Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 6645971" data-attributes="member: 9546">The True Guardian6 Erastus, 4715-7 Erastus, 4715-The True Guardian"Movement!" Mazael shouted in warning. "On the roof!"He pointed across the wide avenue to the angled rooftop of a nearby building. There, crouched atop the peak, was a black-clad figure. The slight physique suggested a female, but with its face shrouded in dark cloth, it was difficult to be certain. Metal glinted all over its body, protruding from the folds of its clothing at odd angles, and small blue lights winked on and off along its limbs. At Mazael's warning, the figure stood and drew a star-shaped disc from its cloak the size of a dinner plate. This she hurled with a flick of her wrist, and it spun through the air and stuck in Lucian's shoulder. The oracle cried out in pain, but before he could pull the shuriken loose, it exploded with a flash of blue fire, scorching his face and arm. A moment later, the mysterious assassin simply vanished. "Damn ninjas!" Piotr hissed, remembering all too well the deadly warriors they had encountered at Ravenscraag. The sorcerer cast a spell, and the air around the companions began to hum with energy."She won't be sneaking up on us now!" he announced."It is the doppleganger!" Miriya shouted. "I told you she would come for me! I am too old for such a battle. If she catches me, she will try to take me back to the machine! I will cover you with my bow, but I will not stay here!"With that, she closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated, furrowing her brow. Then she opened them again, and rose up into the air, flying to a nearby rooftop."Since when do ninja's cast spells?" Mazael wondered aloud."She's here!" Lucian shouted.From out of thin air, landing in a nimble crouch, the dark assassin appeared in the midst of the heroes. Piotr's spell had rendered her unable to use her vanishing trick, and she looked around in mild surprise. Up close, it was obvious that her body was as much metal as flesh and bone. She rose to her feet with the mechanical whine of gears and motors."Fools!" she spat in Tian, which only Boris and Piotr could understand. "Slaves to evil! You will never have it! NEVER! Die with your foul masters!"She flicked another shuriken at Sandru. It grazed the caravan master's arm, but he dove to the side, just avoiding its explosion. "Boris not know what you talking about, crazy machine-lady," the goblin replied in the same language, lunging towards her, "but Boris stab you anyway so you stop talking."As he moved forward, however, the ninja drew out a length of chain linking a sharp blade on one end and a weighted metal ball on the other. She whipped it towards the goblin, entangling his feet and yanking them from under him. "Now, my minions!" she cried, pointing towards the metallic sculptures that stood in front of the building on the far side of the street. With a lurch of metal on metal, two of them rumbled into motion and began lumbering towards the melee. As they closed, Mongo stuck out his halberd and sent one of them tumbling to the ground. The second one moved past him and swung with its own pole-arm at Piotr, dealing the sorcerer and massive blow that nearly knocked him from his feet. Lucian quickly snapped off a shot at the automaton, but his arrow glanced off its metal hide. He then pivoted and fired at the ninja, but she deftly batted the shaft out of the air with her bare hand. She whirled and her fist shot out, striking Sandru in the throat as he moved to flank her. She spun again and delivered a straight-leg kick into Mongo's gut as he closed in."Wait, crazy machine-lady!" Boris gasped, holding up his hands as she stalked towards him where he still lay on the ground. "We not here to fight you! Old ninja-woman tell us you try to kill her when she try and get back her bird hat!""Exactly!" she spat back at him. "You are trying to steal the Crown and give it to the oni!""What??" Boris shrieked. "No! We fight oni! We kill oni! We taking lost empress Ameiko back to homeland to get green chair from oni!""Green chair?" the woman asked suspiciously. "Do you mean the Jade Throne?""Yes!" Boris nodded. "That what Boris say! We want white bird hat to help her!""Then why are you with THAT oni!?" she hissed, pointing towards the roof where Miriya still crouched."Liar!" Miriya shouted back. "Don't believe her! Remember what I told you! She was created to replace me! She will kill us all!""Mazael?" Piotr asked, turning towards the war-priest. "Does Helgarvarl detect any evil from this woman?"'No, my friend,' the angel spoke into Mazael's mind."He says not," Mazael relayed the message. "What about her?" Piotr nodded towards the old woman on the roof."Let's find out," the war-priest growled.He began walking into the air, courtesy of Suishen, and as he drew closer to Miriya, she tensed visibly."What are you doing??" she cried. "Destroy that imposter!""We'll see who's the imposter," Mazael replied. "Helgarvarl?"'There is evil here,'" the angel confirmed."She's lying!" Mazael shouted, pointing at the crone."Fools!" she snapped. "You will all die here! I swear it!"She turned and flew from the rooftop, disappearing rapidly into the ruins.