Iron Gods : Double Characters (IC)

[DrK]

Okan

Nok

In the market Okan looks about curiously if there are bit and bobs he may be interested in before handing over a couple of copper for a kebab of fried lizard and chewing on it as they approach Savin. Reaching the stall he leans slightly out of the way keeping an eye out for any trouble or suspicious people nearby (one can never be sure of the technic league). Nok nods a friendly grin on his face as he approaches Savin. "Not buy today, but asking. We found Khonnir, but he's in a bad way. Was hoping you could offer some help to him?" Nok asks before nodding to the others, hoping that one of the others more versed in medical manners can pick up the discussion and describe the nanite issue.

[u-b]

Thony finds the statement less than perfectly clear. "He's been injected with nanomachines, but we have no idea what these are and what these do, so we need your help. I think he will survive until the morning, but would prefer not to bet anyone's life on that." Sarina intervenes with a girl-in-distress style charms, but also does her professional best to make the prospect itself seem attractive. "Please, Sanvil we need your help! There is a reward for saving him, and if you save a councilor, that will be good for your business for sure!" "And if you don't come and he dies..." "Thony! ... But yes, he has the point. You are the one ho knows about technology here and if things turn out ugly, the whole town will ask what more important business you had. I hope we don't cause too much trouble to you, but we must have came after you, Sanvil!"

[Sleepy Shade]

Savin listens to your whirlwind of talk trying to understand "Slow down, slow down, now again with less yelling and talking over each other." As your group explains how you found Khonnir and his current condition he thinks for a bit and digs around in a case he was putting away "Ah yes the stuff that makes up a Grey Goo. It probably won't kill him he's been down there how long? almost a week? either way one more night won't hurt him to bad" He pulls out a injector filled with Yellow liquid "Ah here we go so this should fix him up right as rain. Mostly used for radiation but it also flushes nanites from the users system but not kindly my advice have a toilet or be outside when you inject this into him 550 Gold pieces if your in such a hurry tonight." He holds out his hand waiting for payment.

[u-b]

Thony starts to dig through the loot, expecting Sanvil to appraise what the stuff is actually worth. Eventually (and considering the party's discount) the deal is settled to something like A Half-Charged Timeworn Stun Gun + A Bang Grenade => An Injector + 60 gp.

Spoiler

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My people do not carry the loot, but I can do the accounting. Shall I?

[Sleepy Shade]

Savin looks at the stuff your trying to pay him with and thinks for a moment. He picks up and looks at the gun and the grenade for a moment and says " How soon are you going to go back to the under ground?"

When you answer that it will be a few days he looks disappointed and says "Well when you go back down their I want to come with you from the looks of it, quite a bit of interesting trinkets down there. But as for payment I can't accept that right now I got everything packed up. In the morning I can exchange it for the serum but not tonight."

[u-b]

Thony is somewhat disappointed. "Well, if this is a goods-handling problem, we can forfeit the change to have the serum on credit. We'll bring this stuff back to you with first light or whatever's the time you are opening." Sarina adds to that saying: "You see we are credit-worthy enough and we stand to get the reward from the town, so should not be any problem?"

Whether Savin takes the "risk", such as it is, to get "free" 60 gp overnight, we then discuss taking him on the next expedition. "We plan to go to the natural cave part on our next trip, so not sure if you'd be interested. Will continue to explore the interesting part from the next trip after that. We can take you with us on both, if you want to, or just for the second."

[Sleepy Shade]

Savin contemplates your words and hands over the device "Fine you've proved yourself loyal customers and I'm in a rush so sigh this" he pulls out a piece of parchment and writes down a quick receipt detailing the price and your agreement to pay that price "And in the morning I'll collect."

Signing the receipt he gives your group the injector of Vitality Serum. You now owe Savin 550Gp.

[u-b]

Sarina and Thony then go back to the church to hand the serum to Joram, along with any and all comments and instructions.

