.