ZEITGEIST The affirmative action racial recruitment team of the RHC

And to solve the mecha issue that technically his ground pressure is so absurd

Its probably even worse as Adamantine bypassing 20 points of hardness probably translates to some kind of force multiplier for destroying things. If he's really lucky he's swimming in bedrock right now, if not he's heading down to the magma layer to swim with the lavafishes.

As he's not i'm assuming a wizard fixed it. My preferred solution is 1000's of immovable rods anchored into his skeletal structure, they support him, make him even harder to knock around, and he doesn't notice the DC 30 strength check to move. He serenely walk across the world with very little weight, but with a massive static inertia, so all the fun of crushing things, none of the problems from falling and destroyed ankles.

In the Battletech and Mechwarrior universe, someone did calculations and figured out that mechs as drawn are actually less dense than water.

My headcanon for ZEITGEIST is that Borne's made of adamantine that was magically alloyed with other metals, sort of like how adding a bit of carbon to iron makes steel. Without magic he'd collapse, but he's so suffused with magic he's impossible to dispel.

It's the strange thoughts players have. I had never considered just how much adamantium must be involved in building Borne. However the morning after he turned up I got an analysis of the amount of Adamantine needed to build him and it's cost. Also apparently Borne is only the second largest golem to menace a party of pc's there was a 1000 foot tall golem in module CM4

I ran an adventure with a colossal biological airship. Between sessions the doctor I gamed wrote an analysis of its blood pressure and how they could kill it with internal bleeding.

With the Collosus Borne astride the mountain there is a brief diversion into how many devestation beetle's he is worth as the Devestation Beetle is the groups current scale for large mobile natural disasters it comes down as 'many'.
Manuel gathers his fireworks , while Ulvaar and El Kevin help the military round up the survivors from the complex and Nevla flies off with Gale to brief the king. On arrival they are pleased to hear the king is already planning to draw the collossus out of the city and even more pleased to hear he can send it to the dreaming, they are less pleased to discover it will notice and object. They discuss various options but they need a stable platform for the king to perform his ritual which moves which means a boat or a train and they decide train tracks are too vulnerable to Borne.
Originally they are concerned about the harbour but after checking realise it is large and deep enough to serve as a place to kite Borne around and Manuel supervises the set up of the fireworks while the rest rush to the coaltongue. En-route they encounter the captain of the Danoran frigate in port and beleive she is sincere in deciding to help (and that a single broadside from her ship would hurt the coaltongue less than a punch from Borne so even is she is a mad assassin she is not big enough to worry about).
They also see the crowds of dockers on the verge of rioting and Nevla joins Thames Grimsley in appealing for calm and to assist the navy and king by manning the ships to fight the collossus, her appeal goes down well and the crowds rush to man the ships

Finally they are ready and as the collossus emerges into the harbor the king begins his ritual , Nevla acting as temporary captain of the Coaltongue until Gale can bring captain Smith of the Impossible to take over. Initially they are able to keep out of reach of Borne although he does wreck the Avalanche which had not made it dar enough out into the bay. They note it is leaking witch oil and that this witch oil is attacking other ships , after a few minutes they start to get closer and only the intervention of two other ships firing and hitting Borne's nose saves them when he projects Witch oil from his eyes at those ships they are concerned and wonder if other long range weapons are built in and Borne in his current state is just unable to use them. He lurches forward again and is about to strike the coal tongue when Manual unleashes a blast of fireworks just in front of his face dazzling and distracting him but unfortunately causing blobs of witch oil to rain down on deck, the largest blob is engaged by Nevla and Ulvaar while Manuel prepares a paint cannon shot to distract Borne next time as he fears the growing storm will make fireworks ineffectual. Borne closes in again as the ritual nears its end , Manuels paint shot misses the eyes and is ineffectual and only the Danoran warship intercepting Borne saves the coal tongue but leaves a large hole in the frigate which turns to run for the shore to beach itself much aided by Borne vanishing into the dreaming.

