The Beginning: Zigil-Dûm

An Orc with iron teeth? what a monstrosity!

Says Darann, as he slowly moves forwards into the dark

The moment you walk through the entrance and into the darkness, a dampness in the air clings to you. The lava from back in the tunnel hasn't affected this cave. With each breath, the smell of blood and, for some reason, oil, enters your nose. It takes a moment or two for your natural dark vision to kick in, but eventually, you notice it's the end of the tunnel here. You're in some sort of cave, with what looks like an avalanche or such piled up at the back. All across the room, rubble and stalactites are scattered.

[td]Suddenly, a growl, too metallic to be natural, rises from the far corner. With a clink-clank, four metal paws carry what looks like a small wolf into your field of view.  Its body is formed from iron plates and bars. It stands about two feet high at the shoulder. Its mouth is lined with serrated blades of metal while its legs are covered in razor blades. As it sees your party, it dashes to attack.



Please roll for initiative!

Gunderson pulls himself together after finding the remains of a former lover and peers into the darkness they are about to wander into. He glances back at Darann and sees him touch himself with glowing hands in preparation for the dangers to come.

Gunderson whips out his bagpipes and launches into a spirited rendition of Stairway to Heaven (that song title doesn't really need a D&D parody title...).

When he finishes, many minutes later, he stares into the distance briefly. Appearing satisfied, he puts his bagpipes away.

Ready to go.

Cast Unseen Servant as a ritual

Erlanger keeps his eyes fixed forward and says to Darran

It's not an orc.

Thrazar steadies himself and, with pick in hand, gets ready to face the mechanical monstrosity.

Haha! You foul creature, what are you? I can't wait to dissect you and see what makes you tick.

With more excitement than brains, Erlanger steps forward and fires his pistol.

Pistol: 10

Darann sees Erlanger darting forward and follows right behind him.
WIldly swinging his hammer he yells at Erlanger

Be careful buddy, we will hold this thing off while you search for the Orc that's controlling it!

Unable to think of any particular insults to throw at an metallic wolf, Gunderson let's some profanity do the work for him and lets out a vitriolic stream in the wolf's direction.

In between curse words, he gives some encouragement to Darann:

Don't worry Darann. I'm right behind you, still!

3 damage vicious mockery - dc 12 save
1d6 bardic inspiration die to Darann

Thrazar steps up to cover the mechanical beastie on its right, and takes a swing with his pick.

Attack-23
Damage-11

Seeing Thrazar and the metal monstrosity exchanging blows, Darann says.

Looks like the Orc will have to wait. We're gonna turn this thing into scrap metal first!

He swings his maul again and with a loud "Clank" the metal of the hammerhead impacts on the metal of the automaton.
As the head continues to scrape along the creature's side, it sends sparks flying into the air.

Code:

attack: 17
dmg: 11 bludgeoning

Once the sparks stop sparking and the beast lies still for a few seconds, Gunderson bravely inches his way forward to get a better look at this thing.

Bad dog!

Erlanger turns to his dwarven brothers,

Thank you for your help. My brain told my body to run away but my arms and legs had other plans. I could have been this beast's next meal.

Now squatting down close to the wolf, Erlanger says to the dead wolf,

You're a very interesting creature. What makes you tick?

He takes out his set of tools and begins removing metal plates to see what lies underneath. (He's pocketing anything that looks interesting)

Investigation: 9

Right after landing the killing blow, Darann immediately picks his maul up again and holds it at the ready.
He begins darting around the room, his eyes frantically moving from left to right as he searches the room for any sign of an Orc.

Code:

Perception: 7

Picking apart the pieces that haven't been shredded, torn or squashed, Erlanger quickly realizes it's not some mysterious, unknown technology or something magical at work here. It's all parts and pieces that are known for a long time. The application, however, is something he's never seen before. All the theories he's studied are devoid of any of the concepts he finds in the debris.

In the meantime, Darann looks all across the room, searching for any sign of orcs. He finds a set of footprints in the dust, clearly different from the metal wolf they just defeated, but also clearly heavier than an orc. The footprints lead outside the cave. Considering they didn't meet anything besides the corpses and the goblins outside, it must have crossed them one way or another.

Darann kneels down at the footprints, and tries to determine what kind of creature could have created them.
Especially to see if there is any chance they could have been made by a really really fat Orc.

Code:

Investigation: 12


He shouts towards the others:

Come look at this boys, there was something else in here too.

Gunderson wanders over to the general vicinity where Darann has indicated, while still keeping his head on a swivel directed at the metal dog in case it should spring back to life.

Yes, yes. Very nice Darann. Very interesting. Good find.

He says, distractedly.

Investigation: 3

Kneeling down and checking the footprint closer, Darann checks the footprints. He's seen quite alot of footprints, partially through his time in military training, partially as a result of his family's trades. The footprint certainly doesn't match the shape, size, weight pressure or amount of toes of that of an orc, nor of anything else he's ever seen. These prints are completely new to him.

In the meantime, Gunderson looks over Darann's shoulder and thinks to himself it's probably a footprint of a tree.

Reluctantly, Darann begins to consider the idea that there might not have been Orc involved in this after all.
He walks back over to the remains of the metal dog and sits on top of it.

He plays with some of the gears, nuts, and bolts while he thinks about the possible origins of the footprint.
After a few minutes, the thinking begins to give him a very slight headache.

Thrazar looks down at his leg and over at the smoking remains of the metallic canine.

It never really seems like much of a fight unless I'm bleeding, Nice shot Darann. I'd have finished him off if you didn't.

Thrazar wraps a band of cloth around his leg and cinches it up to staunch the bleeding.

Well lads, should we find out what built this and give it a what for?

If Erlanger here can't figure out what this thing is, I sure won't be able to. I say we bring it back to the king and let him figure it out. I've got a show tonight to prepare for.

Darann begins gathering any loose pieces from the floor and puts them in his backpack.
Hen then grabs the hind legs of the wolf and looks at Thrazar.

Whatcha think big boy, shall we take this thing with us?

Erlanger finishes putting the strange pieces of wolf into his bag and walks over to the foot prints. Kneeling in close to look he says,

Hmmm.... they're footprints all right. Nothing I can tell who or what they belong to. Maybe it's the dog's owner. The one you think controls it. If we meet, I want to know how he did it.

Looking at the wolf again, Erlanger tries to help Darann and Thrazar gather and carry it.

Ha ha! You are a heavy creature!

Thrazar nods his head as he gathers what he can of the mechanical beastie.

Aye, I think the King would be interested in this. Let's wrap this up. An ale (or two or three), is calling my name.