Ix gets to work dismantling the creature: tearing away loose metal plates, ripping out bundles of colored string which appear to be very fine metal wrapped in very sturdy wax, and smashing up innards of clockwork-like moving parts and frail but hard colored and patterned sheets of something almost the consistency of wood but pock-marked with tiny rectangular and cylindrical attachments. Eventually, there is a knock at the opened doorway to the east as a few town guards show up to peak inside and ask, "Everything alright here? We heard a scream and a bang."

As Cain asks to examine Khonnir's workshop, Val shrugs and leads him to Khonnir's room where the drawers of the mage's writing table houses parchments of half-finished spells, formulae, and a few basic observations of the metal man--including one that describes fine Andorffan script that might suggest the robot's purpose was to repair damaged technological systems. Afterwards she leads Cain to the Foundry Tavern's foundry in the eastern building of Baine's holdings which holds two forges, now cold, and a corner workbench with various chemicals which the mage used to mix his bombs but no more clues. With some hope in her eyes, the young Val looks to Cain and suggests, "If you want to help find my dad, the council is looking to put together another expedition into the Black Hill. I think they're offering a reward, too."

Full map of the Foundry Tavern:
https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfro...9/Foundry_Tavern.png

Cain gives up his search in frustration. "Bah. I expected nothing and I am still disappointed. We just came from the Town Hall and the Council did not have much more to tell us either. Val, you have the honor of meeting the latest batch of heroes our wise leaders are blindly throwing at the problem in a vague hope it will somehow fix itself. And speaking of fixing this mess..."

I got nothing more here. Should we get the water breathing spell and get this show on the road? Or does anyone has any other ideas?

Sesla loked around the tavern as well. After Cain spoke she nodded.

"That makes sense." Sesla said after nodding. She smiled at Val in that way that implied that they would do their best to find her dad and then she left the Tavern.

"Everything alright here? We heard a scream and a bang."

With his leg raised in mid-stomp, Ix looked to the guards, then to the pieces, then to the guards.

"Everyt'ing iz fine, gentle-folk."

*KTAK!* Ix's foot smashed something that he presumed would not work again anytime soon, then swept the pieces away with his foot.

"All has been made right," Ix dusts off his hands, "And all t'at was wrong haz been unmade. Now, if you will ex-cuse me." He gives another part a solid kick across the room has he follows the rest of his group to the foundry.

"Oh." By the time he catches up, Sesla was practically turning back out. Guess there was nothing more there to look for...but he was sure they missed something. Still, not like he would find it. The way of sheltered people had not always been his own.

"Sesla," Ix took up a pace in the woman's wake. "How did you...make t'at mal-for-ma-tion...obey your command?" The woman had been so casual about it, and such power would be essential on their journey.

Happy to roll on with the crew to get that water breathing jawn.

Sesla looked over to Ix. She smiled and she considered what she would say. There really wasn't much to say but living off the streets as long as she had caused a great penchant for drama to grow within her.

"Is it not enough to know that it is within my power to do so?" Sasla said through a coy teasing smirk

"Is it not enough to know that it is within my power to do so?"

Sesla couldn't have known how much the android's face contorted. His masked head was remarkably still as he stuttered his steps. The question practically appeared in front of his eyes. He didn't know how to look away, around it, through it.

"I..."

The mask dipped low, then slowly back up. The iron-armed armsman wasn't exactly tall at just under 18 hands high, but it was obvious how he regarded her from toes to the top of her head. It shouldn't have been such a confounding question, and Ix wasn't a fool. Yet some inquiries weren't to be regard as simple as suggestions, or merely as mentions.

"I...I t'ink I'm...juuuzt curious...about t'e combative ca-pa-bi-li-tiez of my..."

A metal finger scratched at his head.

"...companions...huh..."

Was Ix trying to convince himself as much as Sesla?

His head was lowered as he slipped into introversion.

As they searched over the house, Brokam’s body gradually returned to its normal shape as the mutagen ran its course, and though he eyed the chemicals and bombs curiously as he looked through Khonnir’s notes, he nodded in agreement with Cain.

“Yes, the longer we linger, the slimmer our chances of recovering the entire expedition become,” He said before looking to Val.“ I promise you, we will do everything we can to return Khonnir back home.”

Ooc: not certain if this was already rolled or not, but I’ve rolled perception to leaf through Khonnir’s notes on his desk, looking for anything relating to his last expedition, with a result of 24.

"One of the secret secrets of the universe has been revealed to me. I glimpsed pieces of it by watching the stars; those great cosmic gears and learned that sentient beings, like you, aren't that different from creatures like me. Not really anyway. Sesla said.

Not wanting Ix to feel uncomfortable.