[Sleepy Shade]

After dropping off the medicine the alcolytes tell you that they'll take care of Khonnir and that it shouldn't take to long to cure the infection. The group heads back to the inn and find Yarro she explains that Val went up to the Church to keep company with Thony. The dinner at the Foundry is uplifting you've rescued Khonnir and have survived the tunnels multiple times it feels like the end of your troubles are in sight. Yarro's meal is a steak that is a bit spicy and over seasoned but is edible.

[u-b]

Back at the Foundry Sarina and Thony have their dinner, then busy themselves for the rest of the evening respectively writing the report (two copies, as usual - one in Common to hand over and one encrypted in Kelish/Ignan combo to keep until return to Absalom) and cleaning the musket.

In the morning the plan is to visit Sanvil, then Khonnir and then Dolga.

[Sleepy Shade]

In the morning Yarro cooks up some eggs and bacon. With everyone eating Yarro also hands a letter to the group "We're being invited over to the town hall to be rewarded for finding Khonner. I'll go get Kallak and meet you over there be sure to clean up."

[u-b]

Today Sarina dresses in her fancy silken outfit and uses some magic to make sure Thony's adventuring outfit is clear of any blood- dirt- or other stains. Thony picks up a bang grenade, the timeworn stun gun and the whatever strange armor suit and heads to Sanvil, dumping the things there as promised, but saying that he's not sure the armor would be actually sold. For now, it should be identified, appraised and left as a collateral. We'll come back some time after we get money reward to finalize the transaction. Then he goes to meet everyone at the town hall, where Sarina would have already dumped her latest report and answered any related questions.

[Sleepy Shade]

Savin quickly estimates the value of the Grenade and looks at the stun gun with some apprehension. "Time worn items are a little harder to sell so 700gp, the grenade well it can only be used once but is good so 125gp. Now for the interesting piece." He picks up the odd garment looks over the straps and buttons and smiles "Rare thing you got here yes, very good. Neraplast armor or chameleon armors as it's sometimes called. Light easy to move in but not much protection it's in good condition to with a charge you can chamflogue your body and help sneak around. Not as good as a invisibility spell, but can't be dispelled. Still it has to be changed if you go from one area to another. It's rare to find armor like this with out some wear and tear. 650gp. So if that's everything I'll pay you for either the armor and the grenade for 775gp or the Stun gun for 700gp I can't buy everything at once. I also will be taking out 550 gp since you need to pay me back for last night as well."

Neraplast Armor

[u-b]

Thony asks for a bit more detail, like the usage instructions, and overall likes what he hears about the Neraplast armor. And since Sanvil's valuation of the Stun Gun is way above Thony's own, he surely goes with that option, handing over the gun and collecting 150 gp. He then informs Sanvil that the group has more grenades that it might be willing to sell and asks when to check back to see if Sanvil can allocate more funds for additional purchases. Then he goes to meet everyone at the town hall, where Sarina would have already dumped her latest report and answered any related questions.

Spoiler

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Here's the loot document that I will use to track the stuff.

[Sleepy Shade]

Savin tells you tomorrow he'll be able to buy more items he should also have a few new things in stock. At the Town Hall Sarina,Yarro ,and Kallak (and Okan and Nok if they followed) are congratulated by Dolga Freddert the dwarf town councilor and one of the oldest residents of the town. "I can't thank you brave souls enough. Khonnir disapearence has caused quite the up roar in town him being back should help settle things down. Since you found him and brought him back alive the full reward four thousand gold pieces and a scroll of resurrection is yours. Spend it wisely."
She hands over a large sack of gold pieces and a scroll over to the group. Yarro and Kallak each take 600 gold pieces their share for helping to find Khonnir.

Everyone in the party gets 400xp for finding and curing Khonnir of his sickness. The left over gold is 2800 gp so everyone gets 700gp and the group has a scroll of resurrection.

[u-b]

Thony is happy to finally have his hands on some funds, especially since the lack of those could have caused a loss of the whole mission if the group went without Okan. He is especially impressed by unsolicited addition of an expensive scroll, especially since soliciting release of some of the funds just before today got Thony nowhere. Well, it seems he'll have to accept the way they run the things around here, and having the scroll will make exploring the depths so much safer. Sarina, even more aware of the monetary value of the scroll, goes out of her way to thank Dolga for the addition. Since no one in the group seems to be able to use it, she proposes we deposit it with Joram to keep it safer than it would be with the group.

