The Planewalkers' Journies

[Kelne]

Asp's own search of the caverns was guided very much by the possibility of interesting stuff. Indicators of which might be funny (some would say spooky) noises, signs of salvage on any wrecked constructs, or anything which looked to interrupt those smoothly constructed lines. Or of course any constructs that trumped those they'd seen so far. What came next after silver and gold? Mithril? Adamantine? Something that beat metal altogether?

Naturally, Asp took the lead in the explorations, held back only by the need for light.

[Idran1701]

? - Abandoned Complex

Over the next half-hour, the party slowly picks their way through the complex. The rest of the facility shows similar damage to the first room, with doors bent inwards towards the gaps in the outermost walls, broken construct carcasses, and scorched walls. However, soon they find evidence to suggest this wasn't any sort of inter-construct conflict; Phelan manages to sniff out here and there bloodstains on the floor, humanoid, but only small amounts as would be left from a weapon blade.

Their explorations guide them closer to the center of the facility; construction seems to be limited to the outer layer of rooms. Following the corridors deeper within, they find exposed segments of wall revealing inner machinery and metal pipes running along the ceiling, burst open with slow drips of rusty water pooling into freezing, brackish puddles. Here and there, they find miniature gears no more than a half-inch across, each painted to resemble a color wheel of sorts, but there's no sign of what source they may have come from. Easily hundreds of them as they near the center, scattered across the floor or their teeth embedded into the steel.

Rooms further in hold small levers and switches in the wall set right at the level of the constructs. Asp's curiosity revealing most of them as either broken beyond the point of usability or triggering some sort of useless gear spinning within the walls. Others look to control the now-destroyed doors, giving them the slightest bit of motion before the fall to the floor, or panels in the ceiling irising open and closed. One gives the party a good start as a wall panel is released, a metal clockwork arm with a variety of tools extending from within before grinding to a stop. Whatever damaged the facility, though, seems to have taken just as much toll on these controls. Pressing forward, Phelan detects the strong scent of death just ahead; soon, even the party can smell the blood on the air.

They finally reach what looks to be the center of the facility, where it's obvious a tremendous battle and a vast destructive force occurred not long after one another. The room itself is a quite interesting place, a circular chamber near 40 feet across, the walls lined with glass panels at construct (and kender) level, most shattered. Along the edges of the panels are a multitude of small switches, and behind the panels are still a small number of painted gears like those they'd found on their investigation, barely staying in their tracks. Their true purpose is revealed at the panels that still stand intact, as the edges of the small gears can be seen to be arranged such that the entire panel forms an image. One seems to bear an arctic landscape, another a night sky, a third a pure field of red.

But the contents of the room...pressed against the walls are the bodies of five humanoids - two human males, an elven male, and a pair of twin half-orc females. With the armor and weapons held by them, damaged like everything else here, they must be a set of adventurers themselves. The remains are heavily bruised, as if battered around by a massive force. They all have scorch and char marks from what looks like lightning, not especially unexpectedly, and all look to have died within the last week or two, the cold keeping them from decomposing...much. While much of their equipment seems to have been damaged in whatever took place here, some does seem to have survived for those that would wish to pick over the remains. One grips in his hand one of the multiple levers they've found along the walls, broken off from wherever it once stood.

Three gold construct carcasses are slammed against the walls as well, but in the center of the room, near a massive upwards rent in the floor leading into a lower chamber, is something far more interesting. This construct seems to be silver to the others, battered around and badly dented with its eye-like faux gem shattered, but still in one piece without even a crack in its carapace. Kongunvir, though, can tell what it truly is. Pure platinum. And given the size of the construct, at least a ton of it.

[Jak Snide]

Kongunvir made a point of steering clear of the levers. The broken shaft clutched in a dead man's hand gave a fair indication of why these adventurers had met their demise. He'd remark "Don't touch them" to anyone expressing interest in the levers. He looked over the corpses disdainfully. He'd never have cause to loot the dead and he wasn't inclined to start now, despite whatever value their equipment might have to them. Maintaining his composure proved to be much harder when he came across the remains of the constructs.

">By the gods..<" he muttered in his native tongue. An desire began to stir within him, one as old as the dwarven race itself. Precious metals were prized by all civilized races but it held a special significance for his people. It was their greatest weakness. There were countless tales where the lust for gold had brought tragedy and ruin upon those afflicted with it, taught to each generation as a warning. He'd always wondered how so many could have made these mistakes. Now he had his answer, though it was not one he could express in words.

