Sesla moves up to where Rakkar was to keep the creature hedge "It is vulnerable to electricity" Sesla said as she walked forward holding her shield high.

Flinching as a bullet ricochets over his head, Cain draws his sword and then hesitates. With others already engaged in melee he sees no opening to help in any way. "Capital. If only we had any way to make use of that vulnerability."

I got nothing. The other side is clogged as well, and attacking from range in melee, through soft cover and then cover from the doors is just pointless. So I'll just hang back and take Sesla's place should she need to pull back.

It seemed this thing had no enjoyment of getting punched in the face.

The red glow from the thing's washed over Ix's mask like a dawn of fury. He shunned the light by ducking behind his wooden shield just as he felt the thing's angry swing towards him.

*KKRAK!*

The blow made Ix stumble. The blow made Ix furious.

The blow made Ix focused. He focused back on the sliver of time, when his companions called for strategems of elemental and entangling assaults. The android had none of the first, but perhaps that second thing...

He took in a deep breath - his false lungs filling like any other - and made his move before the air left his mouth.

Ix slapped at his chest once before dipping lower behind his shield. Then he...jumped back. Away from the thing.

As he landed, he set his feet into a steady stance. His shield fell away from his covered face, and he pointed his odd, wrapped fist towards the creature.

"O-pe-ra-tion joint lock-"

In an explosion of gray linen and static air, Ix's arm burst and unraveled. His hand splitting apart at the fingers into a series of fine chains. These chains spun around each other, towards the evil machine and wrapping about its limbs like spider's silk.

"-has been comple-"

5ft step back
Ranged touch attack 14. No damage, but grappled condition. Hoping to pull creature from corner...next turn.
Failed grapple CMB.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:23, Thu 08 July 2021.

Brokam waited with coiled tension for an opening to attack the creature, and no sooner had Ix stepped back to launch his strange metal strands than he had stepped forward to fill the gap, bringing his mace up and swinging down hard, seeking to cave in the machine's head, generally a universal weak spot, but in his drug fueled rage aimed poorly, the heavy blow bouncing harmlessly off an armor plate.

ooc: 5ft step forward towards the metal man, followed by an attack action. Natural one means I automatically miss.

As the ratfolk runs off, the Kellid Oracle Sesla moves in to take his place, holding her shield up in a defensive posture. In the next room Ix steps back and points his arm at the creature, firing some kind of grappling hook at it. The shot connects, but the hook itself fails to find any purchase and instead falls to the ground, trailed by the limp chain that connects it back to the android's wrapped limb. Brokam the alchemist steps in to take a swing at the beast but misses wildly--possibly for his own good as the robot remains solely focused on Ix. It surges forward, ignoring the alchemist and charging at the android.

The robot is making an overrun attempt against Brokam, set on Bull Rushing Ix. Brokam will get an AoO and choose whether to attempt to stop the robot or let it pass. If he lets it pass or fails his attempt to stop the robot, Ix will then get an AoO before the robot attempts it's bull rush.

Through the haze of the mutagen, a spark of intelligence still shined in Brokam's eyes as he sidestepped, letting the machine continue its charge out of the corner towards Ix, seizing the opportunity to attack the thing while it was distracted, which unfortunately went wide in his rush to avoid the machine's charge.

ooc: sidestepping and letting the robot pass, and making my AoO as it does so. The result of my roll is yet another natural one, and another automatic miss.

Also, for ease of tracking, I believe four rounds have passed, leaving six rounds of duration for my Shield Extract.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:46, Sat 10 July 2021.

While Brokam manages to hit nothing but air again as he sidesteps the creature's charge, perhaps due to the drugs, Ix kicks out with the heel of his foot as it nears. The opposing forces meet hard, Ix's heel sinking into the metal man's chest as the plates which form it cave in and sending the enemy back to the narrow hallway from whence it came. The creature announces once again in a voice occasionally split by grating noises almost like rain or spilling grain, [Language unknown: "Yinouniou esatst!<tin>ieil! Ameounlar preicaoun <werho> ringmealunwe atelo ect<etncce>lengnd!"]

New Round
Link back to this game

Sesla points her finger sharply to the ground and commands the robot to fall before her once more. Convinced that proximity would remedy her earlier failure.


Sesla steps away from the creature allowing Cain and opportunity to attack after she issues her Command.

Seeing his opening, Cain steps in as well, though he is not sure what good a sword will do against something made completely out of metal.

Move to where Sesla was and attack, for all the good that did.
14:15, Today: Cain rolled 7,4 using 1d20+4,1d8 with rolls of 3,4.  Attack, Damage.

Oh. That's what he can do.

It only just dawned on the android what the alchemist's concoctions could create. They were monstrous, muscled, and perhaps a touch mad. It was the sort of horror that Ix could see rather than feel. It was a good thing they were on his side.