________________________________________________The ninja commanded her clockwork soldiers to stand down, and the companions warily put away their own weapons as well. "Who are you?" Piotr asked in Tian."I am Miriya," the woman replied simply."That's who the old woman told us she was," the sorcerer said. "She said some sort of machine had made a mechanical doppelganger of her."Miriya laughed, a hollow, metallic sound."Would you expect anything but lies and fabrication from an oni?" she asked."Oni?" Piotr queried. "What do you mean?"Miriya sighed and sat cross-legged on the ground."If you came her searching for the White Peacock Crown, they I assume you know it was me who stole it all those years ago.""Yes," Pitor nodded. "Our caravan master heard the tale from the merchants Xam and Odashu."Miriya smiled humorlessly."Yes, they were loyal companions," she said. "They did not want to leave me here, but I insisted. Within weeks after they departed, I stumbled upon a barely sentient machine that sought to steal my mind and make me a thoughtless automaton. So strong was my will to live, however, that a spark of humanity remained within me. I renewed my vigil to protect the Crown from the oni that I knew would probably find me again. I set about turning the strange, living machines of this city to serve my purposes. When the oni finally came, they were taken off guard to find me still young and hale. I lured them to the great machine that created me, but for them it held only death and rebirth as cybernetic slaves. Only one of the oni escaped, called Liao Ku. It was him that you encountered, disguised as my older self. He sought to trick you into facing the great machine yourselves and retrieve the Crown for him. He must be hunted down, lest he take word of the Crown's location back to his masters, as well as news of your empress.""Can you help us obtain the Crown?" Piotr asked. "It would be of great value to Ameiko in regaining her birthright. We have already slain several members of the Five Storms, but it is only a matter of time before we face them again.""I cannot fight the great machine directly," Miriya shook her head, "but I can lead you to its lair, and aid you as I may. Be warned, however, not all of you may return from this endeavor alive."__________________________________________________Miriya took the companions to her home,a sparsely furnished chamber in a small building sheltered by inner walls amidst the detritus of ages, where a long metal table held several scraps of cloth stretched across makeshift frames, showing faded patterns of embroidery in the Tian style. Dozens of bottles in all shapes and sizes were arranged neatly, as was a collection of metallic and glass bowls which held strange powders and residues, alongside strange metal devices of uncertain function. A flat slab of stone, marred with many scratches, seemed to function as a bed, with a gossamer veil surrounding it. A metallic man bustled about the room, cleaning and polishing the floor to a shine. The heroes rested the night and regained their strength in relative safety. The following morning, Miriya led them to a building that she called the manufactory. In contrast to the towering facades and monoliths around it, the structure was comparatively low-slung, set into a natural rise with a metallic portal offering access to the upper level, and a second set of metal doors at the foot of the slope allowing access to the lower level. Miriya went to the upper set of doors, a metallic portal comprised of horizontal plates of metal ten feet wide. A slotted crystalline panel lay inside a glazed cabinet set into the wall beside the door. Miriya fiddled with the panel for a moment, and the doors slid aside.As the companions entered the building, pale blue lights winked into view in the floor, walls and ceiling. Halfway into the room there was a raised platform of metallic plates and mesh braced several feet off the floor, supported on a series of drums and wheels, with the platform seemingly wrapped underneath them as well. The platform passed through a low opening in the far wall only a few feet high, covered by a screen of metallic mesh. A rhythmic hum could be heard beyond the opening. Several crystalline panels were set into the far wall, which was solid metal up to shoulder height, and opaque crystal above. Boris crept