"It's pure." he announced, running his eyes over the platinum construct. He caught himself noting how it pleased the eye despite being of near-identical appearance to the lesser ones they'd fought. He didn't appreciate the greed warping his thoughts. "Pure platinum." He spoke firmly now, snapping himself out of the spell. "A vast haul of pure platinum."

[Kelne]

Asp looked positively hurt at the injunction against touching levers. After all, he'd been pulling them all the way through the complex, and nothing horrible had happened at all. It was a bit of a disappointment, really.

Thankfully, he was distracted from demonstrating just how harmless the levers were by Kongunvir's pronouncement about the construct, "Platinum, huh?" he asked, heading over to have a look himself, "I guess that makes it the head honcho. Was it a king, do you think, or more like a high prest? I don't see any religious-looking symbols though, just pictures of places. Maybe places to invade? There was a heck of an army here, and they must've done something to get these people pretty fired up." Asp turned a somewhat regretful gaze towards the fallen adventurers. The constructs weren't big conversationalists, but it would've been nice to talk to the adventurers.

[Jak Snide]

"Invasion is a possibility" Kongunvir replied, tearing his gaze away from the seamless carapace of fallen construct. Had it even been damaged? "One of those pictures certainly looks like where we came from. It would explain how we were able to reach this place."

[ChristianC]

Magpie spared the bodies of the adventurers little heed as they entered the large room; after all this sight was something she hadn't anticipated, and with an eerie silence she stepped over to the platinum construct, a hand on it as she slowly looked around the room.

"This place... perhaps you are right, perhaps they intended an invasion... it would explain how we've travelled so quickly from Ice to here... or perhaps this was simply constructed to protect a natural connection, a gathering point of portals..."

[Idran1701]

? - Abandoned Complex

As the explorers near the construct, they gain a better glimpse through the rent in the floor; not a rent at all, they can see now, but another set of burst doors, these irised as those found in the ceiling prior. While the angle is poor and the light scant, directly beneath the hole they see something perhaps even more unexpected than the platinum construct.

A throne, sized for a human. Wood with gold panelling, covered with silver runes of enchantment, the wood scratched in a way that suggests it was used by the construct that lies unmoving before them. Half of its markings glow a dim blue, not enough to illuminate the lower chamber but sufficient to stand out in the darkness. Dozens of wire bundles, like those found within the bear, run off the back and sides of the chair and lead into the depths of the chamber; others look to have broken off, their tips emitting a similar dull glow. The throne, though, is almost certainly not of the creation of the constructs.

---

Kongunvir:

Spoiler:

Beyond the darkness, you can see with your darkvision dozens of ruptured metal containers fixed to the floor, all around the throne chamber. They look like they've burst open from within.

[Jak Snide]

"Something broke out." He gestured behind the throne and into the darkness. "More than one, straight through the cells that contained them." How strong would a creature, or person, have to be to accomplish that? His attention was drawn back to the throne, going over the craftsmanship. There was magic involved, no doubt of that. "Do these runes mean anything to you?" he asked, glancing around at Asp.

[Kelne]

"Can't say I've seen anything like them before," Asp said, leaning over the edge for a better look, "Give us a second, though." With that, he invoked a detect magic cantrip and set about studying the throne.

[Idran1701]

Asp:

Spoiler:

You can only detect the faintest glimmers of magical power within it. The runes themselves seem to be Conjuration, Transmutation, and Abjuration-associated, while within the chair you see faint wisps of Evocation. However, you can also see the Abjuration runes are arranged somewhat like a cross between a containment and a dispelling enchantment - as best you can figure, it's designed to drain magical energy from the one in the chair, and direct it towards the other runes for...some purpose. There's a deeper aura as well, but you don't recognize it at all.

[Kelne]

"Now, that is interesting," Asp said, lowering himself down to hang from the lip before dropping ino the room below, "It looks as if it's set up to draw magical power from the person sitting in it to do... Well, something." He made a circuit of the chair, looking thoughtfully about the rest of the room while he was at it.

[Besyanteo]

Phelan had been quiet so far, and continued to be so. His presence was only notable for his absolute refusal to touch anything that wasn't the floor since they came in and levers had begun to make things move, however feebly, or fall over. He sat well back now as the others examined the throne, watching the unmoving construct more than anything else.

[ChristianC]

"Draw magical power? Could it be to power these devices?"

Magpie was prodding and searching as best as she could... but it became increasingly clear to her that she would not find what she'd expected here... but a strange mixture of relief and disappointment filled her.

