Shaking off the damage from Gerald's fireball, the Coopers stand up again in the room with the caulborn, who did not suffer any damage as they saw Gerald's attack coming before Gerald himself was able to unleash it. They congratulate the Coopers on their choice of siblings, without a trace of irony in their tone. Gerald casts mend on everyone's burnt items of clothing, and now everything looks as good as it did prior to the fireball.
Thorne questions the caulborn about what to expect in the rest of the dungeon. They reply that the balance between chaos and order is likely to be upset with their presence here, but it remains to be seen which will eventually triumph. However, they also state that they are curious as to how the Coopers will manage to escape this room as they themselves have not found a way out. Gerald casts dimension door twice and transports the party back to the main room. The centaurs do not acknowledge their presence and remain on guard, ready to fight. The Coopers decide to move on to the next room.
Weary that a trap awaits them, Roscoe carefully enters the room, but nothing happens. The rest of the Coopers follow suit, except for Daryle. Suspicious and worried that the door will lock itself behind them, she asks Thorne to close and open it several times. The rogue does so, and the door does not lock. Daryle remains skeptical but she agrees to come in, and her fears are soon allayed. Aside from gold lines on the floor and a gentle humming, there isn't anything of interest in this room.
The next room, however, features three kolyarut evidently being repaired by giant machine pulsing with energy. Each machine's many arms sparks and moves parts from its innards and place them on the creatures. Thorne walks in and begins to talk to one of the kolyarut. The rogue questions it on what has happened to them, and it replies that it participated in a battle not too long ago. Gerald realizes that this is the same battle they saw while in the room with the caulborn. The creature explains that at the end of yet another inconclusive battle they retrieved their wounded and returned here to be fixed in time for the next fight.
Darrelle looks at the machinery and wonders if it could be used to repair the equipment in the room next to the caulborn. Gerald guesses that they should be able to. The machines appear moveable, but none of the Coopers, not even Omok, are strong enough to move one of them. Thorne manages to talk the three kolyarut into pushing one of the machine to gain an advantage over the other side. With the ability to summon allies repaired, the Inevitables will surely win this conflict. They agree and begin pushing the machine. Thorne estimates it will take about two hours to drag it across the hallways, so he agrees to supervise the progress. Bored with the lack of battle, Omok continues to read The Book of the Damned, hoping to gain more power.
Roscoe opens the door leading away from the machine room. In the next room stand two kolyarut, guarding access to the neutral space where battles take place. Roscoe attempt small talk with them, but they warn the Hellknight Commander that they are about to be attacked. Sure enough, the doors to the east burst open and in step four chaotic outsiders who immediately engage in battle. Normally in this sequence of events the other three kolyarut would intervene, but as they are otherwise engaged with Thorne, the forces are unevenly matched, even with the Coopers engaging the enemy. The Proteans inflict significant damage on Roscoe and Darelle, while Gerald manages to lose a foot and crushes his hands when a Protean appears behind him and surprises him.
It takes the return of the three kolyarut to reverse the tide, and soon the four Proteans are slain. It occurs to Thorne then that if the bodies of the dead Proteans were physically moved up the stairs a little, the other Proteans wouldn't be able to dimension door and retrieve their dead comrades to bring them back to the battle. The Coopers move the dead bodies.
Meanwhile, Gerald is healed by Omok, but unfortunately that doesn't fix his foot issue or his crushed hands. Struck by a genial idea, the sorcerer decides to use the machines that fix the kolyarut. After all, what could possibly go wrong? A metal foot and two metal hands four times their normal size later, Gerald knows the answer to his question. However, he can now move, albeit slower than before. Using spell components and precise hand movements will prove to be difficult, if not impossible. Daryle remarks that at least this version of Gerald will clearly stand out among the others.
Eventually the kolyarut reach the generator with the fixing machine, and it begins humming as it slowly repairs it. Thorne keeps an eye on the whole operation, but it becomes clear that within the hour it will be fixed.
With the cycle broken and a lack of allies to rejuvenate, the Inevitables triumph over the Proteans. The Coopers can now safely explore this level. Unless Gerald does something dumb ...
No comments:
Post a Comment