Paridon: The Dark Metropolis (Ravenloft)

[InVinoVeritas]

Perrin takes a leap, but can do little more than scrape against Ada's metal carapace. His axe fails to catch a hold.

Fr. Berman chants his prayer and jumps onto a slowly moving cog to reach in far enough to touch Calahan. He manages to grab a hold of his ankle. A deep, wet surge literally fills Calahan's veins as the theurgy replenishes his blood. (+19hp) Calahan falls down on the moving surface after straining to reach him.

[sblock=Fr. Berman]
The spinning gears, the chains, the cogs, the statues, the bells... they are all brass.
[/sblock]

Ru charges in, trying to find a good spot on the boiler. Grabbing the end of a chain, he swings around to deliver another solid cut on the arachnid construct. A fresh spout of blood--some of which must be Calahan's--scalds his arm (-4hp) .

Ada calls back to Ru's taunts, "The blood makes me better, and then I can fix the human, too. I can fix everyone now."

[sblock=Ru]
Swinging from the chain, landing next to the priest, a thought occurs to you.
You miss your brutality?
Your eyes focus on Calahan, caught in Ada's clutches, his blood, his life feeding her.
Then be brutal.
[/sblock]

Ada scuttles deeper into the clock's mechanisms. Ru takes a chance with Ada's retreat and manages to slice off one of the spikes holding Calahan and grits his teeth against the resulting gusher (-5hp).

She reaches the far back, to the moving statue of the knight whose sword Ru now wields. A pair of arms or claws or beams pick up the statue and begin carefully disassembling the joints. Calahan takes the opportunity to break off the other spike and pull himself free enough from the automaton to grab the chain and strike the vial of fire against Ada's creaking boiler. It explodes most impressively, engulfing the two in a burst of flame (-6hp).

Ada's saw-filled jaw stops a moment to regard Calahan. "I don't burn, silly," she repeats, just as fresh blades tear through the policeman to pin him to a vertical spinning gear (-12hp).

Darian's dirge begins to play, as his feature meld and stretch to take on the form of the younger Combledorn. Still too tall for a gnome, he tries to get Ada's attention, contact whatever remains of her former self.

Ada looks back over at Darian. She stops for a moment. "That's not my Templeton. Your eyes hurt too much, you see too much pain," she observes, "But you can still join me if you like."

[sblock=Darian]
Trust me, you do not want to know what she is thinking. There is nothing of the innocent Ada in her now. Ada's innocence could never suffer like this.

But let's see if your brutal friend has what it takes, shall we?
[/sblock]

"Destroy it. Destroy the whole clock. Don't let Ada take it all for herself."

Between Darian and Perrin, Pigglemorth reveals himself.

 

[Rhun]

"Take it for herself?" asks Perrin, confused. "Explain yourself man, and quickly." Even as he speaks, he casts his eyes about for something he can use...a brass shaft or level perhaps, that he could break off and use as a spear?

 

[InVinoVeritas]

Perrin notes that the spike Ru just cut off Ada is brass, and it lies in a field of brass gears, governors, and weights.

Pigglemorth shivers. "Because that thing... That monstrosity is my wish. I always loved my daughter. Wanted the very best for her. I was going to give her the perfect life. Everything in its place, working together, just like my clocks. So when I used my clockwork to protect her from her misguided notions... I get that. That beast is my sin. And it is taking control of my life."

 

[Le Noir Faineant]

Calahan tries to hit the blades with his kukri, a rather useless movement, but at least proving that he is still alive.

Spitting blood, he, however, manages to turn his head to Perrin and the gnome, addressing them with a wolfish grin:

"GENTLEMEN! Would you... PLEASE... Just kill her about now! My body feels spiked like a hedhehog already!"

If possible, Clahan will reach for his bag and pull out a powder bomb.

"Come on, bitch, maybe you don't burn, but you surely need to see..."

With that, he'll throw the powder bomb against Ada's head, hoping to blind her for the moment...

 

[kinem]

I may have tried the wrong tactic, but there's no use second guessing now.

Father Berman grabs a piece of brass debris and attempts to use it as a weapon, throwing it if necessary. "You heard the man!"

 

[jkason]

Ru Brike, barbaric human monk

With each blow, each burn, Ru feels himself losing more and more control. He can't think straight, can't focus. He can only attack, slashing and stabbing, the edges of his vision red from burns or rage he cannot say, only that the very core of him wants nothing more than to slaughter this thing before him, to rend it to shreds as if it were made of nothing more than paper, to revel in its dying...

No longer caring to hold anything back, Ru allows the bloodlust to consume him as he redoubles his efforts to destroy Ada, a primal roar the only language he seems capable of any longer.

 

[Rhun]

Perrin notes that the spike Ru just cut off Ada is brass, and it lies in a field of brass gears, governors, and weights.

Perrin makes his move to grab the long brass spike, in hopes of using it against Ada before the situation can escalate any further.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

Perrin and Fr. Berman dive into the clock's mechanism to grab hold of debris from the battle. The constantly shifting, ticking surface which serves as a ground proves treacherous, however. Fr. Berman trips on a spinning wheel to fall against a lever, releasing a weight that swings against Perrin, knocking him to the ground!

Ru demonstrates his preternatural athletic skills here, too, as he charges across the moving terrain, leaping from cog to cog and avoiding the swinging weights to make his way to the spider-monstrosity.

Calahan strains against the searing pain in his bicep as he pulls his arm free of its impalement, grabs a powder bomb, and smashes it square against Ada's face. It explodes, and the face rears back, to stare upside-down at Ru. Ada's younger face, the one you met the first time, reforms just long enough to cry, "You said you'd protect me!"

Then the brass sword crashes down into it, through it, and deep into the boiler, where despite all the creaking metal, the searing temperatures... Ru feels meat. He buries the sword in that small, quivering bit of flesh in the center of the boiler.

The malevolent contraption spasms, its arms flailing madly. Ru tastes the final draught of hot, scalding blood (-7 hp) and regains composure quickly enough to grab hold of a chain. The clock's mechanism appears to spasm in time with Ada, as all of Pigglemorth's creations twist and spring loose. The clock starts to prepare to chime the hour--nowhere near that time, now.

This is when Perrin notes how Edditomas must have lost his head so brutally, in the first place. He watches as a large, heavy cog meshing with where he lies turns round, toward his own neck--and where they would come together, stained with day-old blood.

 

[Rhun]

Perrin scrambles away from the deadly cog, all thoughts of Ada and aiding his companions replaced with one of self-preservation. The rangers rolls and tumbles, trying to escape losing his own head in the same manner as Edditomas!

 

[jkason]

Ru Brike, barbaric human monk

Something calls out within Ru to stop as he sees once again the innocent girl's face, but the bloodlust fueling him is deaf to the call.

As he holds onto the chain for support, as the young girl he has skewered into a second death spasms, the cries within him have died, but he fears perhaps they are not merely silent for the moment, but forever. That he may have killed a piece of himself with this final blow.

Trying to ignore the consequences of his actions, Ru tries to swing his way to Calahan, hoping to finally extricate him from the spine with which Ada held him.