[Idran1701]

? - Abandoned Complex

Asp paces around the throne and observes the chamber beyond it, getting a better look as Magpie moves nearer the gap. He can easily see the objects Kongunvir mentioned - cylindric metal structures fixed to the floor and ceiling, equally spaced around the throne and each burst open from within. While there's not enough light to see inside any one, each looks to be about two feet across and stretches the full height of the lower chamber, five feet.

While he walks the chamber, the throne's active runes seem to glow ever so slightly, reacting to Asp's presence. This close, he can see more clearly how well-battered it is, covered with dings and dents from some massive disaster; quite possibly whatever occurred here.

As Asp observes the throne, a skinny blue beam of light appears near them, slowly widening. A familiar-looking silhouette appears in it, kneeling on the ground, before the beam disappears with a crack.

[Shinigori V2]

Thirteen stands, dusting herself off and adjusting her cloak. "I did not expect to find you here."

[Jak Snide]

"We could say the same of you." Her sudden appearance didn't sit well with Kongunvir. He kept his eye on her, wondering if she'd had any part in this.

[Kelne]

While Thirteen was a bit of a distraction, Asp's attention was on the greater mystery, namely the throne. "You know," he said to himself, setting his pack (and Nora) down, "It's a bit battered, but I think it still works. One way to find out." With that, he sat down on the throne.

It wasn't so much a conscious decision as a law of nature that a kender would do something silly right when everybody's attention had been conveniently distracted.

[Idran1701]

? - Abandoned Complex

Asp takes a seat in the throne, with Nora putting herself a good distance away just in case, muttering to Asp alone how ridiculous he is at times. He settles in, and once wholly within, the runes begin to glow much brighter. The wires that are still connected to it begin to glow themselves, pulsing with energy.

The entire complex begins to shake and whine, as if parts of it are trying to move. Slowly, the party can all hear the sound of gears spinning up within the walls, as the panels of gears behind the glass begin to realign into new images - one shows the blue sky overhead, with a perfect match for the clouds visible above, while others show views of what seem to be the arctic landscape outside. Artificial, clockwork windows, they seem to be now.

A scent of ozone rises in the room as the shaking continues, though at least it doesn't seem to be growing any stronger. Loose gears begin to skip across the floor from the vibrations, and it becomes tricky to keep ones footing - well, except for Kongunvir, of course.

---

Asp:

Spoiler:

To you, it feels as if your entire body from the neck down has been submerged in warm water. You can feel the chair draining the energy of your prepared spells from your brain, and you can see as if you were standing atop the ceiling of the complex. Somehow, you know you can move the entire complex as one massive vehicle, the entire thing feeling like an extension of your body. You also know that were you to get up, your entire days' complement of spells would still be drained; even if you didn't, though, you aren't sure how long your personal level of magical power would support it.

[Besyanteo]

Phelan stretched out with all four limbs, trying to better balance himself on the floor. He hadn't actually seen Asp sit in the chair, and was half in a panic as the whole facility began to vibrate and sound came from everywhere.

"W-what's happeniiing?!"

[Jak Snide]

"Something bad, no doubt." Despite his choice of words, Kongunvir wasn't entirely upset by Asp's recklessness. He may be in the near future, but for now he was far too busy observing the chamber around them as a thousand different mechanisms moved in unison.

[ChristianC]

Magpie had barely had time to notice Thirteen's sudden arrival when Asp walked past her and calmly sat down in the chair, at which point she feebly extended a hand, saying "Wa-" But it was too late.

The construct merely... stood there for a little while, hand stretched out, then shuddered and almost fell over as the enormous construction began to move. She looked at the huge cogs moving around, and the windows showing what they did, and tried to think of anything to say.

Finally she said rather matter of factly, "Asp, it was a good thing that chair did not kill you." She looked over at Thirteen and carefully stepped over to her. "I am surprised to find you here, are you investigating this construction as well?"

[Kelne]

"This is awesome," Asp said, in tones of purest delight, "I mean, sure the ship'd probably fall apart if I actually tried to fly it, but I'm sure we could fix it... Well, eventually. It'd take an awful lot of metal, mind you. Some definite thought required." At last he hopped out of the chair, deciding that he wasn't going to unravel all the ship's mysteries today. He was going to have to put some serious thought in.

[Jak Snide]

Kongunvir shook his head. Ships had been a strange enough notion to him a few short years ago. Now there were ships that could fly?

"If this is a ship then it must have been travelling somewhere." He looked at the images on the walls around them. It didn't make sense. If this place could open portals to those locations then why would it need to fly? Did it open portals and fly through them? What sort of machine could command such powerful magic?