In complexity and scope we are all just different types of machines Sesla shrugged matter of factly before you yelled back into the Tavern.

"Oy, you lot coming?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:59, Wed 28 July 2021.

"That's great!" Val remarks with excitement in her eyes, "If anyone can find my dad, I'm sure you can! And if you need to rest, I'm making up some cots in the tavern for you and your friends."
[Private to Brokam: There is nothing more to be found among Khonnir's notes.]
The guards look between each other and Ix, uncertain if they should trust the mask-wearing, wild-man android, but once Val arrives to explain what had happened a pair of the men remain to clean up the metallic gore while another runs off to inform Councilor Kyte at the Temple of Brigh. Once the party is ready to depart, they follow after the guard in the same direction--only to cross paths with him again as he exits the compound and they arrive. The temple consists of two buildings, a magic shop to the left or north and a larger workshop to the right or south linked by a domed portico, almost resembling a gazebo, which is decorated by several bronze wind chimes and clockwork statues.

Passing through the southern doorway which the party saw the guard exit from, they find a large, open-floored room littered with crafting tables and a mind-boggling variety of tools hanging from the walls. On the southern wall is a large, clockwork-and-porcelain feminine sculpture likely depicting Brigh, the Goddess of Invention, behind a small table and bench which likely serves as an altar. Working at a table on the eastern side of the room, tinkering with some device currently broken down into a number of parts strewn across his table, is the same elderly man in a heavy apron the group had seen earlier leaving the Town Hall.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:43, Thu 29 July 2021.

Looking up from his work as the group enters, the old man offers a warm smile before introducing himself, "Ah, you must be the new expedition! Mister Aleed and Company? I am Joram, cleric of Brigh."--he gestures towards the statue at the southern wall--"Mister Xander told me what you did for Khonnir's daughter--thank goodness you were there! I've sent him to bring the contraption here; I'll be sure to see it properly dismantled."

What does she mean, sentient beings?

Granted, everyone was a sentient being. But something in the way she said it... was she implying...?

In complexity and scope we are all just different types of machines.

A stillness suffused Ix's stance. He'd be subjected enough already to such generalization. It was a reason he kept his iron arm unnoticeable. It was a reason he had avoided humans as long as he had, with only Mapa's lifelong prodding moving him to experience their excessive thinking and lazy compartmentalization. However, humans were the least predictable, speaking their minds without being straightforward, and in this he learned that, sometimes, he had to contain his temper.

After a long pause he added softly, but forcefully, "No. I am no-thing like a machine." It was obvious Sesla's words set him like a too-tight screw. It was his own fault; he should have known better than to ask. It seemed knowing she had such a power had been more than enough. It was her belief that ended up being too much for him.

Ix strode in silence after that. Moment to moment, Ix grew increasingly unsure of the company he kept. He missed Mapa.

Aleed?

The mask turned side to side. Ah. They were referring to the ratman. The coward.

Ix himself thought he'd done a good job himself "dismantling" their foe, but he would not complain of further destruction. Even if it was in such a place as this one, very unlike the Gray Master. Maybe if more of their followers lived among them, the secrets of their situations would have been revealed. Of course he would never say these things aloud. Mapa had always forbid him to do so for as long as he could remember.

But here, this temple, that statue...something about it rubbed him the wrong way. Perhaps not wrong. Just not what he would consider normal. Ix folded his arms, as though limiting the exposure of the environment to his iron limb.

He would definitely let someone else lead this discussion.

If Sesla was concerned about Ix perception she didn't show it. She walked in silence and seemed to find it to be sweet to her ears. When they finally reached Joram she spoke up first.

"Dolga Freddert mentioned that you might be the person to speak with if we need to get into the 'hill. Something about a spell to breathe water?" Sesla said as she looked over Joram.

"Um-hum." Cain backs Sesla up. "I don't suppose you also have any scrolls or potions you could lend to us and that would provide us with air, even if just for a few moments? In case we need to return after your spell runs out? For some strange reason, councilwoman's reassurances that Khonnir - a person that markedly failed to return from his second expedition - believed that a strong swimmer could make it back without magic failed to reassure me. Funny that."

Can't hurt to ask. I'd buy some if I had any cash.

"Yes, yes, of course," the old man affirms and nods to Sesla, but soon frowns at Cain's question as he gives it some thought. After a moment he shakes his head and explains, "I don't have anything of the sort to give out nor the time to sit down for a day and make one. Without the torch the town's comin' apart at the seams and it's all I can do to keep Crowfeather runnin' without people dumpin' their waste in the river!"--the old man waves the device he's currently tinkering with for emphasis before setting it aside and pulling out a rod from his apron and giving it a small wave as he explains, "The water breathing will last for six hours. Mister Baine's first expedition only took a few hours. My advice is you just don't plan to stay in there any longer than that. If you do, we'll have to start looking for others to go in." He sighs and bows his head a bit, rubbing his forehead with his free hand before acknowledging, "I know it sounds harsh, but no one has any doubt about the dangers in there. We can't blindly hold out hope for expeditions that don't return in that time. And we can't just do nothing as the town dies."

