Turn Thirteen: Whacked together with very little time for whatever reason.
Since the golem is slow, it always goes last in the initiative roll. This leaves:
Taren: 1
Elenor: 5
Hel: 1
Apollo: 5
Rath: 1
Remy: 2
Elenor:Elenor tries to spot a design flaw that might allow the shield to be taken down.
(3) You're no magic guy. The only fact is that there is most likely a shield. She wouldn't even consider going around unprotected, at least that's the impression you got.
But that shield, how is it supposed to look? How powerful is it?
And those crystals on the shoulders of the golem... they might be important, all right. But again, not the foggiest clue what they are supposed to do. And now...
Apollo:Apollo backs up to the cavern wall and examines the golem for it's weak points, firing at any he notices.
(2) "Eeeelenor! You see any weak points?"
"Nope!"
"Well, me neither!"
And it's true. The shield appears to not have any flaw to your eyes, and without flaws on the shield there is no harming the golem. Serious problem. That is, there actually is a strong part, located at the cockpit.
So you save your powder, because really, attacking the thing without knowing where to is a waste. Surely, nobody else would do this, right?
Remy:(2) Hmph. Only one solution to this problem, that's evident. "Stay back, guys! This is about to get... explosive!"
Ignoring the team's doubts, you unleash your most powerful spell to get the shell to crack. There is no problem that can't be solved with a large enough explosion, so yadda yadda, MEEEEEEEEGAAAAAA BRAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNDDDDDDD
But as the smoke is lifted, the golem looks exactly as it did before. Is this what they call the Worf Effect? You cough.
Taren:Shoot at the golem with a bolt. If possible, conjure a white magic field over the current area, with the effect holding off until later on.
(1) Forsooth! It appears you have underestimated the resilency of the common golem's hide to piercing attacks. Even though the thing seems to be made of earth or something, the bolts are stuck there all right, but it doesn't seem to be bothered. At all. You should perhaps have thought of that before shooting half your bolts into the damn thing.
But, wait a second, they actually got through the shield. What the hell is that supposed to imply? Now you're confused.
Helskaya:Summon a water spirit to appear inside the golem.
(4) Seeing a shield, they charge it head-on. Something that might yield a result sooner or later, but it's also... how to put it, narrowminded? There's more elegant solutions to this. Like bypassing the shield. By pulling a water spirit... should work. Probably.
"Spirit of water..." For summonings, you need special atmosphere and total calmness - probably. That's what you tell people. At least it helps with impressing people and such.
"...I call you." Similarily, the incantation... it builds atmosphere, it helps focus.
"Appear." But sometimes, you are not in the mood for that. All that is really needed is the location. In this case, inside the golem. You don't really know whether it's going to work but hey. You can only guess what kind of effect it will have. The summon worked, that's all you got.
Ratherio:He then utters the spell he made up that dominates the mind of lesser beings!
(5) Hmmm. Hmhmhm. So this is a construct that can be directed... hehehe... there's a spell for that... Casting now...
To your surprise, Costrus actually... works? You can feel no resistance, in fact, the golem surrendered without a fight. You are now in control. And you are not in control, at the same time. It is more like two controllers, which is bound to result in chaos.
Hot damn, this is going to rock.
Elizabeth (1) fails to win the struggle for control (but so does Rath, at least). Between the water elemental possibly screwing things up and Ratherio definitely trying to make the golem pirouette she barely manages to not make the golem fall over repeatedly. It's still cracked.
Apart from the way you came in, there is a locked door (now in substantially worse condition), and two other ways. It is to be assumed that the key is somewhere around in those two ways.
At the end of the right hallway, there is a now thoroughly plundered ratman bureau.
At the end of the left hallway, there is an Y intersection. A stench wafts in from the left way, the right one seems unremarkable.
At the end of that left arm of the Y, Apollo and Ratherio find... the bathroom. No wonder it stank to heavens!
Bathroom: Grafitti is everywhere and the entire thing is as disgusting and broke-down as the average public restroom, if a bit more disorderly - random books and comics are all over the place.
Whereas, at the end of the other arm, there is a T intersection.
