Session 66 Report

General Summary

Swift's Log

Another night spent in this damned pyramid on tile that’s even more uncomfortable than it looks. If we can’t figure out a way to deal with this crystal today then I’m not sure what I’ll do. At the very least, the door opened so there wasn’t much stopping us. The crystal emanated an ominous blue glow, a familiar box to the right, and to the left sat a wall of levers. We hadn’t picked up a book that really explained levers, so we decided to start pulling. They changed the crystal’s glow and made us feel different things—sickness, weakness, and even a blinding rage that came over me. I feel a bit bad for having gone off on Ping Wing how I did, it definitely wasn’t my intention! Though at least the bear didn’t turn on him. Poor Grot got shocked over and over after trying to lick the crystal, then lick Fortuna’s box. After a bit of trial and error, the party decided to step out and try the levers that were by the entrance. I stayed with the crystal to study it, and thankfully I did! The levers in the front were signals for ‘THREAT LEVEL’. It took a bit of time before realizing it, but this key we found is very powerful in this pyramid. It made me friendly to all the robots and gave me control over them. I was able to authorize the rest of the party as friendlies so we wouldn’t get attacked anymore. Finally, we were able to use the robots to mess with the crystal and turn it off briefly. Moon Planter was plenty curious about how it worked, but I thought it’d be best to actually leave it on for now. If we cause any more suspicion and stress to Heatfang then it could make our jobs much more difficult. My idea is to see what the other two pyramids have going on, and if possible, maybe we could de-activate them all at the same time. Moon Planter seemed to like this idea. At least at the moment we know how to handle this crystal and we shouldn’t be under threat of the clockworks. The moment we did turn the crystal off however… that was enough for the effects to be felt through the city. We could hear Heatfang approaching as he directed some kobolds in to investigate and combat ensued. The hallway between us and the rest of the room QUICKLY got clogged with blade barriers and kobolds alike. We surely could have stood our ground and put up a solid front line where we were… but I had a much more fun idea. Moon Planter did fine work with his pray hunting and Mubarak held a front line well. I tried to weave my way through the hallway, getting stuck along the way and getting a few licks for my troubles. Thankfully Tangent had a really good position well out of the way of danger so she could pump heals to all of us. I felt inspired by whatever she’d done, and I made a better attempt to get to the end of the hallway and rush to the threat level levers. With a big grin, I activated Threat Level 10. You could almost feel the aura shift as clockworks and guardians inside the temple awaken. The ground shook as they ran through the halls to find the kobolds, identifying them as threats and getting in some very solid hits! I wonder if we can get them to be utilized outside of this temple… As we were wrapping up combat, one of the kobolds attempted to flee with a bit of a magic trick, however thankfully Moon Planter was able to track it down with his… bat senses. We were all able to catch up and put it down, Grot helping herself to it’s leg. With all the threats eliminated, I saluted the Clockworks, to which I was surprised and elated to see them give us a Bannermanes salute back! They were Crucible’s creations I suppose, thinking back on it… That just left Heatfang waiting outside… Ping Wing made a quick, great move to put up an illusion, and since the crystal was back on, Heatfang was willing to leave it for now. While I was ready to explore the last room, the small camera bots got my attention about an ‘imminent failure’ at the north pyramid. That sounded much more pressing, and they were able to show us that with the key, we could open some hatch in a box and use it as an underground passage to the temple! Perfect!