[Shinigori V2]

Thirteen nods, unshaken by the rumbling of the ship. "Yes, but all I have found is that, on the far end, there appears to be a storage room." She looks at Asp, her eyepatch whirring for some reason. "There are many pieces of metal there, among other things."

[Idran1701]

? - Abandoned Complex

Asp stands from the chair, and its runes once more go dim. Expending the last bits of Asp's magical energy, the complex stops moving, the machinery winds down, and things return to how they were.

[ChristianC]

"Pieces of metal? Like the constructs we have fought?" Magpie's eyes lit in the dim light right before she turned to the throne.

"Asp, how did you do this?" she bends down to pick up one of the cogs. "I want to investigate this, if it is indeed an airship... I believe I want to rebuild it... do I? Yes, I do..." she had an odd, short conversation before herself before she stepped up to the throne.

"It is strange, very strange. Who built this? Why are the constructs here? Were they in the tanks?"

[Kelne]

"Well, basically, the thing runs off the magical energy of the person sitting in the chair," Asp said, quite happy to have an ally when it came to fixing the ship, "Actually flying it would probably drain an awful lot, and you really wouldn't want to burn through your last spell in mid-flight. I'm not sure if the constructs were crew, invaders or what, but the chair doesn't look like it was built for them. It's a pity there's nobody we can talk to about it." Asp looked thoughtful for a few moments, "Say, the gods like to trade diamonds for resurrecting people, right? Do you think we could trade the big hunk of platinum for some, Kongunvir?"

[Jak Snide]

"Without doubt. Unless platinum isn't valuable out here for some ungodly reason. I imagine there's enough metal there to pay for all the diamonds you would require. We'll need a way of dividing the carapace up into easily movable chunks though and I, unless you have some magic that can work to that end, I don't believe that we possess the means to do so. Magpie and I will just blunt our blades if we attempt to hack it apart."

He glanced back at the corpses of the fallen adventurers, unsure if resurrecting them all was a wise idea. It would cost them a great deal of wealth that, as far as he was concerned, rightfully belonged to the group now if not the guild itself. More importantly, they knew nothing about those fallen men and women. They were not guaranteed to be good, honourable people just because they had fought the constructs. The presence of the half-orcs certainly gave him that impression.

[Kelne]

"No, nothing," Asp admitted, "Although it used to be able to run under its own steam. Perhaps I can get it to move about without restoring the homicidal higher functions."

[ChristianC]

"Asp, I am quite adept at such means, if you would need a hand, I would gladly help you." Magpie added in.

"Unfortunately, platinum is quite heavy. I could carry as much as I could, I am not weighted down significantly, and several of my weapons I can leave here, they have little value."

[Knowledge(Engineering) roll, take 20 if necessary, to try to figure out if Magpie can repair the construct and 'reprogram' its tendencies to murder]

[Idran1701]

Unfortunately, you can't take 20 on a Knowledge check; you can only take 20 if you can make multiple attempts at something without a major penalty if you fail a check, and you can't make multiple attempts at a Knowledge check.

Also unfortunately, Magpie doesn't know how to even begin to do something like that right now. Maybe if she studied one for a good long while, but she's barely had a chance to look at the inner workings of one in any detail.

[Idran1701]

Just a bump to prompt people to post what they're doing now. I mean, people have mentioned rebuilding the complex, but that's kind of a long-term-type thing; I mean right now.

[ChristianC]

Magpie looked over the device and shook her head. "There is too much in here that is different from my own construction, I cannot tell how they operate... however, I will..." she paused momentarily as she looked for one of the constructs that had sustained the least damage, "study this one for a while... but perhaps we should return to the village for now?"

[Kelne]

Asp, having gotten some idea of the throne's function, set about sketching the runes for future study, with the platinum construct getting its own share of study. The throne was probably going to take a while to fully puzzle out, but a bit of makeshift work could well suffice to get the construct moving again.

[Jak Snide]

Kongunvir stroked his beard thoughtfully. They were approaching this the wrong way. Platinum was rare, yes, but it was also difficult to purify. He remembered that much from his lessons. It required more that brute force and heat to extract it.

"I don't suppose any of you know a thing or two about alchemy?" he inquired.

[Idran1701]

Asp is staying here for now it seems, so I'm going to focus things on the complex for now. Christian, if Magpie was heading back anyway, go ahead and post that and I'll split things off for her and anyone else heading back. Anything anyone else was doing, go ahead and make a post for it. Feel free to toss in your own reasonable descriptions of things if you want to flesh your posts out any. Also, just for the sake of speeding things along with this part: Unfortunately, Jak, none of the characters here have any skill with alchemy, so you can probably assume there were No's all around.

