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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Beale Knight" data-source="post: 2480357" data-attributes="member: 7033">Radical Actions and “oh by the way….”The Heroes of Maissen stared gape-mouthed at the impossibility before them. Its chains rattled and another burst of energy silently shot down into the caves below it. “Kill me - - Now!” it repeated. “What are you?” Bessie asked.“I am abused, made to nurture what I was created to destroy,” it answered. “End it.”Dumb Bear began to walk around the pit, ducking under the chains as he studied the metal man. “That’s not a whole much of an answer,” Ren said. “How about an answer that’s not a riddle?”“If it will speed your hand to do what I ask, gladly,” the being said. “I am the mechanus.”“Picture man,” Dumb Bear said. The others turned to stare at him. “Picture man,” the big elf repeated. “Wall pictures. Shiny throne place.”It took a moment for his roughly translated conclusion to sink in, but it was sudden when it did. “The tapestries!” Aneirin said. “In the throne room. You’re the being fighting the demons.” “I am the mechanus. I was created to battle the evil that is Idien. Those tapestries show my failure.” He grimaced and the chains rattled again. Another burst of energy shot down through the hole in the floor. “Idien imprisoned me here. Forced it to be that my energies warm the eggs of the great purple drake. She cannot leave this place, but her offspring can. They can because I have nurtured them.”“How long,” Bessie asked. “Centuries!” the mechanus answered. “I am eternal. As my energy is drained it is ever renewed.”Ren was biting at his lip. “But,” he said, “but would it work better for you if we freed you from the chains? You don’t have to die.”“I DO!” the mechanus bellowed. “I am eternal. My death is not the death you know. I cannot be unmade anymore than a soul. Loose me from these chains and Idiein will find me and defeat me again, I cannot best him weakened as I am. Kill me and I will return from whence I came. There my power will return in full. Only then will I have the might and power to defeat the evil one. You must kill me.”The Maisseners stared at each other, trying to decide if they believed what they heard. “We must think this through,” Bessie said.“What’s to think?” the mechanus shouted. “Every…” he paused. The chains rattled as another bolt of his energy fired down. “Every moment you pause you aid his cause.”“We have screwed things up before by jumping too fast in the wrong way,” Ren said. “The only way you can ‘screw this up’”, the mechanus said, “is to NOT kill me.”Despite his insistence, the Heroes stepped back and gathered together. Their whispered conversation was short; they were each convinced already but wanted the reassurance that the others felt the same way. Finally they nodded and Aneirin stepped forward. The warrior drew his sword as he walked to the prisoner. In two swift strokes he ended the mechanus’ torture. The Heroes’ reward was a cold, mechanical smile, and a promise. “He will not care, but I will tell Simus that you are Good.”With that his form turned to dust. The chains dropped and hung limp from their shackles. There was a heavy moment of silence, broken suddenly by Dumb Bear sneezing. His was followed by Bessie’s, and then Aneirin and Ren sneezed almost as one. “It’s gotten cold,” Bessie said. In just a few seconds, a strong chill had filled the room. The disappearance of the mechanus and his heat caused a sudden and dramatic change. “The drake!” Ren said. He turned and headed for the “well room” and, as he had the lantern, the others quickly followed. In the well room, sounds, scrapes and deep huffs, drifted up from the caverns below. The Maisseners lit and dropped another torch down there. In its light they saw the great purple drake gathering her eggs about her as best as she could. There was panic in her hasty grasps. She knew and feared what the sudden temperature change meant. “That’s good,” Bessie said. “Even if it’s sad in a way.”Ren nodded. So did Aneirin, who also said, “We aren’t yet finished here. There are still threats to be answered.” The Heroes retreated to the neighboring room and discussed how to handle those threats. The lizard folk and kobolds were still living deep in the caves, and those caves led to who knew how many other monsters and threats to the nearby town. There was also the possibility that the purple drake would find a way to save her eggs. If not all of them, then possibly enough to make for another real threat. Collapsing the temple was not an option; it was simply beyond their power. It was Aneirin that had the final idea. He outlined it to the others and after a few tweaks they decided it could work. They certainly had no better idea. They returned to the well room and smashed down one of the wells’ side wall. Then they made their way back to the “river room.” There they turned the handle that lowered the block “down-stream.” With Aneirin and Bessie guarding up top, Ren and Dumb Bear ventured into the dry ditch and then into the rough natural tunnel. The two followed that