forward to examine the apparatus as his friends hung back. Just as he reached the platform, however, he saw a flicker of movement from beneath it. A clockwork spider scurried on top of it and reached out one of its legs to tap out a series of touches on one of the crystal panels. The wheels beneath the platform began to turn, and the wrap-around metal plates began to move. The spider was carried forward and through the metallic mesh, which parted easily to admit the belt of rotating plates. "Boris get him!" the goblin shouted, and then he dove atop the conveyor belt before his companions could protest.The belt carried the goblin through the metal mesh and into a vast chamber beyond. It was strewn with cables and machinery. A great machine dominated the room, seeming almost to squat over a golden-glowing circular pit, with small arms reaching outward, while a single metallic tendril writhed sinuously like a clawed hand and glaring eye in one. Two half-mechanical brutes dressed in armor of Eastern manufacture stood nearby on guard, while smaller mechanical beings scuttled over tumbled heaps of arcane circuitry. The moving metallic walkway upon which Boris rode, dropped at an angle down to the floor thirty feet below, where it circled around the the massive machine before looping back around underneath its slanting upper course, passing out through another narrow aperture in another wall. A catwalk of metallic grates with pole-like railings mostly encircled the huge sunken workroom. Untold numbers of cables, conduits, hoists, hooks and pulleys hung from a vast network of girders above. A large, open metal stairwell spiraled down to the floor below, and just across it, another hulking half-metallic humanoid stood armed with a bow and blade. At each corner of the room stood a bank of strange devices tended by a vaguely human mechanical creature, similar to the ones moving about below. Boris took all of this in within seconds, and then he reached into his pocket and drew out a flask. He pulled the cork with his teeth and quaffed the potion, then flew off of the belt and into the air like an ugly bird. He landed on the nearby catwalk, where he saw a door leading back into the entry chamber where he'd left his friends. It had not been visible from that side. The hulking cyborg on the other side of the stairwell began lurching towards him, and his hands flew across the locking mechanism. At the last second, he heard it click, and he flung the door open, shocked and relieved to see Mazael waiting on the other side. The war-priest shoved Boris aside as he stepped out onto the catwalk, placing himself between Boris and the oncoming cyborg. Just then, Boris saw one of the mechanical men standing in the corner do something to manipulate the bank of machinery in front of it. A grinding noise came from above, and when Boris looked up, he saw a long metallic arm descend from the roof and seize Mazael in its grip. The war-priest bellowed in anger as it pinned his arms to his side, keeping him from bringing up Suishen to block the swing of the cyborg's great-sword as it fell and slashed him from shoulder to hip, piercing his armor and opening a terrible wound. Then, a long hose snaked down from the rafters above. At its tip was a metal nozzle, and this pivoted towards Boris. Before he could leap away, it sprayed a viscous, black fluid straight into the goblin's eyes, blinding him. At that moment, Mazael saw a blur of movement as Miriya somersaulted out onto the catwalk. The ninja whirled the blade of her kusarigama above her head, then flung it at the cyborg. The edge sliced through its putrid flesh, releasing a great gout of vile green fluid. Boris witnessed this as he wiped the burning sludge from his eyes. The he saw Mazael wrench himself loose from the grip of the mechanical arm, using Desna's blessing to break free. Boris moved towards the war-priest, but then the metal arm pivoted towards him and struck him a solid blow to his chest. He stumbled backwards. Mazael didn't seem to notice. He lunged towards the cyborg, blood flowing freely from his wound. Suishen sliced into the monster, setting flames dancing through its skin. However, in his haste, Mazael had moved right to the edge of the catwalk's railing, and he failed to see the flailing tendril of the great machine below until it was too late. It whipped through the air and slammed into him with devastating force. Mazael was shoved forward, where the cyborg was waiting. The war-priest's momentum drove him straight into the point of the creature's sword, impaling him. Mazael slumped, his eyes closing, then slid backwards to the catwalk, Suishen dropping from his numb fingers. Mongo reached the catwalk about the same time as Mazael fell.  