In the aftermath the group discuss with the king what to do next and convince him that the truth about what happened is the best way to go and rather than blame Danor instead the king will announce the presence of a secret society responsible for Borne involving the Danoran leadership but not the nation as a whole. In the short term the crew of the frigate which is wrecked are loaded onto a transport and sent back to Danor with the Kings thanks.
Those dockers who manned ships are awarded a medal and those who died are posthumously recruited into the navy and their families given the same pension a sailors family would have recieved.
The constables are kighted much to the delight of Manuel as he believes he must be the first goblin knight of Risur , his heraldry will involve bats. I suspect El Kevin will be equally delighted.
The group also learn that Isobel has arrived in Flint after travelling from Elfaivar she was attacked en-route by clearly Ob agents and Andrei abducted while she was threatened but when he surrendered on the agreement she would not be hurt she was put on a first class passenger ship to Flint.
The constables are tasked to track down the Ob and think that finding this Tinker Oddcog designer of the golem should be a priority they are plaesed to discover it will be, when told they will end up going to Ber they ask if the Brakken would be avialable and are pleased to discover that he will meet them there.
However that will not be for some time. Our group will be moving to a Galaxy far far away and a long time ago for several months to conclude a Star wars campaign before we return to complete this campaign.

So far it has worked excellently and all of the players have been impressed by the writing of the campaign and will enjoy returning to it. They want to find out what the Ob is up to and Nevla wants to find out what is going on with her links to Kasavarina

Also remembered the group has persuaded the King to set up a foundation to control all the shares and interests in businesses formerly controlled by Lorcan Kell this trust will have the job of combining industrial progress with better environmentalism and worker relations. Notably on the board are Hewin Sechard and some other business owners nominated by him, Thames Grimsley to represent the workers and Gale to represent the traditionalist druids and opponents of industry. Manuel expects himself and El Kevin to provide some scientific support for the group when time allows.

The game will be returning from far away Galaxy on Monday .
A recap of the Team
Nevla Eladrin Cleric of Something 8 /Swashbuckler 1

Nevla is a Vekeshi , not particularly keen on technology and very interested in Eladrin culture and history, she is currently possessed by Xambria who she gets on fairly well with. She is very concerned about her dreams of people and places in the history of Elfaivar and by the fact that she recognises Kasavarina and Kasavarina recognises her.
She is actually the reincarnated daughter of Kasavarina and her clerical abilities are drawing on Ssrama via the Gyre. Her channel energy is destructive entropic energy which has proved useful in the past, and she is the main spellcaster of the group with a variety of spells, Bestow Curse has been her most useful combat spell

El Kevin Kobold Gunslinger Pistelero 5/ Wizard 4 spellslinger

A slightly deranged Kobold with a Dragon fixation, the pc most likely to murder a few people to resolve the problem he uses a pair of revolvers one of which summons badgers. Prone to conspiracy theories while failing to predict the Ob he was unsuprised to discover there was a grand conspiracy, he is still unsure if Dragons, the King, Ancient spirits, Ghosts or Danorans are in charge of the Ob. Like the rest of the group he has not got a clue what the Ob are really after but tends to think a planar conjunction and the world opening up to all sorts of dangerous outsiders is in their somewhere.
The player may be erratic for a while with family health problems

Manuel Antonio de Goblino Gunslinger 1, Alchemist 4, Fighter 2, Steam suit Pilot 2
WITH Roger the Dire Bat
aka Master of the Night
I am unsure which is crazier the character or the player. Manuel is actually a very conscientious police officer and experimental scientist keen on filling in the paperwork and having ethics committees to supervise any or all mad science he may be involved in. He would very much like to have his own Collossus, although he is also impressed by the free willed personalities of the lesser Golems and suspects the Collossus may have an interesting personality. For reasons involving being a Goblin and also having a huge Dex , Manuel is a master of stealth even in the Large Steam suit he has a +22 stealth modifier, so the average person fails to notice the Giant Mithril steam suit with a cannon and a Nock gun lurking in the bushes.

Ulvaar Kamingard Kinetecist Knight 9
The dwarf who puts the term hp in its real meaning, he is a walking tank wielding a blade of lightning or Kinetic force he is a deadly melee combatant capable of a range of fancy tricks with air and telekinesis, although limited by the plane of air he cannot fly like Gale. Calm and lacking the craziness of his peers he is actually fairly sensible although like everyone except Nevla has no charisma. He is also the only none stealthy character with the stealth ability of a tank.

