Act III: Heart Reset
Can it be? A Modron rushes out of a beautiful library, after tearing off a piece of parchment from a machine. As we follow this Modron, we see Mechanus in all its glory. Illuminated by beautiful golden sunlight, the prime pendulum basks. The Modron rushes inside a office as he says: “I must speak with Ghasty! It is urgent!”The golden lights of the portal swirled in front of their eyes. Our heroes, The Prime Pentagon, consisting of Ilor, Karl, Kyra, Mara, and Olka, took a deep breath before they were stepped through the portal. Their minds immediately filled with the rhythmic ticking of a clock.
Another ale! You say laughing as the bar maid walks past your table. You have made quite the recent haul helping the McGannis family fend off the Monster Rampage at Shill. They have rewarded you not only with money, but also the chance to create one Rare weapon of choice. As up and coming adventuers you have had some luck is your recent excavations. You have received Celestial aid in defeating the last monster that stood in your way. This Planetar offered to help but only in exchange for a favor. With panic and fear of being killed by the monster you accepted the Planetars aid who with a single blow killed the monster.
The tavern falls silent. You wonder why you hear no more sound as you turn around. In the door opening stands what you can only describe as a metal man, surrounded by small storming clouds. In a blink, he stands behind your table and begins to speak: “A great imbalance has occurred, we call upon your favor.”
You find this... whatever this is rude and stand up from the table while taking your weapons. It then says: “No discussion!” And whips a portal around you.
And that is were we start Act III
Not a moment later, they were bathed in a golden glow. When their eyes adjusted, they saw a vast city in all directions: Mechanus. There were metal buildings with gears of all sized sticking out of them. Some of the gears appeared to be magically floating, and all of them rotated with a rhythm: the one you feel throughout your whole body.
The metal man surrounded by stormclouds stood in front of them. He introduced himself to them as Ghasty (GAST-Ypsilon), short for 'Geometrical Automaton with Somatic Technology', and told them he was the designer of a heart called Project HAWK. Walking through the streets he tells them how something had made the machine crash, and now the guards had also gone haywire. Now he needed them, non-natives to the plane, to infiltrate, and reboot the machine, otherwise, project HAWK would be gone forever.
Interested in their mission, the group started asking Ghasty about his project, and Mechanus itself. He explained to them how Mechanus was a plane of law, what would also be why people like Karl felt the pressure to be a bit less chaotic, and how he designed the heart to bring lawfulness to the other planes.
After some time they arrived at his workshop, which was located in section 16 of Mechanus. Before they went in, he looked at them sternly. "This place is dangerous," he said, "Please don't touch anything, it won't end well. I would love to help you, but I can't enter. Now go in, and please be quick, the clock is ticking." With that they entered the building.
After going inside they were met with a room that was much bigger than it appeared on the outside. It was filled with different boxes and gears, all neatly put to the side. In front of them were two large vents, and within seconds, two automaton guards appeared in front of them.
The two man had lightning marks on their arms, and didn't hesitate before attacking the intruders. Kyra tried throwing her knives at them, but they were immune to her attacks. Luckily Olka found another way of hurting her opponents, by Eldrige Blasting them into the sharp blades of the vents. Though the fight was tough, our heroes succeeded. But they hadn't finished their mission yet.
To find the hearts, they had to enter the vents, which spinning blades had shown to be quite deadly. Together they tried to get the timing just right to get to the other side without being harmed, but it wasn't easy. At the end of the two vents, were a pair of buttons, that they had to press at the same time. Kyra made sure to press the button in the right vent, while her party members one by one pushed the button in the left vent. Timing this well helped them enter the sliding door to the second room.
All of them arrived on a gigantic gear, which slowly turned. From the edge to the center of the gear, like some kind of clock-hand, was a large wall made out of sawblades. The party looked through the room, but couldn't find a way out. Then, something caught Karls eye: buttons.
A series of 26 buttons with different marks on them adorned the wall. The chaotic Kenku sprinted towards the shiny objects, wanting to press them all. Luckily, Ilor caught him just in time. "Buttons!" Karl shrieked. And indeed, there were buttons. But what was on them was even more important, the letters of the Celestial alphabet. They needed a code, but what would it be. "I know, it must be stop!" Mara yelled out, and quickly pressed the 'S'. The panel started spinning faster, pushing them towards the sawblades. Olka tried to cast fly on her friends, but they seemed to be stuck to the gear. They started to panick. "I don't think it's 'stop' Mara! But what would it be?" Olka said while running away from the blades. From the other side of the room, the voice of Karl echoed: "Hawk!" That had to be it, the name of the project. Ilor decided to finally give Karl the thing he so desperately wanted. One by one he walked his feathered friend over to the right buttons. H, A, W, K...
The gear came to a halt, and a small opening was revealed. It worked, they were safe. After taking a deep breath, they started making their way towards the opening.
They entered another walkway and again had to dodge the spinning blades. But they knew it wouldn't be long before they could finish their mission, because they now could quite literally see the light at the end of the tunnel. A warm light shone through the other side of the vents, revealing a final room. With large columns, and brass tables filled with books and blueprints. One by one they started to drop in.
When they arrived in the room, they could see the hologram of a Aarakocra with a large hole around his heart. "Welcome" they hear as they see a familiar face walk towards them: the Planetar they had seen before. Seconds later, he started to attack.
It was tough, but luckily they came out on top. As they looked at the unconscious body of their friend on the ground, a shadowy figure arose from its body, and quickly disappeared into a black smokey portal. Slowly, the Planetar started to open its eyes. "What happened?" he asked.
After explaining everything to him, the group started looking for the reset button. They found a replica of heart on top of one of the brass tables, inside it the button. Immediately, a loud beating filed the room: the beating of a heart. They were not just in a workshop, they were inside of the heart itself. They didn't have much time to think about it, as a countdown clock appeared in front of them. They took one more look at the schematics inside, and than quickly teleported out.
Our heroes arrived back at the bar knowing they'd been victorious. They'd saved project HAWK, and that deserved to be celebrated. "Another Ale!" Ilor screamed joyfully. Another great adventuring day for The Prime Pentagon.
Relations
Protagonists
The Prime Pentagon:
- Ilor The Gullible, an Aasimar Paladin
- Karl, a Kenku Sorcerer
- Kyra, an Oni Rogue
- Mara, an Owlin Warlock
- Olka Bloodridge, a Wood Elf Warlock
Parent Plot
Related Characters
Related Organizations
Comments