He saw the giant cyborg still standing over his fallen companion and he lifted his pole-arm as he moved towards it. He saw the whip-like tendril coming for him a moment before Miriya shouted a warning. It latched onto him with bone-crushing strength, and snatched him bodily from the platform, holding him high in the air. From the doorway, Lucian rapidly fired four  arrows into the flailing appendage, but it did not loosen its grip. Boris leaped into the air and hacked at the tendril. It flexed, and for a moment, the goblin though he'd succeeded, but then it uncoiled and hurled Mongo across the vast chamber. He landed in a heap on the floor, right next to the main body of the great machine. The two cyborgs  that stood nearby slowly  turned their heads towards him and began to advance.From his position behind Lucian, Piotr could see across the room to where one of the mechanical men still stood in front of its panel, whatever buttons it was pushing causing the hoses and arms on the ceiling to move towards his friends. The sorcerer cast a spell, and a pit suddenly opened beneath the feet of the robot. It fell without a sound into a pool of caustic acid at the bottom of the hole. Miriya tumbled nimbly behind the cyborg as Sandru stepped onto the platform and moved to flank the brute. It caught him a glancing blow with its sword as he closed in, but then he and the ninja struck in concert, opening several gaping rents in its hide. Mongo raised his head, dizzily, just in time to see the cyborgs looming over him. He reached for his halberd, but then the two giants brought their great-swords down, and he knew no more...Lucian fired more arrows at the cyborg trapped between Miriya and Sandru, his shots finally bringing it down. He pivoted and fired another volley at one of the clockwork men in a nearby corner, causing it to explode as every shot struck true. Behind him, Piotr created a second pit beneath another of the robots, and it plummeted from view. With the catwalk clear, Boris landed again and reached down to grab Suishen. He tucked the sword safely across his back while Sandru lifted Mazael's limp form over his shoulder and carried him out of the chamber. On the factory floor, the great machine lifted Mongo's lifeless body and then bored into his skull with a dozen small tendrils. A moment later, the Mwangi's eyes snapped open, a milky film covering them. He began lurching about like a puppet on a string, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. Piotr looked on in horror. He gathered arcane energy into his palm and hurled it towards the floor. It exploded in green fire, showering the central processor, the giant cyborgs, the clockwork robots, and Mongo with burning acid. When the blast cleared, only one of the cyborgs and the great machine were still intact. The surviving companions were stunned. They stood on the catwalk looking at the carnage below. As they watched, the remaining cyborg lurched towards the stairwell and began climbing towards them. Worse, the central processor itself wrenched its massive bulk from the floor and began slowly, laboriously, crawling their way. Lucian fired at it as it advanced, and Piotr hurled another acid ball. Boris rushed across the catwalk to intercept the approaching cyborg, but before he could reach it, the processor's tendril grabbed him from behind and began crushing the life out of him. Lucian kept up his barrage of arrows, desperately trying to bring down the infernal machine. Beside him, Piotr cast the last of his acidic fireballs. The central processor was in ruins, pieces of it falling to the floor, and great holes melted into its carapace, yet still it would not release the goblin. Boris managed to wriggle one arm free as his vision began to darken, and he hacked and hacked at the tendril, until finally, it went limp and released him. Before he lost consciousness, he saw Sandru and Miriya close on the last cyborg and chop it to pieces. ___________________________________________________Miriya held up the ornate headpiece, which had been crafted of white gold, inlaid with lapis lazuli and spangled with dozens of jewels. "It has many powers," she explained, "but chief among them is its ability to allow the wearer to detect the presence of shapechangers, including oni. They will never be able to deceive you again. I present it to you so that you may give it to the Destined Empress.""Why don't you give it to her yourself?" Piotr asked. "There is nothing here for you know. Come home with us."Miriya lowered her eyes and was silent for a moment."I...I would be honored," she said quietly.The companions gathered their wounded and their dead then, with Miriya accompanying them, retraced their path out of the ruined city. Unseen by any of them, a pair of hateful eyes watched them go...</blockquote>

Verification