This leaves a few topics to discuss, namely...
1. Would anyone mind if Khonnir goes down on yet another trip when he is back at full health? Meaning, we would discuss the idea with him unless he is forbidden by the council or some such thing.
2. Any specific regulations we should have in mind dealing with the technological gear we uncover? Meaning, would anyone (e.g. Technic League) object if Thony walks around everywhere in his newfound Neraplast Armor?
3. Thony would like to get authorization to buy some scrap adamantine. He does not need the heat to work it as long as it is in small enough pieces to fit in the musket. The plan is to put the scraps inside lead bullets for some piercing effect on the target without damaging effect on the barrel. He can do all that himself, he just needs the adamantine scraps.
4. Is there a particular person best consulted on the matter of books? Is that Khonnir himself maybe?
5. The legal status of the underground folk.

[DrK]

Okan

Nok

Okan and Nok both nod happily accepting the cash from the town council. The dwarf grunting a happy "My thanks aye. But we've still work to do to make sure that the Torch not be going out. These sky metals won't be doing things themsleves eh?". Behind Okan is distracted by the torch, a flicker of light every now and then as the barbarian flicks it on illuminating his craggy face. "A magic light, its is a great gift".

With Khonnir on the mend Okan looks at THony, "So a day or to rest and recover then back down into the caverns and see what more lies down there? I feel the chambers where we recovered Khonnir from are the start of where they may be ore answers? Certainly no-one has disturbed them for a long time given the presence of the robots." A thoughtful look towards the others and then he asks the council man, "How stands the temple in terms of healing items?"

OOC: I.e. Shall we each chip in 375go fpr a wand of cure light wounds for healing?

[Sleepy Shade]

Dolga answers your questions best she can.

Would anyone mind if Khonnir goes down on yet another trip when he is back at full health? Meaning, we would discuss the idea with him unless he is forbidden by the council or some such thing.

"That man has been through enough, beaten, experimented on, and out of his mind from the horrors that were inflicted on him. He be a fool to go back down there, but that is up to him to decide." Dolga replies.

Any specific regulations we should have in mind dealing with the technological gear we uncover? Meaning, would anyone (e.g. Technic League) object if Thony walks around everywhere in his newfound Neraplast Armor?

"No one here will mind if you wear that around here. But the Technic league might have a interest. They seem to think anything shiny and interesting looking is worth "Acquiring" if you get my drift. Still a lot of people use tech so it's impossible for them to keep an eye on everything. Just don't go flaunting it around to anyone and you should be fine."

Thony would like to get authorization to buy some scrap adamantine. He does not need the heat to work it as long as it is in small enough pieces to fit in the musket. The plan is to put the scraps inside lead bullets for some piercing effect on the target without damaging effect on the barrel. He can do all that himself, he just needs the adamantine scraps.

"I think I see what your doing however we tried that at one point as well and it had less than satisfactory results. But scraps that small I can sell you otherwise we would throw it all into the smelters if they were working."
(look in the OoC)

Is there a particular person best consulted on the matter of books? Is that Khonnir himself maybe?

"The general store usually handles books and their might be someone in the market that might be peddling books but I don't know off the top of my head. Khonnir him self is very well read so he might be able to help you."

The legal status of the underground folk.

"Once Khonnir is recovered we will discuss that. From both his first report and your multiple reports they were the group that attacked his team the first time and you've at least opened negotiations with them. We still need to know what they are though. In all your reports they have only be referred to as humanoids and while you have seen their abilities thoroughly we still need a solid identification. "

[u-b]

Thony responds to Okan: "I think make it two days off, after which we will see if we need one more. We both will be busy, so you guys buy and sell stuff."