His mind clicked back to the battle at hand. That scoundrel's sword slipped around the thing's frame, finding no purchase with the edge. The strange woman as well appeared compelled to command the creature. The ratman was nowhere to be seen. Suffice it to say, Ix's faith in their collective sanity waned. To add, there was no way for him to reach around Beastkam's frame in the small hallway. At least he could bring himself back together, to prevent further liability.

The fine chains of his arm retracted back, slidding back Brokam's thickened legs. The high-pitched whine of a winch reverberated in his half-arm. Forearm, then wrist, then palm, then fingers cinched back into place with metallic clicks, reforming the newly-revealed iron arm. He stepped back again, his fully formed iron arm now reaching back to wrap around the haft of a javelin.

He'd capitalize on an opening, he'd wait for his moment to bring this foul creation down.


Standard: Retract arm
Move: 5ft step back, drawing javelin.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:55, Tue 13 July 2021.

Sesla commands the robot once again to prostrate itself before her, and this time it seems to have an effect as it turns to look back at the woman and pulls away from her, as if cowering.

Quickly Cain moves in, replacing the Kellid as she backs away, and thrusts at the metal man with his dueling blade, but is forced to awkwardly twist his wrist to get through the remains of the door and fails to meet steel with ... whatever composes this enemy.

While Ix retracts the chains coming from his strange arm, Brokam, realizing that this metal man seems to be intent on attacking Ix, the only of the brave souls to have injured it, decides to draw the metal man out and steps away from it after swinging wildly, once again, with his mace.

The robot, finally, does as the woman commanded and throws itself to the ground. Even though it now lays splayed out on the floor it does not give up on its assault on the android, grabbing out with both hands at the stones of the floor and walls to pull itself forward.

Link back to this game

"Bloody hell!" Cain curses as he yanks what is left of the obstructing doors open. He steps forward and again swings his sword at the construct.

Move action to open the door, 5' step forward to flank and attacking.

08:15, Today: Cain rolled 24,5 using 1d20+6,1d8 with rolls of 18,5.  Flanking (Attack, Damage).

Sesla, Ix thought, Does she know this thing will not ob-!

The robot fell!

Ix dropped his javelin and...well, for the briefest of instances, he glanced up to Sesla. One did not need to see behind his mask to note his surprise. Ix did, however, allow himself a secret smile before raising his arm and crashing it down onto the fallen foe.

08:56, Today: Ix Tlacoatl rolled 18,8 using d20+7,d6+4 with rolls of 11,4.  Attack/Damage (+2 added for Flanking).

As Brokam stepped aside for Ix to take his position, the rage flared up again, resentful for a lack of catharsis. He fingered a vial full of a murky yellow fluid briefly but seemed to think better of it, opting instead to maneuver as best he could to strike at the downed machine around the corner.

ooc:Attacking with my mace, I finally achieve something other than a natural 1, a 20. Assuming this hits, the damage is 8 nonmagical bludgeoning.

In a flurry of action as the party rushes in and bears down on the prone metal creature--Cain slipping his dueling blade beneath one of its armored plates and into more sensitive, intricately patterned 'innards' and Ix and Brokam each dropping heavy, crushing blows on its back. A serious of hisses and pops emanate from the robot, arcs of static jump through its exposed insides, and the smell of something burning quickly fills the air as it twitches in its death throes before the light of its cyclopean eye slowly fades and its form is left little more than a statuesque husk, frozen in the midst of its crawling. With the sounds and focus of battle now fading Cain spots to his side, within the storage room from which the metal beast first escaped, the blonde-haired head of Khonnir's adopted daughter Val peaking out from under a table. Her eyes light up as she recognizes the half-elf and with the agility only children possess she quickly crawls from her hiding place and rushes across the room to throw her arms around his waist in an embrace and exclaims, "Cain! You saved me!"

"Bwah?!" Cain exclaims in surprise as the girl throws her arms around him. "Saved...? Right, I did save you. Wait, is this the machine Khonnir found under the hill?" He asks the girl as he tries to gently dislodge her off himself. "What the hell was he thinking, leaving something like that alone with you? You'd think by now he would know how dangerous this junk he deals in can be, even when it appears dead."

Brokam breathed hard, adrenaline falling even as the mutagen coursed through his veins as the machine sputtered and "died". When he saw the flurry of movement from the corner of his eye his drug fueled instincts began to kick in and he raised his mace in preparation for a new foe, only to drop it when his mind processed what he was seeing was nothing more than a frightened child.

Slowly, he returned the weapon to his belt and, mindful of his frightening appearance, held back as he spoke, softly as his rasping voice would allow. "Are you hurt little girl? I can help if you are," he said, kneeling down to her eye level as he did.

"It was dead and he wasn't supposed to be away for so long..." the young girl explains, her face now showing sadness on top of the mix of other intense emotions she's experienced just recently. She reels back a bit as she turns her attention to the somewhat frightening-looking Brokam, but she recovers quickly and shakes her head at him, wiping a tear from her eye before it escapes as she answers, "N-no, I'm fine. It just scared me when it jumped to life and started tearing things up. I just came in to get more blankets..." She looks between the brave souls gathered and praises them, "Thank you all for coming to help me. Are you Cain's friends?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:45, Sat 17 July 2021.