Padme Unchained Rogue 4/Urban Barbarian 5
NPC. Serves as back up melee, stealth , and social skills for the team. Also a Stargazer which has produced useful insights at times

We resume two weeks after the emergence of the Collossus. The players are concerned about what it may get up to in the dreaming and are somewhat relieved it has headed towards Ber. They are glad war with Danor has been averted but consider the position difficult, they know that the Ob was behind the Collossus and tried to sell that viewpoint but the line between Danor and the Ob is very blurred in the mind of the man on the street.

The Smaller golems from the Bleak gate are enrolled as Students at the University and have aided Manuel in producing his steam suit. Power comes from a complicated boiler using direct links to the planes of fire and water which produces both steam to power the suit and hot water for the built in Expresso machine. Also built in are a Huge Tower shield, a 12 pounder cannon and a Nock Gun, the suit also has a scaled up Rifle for light combat. Retractable flasing blue lights and a steam siren are on the shoulders and the chest has an RHC Logo which can be reversed to produce a Bat logo. Somehow this 12 foot high thundering abomination of science is still stealthy and has solved the problem of how Ulvaar can sneak up on something, the suit carries him. El Kevin has plans to use it as a gun platorm shooting from its shoulders, he is dissapointed it is not Draconic in shape and would like one of his own. (The player realises he cannot but this does not stop El Kevin wanting a new toy). Nevla is less impressed at this technological marvel. I intend ot have a think about and side effects of the direct elemental link to the suit and see if the traits of the planes inspire me.

Finally the group are briefed by Minister Harkover that there have been issues in the Risuri colony in Elfaivar, despite normally good relations two farms have been attacked by apparetnly Eladrin raiders (although there are no witnesses) and a hunting party bound for an area they had hunted before without issue was turned back by Eladrin Rajputs and a Dreadnought. The King wants them to go to the colony and resolve the issue prferably without conflict with the Eladrin even in this means arresting some colonists who have provoked the Eladrin.

They were teleported too the colony with Manuel arriving in his shiny new Steamsuit much to the consternation of many locals, and Nevla who thought it would go down badly. Nevla had brought Isobel along as he had been curious to travel to an Eladrin Enclave particularly with Andrei being gone. Although after marching to the local RHC office he parked the Mecha surrounded by warning cones.
Nevla spoke with the locals and discovered they knew little more than Harkover had briefed them on although they had better maps. The team decided their first effort should be to contact the Eladrin to avoid escalation and so set off to where the hunting party had met them, Isobel and the Mecha were left behind. The Mecha because it was probably annoying to the Eladrin and Isobel because she could not look after herself in a fight.
On reaching the Jungle they marched in hoping not to get lost as they are rather an urban focused group with none of them possessing the survival skill, Not far into the woods a Dire Tiger ambushed them and tried to run off with El Kevin but a curse from Nevla and violence from everyone else got it beaten unconscious, Manuel was being careful they did not kill and Eladrin weretiger by mistake. After a bit more aimless wondering they ran into an ambush by an Eladrin war party who fortunately were willing to talk. They let the young charismatic and female Eladrin Nevla handle the talking and discovered that there had been attacks on the Eladrin as well, but convinced the Dreadnought in charge that Risur was not behind it and would try to stop the attacks, or at least convinced him enough to take the group to meet the leader of the enclave. They were blindfolded for the last part of the trip so they could not find their way to the enclave again, probably a needless precaution as they were already totally lost, except possibly for the lightning weasel.
In the enclave they were given a house to rest in and told the Matriarch would see them in the morning so they looked around the enclave, guides keeping them away from anything vital but the weird group drew a crowd children to look at the strange people and young men to look at Nevla. They observed the male female ration was back up to about 3:1 , the lack of advanced technology and the pervasive use of magic. They also noticed the relatively large number of Fey and almost complete lack of other races they thought they saw a couple of half eladrin. Overall they were impressed that the enclave was a still functioning remenant of the original Eladrin enclave. While inquiring around about history they learnt more about the time after the destruction of Ssramma and again came across Kasavarina as one of the first leaders of the Eladrin people after the way and again could not work out why someone like that would be working with the Ob and Danorans.
The next day they met with the Matriarch she tells them of the attacks and they promise to investigate they convince her that whoever has launched the attacks is not an official Risuri group so she agree's to cooperate on the investigation providing them with permission to operate in her territory and guides. They decided to return to the colony collect Isobel , escort her to the Eladrin border guards and then check out the farms. Investigating the farms (Sir) El Kevin notices that one of the footprints around the perimeter is actually clawed and that of a Ghoul, further investigation allows them to see though the illusion and realize that all the attackers were actually ghouls. Travelling next to one of the attacks on an Eladrin outpost which looks to have been attacked by humans with guns, here Nevla tried to dispel the illusion and fails but the Eladrin send a more powerful wizard and he is able to break the illusion revealing traces of ghoul attackers and the actual weapons used were Eladrin weapons. It is concluded that the attackers must be Ghouls who someone has disturbed.
Again they travel back to the colony and look at arrival records and soon discover that a firearm equipped adventuring party arrived about a week before the attacks started , looking at Eladrin and Risuri maps they pick out the most likely area that someone could have poked an abandoned temple or similar and set out to search the area next time