Planter's Log

We slept on the stone tiles of this pyramid. After the vision we saw, there were several questions left unanswered, but Ping Wing tried to ease our minds. I don't know how this Damian and Zakira are, but they sound like trouble. Best to focus on the task at hoof for the time being. Grot woke up, spinning a yarn about some kind of dream she had. Something about collecting trash, and blowing up a library. Sounded like a crazy dream, but even for a Gobbo, she gave a lot of detail. I don't know if Gobbos have premonitions, but I hope this was just a crazed imaginative story she came up with. We did our daily preps and traveled to a door that had opened, leading to the glowing crystal. It's aura jettisoned out in spirals, and I could sense a different effect from it compared to the first. 8 levers were on the west side of the wall, and a sarcophagus lied dormant on the floor. I urged caution in how we should handle this, but my fellow Bannermanes had 0 patience for planning and critical thinking. Grot licked one of the levers, and flipped it. This caused the crystal to change color to a darker blue. Grot then licked the crystal, and got electrocuted. I touched her back and then the steel grate in the floor to ground her, and she stopped jittering. Swift Sail eagerly started flipping multiple switches at the same time, and I fled the room. The crystal turned red, and all Hades broke loose. The team started attacking each other in a blind rage. Even Madame Fortuna kicked around Grot and shocked her again. Swift slapped Ping Wing's book from his talons, and Mubaraks's bear began attacking. I'd have been set into a panic if I wasn't so flabbergasted at the stupidity I was witnessing. Mubarak flipped the switches back, and things quickly returned to normal. I don't think Gunther is going to be quick to forgive Swift Sail any time soon. Once cooler heads prevailed, I urged everyone to investigate how the crystal was mounted to the wall. It was clear a mechanism was rotating the crystal and causing it to channel different types of energy. It seemed reasonable to assume that if we dismounted the crystal from the wall, then the crystal would deactivate, and open the lay line. While we discussed this, those small flying robots reappeared, and began inspecting the crystal and levers. Grot and Madame Fortuna both grabbed one, but let it go. The little bots worked around the levers, and set things back into a neutral position. Once done, two of the four settled into the sarcophagus, and then the other two left. That's when I started thinking these little bots are the operators of the larger bots. Their crystals are identical to the ones that we've been destroying when we finally take the larger bots down. We traveled back south to the ten levers in the main room. I flipped the third lever, the crystal shifted, and the entire pyramid went into an emergency alert, level 3. Swift came running around the corner telling us what happened. He flipped the third switch back into place, but Grot was licking the first. The small bots came and asked where the threat was located. Grot said, "Uh, Box Pony threat." "Threat detected." Then the bots went to chase Madame Fortuna as she ran away. Swift reactivated the first lever, and we began talking to the little bots. Swift asked if they could assist with the crystal, and I asked if they could engage threats outside the pyramid. They said it's beyond their jurisdiction, so I tried authorizing them to expand it. I was scanned and found to not be Crucible, the Bannermane founder who built this place. Swift and I told them that we were Crucible's assistant supervisors, but they required authorization. Swift quickly reached for the crucible key, and he was given access. Swift was able to convince the little bots to make adjustments to the crystal. They quickly went to work, and made it apparent that we wouldn't have been able to do this on our own. They worked in conjunction with each other, hitting tiny pressure plates to adjust the flows of energy in the crystal. The crystal turns into a purple color. There's some shuttering and the filtration system goes offline. The bots tell Swift that the power systems are fluctuating. The bots say they're restarting the system, and as they do, the power slowly shuts off. The crystal itself powers down, and the ley line opens up. We ask if the filtration system can be activated, but the bots explain there are two power sources designed to keep the machines running. There's a minor power source to the north, and a major one to the south. As I began thinking out loud, a loud familiar roar could be heard through the thick stones. Heat Fang was on his way. Swift orders the bots to turn the crystal back on, reasoning that if Heat Fang thinks it's just a blip, then he probably won't increase security. Swift and I began arguing about strategy, and then his ears twitch and warn about incoming Kobolds. They know we're here. We had a defensible position at the end of this hallway, but we are cut off. Swift attempts to order the bots to increase threat level to 10. The bots scan all of us, and it prevents the bots from attacking us. So long as we reach the lever, and activate the bots manually. The Kobolds swarmed in. Grot and Mubarak held the front line, I called orders from the back. Tangent raised a shield wall down half the hallway and made a decisive choke point. The fight was difficult on both ends. We weren't able to force our way through the hallway easily, but Swift eventually made his way to the levers. The other Kobolds were thoroughly harassed and brought down through powerful magic and well placed sword strikes. Once the lever was pulled, the larger bots we've been contending with could be heard barreling down the western hallway. I don't believe these Kobolds realize what's going to great them, and it made me smile. As expected, the ripped and tore through every Kobold they stood before. Madame Fortuna fell twice in Tangent's sword wall, but was brought back. The final Kobold was seen standing in front of Ping Wing. It turned itself invisible and attempted to escape. Ping Wing, who has successfully shut down much of the enemy's spell casting, gets magical eyes, and points out where the Kobold is. I leave the melee with Mubarak, and chase after him. I land a deep cut into his body. Though I can't see him, my ears can practically give me the shape of his body so I know exactly where he is. I stand in front and tell him, "You're not going anywhere." Swift quickly jumped behind him, and struck out with his sword, piercing deep into his back. The strongest Kobold in the group rushes in behind Swift, and lands a series of attacks. Swift takes them all, and then one of the bots rushes in behind the Kobold, and cleaves him in two. The invisible Kobold we're chasing manages to run past me, and heads toward the entrance. We can not let him escape and warn Heat Fang. Grot moves up and begins sniffing him out. Ping Wing moved up, and casted Haste on me. This boon allowed me to catch up quickly to the escaping Kobold. I started hearing him again, ran up, and grabbed him around the shoulders. Mubarak was already next to me, so I gave this Kobold my full attention. Multiple bots moved in toward us. Swift ran in and got a flanking position, landing two strikes true. A bot attempted to strike it, but missed. The Kobold himself, in a desperate effort to escape, attempted to cast a spell, but failed miserably and I head butted him on the nose. Grot runs in and bites his leg off, dropping the Kobold to the ground. After the battle is done, Swift turns off the level 10 alarm, and they salute Swift with a, "For Timeless Glory." A loud roar from Heat Fang is heard from just outside. Ping Wing casts an illusion spell to make him think the sandbags are in place. Heat Fang shouts about whether or not the Kobolds went inside at all. With a blast of his fire breath, the inside of the pyramid heats up so quickly that I could barely breathe. Ping Wing changes the illusion to make it appear as though the sand melted into glass. Things became quiet outside and Heat Fang left with the remaining Kobolds. We traveled back to the crystal, and the smaller bots kept saying that there was an emergency at the North Pyramid. They unlocked a secret entrance for us, and we rushed down a narrow corridor. I gave Swift some healing elixirs on the way. When we opened up a hatch, a black and orange Kirin looked down at us while holding her breath. It'll be interesting to see what her story is.

Campaign

The Bannermanes

Protagonists