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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 3301261" data-attributes="member: 3285">Deus Ex Machina - Part 7a: Training RoomIlmarė and Beldin carefully wended their way down the steps. “Be ready for anything,” said Ilmarė.  “Who knows what the Brotherhood is capable of?”A huge axe blade jutted from the wall.  Ilmarė hopped backwards in surprise.Two more hacks and the wall smashed open.  Cal stood in the opening, covered in blood and dust.“Oh, hi Cal,” said Ilmarė.  “Nice of you to join us.”“Hi,” said Cal.  He sniffed the air.  “We’re not alone.”The room was filled with all manner of clockworks.  Abandoned mechanical horses, limp humanoid bodies, and large clocks of all sorts lay forgotten and unused.  Something whirred at the far end of the chamber.“The orrery is almost ready!” said the voice of an old man across the room.  “Now if I could just find the invitation…”The orrery was about the size of a merry-go-round, but in place of the colorful roof and all the prancing horses and noble carriages there were a set of brass globes mounted on sturdy metal arms. The arms joined at the center, where Ambrose tinkered up an elaborate set of gears and cogs that moved the globes around in great ovals. Standing in front of the orrery was a large, white shape.  It was too far away to make out, cloaked in the shadows of the room. An older man was moving back and forth behind it, dressed in a workman’s apron.“That’s got to be Ambrose,” said Ilmarė.  She drew her bow. “And if he’s working on an orrery, that means he’s opening a portal to Carcosa.”“What’s the invitation to, anyway?” asked Beldin.“It’s a costume party,” said Ilmarė.  A clanking man-sized marionette swung into view, blocking their path to the room beyond.“He’s going as a puppet?  Stupid costume,” said Cal. Ilmarė knocked an arrow.  “Take it out!  We’ve got to stop Ambrose before he finishes making that orrery!” The marionette winched forward as Cal and Beldin advanced on it, axes raised.“You know the routine Cal,” said Beldin, shield raised.  “You go high…”Cal hacked at the marionette’s head, slicing downwards.  It spun sideways, but not fast enough to avoid the blow.“And I’ll go low!” shouted Beldin.  He rushed forward, swiping his axe towards the marionette’s torso.  It smacked upwards so hard it hit the ceiling.“Too easy,” said Cal.Then the marionette swung back, whirling as it went.  It gashed open Cal’s arm and hit Beldin’s shield so hard that it knocked him backwards.An arrow ricocheted off of the marionette’s head. The big lizard crouched and slapped the marionette with his tail.  It spun sideways, its blade ricocheting off of the ceiling.Cal raised his huge axe up to finish the marionette off.  Then he froze in place.“Cal?” asked Beldin.The marionette stopped flopping around awkwardly.  It moved with all the precision of a man.  Mimicking Ilmarė’s throw from before, it hurled its curved blade at Beldin.Beldin ducked as the blade SPTANG-ed off of the dwarf’s shield. “There’s someone else in the room!” shouted Ilmarė.  “There!”Beldin got a glimpse of a portly, balding man with a wide grin.  Then the room burst with gray sticky strands.</blockquote>

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