for almost a half mile before coming to a steel plate that blocked the tunnel entirely. Smiling, they returned to report that their conclusion was right. That left the final step. Aneirin, Bessie, and Ren crossed the dry ditch as Dumb Bear stayed behind to turn the first wheel. The big elf had just given the wheel a single good turn when a monstrous growl came from the back of the room. Dumb Bear shouted in surprise and turned to face his new foe. A monster of a lizard-man roared with rage and charged the elf. Dumb Bear dodged the lizard-man’s club and pulled his flail free. Water began to flow into the ditch. Across it, the other three Heroes heard the fight start, but could see nothing. Dumb Bear and his foe were lost is the shadows. Ren pulled the flare arrow he’d recovered from the fight in the many-pillared room and shot that toward the sounds. The arrow sparked and landed to illuminate the scene: Dumb Bear in battle against a lizard-man almost twice his height. As the water level rose, the battle raged like a shooting star. The three across the water shot arrows and bolts to help Dumb Bear, who honestly needed little help. The lizard-man landed one good, solid blow with his club and ducked one of the elf’s attacks. But in moments Dumb Bear’s flail had turned the lizard-man’s head to so much pulp. When his foe fell, Dumb Bear turned and ran full speed for the ditch. The water was just beginning to lap over the sides as he jumped, clearing the ditch by several inches. The Heroes spared only a moment for congratulations before running on. They were up into the throne room just moments later, separating to pry as much loot as they could in a show of naked greed. As Aneirin kept watch behind them, the others gathered what they could. Gems were plucked from the thrones, the four tapestries were brought down and rolled up, as the carpet already had been. The red velvet was already down, and was hastily folded and used to gather everything together, making a great bundle atop a few sacks ready to be carried outside.“How’s the water level?” Bessie asked over her shoulder to Aneirin. “There isn’t any sign of it yet,” he answered. Ren went to stand by Aneirin. “That must mean it’s working,” he said. “With all of it flooding down into the egg cave, it shouldn’t make it up here.”Bessie joined them. “Well there’s no way to check, but that’s logical. And who knows how deep those caves go? At least we’ve cut this place off from access by underground.”Ren smiled. “And got some good things for our treasure presentation.” Elated and awed at all they’d seen and done in the past two days, the Heroes made their way back to the town. The atmosphere that greeted them was celebration. The ships they’d seen earlier had docked! The men were back with a huge haul of fish. Adding that to the fact the Heroes the elders had prayed for were back and victorious, the town decided it was time to throw a grand party.But first there was fish to unload and prepare, and much information to get. The returning Heroes found a secure place to store the bundle and went in various directions on various errands. Aneirin and Dumb Bear helped unload fish. Ren went to the Sons of Lastell to finally spend some time learning what they knew of this area, Maissen, and the city to the west. Bessie went to the venerable priest of Simus to tell him of the Mechanus, and to see about healing potions and scrolls. The Heroes' twenty-sixth day outside Maissen ended with a huge banquet. There the four regrouped and finalized their plans. They still had much traveling to do, sights to see, heroic acts to perform, and treasures to claim for Maissen. Bessie had the most important task. She would be working with Poepah, scribing scrolls of Healing. The party knew they were certain to need them. Poepah also agreed to create a special substance for Aneirin and Dumb Bears’ armor. This unnamed substance would magically liquefy their armor and store it in a durable bottle. When needed, all the fighters must do is pour the liquid over them and in a heartbeat they would be wearing their armor – much faster than the conventional way of getting into armor. Ren would work in Taken’s bowyer shop, crafting arrows. Aneirin and Dumb Bear planned to work with Jon, helping him put together and train a new guard unit for the town. All told they’d had taken on three full days of work, but the town folk happily put their heroes up and saw to their mundane needs. They regarded it as a small price to pay for their saving Town. Little did anybody know there was to be a slightly higher price coming down the mountain.As they went about their tasks, the underground river the Heroes blocked continued to flood. Though they’d expected the underground would accommodate the water, they were wrong. They’d sealed the only way for water to leave that entire area. After two days the water had filled the entire complex. The only place left for it to go was out, and then down the mountain.Straight for the Town.Next: Babrack and Moving On     POST 162Soon: A keep in the middle of nowhere</blockquote>

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