General Summary
Previously...
Returning to the laboratory of the mad mage and retrieving what they could from the basement level, the party was stopped by Bello who alerted the others that his cybernetic arm was urging him to destroy what lay on the other side of an armory door. Discovering what seemed to be another experiment, the Blight Company saw Subject 1-- a familiar face-- with what looked to be a black arm attached to him.
Exploring the Chamber
After much debate and with nothing getting resolved, Swan reopened the chamber and explored inside to see if the automatons reacted. However, as they did not, she investigated around the chamber along with Bello while Portus kept watch.
Outside, Akmahl investigated the remaining halls of the armory, discovering what looks to be a utility closet with arcane sigils. In an effort to understand it, he inadvertently activated the rune only to be transported to another utility closet and heard the sounds of battle. Peeking out and seeing the Mithral Guard, he realized that this was the battle that Belmont and the other Mithral Guard were facing at the manor's front and he returned to alert the others before he took Xand with him.
The Twisted Manor Hounds
Realizing that they had dove head first into a battle with the guard dogs of the manor, the duo- eventually joined by Swan and Portus- quickly worked through dispatching each hound that they came across. With one affecting spellcasters and the other able to cast Banishment-- the group had a rough go against the creatures until everyone managed to get decent strikes on all of them, managing to clear the halls and allowing the researchers to pass through unharmed.
The Harbinger
With only Belmont as their support, the group returned back to the chamber. The captain identified the soldier as one of his men named Uriel who had been working with sensitive information in Räehal and before he could move to set him free some disagreement arose amongst the group and once more a little debate erupted with Xand dissenting about how to save him and what cost. While Swan allayed Belmont's anger, the others devised a plan on shutting down the golems once Uriel was freed.
Swan, wearing the master access band after having swiped it from their first adventure down there, released the Harbinger thus activating the protocol of the automatons. In the midst of battle, Bello was able to bind both him and Uriel together in order to keep the soldier alive so that they could cut off his cybernetic arm. However, the automatons were too strong and one of them continuously roasted the party with flames that actually fed the energies of the hand revealed to have a fiendish nature.
Sick and tired of waiting, Xand eventually turned his glaive onto the arm and hacked away at it successfully removing it but not before it attempted to attached to Bello. While Swan was able to draw it out with her cloak of flames and lead it away from most of the group, it attempted to take control of whoever was nearest until Xand destroyed it.
Recovery
After defeating the automotons and recovering Uriel, healing him to the best of their abilities, the group returned to the camp to get attended to before Belmont returned to them not only to report Uriel's well being but to give the group some gold as cost had been brought up.
In asking the group to keep quiet about their discovery of the lab, Portus requested that he and Belmont work out a different arrangement as he could not lie if asked even by omission. He admitted that he would like to leave adventuring behind him and instead take up a position somewhere amongst an available guard post to which Belmont offered him a place at Prilim given his reputation and efforts during the battle. With some parting gifts to his traveling companions, he headed off to converse with Belmont as the group sought time to recover before their journey forward and chasing after the one who had let the mad mage roam free.
Comments