Green Pass Campaign IV, Session 4: Deus Ex Machinist

October 29, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP

Lizard sidekick not shown.

The curtain opened on a classic paladin-vs-demon tableau, at least if your version of the image also includes a helpful lizardman. Things looked to be going ill for Smaug and Sir Pal, as the massive avatar of Orcus dueled both of them at once with his mace, poisonous serpent tale, and an occasional lightning bolt or two. Smaug went down first to poison, and Sir Pal was left barely standing after taking a few million volts to the face. Meanwhile, the oozes slowly worked their way out into the open to engage the cheering cultists... only to come face to face with a pack of greater hellhounds, who proceeded to incinerate the black puddings (and, with much less effectiveness, the grey oozes). The remainder of the party charged through the worm-blocked tunnel to catch up, although it appeared that they would arrive too late to intervene on behalf of the valiants in melee.

And at this point, a 40-ton dwarven war mech dropped out of the sky.

hatamoto_chi_by_shimmering_sword

The pilot, a dwarven machinist named Bjorn Lindholm, had been cruising the area for trouble. [Editor's note: I can't blame Andrew for this, since it's not even a custom class. Giant dwarven war mechs are totally already a thing in the Companion rules.] The shock wave from the automaton's impact scattered cultists in every direction, crushing over a dozen of them on the spot. The primary armaments on the automaton -- a giant sword, a projectile cannon, and brute force applications of a giant metal fist -- quickly went to work pounding Orcus from the back. The result was a rapid reversal of fortunes. Avila Tressa, the priestess, quickly got Smaug back on his feet. Everyone else arrived just in time to see the last few desperate attempts to trigger the annihilation effect of the Wand of Orcus, and then the demon vanished back into the Abyss with a flash. The remaining cultists ran to the four corners of the compass, as gargoyles swept down to carry them off to safety.

Meanwhile, the party pondered how to deactivate the orange sky beam. Bjorn helpfully recommended an aerial suicide strike with his automaton, and rose dramatically into an arc headed toward the upper floor of the barracks. Immediately after ejecting, the automaton's chassis crashed into the building, setting off a kaleidescope of multicolored runes. The beam flickered and went out, as the swirling above the city began to ebb and fade.

And the moral of the story is this: I don't care who in the Pits of Hell you think you are, do NOT mess with master engineers. Because they will wreck you so fast.

The heroes made a post-victory sweep of the city of Centerpost to attempt to locate the vampire's coffin (or the lich's phylactery), but with the entire city already radiating evil out of virtually every crack and crevice, detection spells were of little use. Eventually, weeks later, the removal of rubble would reveal several additional giant wormholes running to both the barracks and the cathedral -- suggesting an exit strategy that exceeded the pace of cleanup.

The city had been saved, at the cost of nearly complete demolition. From this crew, we'd expect nothing less.