After we are done with Dolga, The plan is roughly like this:
1. Thony spends a day making some ammo.
2. Then he spends a day upgrading the musket. On Veden Otterbie's funds and materials if he's fine funding that instead of the tentatively requested armor.
3. Meanwhile, Sarina reads the book.
4. Meanwhile, Okan and Nok do some buying, selling and possibly crafting.
5. Then we check the state of Khonnir and talk to him. Two days should mean quite a lot of lesser restorations.

Spoiler

Show

For now, Thony will use his old armor while in town. He will don neraplast only when going down the next time.

[DrK]

Okan

Nok

Nok nods at the advice and then looks at Thony. "I'll see you in a day or so. I'll check on me shop and brew some potions to help my large fried here before we head back into the depths." Okan grunts agreement and then smiles, "Well little Nok. you know that I only need some recuperative barrels of ale and I'll be fine.". That being said Nok and Okan head back to Nok's shop where he spends one of the days resting and brewing a batch of enlarge person potions to supply to Okan.

On the second day he'll join Thony for part of the day, "When we go back in, shall we press in further this time and move beyond the rooms where poor Khonnir was being held prisoner? I suspect that will be where the trie treasures lie as the number of automatons seemed to have increased the deeper we got into the structure."

[u-b]

Making a good use of his scrap adamantine permit, and also replenishing a more general stock, Thony spends the day making powder, bullets, and, from those, paper cartridges. He is quite tired by the late evening, but also quite satisfied. The next day he answers to Nok that he plans to explore the more natural parts of the cave as per the agreement with cave folk. Meaning, us being the only group going down, it's not like the loot is going anywhere. This should also give Khonnir more time to recuperate and maybe we will be able to get him with us. That is, if he'd like to finish the task he had started. Then Thony goes to Veden Otterbie's and tries to rearrange the arrangement. If he succeeds, he will stay there at the smithy, using their equipment and materials to finally fix (and actually even improve) the old musket of his. After that's done, he goes to the junk yard and gets a permission to shoot three new adamantinish bullets to some metallic remains to see how it turns out. Observing that the penetration is sufficient, but the accuracy is expectably degraded, he visits Joram to tell we are going down the next day, then goes back to the tavern to plan the trip.

By that time, Sarina has read most or all of the book and Khonnir might have recovered enough to actually participate in the planning.

Spoiler

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Please approve the gunsmithing as per the second page of the doc and also approve the "free" musket upgrate at the Otterbie's.

[Sleepy Shade]

The two days are abuzz with activity as the group makes preparations. Thony unfortunatly finds that Veden Otterbie has already started on the armor and will not be able to change the order. His experimental bullets do work as expected. Nok brews his potions and Okan hangs out with his small employer.
Sarina sits down and reads the book they traded for and it's quite interesting. The book tells the tale of two alchemist/botanists: Yoshel Lev who in the story seems to die early on and he leaves work to his friend Bartholemew Dinaz. Dinaz seeks the help of a medium and communicates to Lev in the story. Unlike other books there are no chapters only letters and scribbled notes making up the book. The story is mostly made up of the two botanist discussing their field of interest with comments, summaries, critiques,alternate recipes ,and discussing botany and alchemy. The book's wealth of knowledge will certainly help you understand the natural world.

Khonnir however makes it quite clear he will not be returning to the underground "Thank you for asking but after the nightmare that was my last delve I have had enough for a good long while. Being tortured and almost starved for days not to mentioned the friends I lost down their I will not be returning for a third trip. I must also make my own report and get back to the Foundry Tavern it's been closed for days and Yarro, Kallak and Val while resourceful have only been keeping it open for those delving. Your welcome to still stay at the tavern but as for returning to delving I have to say no."

[DrK]

Okan

Nok

As they discuss heading back down to the depths and Khonnir says "no" Okan bristles slightly, the big barbarian looking at his own fresh scars and moves to say something until Nok taps him on the hip and shakes his head. "Nae my large friend, he's had a hard time. Let it lie." Okan looks like he may continue for a second then changes tack,, "Best be having free ale from yer tavern for carrying you out Khonnir. Least you can do eh?" before glancing back at Nok with a smile.