T-Intersection:
There is an indentation containing an angel statue in the wall opposite to where the party came in. The strange thing about the angel are the wings: The right wing is a normal angel wing, as you would expect it, but the left one is different, as if corrupted, coming apart and having some technology-ish things in it - piping, gears, wires... The angel's expression indicates sorrow. Around the indentation, there is yet more strange writing, indecipherable at a glance, as if part of a long-forgotten tongue.
Overall, the whole thing is totally misplaced in this ratman lair, down to the rock it is made of. Obviously, it is suspicious, as the faint tingle of adventurer senses throughout the party confirms.
Down the left arm of this one... well, this room feels as wrong here as the statue did. It clearly looks like a church, or at least a very sacral room. However, there is no wood, even the benches are made of stone - but polished stone, unlike the rough one you saw at other places. There's also an altar in front of a giant black rock statue at the other end of that room, and there's a secret passage to Zombie Goth's room.
Behind the no-longer locked door, there is a gaudy room. Behind that gaudy room, there's the BOSS ARENA
Character sheets.
Helskaya Arkut (lawastooshort)
Status: Normal.
Injuries: None.
Equipment: Pair of knives (one large, one small),
northern white bear jawbone on necklace, northern white bearskin.
Inventory: Wet stone, firestone, pot, spoon, three leather pouches varying in size, pestle and mortar, dried meat rations for several plus more days, filled waterskin, flour, Lesser Herbal Medicine, Lesser Blade Poison, Rusty Axe x2, random precious metal baubles, 0 cp.
Skills: Herbal Medicine; Shamanic Magic; Knowledge (Legends of the North)
Spells:
Shining Shamanic Healing Finger!, Transform: Raging North Bear
Elenor Warsen (Caellath)
Status:
Only sane man.
Injuries: None.
Equipment:
Masterwork Armor, Longsword, Crossbow,
Dragon Crest Shield, small well-crafted crossbow.
Inventory: Medical kit, small supplies bag, 5 cp, Potion of Lesser Healing, Painkiller Potion, Gibberish Paper, Map Shred, Rations Listing, some longbolt ammo.
Skills: Swordsmanship, Dodging, Marksmanship, Medical care.
Spells: None. He's notoriously unmagical.
Apollo Anderson
(Spinal_Taper)Status: Normal.
Injuries: Bruise, right shoulder.
Equipment: Reinforced lab coat, cheap leather armor,
Dagger,
Rudimentary Rifle, Officer's Scimitar,
Inventory: Bullets, Gunpowder, various pouches and bags, Experimental Painkiller (?) Potion, 4 cp.
Skills: Alchemy: Chemistry, Alchemy: Potion brewing, Alchemic Magic: Rudimentary Enchantments (quantum amount +1), Metal Working (quantum amount +1).
Spells: Enchantment: Better wearability!
Taren Creyn (Tiruin)
Status: Normal.
Injuries: None.
Equipment: Broadsword, Crossbow, Longbolt ammunition (quantum amount -4), white cloak, grey tunic, belt, solid holey leather boots, buckler.
Inventory: Whet stone, one filled waterskin, Cloth, lots of rations, ratman cloth, 3 cp.
Skills: White Magic: Healing, Anatomy, Swordsmanship, Marksmanship
Spells: Menscur, Fogili, Nonsens, Mendia, Leonic Cleanse.
Ratherio Houston (borno)
Status: The bestest wizard ever just nobody understands
Injuries: Scratches on face. Cut on left leg.
Equipment: Purple robes of death!
TM, Wand of death!
TMStaff of death!
TMDagger of death!
TM Ring of death.
Inventory: 0 cp,
Debt notice, Scrolls of: Leaden, Monovolt, Lesser Silence, Flare Arrow.
Skills: Black Magic: Death Magic, Black Magic: Chaos Magic, Agility
Spells: Kortuch, Leaden, Costrus.
Remy Maelle (Remaelle)
Status: Good enough to go.
Injuries: None.
Equipment: A spirit talisman, knife, leather armour, traveling clothes, a backpack, Vintage pair of Chain Revolvers, buckler, 14 cp.
Inventory: Bedroll, rope, tinderbox, enough food to last a few days,
Debt notice,
officer's helmet.
Skills: Shamanistic Magic: Elementalism, Agility, Quick Reflexes, Hand-to-Hand Combat.
Spells: MEGA BRAND