K-9 Eldorist
Children
Seeing Double
K-9 returned with the rest of his party back to the town to find out that the curse had been lifted, but it came with a terrible price. The townspeople began to remember... everything. Their loved ones that had gone missing, or had perished all came flooding back to them and there was wailing in the streets. The local priest tried to comfort them and with the help of Kaimana offering a calming melody, they regained most of their senses to start packing up shop and get out of town. The group reconvened at the inn where the town mayor was wiping a tear away. "It seems that the curse effected even the strong willed," K-9 thought. The Mayor told us that there was someone who wished to see us and had news from White City on the current affairs of Marcus Spatz. The gentleman was talking with Marcus, but was dodging most of his questions. The group, weary of strangers decided to confront him on his behavior. That was when he dropped his disguise, and there standing in front of K-9, was himself.
Not really himself though. after all of the repairs that K-9 had done to himself, this person looked pristine and shiny, but without the strange markings of Mistra that are etched into K-9's body. "You're... like me?" K-9 could barely get out the words. The metal man just laughed, "Not exactly." "Where did we come from?" "I can't tell you that buddy, because we may look the same, but we're nothing alike." The false K-9 continued to mock the group and withheld any information that K-9 was so desperate to find the answers to about who he was. A feeling surged inside of him, one that he had never experienced before, but somehow felt familiar. It was like all of his circuits were being overclocked making every emotion K-9 had ever felt rise to the surface. He lunged towards his counterpart and began to make a series of blows against him. Marcus, Bardolf, and Declan joined in, throwing a barrage of attacks against him, only to have him laugh it off. K-9 brought his bo staff down for one final strike, as the clanging of metal rang throughout the inn, the False K-9 was fine with only a couple of dents and scratches. "I see why Mistra sent you guys." He said while rubbing the spot where K-9 hit him last. "What?" Thissian asked. "C'mon guys. Did you really think you were the first she's sent back?" The group stared at one another. "Oh... Oh, haha! This is just too good! This just gets better and better! You see, I have been traveling a long time to find you, because you have interrupted my business." "Business?" K-9 asked. "Yeah, business. You see, everything you're doing, is pointless. you saved the town and foiled my plans.... partially. But look around you, what is it that you saved? The people? The buildings?
Metal Vs. Magic
The battle was far worse than K-9 had originally thought. The Black sludge monster was not only impervious to their attacks, but it also damaged Thissian and Declan's weapons and armor. They regrouped with Marcus and Kaimana and told them of their exploits. The new mayor of the village and came to see what news the group had found, his expression worsened when they told him what had happened. The group had two options that they were considering, Declan volunteered to run away and move on towards White City, while K-9 urged them to reconsider. "These people have been suffering under the spells of the hags each night. They have night terrors and some have changed into creatures. They are in need of our help. Who knows what the hags will do if we leave them unchecked." "I agree with the android," Kaimana said. "Let's finish this. I for one would be glad to get rid of the hags, and if it helps people in the process... well that's just a benefit." "What do we need?" K-9 asked. Declan was the first to speak, "K-9, didn't you say that you are good at crafting?" K-9 nodded, "That is correct." "Would you mind fixing my weapon? It seems that the sludge eroded my weapon." "Hey mine too!" Thissian exclaimed. "Not just my weapon, but my armor as well. Can you fix it?" "I can try." He said and took the melted weapons and armor. "I don't know if it will be of much help, but I do have these," K-9 reached into his satchel and pulled out fire bombs that he took from the Kobolds. "That'll do nicely." Thissian smiled. "I will begin working immediately on these as well as special arrows for those that can use them. K-9 began to fix the straps on the armor.
The rest of the group began to prepare for the upcoming battle by foraging for herbs that could be used as a remedy or by recruiting the towns guard to fight with them. Even the mayor helped out by bringing health potions and lantern oil. Kaimana shared from her shroud of mysteries some bottles of poison.