Nok shrugs and sighs patting Okan on the back. "Aye, that seems fair. " Then to THony and Sarina he suggests, "Are we ready to head back to these thrice dammed caverns? We can clear out the natural caves first, but I want to delve back into that steel maze. There must be more secrets in there. I can almost feel it"

[u-b]

Thony confirms he's mostly done and ready, but wants to know if Khonnir can say something about the stealthy underground folk and in particular whether he can propose the council to declare a peace with them.

Sarina is also done, as far as she is concerned, but... "Nok, I think you might find this book interesting. Not sure I understand all of it and it is fairly advanced, but the things being discussed here are alchemy and magic, so you'll want to eventually take a look."

[Sleepy Shade]

Khonnir looks a bit confused "I thought we had eliminated all of them so there are more down there? I did do some research after the initial encounter in case we fought them again. But that was so long ago I can barely remember it. I did happen upon a name in my research Skulks are what they are referred to but beyond that I didn't get much farther. However I was in the process of getting some books from Dolga that were about underground species but after the Torch went out the stuff slipped my mind. Also you may ask Serantha Olandir her estate has a library that might prove useful in your research. But it will take a concentrated effort to convince the council that they are safe and non-hostile. To them the Skulks are only playing nice since they see how much of a disadvantage they are in right now. Give them a way out and they may just bite the hand that feeds them."Khonnir pauses thinking about what you have told him about the skulks already. "My own opinion is that they may seek only escape either back down into the depths or above. After that who knows what they'll do."

[u-b]

Khonnir's position on Skulks is understandable if not as convenient as it could have been. Thinking of it, Thony comes up with a plan not much deviating from the plan he had before, so he proceeds with going down the cave in the morning without spending any time for any research.

[Sleepy Shade]

With the group in agreement you head down after the two days strangely Sanvil Trett doesn't show up.
You make your way back down to the cavern the Skulks live in do you have any business with them or just move on back to the lower deck?

[u-b]

We make a short visit to Sef, saying the progres with getting them the legal status has been slow, so we decided to go check the caves she proposed in case it would be quicker, especially since that seems to be her preferred way. We also ask if she would dispatch anyone with us to take part in the expedition and personally observe the route.

Spoiler

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I think we go to the caves (or whatever it is in the NE of the desert), not to the area where we have found Khonnir. Thony goes first, with a lead bullet loaded.

[DrK]

[QUOTE=DrK;25648490]Okan

Nok

Listening to Thony's plan Nok and Okan nod and agree, happy to avoid anymore looking through any books. Nok shaking his head, "These skulk folks don't seem too bad. I've met worse humans to be fair." At Okan's scowl he pats the big man on the back, "Not in the tribes tough eh." As they head down into the depths Nok pats his belt where the extracts of protection are and his mutagen where he can improve his strength. He nods to Sef happy to let Okan tower above them and intimidate them from harm.

Heading back into the underground strange illuminated desert he looks around once more. Okan beside him again kicks the wall and sniffs the dirt. "I do not like this fake deset, it gives me poor dreams to have been trapped in a fake world that one was not aware of.". Nok nods, "Well, the beings that were here seem dead. Although from their imprisonment or whatever entombed this steel building." At mention of the plan to investigate the caves to the NE he hefts his hammer and nods to Okan to be ready. "Aye Thony, I agree. Lets get ready and clear out more of these strange areas."

He slows down, happy to ready himself, although not taking his mutagen yet. Okan swings the hammer a few times to limber up

[Sleepy Shade]

The group makes their way inside the cavern and find it to have once played host to intelligent creatures as far as you can tell. A number of old plates, crude tools and and cave art depicting four armed creatures adorn the cave. As you continue on you eventually reach the end of the cavern. Several strange shell fragments and bits of bone lie scattered across the floor of this large chamber. Ancient cave paintings of four armed humanoids and strange animals decorate the walls—but to the south, a particularly unusual depiction that looks like an oblong shape burning in the sky above several kneeling four-armed figures dominates the prehistoric décor. The chamber seems to have been at one point finly furnished but time has degraded almost every thing here.
Map Here

Do you look around for anything useful?