Session 45: Brass bombs and great balls of fire. Report

General Summary

Readying themselves for the day, the party saw a terrifying sight, a massive clockwork dragon with three ferocious heads flying above, and a gnome wizard riding atop screaming in a shrill voice, somehow amplified to be heard from so far above them, "Drop your posessions and I shall permit you to leave with your miserable lives. Resist and I shall kill you all and take your possessions anyway. The Brass Baller has brought the Brass Bomber!"

Roy moved closer to Jeeves , consumed a mystical herb, and held out a hand to receive something from Jeeves as that brilliant savant whispered to be ready. Cigfran ran away. Jeeves passed a magical calligraphic script to Roy , who promptly read it. Jeeves then moved aside, and prepared a tonic, should it be needed. Boris blessed the party, and heard a voice from his magical weapon ordering him to "stop being a sissy fool and hit something". The infuriating and ofensive gnome bully calling itself the Brass Baller laughed and said "Enjoy the coin!" then threw a handful of coins disdainfully at the party far below. Some magic, however, caused these coins to animate and attack the group, scoring hits on everyone except Boris, then hovering in the area ready to attack again. The dragon called "The Brass Bomber" flew down slightly, still 180 feet up, and spewed a rain of oil over the party, covering most of them in the dark fluid. Roisin Marshfield ordered Boris to attack, and that worthy priest fired a magically enhanced crossbow bolt at "The Brass Baller", but missed and hit the dragon instead. Roy then counjured a massive storm of needle-like void crystals that engulfed the dragon and rider both, pinning the dragon's wings to its sides and knocking it out of the sky, and also somewhat piercing "The Brass Baller" who screamed like a small child and complained screechingly "What is wrong with you! Who does that!". The dragon fell upon Jeeves , damaging both quite heavily. Roy also attempted to use his ability to place the "Brass Baller" in a momentary stasis, but the gnome managed to avoid the effect. Cigfran , some distance away, turned, took a knee to steady his aim, and fired his crossbow, striking "The Brass Baller" and appearing to disrupt that being's mental acuity. Jeeves attempted to drag himself out from under the dragon, but was unable to overcome that being's immense bulk and strength. Boris lifted his crossbow again, then shook his head, dropped the crossbow, and struck the dragon with his magical warhammer instead, even using divine favor to enter a bezerk rage to strike twice more. "The Brass Baller", enraged by the piercing and pain, directed all 10 coins to attack Roy ; striking with six of them, and battering the wizard's head severely, leaving him reeling in shock and pain, then healed himself with a magical mastery of his form. The Brass Bomber turned its heads toward the different groups of enemies, including one head that positioned itself less than a foot from Jeeves , and exhaled great gouts of flame at all of them. Roy used divine favor to guard himself from the flames, Roisin Marshfield used a divine favor to grant resistance, but dodged the entire blast thanks to her magical scarf. Jeeves was very severely burned, but his indomitable will enabled him to remain conscious. Boris was roasted in his armor and fell, near death. Roisin Marshfield rallied Roy , ordered Roy to attack, although both of Roy 's eldritch blasts were deflected. Roy , on his turn, used the powerful spell stored in his ring from the previous day, and called forth a lightning storm. A lightning bolt from the cloud struck "The Brass Baller" who was completely unharmed "Hahaha, Love it! Go ahead and shock me more!", "The Brass Bomber" was jolted severely, and the electricity conducted through the brass form nearly killed Jeeves outright, but his indomitable will to survive again kept him conscious. Roy then conjured a tolling bell, and "The Brass Baller" suffered harm exclaiming "Ow, Ow, I don't like bells! Stop it!", to which Roy responded "You stop it". Cigfran fired another bolt from his crossbow at "The Brass Baller", striking a weak point in the creature's head, blasting the back out and leaving that gnome dead. Jeeves healed his own wounds using his knowledge of anatomy and humors, despite his precarious predicament trapped under the dragon's immense bulk. "The Brass Bomber" then used its massive strength to break free of the needle-crystals pinning it down, then stood and moved back, but in doing so nearly crushed Jeeves ' chest. Roisin Marshfield moved a bit over then ordered Cigfran to attack, whereupon Cigfran fired a crossbow bolt and struck the creature's side. Roy called forth another bolt of lightning to strike "The Brass Bomber", leaving it much further weakened. Roy also conjured an eldritch blast that knocked a gear loose. Cigfran rushed up, uttered a healing word to awaken Boris, then fired a bolt at the dragon, but it glanced off the metal plates. Jeeves stood and tried to shoot the dragon with arrows, but only managed to break two arrows and the bowstring in his panic, and as he moved back the dragon took a bite and nearly took his head; only prevented by the alchemical scales toughening his flesh.

Boris stood, strode forward, and struck the dragon, the hammer flaring with a rainbow of color that erupted across the surface of the massive clockwork creature, and as though a million pairs of hands had instantly dismantled it, it fell into a pile of gears and small parts, which quickly rusted away to nothing. Boris then strode over to "The Brass Baller" and struck a jewel-encrusted amulet worn on the body. When the amulet was struck that object exploded and both amulet and body were consumed in rainbow light that was drawn into the warhammer. Simultaneously, a scream was heard as a dark shadow fled from the hammer and another fled the destruction of the amulet; both were struck by lashing tendrils of rainbow light and destroyed. Looking at the hammer, what had been clear crystal appearing like cut glass, now appeared to be cut stained glass, except that the colors swirled and shifted constantly. Roy , angry at the destruction of the fabulous magical construct, began marching toward the distant tower muttering furiously. Everyone else chose to pause and catch their breath while Roisin Marshfield gave a rousing oratory to inspire them again, as Roy stopped and waited at a distance. Jeeves handed a mystical herb to Boris for later use. Roy used the time to summon an illusory horse-like phantom to serve as a steed for an hour.