Nevla’s Dreams

Interlude…

"Dala?"
The older Eladrin woman looked across at Nevla with puzzled recognition, then the gantry that held her and Varal and the other Obs twisted and fell, plunging them into the depths as the mighty construct ripped its way upwards through the hill above them.
Nevla let loose a wordless cry to the receding form with confusion and loss lending a tremor to her shout, but this time as her colleagues tried to rouse her into action, her legs were as lead, and she couldn't loosen her grip from their own gantry. Paralysed, she felt the structure buckle underneath her as the others had no choice but to run and leave her; she tumbled into the darkness, screaming in terror as the light above her receded to a pinprick.
* Nevla? *
It was almost pitch dark and she lay on her back; the pinhole of light grew, then receded, then repeated that pattern of waxing and waning. It seemed to be coming from high up in the distance, almost on the edge of the nothingness, and reminded her of something she couldn’t quite recall. Suddenly she was stumbling toward the remote beacon, a sense of desperation growing inside to get there before the only other thing in the oppressive void also disappeared. Before she did too…
A door…?
She found herself climbing steps, and the steps opened up onto a platform where a lantern pulsed a strange purple light, which made her feel nauseous and dizzy; she teetered on the lip of the platform and fell into the dark again, her entire being spinning like a rusty old wheel…
* Nevla! *
She woke with a slight jump in her bedroom with its familiar (* Huh!? *) green walls; just another half-forgotten dream, she thought as she rose for the day, ignoring the tiny voice in the back of her head…
* It's happening again Nevla, this is- *
"Dala! I need you to come down to breakfast immediately; you know I have to go today, dear..."
"Mother...?" It was more a question to herself than the voice coming from down the hall; she paused for a moment, then shook her head and called that she'd just get dressed first, then pulled on some fresh clothing and a pair of sandals that she'd set out the previous evening and breezily set off through the house, humming an old tune as she went.
She sat down on cushions with her mother and someone else she couldn't immediately recall, and selected some pieces of fruit from the bowl in the centre of the low-table.
* Oh, I recognise her... wait a minute, that's- *
"There you are: I was hoping to see you properly before I left." Her Mother lightly touched the back of her daughter's outstretched hand for a brief moment and the shock of the touch almost made the young woman drop the apple she held. "Oh, my dear child, you're trembling! Is everything alright?"
No, it's NOT alright, Mother: you fell! You were there! This isn't right; this place, it isn't right, somehow... or is it me that's not right? I can't remember…!
But her lips said something different :"Where are you going again, Mother? I-I don't… I’m not sure about-”
Her mother moved closer to embrace her, and began to stroke her hair like she did when her daughter was much smaller, and it seemed to calm the young woman, somehow: "I already told you, Dala: I have many important things to do in the coming months; I may be away for a while, so I need you to keep practicing while I'm gone, okay?"
The girl nodded, and looked over at... she looked over at the other person, and her eyes slid off them, as if they (or she) wasn't really there...
Wait, I'm not really here, am I…
* No, but see what you c- *
She reached out for her mother and the older woman slipped through her fingers and faded from view. In fact, the whole room was becoming less distinct, smoky somehow; there was a familiar smell that had been in the background that pushed its way to the forefront of her senses.
"Mother!" she coughed, and tried to cover her nose and mouth, but she was paralysed with her arm outstretched as the ashy cloud billowed round her and a dry chuckle filled her ears…
* Nevla!!! *