"Ah, well." Cain resigns himself to what can't be helped. "We'll just have to cross that bridge when and if we come to it then."

Can't think of anything else Cain could do to prepare, so I suppose whenever others are ready we can get this started.

Brokam had held his tongue on the way, and allowed the others to handle the questions as he did simple inventories and double checked his supplies, seeing that he would soon need them. He was a little surprised by the lack of long term planning Kyre revealed, but there was nothing to be done about it. Seeing the conversation winding down, he cleared his throat to get a bit of attention from the old man, and spoke.
“Before we go, do you think you could spare a waterproof sack of some kind? I’d rather not get the torches and other delicate supplies wet.”

"At least that I think I can help with..." the old priest trails off in thought as he begins to dig about the many drawers of the workshop, retrieving all the basic adventuring gear the party might need.

Waterproof bags fall under the mundane adventuring minutiae I'd rather not track between 4+ character sheets.

"O-kay, Joh-ram."

Ix's voice rolled into the conversational space with little heed to adjusting for an indoor environment.

"We will take t'is ex-pe-di-tion-ary equipment," Ix gathers the adventuring equipment (he needs) with a force just below fully, "And make our way to t'waters edge. You will work your magicks on us when we are closer, hm?" Ix certainly wouldn't be so foolish as to threaten Joram, but his curt tone carried the weight of an unspoken expectation.

"Every minute counts. E-spe-ci-a-lly when it comes to saving-"

His mask was pointedly facing Selsa.

"-People...And. Not. Machines."

With a dull twinkle of the eye, that coy smirk that she had adopted before returned, perhaps it was a tell of some sort? She bent over to look at Crowfeather and the other odds and ends in various stages of completion.

"Do we have a problem Ix?" Sasla said as she looked over Joram's workshop. Traveling with her hands firmly behind her back had prevented her from touching anything, thus far at least.

Councilor Kyte frowns at Ix's veiled demand after he has already volunteered so much to the endeavor and soon shakes his head in dismissal and reasons, "A few minutes out of six hours will hardly make any difference." And without wasting any more time, encouraged to shoo off the strange, masked android, the old man steps forward into the gathered party and offers a prayer to his goddess while holding the rod aloft and clasping the clockwork mask which hangs clasped to his apron, "Bronze Lady, The Whisper in Bronze, grant these few your aid in their endeavor to return to us your favored Khonnir Baine and to reignite the flame which drives our industry." He then releases the mask and reaches out to lay his hand on each of the party's shoulders and soon a strange but subtle feeling grows within the lungs of each.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:56, Mon 02 Aug 2021.

"Well then, let us not waste any time." Cain says as he stuffs whatever gear might be damaged by water in the offered bag.

"Do we have a problem Ix?"

"Yes. We do." Ix stuffs his sensitive gear into the provided waterproof bag with his iron arm, this time pointedly not looking at Sesla before adding, "With a missing Khonnir...and machines."

Apparently, passive aggressiveness was within the rotation of Ix's abilities.

Whatever boiled aura Ix had cooled into a simmer as Joram began to pray. It was due less to the respect for this deity, more to the duty. As the prayer came to a close, he nodded his head in thanks. Then he realized Joram's refusal to accompany them. Did they not care about every minute in finding their fellow brethren?

Well, that was the way with humans, wasn't it?

"Well then, let us not waste any time."

Ix nods again, proceeding to their location with a lengthened stride.

Brokam accepted the packs with a grateful nod, and began to fill his with torches after carefully, near reverently placing a thick leather bound book inside. He placed his hand over his chest after Joram cast his spell, feeling the urge to cough but knowing it would do nothing.
“Yes, not time to waste,” he said in agreement with Cain, though he did look sideways at Ix as he set off. Something was clearly agitating the Android, but finding out what would have to wait. For now, they had a deal to keep and men to rescue.

Sesla transitioned the things that might be bothered by water and left the rest. Yes, time was certainly of the essence. She nowed stiffly to Joram. "There is no chance that you would let me borrow that rod, is there?" Sesla said with a wink before turning to begin to hustle out of Joram's place of worship.

Joram frowns and shakes his head, more sorrowful than disapproving, as the rod's ability to extend his Water Breathing magic would be just as beneficial to the next expedition...