Roy and Cigfran led the group as they proceeded along the path to the ancient wizard's tower, abandoned long ago. About half an hour in Jeeves shouted a warning to Roy , causing him to dive aside just in time to avoid being crushed under a massive boulder falling from a clifftop above him. Disaster averted, the party continued along the remains of a long-disused roadway until they reached a good stopping point for a midday meal.

Choosing to rest for a time and take a meal, the group took the opportunity to take stock and bind wounds from their earlier battle. As they were finishing their meal, the group heard a "Yipe!" and, looking around, noticed Roisin Marshfield was no longer present. Scanning land and sky, even using magic to see invisible or ethereal things, but could find no sign of their small princess. Roy and Jeeves began to investigate, and within a minute they find her tracks, which just stop suddenly. Jeeves began stepping in her tracks, as best he could with his much much larger feet, and with a "Yipe!" vanished. Cigfran use a piton to anchor a rope in a nearby rock and approached the area where their friends disappeared, and with a "Wahh!" also disappeared, but reappeared a few feet further from where the footprints ended. They also saw the rope coiled on the ground behind him. Turning about Cigfran dipped his head down and looked into the pit in time to see something in the depths rush forward to attack his friends. Cigfran , always alert for danger, reacted by firing a crossbow bolt, his precarious position making it hard to aim effectively and causing the shot to bounce off the creature's armor. The creature, an empty suit of armor with glowing red eyes, swung its massive sword at Roisin Marshfield, but her aura of innocence deflected the attacks. Cigfran then tried, again, to steady his aim, but was not able to. He still managed to hit the creature, dealing some mild damage. Boris then rushed forward, still unaware of the situation, and fell into the pit with an angry shout. Landing with a cacophanous clatter he conjured light, revealing the scene. Boris also conjured a spiritual weapon, which failed to hit. Roy , still distrusting, attempted to dispel whatever magic was concealing this area. Roy succeeded and removed a massive area of illusory terrain, revealing a pitted and lifeless region of bare grey rock where the remains of some small area of habitation, perhaps a compound or very small village, could be seen. With the magic's removal light now shone in the area, and Roisin Marshfield directed Jeeves to attack. Jeeves struck the creature in the eye slot, dealing some damage, and then attacked twice more, striking once. The creature then attacked Jeeves , but Roisin Marshfield distracted it, and it missed. The creature shimmered, seeming to accelerate, and attacked twice more, hitting both times. Cigfran took careful aim, fired, and missed, his bolt glancing off the heavy suit of armor. Boris stood, cast a newly learned cantrip, and threw his hammer. The hammer struck powerfully and tore a hole in the breastplate, and Boris quickly followed up with another strike that utterly destroyed the construct. The empty armor was engulfed in rainbow energy and consumed, as the weapon exploded in light before returning to Boris' hand, gaining further capability as Roy screamed in anger "BORIIISSSSS!!!!".

Catching their breath and looking around, the group in the pit noticed a tunnel leading away from the pit. Roy remained above while the rest followed the tunnel, discovering an alchemical lab of some sort, with a chest and a variety of alchemical aparatus. Jeeves also found a small ruby worth 613 gold in the dirt in the tunnel. Cigfran opened the chest, and became poisoned with Rage Gas. Despite Jeeves adjusting his humors to suppress the poison, and Roisin Marshfield spuring him on to resist, the rage took hold causing him to fire a crossbow at Jeeves before Jeeves finally jammed a curative herb down his throat, curing the poison. Cigfran now looked in the chest, finding the remains of someone's treasure; a full 75 platinum, 501 gold, 2610 silver, and 417 copper. Also in the room were shelves of books on the science of Alchemy, along with some weird book hidden behind others with a plain black cover and titled "Tusk Love", which Roisin Marshfield siezed and placed in her backpack, having heard that the famous book reviewer Keylith Von Bo had declared it the best erotic fiction written across three continents and two oceans. The chest was quickly lowered into Roisin Marshfield's purse, along with all of the books, and the group discussed what to do next, as there were two doors leading further into the complex. Boris walked in, and without a care made his way further into the complex, finding a dining room with naught but dust on the floor, and doors so ancient the wood disintegrated at the lightest touch, but turned back after that. They tried to convince Roy to join them and delve deeper into the complex. It took a bit of circular reasoning and repeated argument, but they did finally persuade Roy to the position he took almost immediately when the conversation opened, and then continued arguing until they had begun to speculate wildly and Roy became convinced they were mentally unstable and began to resist the idea on the thought something below had addled their wits. Roisin Marshfield finally decided exploring this hidden complex was worth the time, and the group regrouped down in the alchemy lab.

Cigfran called upon The Source to extend his superior night vision to everyone, to ensure all could see clearly in the darkened hallways. They moved down the right-hand hallway where Cigfran opened a door that released a flood of mixed chemicals that promptly dissolved much of his feet and legs. While everyone else climbed tables in the other room, Cigfran realized the end of the hall was illusion covering another door, and opened that to find another room with a few stone tables, apparently another, disused, lab. Roisin Marshfield used her decanter of endless water to wash the floors, and then washed down the room where the flood of chemicals came out. Left behind, were 8 intact alchemy flasks. Boris then used his hammer to bash out the lock on the facing door, then with his small halfling hand easily reached in and pulled aside the bolt. The door opened easily to reveal a store room full of all of the equipment an alchemist might possibly want or need. As Jeeves ' jaw dropped and he began to drool at the vast array of long sought equipment, the party began to consider what to do next.

Rewards Granted

75 platinum, 501 gold, 2610 silver, and 417 copper
Alchemist Tools
8 Alchemy flasks
A full library of Alchemy knowledge
The Rainbow Lash is both Awakened and Enlightened