---

? - Abandoned Complex

Over the next hour, the party still hears the occasional clicking gear within the walls of the facility. It would seem that Asp's recent experiment has left some residual effects in the building, as its horribly-damaged mechanisms continue to try to work as designed to no avail. While there doesn't seem to be any danger yet from this side effect, who can say what might result given enough time. Further, thanks to the additional power, they can see that the motion of the complex itself does seem to have drawn a little attention. Through the artificial clockwork "windows", still partially functioning from the burst of power, they can spot some of the local wildlife lurking a safe distance away. Some arctic wolves here, a polar bear there. All keeping enough distance that those returning to the Plane of Ice are in no danger yet, but they do seem to have a certain curiosity towards the ruins.

Heedless to the potential danger, of course, Asp pores over the throne's enchantments as well as the remains of the platinum construct. While he doesn't make a huge deal of progress, he can determine one thing - the throne was not made by the same builders. While the construct - indeed, the entire complex - seems to be mechanical with possibly some small bit of enchantment, the throne is wholly magical in nature, its only hints of the clockwork being the thin spindles of metal spiraling off it. But even these, on closer examination, look to have been attached after the fact, perhaps to channel or enhance the energies of the throne. Still far more progress than he's made with the construct, which absolutely refuses to submit to his poking and prodding. He can detach the legs easily enough after finding the proper spot to pry, but actually finding a way into the main body, he's stumped.

[Besyanteo]

Phelan will carefully explore what parts of the complex have not yet been explored, looking for anything that appears dangerous and, more importantly, capable of independent locomotion. After looking everywhere he can reach easily, he'll report back and tell the others what he has and hasn't found. Of course, if he's attacked this will be sooner rather than later.

[ChristianC]

Magpie had no direct desire to return to the village unless the meatbags others felt a need to, so as Asp resumed his research of the complex, she helped in, specifically quite interested in the constructs, but also the connection of the chair to the allegedly flying fortress.

[Jak Snide]

Kongunvir had similar interests in the complex to Magpie and, more importantly, the platinum construct. He was having trouble even admitting it to himself, but leaving a fortune in rare metal behind was something he couldn't bring himself to do. So he helped the others with their search, distracting himself with the array of machinery and craftsmanship of the complex. The platinum stuck in the back of his mind though, nagging him to investigate any means of carving up the construct that they might happen across.

[Idran1701]

? - Abandoned Complex
Asp, Magpie, Kongunvir, Thirteen

In the central chamber, Asp, Magpie, and Kongunvir continue researching. While the platinum construct still eludes them, there are enough other construct remains here for Magpie to get a good look inside their functioning. Indeed for the most part they are wholly clockwork - and perhaps disappointingly, the gold ones are merely gold-plated copper and iron - but each does carry one unique item within it. Opening and tearing up the most damaged examples, within each she finds a diamond about half the size of a man's fist, cracked through in the case of each construct she's found, with similar wires to the throne extending off its surface. The gems are cloudy and likely worthless now, but they certainly pose an odd contrast to the rest of the workings.

Further exploration of their remains finds a variety of other gems similarly attached to their workings on the inner portions of their carapaces. None of the rest are nearly as large, the largest a mere half inch, and none of these additional stones are diamond themselves, but rather other varieties of stone with no apparent rhyme or reason. But each also carries wires adhered to their surface, to Asp suggesting all the gemstones within the constructs were intended to channel, or even generate, some sort of energy. Some have even survived the death of their constructs, giving them if nothing else a more portable, if far less lucrative, haul.

---

Phelan

Phelan's explorations take him throughout the complex, finding the occasional sign of animal occupation in the outermost chambers, but most of the occupants look to have fled recently - he could reasonably conclude the massive shaking may have frightened them off. Work rooms, raw material storage, even a forge or two, but nothing yet especially interesting. But then he finds something quite different.

A room once sealed, its doors rent inwards as every other room in this facility. Within are shelves upon shelves of flat sheets of dark metal, unlike any the constructs are composed of. Obviously not a raw material room even on first glance. The sheets are each cut into perfect hexagonal shapes a foot to a side, only as thick as a few sheets of parchment, and many look to have scattered off the shelves and over the room. Even more strangely, though, is that the surface of each sheet is covered in etchings, beginning along one side of the hexagon and spiraling along the edge to the center. Not purely geometric either, but groupings of symbols, occasionally repeated...writings. A room full of writings, but in no language Phelan has ever seen.