As Seen Through the Eyes of an Automaton
K-9, beaten and dented from the fight with the hags managed to make his way through the opening. once the group managed to find where the hags had escaped, the trail disappeared. K-9 went to the local blacksmith to forge a weapon for Bardolf while the others recuperated at the local inn. Once finished with his makeshift battle axe, K-9 went to join the rest of the crew. upon arrival of the inn, there was no one insight. The fires were still burning and the candles all lit. "Something feels amiss" he thought. Thissian led the crew to the third story where he immediately passed out. "Is this common for Dragonborn races to asleep so quickly?" he thought. "I will keep watch while you all rest," K-9 said, and handed Bardolf the battle axe. Bardolf made a noise that K-9 didn't recognize, "I think he likes it." he told himself. while the others slept, K-9 mended his broken ligaments and removed the dents that were made from the previous battle. Suddenly, he heard a crash down below. He grabbed his staff and woke up Bardolf to check and see what the noise was. when they went to investigate, the noise had come from the caretaker of the inn, a young woman by the name of Kip. When K-9 questioned why she would leave the adventurers alone in the inn, she dodged the question and offered to make them food, as the sun was about to rise.
Once the rest of the group had awoken, they were visited by the acting town mayor. The group relayed their findings to him and told him that the hag had escaped. When they went to show him of the evidence for their story, Bardolf was able to pick up the scent of the hags. He lead the group to a spot where the trail ended. K-9 attempted to hit one of the rocks to find out if it were false, only to have the floor disappear beneath him. A quick drop, he steadied himself and continued down the path of the cave.
Down the pathway, K-9, Thissian and Declan discovered an unkown structure. The structure had five pieces that were submerged in water. As Thissian and K-9 waded through the water, the moss started to glow and form strange markings. As they moved through the water, the moss would dissipate and reform the markings. Declan and Bardolf jumped into the glowing water, and K-9 reached for the center console. When he touched the console, all of them were immediately teleported to a far off distant plain full of stars and galaxies. Bardolf is overwhelmed and starts to run, and everyone is instantly teleported back to the cave. Bardolf jumps out of the water and refused to get back in. K-9once again touched the center console and all of them except Bardofl were sent back to the plain. K-9 noticed that the stars began to move in a pattern, and after a few moments realized that these stars were actually humongous creatures. "Hello?" K-9 called. His voice started to echo and then flow when he felt the touch of one of the creatures mentally. Suddenly, a vast knowledge was being downloaded into his brain. The stars and eons of knowledge flooded into him. The spikes on his head began to smoke and heat up, seeing all of this happen, Thissian immediately stepped off the platform teleporting everyone back to the cave. The water around K-9 began to steam and boil for a moment before returning to normal. "I... I... I understand." K-9 said.
The visions and horrors still passed before K-9's eyes, "What happened? Are you alright?" Thissian asked while helping K-9 back onto his feet. "this construct... is a transport of sorts," K-9 spoke. "That's how the hags have been getting around. They use this construct to teleport to different plains." "Can you use this thing?" Thissian asked. "I believe so. If I look at the moss, it tells me the patterns that coordinate with the different . Here, look I'll show you." K-9 touched the center console and the furthest console, which teleported them to a plain of fire and brimstones. "The center console is a sort of preview that allows us to view what is on the plain of the outer consoles." "Can we go back now?" Declan whined.
After a quick explanation, K-9 touched one of the other consoles and teleported the group to another cave where they saw three hags. The group decided to sneak attack the hags only to find out that it was a trap. The hags had numbers on their side and threw verbal insults at the group calling them stupid or a bit on the slow side. K-9 lunged forward at a nearby enemy and with a quick succession, took the enemy out. A hideous black sludge monster slowly slithered its way towards Thissian. All weaponry was useless against the monster, Thissian threw a javelin at the creature only to have it stick out like a horn. Declan cowers behind a rock and shouts, "I've got your back K-9!" and hid behind the rock. K-9 came up with an idea to lure the creature towards one of the consoles and push it to touch the console and be transported to another plane. As the creature grew closer, K-9 readied himself for the attack. The javelin touched the console and it transported the monster to the planes of hell. "Well, that just happened." K-9 thought. He looked over the cave and saw that there were giant tentacles coming out of the water. "Something feels familiar..." he thought. Just then, Thissian slashed at the tentacle cutting the creature. K-9 felt a wave of emotion that brought him to his knees for a moment, "What was that?!" He thought. The hags began to cackle and throw more insults at the group as more and more enemies spawned from the water. Thissian weighed their options, "This isn't looking good guys! I think we need to retreat!" And rushed back towards the console. As much as K-9 didn't want to run from the fight, he knew that the lives of his companions came first. He took one last look at the tentacle before hoping onto the console and teleported the group to safety. "We need to reconvene with the rest of our group and come back with better weapons" K-9 said. The heroes, defeated, returned to the village of forgetfulness.
Comments