"... Nevla? Nevla! There you are; Delft wants to see you..."
Nevla woke with a jolt and a fit of coughing, and her shoulder protested at the sudden movement. I'm back in the present, she realised wearily, and yawned as she stretched out the kinks in her frame, vigorously rubbing at the tingling in her right forearm where she'd been using it like a pillow; she'd fallen asleep at the desk in the evidence locker again, poring over case notes and items linked to Kasvarina Varal, hoping to glean some hitherto undiscovered clue or new lead.
"I'm coming," she croaked to the duty officer who had stuck their head round the door, and cleared her throat of the accrued sleep-drool; "I'll just tidy up here," she managed in a more normal tone. She shuffled scraps of paper and clothing into an evidence crate and filed it all back on the shelf where she could easily retrieve it later. "For naughty word's sake, just when I was getting somewhere-" she muttered more to herself, and her hitchhiker.
* It's ok, you got further this time; past all the looping golem stuff, at any rate... Nevla, are you sure you're her? Dala, like what Kasvarina called you? *
"Mmm... Probably? Maybe? It seems to fit the evidence: I'm from somewhere, somewhen before the Malice, Kasvarina recognised me, and I know she had family… There are details in that house, Xambria: about me, about her, that I'd be hard-pressed to make up... and it definitely felt like this event wasn't too long before that nightmare about the monks. And after when I was practicing cantrips. I think…?"
* You'll get there next time, Nevla. *
"I'm... not sure I want to, Xambria; I'm- maybe I really won't like what I found, or..." Nevla sighed: "Otherwise, why wouldn't I be able to remember all this more easily?"
* But- *
"When I first started getting these... visions? Dreams, I- I got so... tired... I ran myself into the ground from the stress and very nearly ki-" Nevla took several breaths, "ended up dead from falling off a balcony.”
* What!? I... didn't know... * In Nevla's mind's eye, Xambria looked genuinely shocked.
"No-one does, apart from my foster-parents, Teras, and now you. Maybe Delft: he's canny enough to have done some background checks on me before I got hired. I'm not sure I even got around to telling Gale the worst parts, and certainly not my work colleagues. I'm not sure I meant to do it, but... Well, Teras was there when it happened, and, and stopped me... well... luckily they knew someone who could get through to me. It's why I ended up following the teachings of Vekesh to a greater extent than a lay-eladrin might. It kept me sane, or at least saner, I guess."
* But surely burning the candle at both ends isn't helping; I mean, if you get sloppy, careless, due to poor sleep again? It's not just you that loses out... I know I can be pretty obsessive about the case sometimes, and want my payback, but frankly, you're no use to me dead. *
"I know," Nevla’s whisper was tinged with guilt. "In a way I'm glad you're here. I've said it before, but it can't be fair on you, being saddled with me and my hang-ups..."
* It is what it is. * Xambria shrugged. * And if the chance comes that we can actually separate...? We'll deal with that if or when it happens. But we need to get you fixed first. *
If that's even possible, Nevla thought to herself.
Giving the evidence room one last glance before leaving, she noticed she had missed a slim book that had probably fallen under the table while she slept, so she reached underneath to drag it out by its edge; it had landed open on a page where someone had copied a (since destroyed) stained glass window where a stern and terrible Eladrin female in an aggressive pose fought with several monks in gold robes. (It was quite possibly Kasvarina, which is why she'd chosen the book to begin with, being an eclectic throwing-together of diverse scribblings and incomplete remnants from the Eladrin/Clergy Wars by a group of scholars “who half the time couldn’t differentiate between a wedding dress and a nightgown”, as Xambria was wont to say.)
One of the robed monks had an arm outstretched, and a symbol of a hook was (crudely) painted onto the forearm where the robe had fallen back. But under the table in the shadows, their clothing had only looked pale, not particularly any colour...
She stared at the book for a few seconds, holding her breath, then expelled it and gulped in more air when she became aware of a tight sensation in her throat and chest.
* What? What is it? *
"I saw them by moonlight. I didn't realise because I saw them under a clouded moon..."
* And that's supposed to mean what, exactly? *
"I may be able to see better in dim lighting than you're used to," she began, "but when there isn't much light to see by, even though I can see further, the colour still bleeds away somewhat."
* So... the monks in the picture- *
"-could be the same monks from my other nightmare. It was so fast at the time that I didn't register it, but the main monk might have had a tattoo like this one...?" She pointed at the hook, remembering the muscular man who swatted her broom away like it was a brittle twig...
In her mind's eye, Xambria peered over her shoulder at the painting.
* These are Godhands, according to the description. That means a group of them were sent all the way into Elfaivar to that - to your - house. But were they after Kasvarina and settled for you, or- *
"I don't know; maybe they wanted to get back at Kasvarina for some reason; if they were watching the house, then they'd likely be able to figure out she wasn't there. She did fight them in the wars after all..."
* I sense a "but"... *
"But, that means that when I exhaust what little information I have here, I might either have to go see our resident devious Crisilliyran about a Godhand, or end up going to Elfaivar itself. Maybe finding the house would help me remember more.... But it will have to wait until I find out whatever Delft wants me for."
* Not for too long, I hope...? *
Nevla put her new lead aside for the moment; it wasn’t prudent to keep her boss waiting…