Even as he reached down to holster his javelin, Ix never looked away from the sputtering creature. He kept his shield at the ready long after the little girl revealed herself. It shouldn't have been up in the first place, from what they were told. Who knows if it was, once again, feigning its "death."

Certainly death was something it could never do. Hence why its destruction was necessary.

"Thank you all for coming to help me. Are you Cain's friends?"

Ix brought his foot down - hard - on the machination's alien eye before stowing away his shield. There was a grimness to the way he moved, his posture relaxed in shape yet taut with tension.

"We are Cain's cohort in an ongoing in-ves-ti-ga-tion." Unlike Brokam, Ix stood tall, still wary of the thing on the ground. The 'whiskey protocol' died down, but he still felt the burn of hatred for its existence. "Why did you come here to get blankets? Do you not have ac-com-mo-da-tions outside of this building?"

Ix's masked head tilted, like a crow making its mark on a shiny object.

"Did your presence bring this foul thing to bear?"

[Private to GM: I'm sure my Sense Motive of 3 will reveal all.]
This message was last edited by the player at 18:51, Sat 17 July 2021.

"Hmm." Cain pokes the fallen metal construct with a tip of his shoe. "Hmm? Oh, yes, these are my friends. Long bonds of friendship between us." He answers absentmindedly.

He turns towards the party. "You know, for something made entirely out of metal this thing went down surprisingly easy. I'd feel better if we made sure it can't wake up again while we are off looking for Khonnir. Val, has the old geezer said to you anything about what we can expect under the hill?"

Brokam had resigned himself to the girl flinching, but nodded approvingly when she confirmed she was unharmed. When she asked if they were friends of Cain, he shrugged. “We work together, yes.”

That said to pacify the girl’s curiosity, he rose to his feet and looked to Cain. “Like I said, it was already damaged. I doubt we’ll be so lucky as to fight another weakened one. Disassembling this,” He said, nudging the smoking pipe of scrap with his foot, “Shouldn’t take too long though, if you insist.”

The inanimate metal beast offers no resistance as Ix stomps on its 'head' and with a creaking of metal and the sound of softer things snapping the rounded extremity is now very much bowl-shaped.

The girl grimaces at the violence and seems confused by the android's question shortly after, explaining as best she can, "The blankets are for the cots in the tavern. I'm going to host anyone who goes looking for my dad ... Mrs. Freddert said I could. Maybe I woke it up, I don't know ... I was in here for a minute digging out the blankets before it attacked."

She then looks at Cain for a moment, at first uncertain who he means by 'old geezer,' but realizing he's speaking of Khonnir, she shakes her head and answers, "He didn't tell me much, but he had a long meeting with the council about it."

The girl then stoops down to gather the blankets scattered on the floor of the storage room and suggests as the party discusses the fate of the remains, "Maybe Father Kyte would look after it? As long as it's not here..."

Ix gave his iron arm a shake. It seemed the latest upgrade would need some work. He'd also need some linens to wrap it back up. Some townfolks still felt uneasy about prosthetics. At least that's what Mapa had told him. He missed them...and his real arm.

Cain did have a point about the...thing. It would be dangerous to have it around, to have it pose a liability to the lives of the town. Somebody certainly should watch it, but they had to do a better job of making sure it would go down.

As his compatriots spoke, Ix casually reached down. His grips of iron and false flesh wrapped about the remnants of a torso as he silently dragged the wreckage back down the hallway. His mask bobbed side to side as he adjusted his weight, unaffected by the scraping of the creation's corpse being pulled across the wood floor.

Once Ix stopped in the largest open space, he stood over the creature, cupped his fists together over his head...

There was no words, no madness, only method as he began to break the creature asunder.

Will drag this thing into NE room.
Feel free to try and stop Ix, but otherwise...
11:57, Today: Ix Tlacoatl rolled 21 using 1d20+7 ((14)) Sunder.
He will continue to sunder this thing until there's nothing left OBO.

Sesla looked on almost as neutral as Ix. Dead with dead, for creatures of flesh and blood or for creatures of metal and sparks.

Magic could bridge that gap between life and whatever happened next but such things was rarely accidental. So then what happened here?

Sesla pondered to herself while the others spoke. What had been the catalyst? Perhaps no death then, but a slumber? Sesla recoiled as her hand flew up and over her mouth as Ix sundered the machine.

"I do not think that was hardly necessary."

Cain has no objections to dismantling the machine before proceeding. While that is going on he plans on searching Khonnir's workshop for any clues as to what they might find under the hill, as well as anything useful that could help them there. Not like Khonnir would complain if they used something of his to rescue him after all. And if they did not rescue him, well, he won't be around to complain anyway.

We came here to examine the metal man, but with no engineering knowledge Cain is of no use for that. So I'll just search the place for anything interesting (or magical). Not really expecting to find anything, it's way too soon in the story. DM can roll perception or whatever for Cain in case it's needed.