--*

The team sets out to investigate the ruins they suspect the adventurers woke up the undead in, as they enter the area a team of ghoulish Eladrin ambush them from the treetop with bows, the fight goes bad for the ghouls very fast they are within pistol range of El Kevin and he is able to cut them down rapidly with a hail of fire, even worse for one of the Ghouls Manuel has managed to get his cannon working and blows the ghouls, his tree and a fair radius around him into debris. In return El Kevin takes a single arrow. Manuel suffers significant hearing damage from his cannon shot and decides on two important modifications first he starts wearing Ear protectors and secondly he fits directional hearing protectors to the suits head so that the noise from his cannon blast should be shielded from his ears. Coincidentally these looks reminiscent of a certain copyright protected master of the shadows.

After this ambush the group decides to enter stealth mode so Manuel turns on his armours stealth systems which somehow explain that his stealth score remains obscene even when size large and picks up Ulvaar. It seems he can carry around 60 tons in his suit so a mere armoured dwarf causes no impediment to his sneaking.

They reach the first temple to Dalvalus the husband of Ssramma and find it abandoned but in good condition with a clearly magical bow resting on the alter. They look around and decide to leave the bow alone so they do not interfere with a holy relic.

Moving on to the second site on their list they find it is surrounded by over a hundred ghouls , they sneak into the temple past the massed ghouls who it turns out are sadly lacking in perceptive abilities. Inside the desecrated temple to Ssramma they discover a squad of 6 elite Eladrin ghoul warriors, a female ghouls spellcaster and what looks like a male Eladrin spellcaster who they conclude must be the Rakshasa. The initiate an ambush with Padme and El Kevin shooting at the ghoul warriors, and Ulvaar running into mellee with them. Nevla launches a holy javalin spell at the probable Rakshasa and confirms it must be as he has considerable spell resistance, Manuel shoots him for none lethal damage with a Cannon which really hurts.
The battle rages with Nevla trying to get to the alter and channelling energy at the ghoul warriors, El Kevin shooting them with a hail of revolver fire, Padme backstabbing and Manuel shooting at the Rakshasa who responded by hitting him with repeated Bone shatter spells, the Ghoul matriarch used improved invisibility before targeting Nevla with several unpleasent spells. In the end they brought down the Rakshasa rendering it unconscious but had more problems with the matriarch as her invisibility made her hard to target . In the end the lightning weasel was able to determine her location by scent allowing a Glitterdust from El Kevin to make her visible and then they could hit her with concentrated attacks until she started being properly dead again.
They then realised that the army of Ghouls was storming in from outside , quickly Nevla decided that killing the Rakshasa may break the curse animating them so she stabbed him with the 1st Sword of Ssramma which killed him , broke the curse and also prevented him from reincarnating. With his death the ghouls crumbled and collapsed.

With the crisis dealt with Nevla stayed at the Enclave for a few more days learning more of Eladrin culture and also building better relations so in the event of another crisis they would contact the RHC team in the colony. Manuel visited the technological risuri colony and encountered Pemberton supervising the construction of his new factory and had a most interesting conversation about steam suits.

Next session they commence episode 6