Invisible Blades
Winter 40, 6840 CA
As Wally scoops up a handfull of Aetherstone fragments, Zed spots the glint of a blade and has only a split second to evade. Wally is not so lucky and finds himself at the receiving end of two metal blades from a giant mechanical mantis. Zed quickly leaves the room to regroup and the others rush in to help. However, a trio of invisible Clockwork Assassins appear in the room and strike out against the others. The battle commences on two fronts, but the group are able to repel their mechanical adversaries!
The group decides to do some more exploration before heading into what they will know will be another fight. Valia insists that none of this stuff is the objective, but the party has big eyes and greedy hands. Zed notices something off about the room and Wally realizes that this room and the one up north seem to be larger than the central elevator room. This leads to a secret passage and a safe that Zed is able to unlock. Inside, they find a strange metal rod with two leather handles. Wally takes it and tries to twist the handles and is horrified when he finds himself suddenly sitting on top of an extremely loud mechanical bicycle. They've found a Prototype Magicicyle. Nobody would have heard that sound. Probably.
They collect some more spell components and brace themselves for another fight. In the next room is two Gearforged Templars. Valia and Zed quickly get in surprise attacks before the battle breaks. The Templars are difficult to hit and have a wide reach thanks to their glaives. In the the midst of the battle, Valia is suddenly grabbed by the hand of a large Clockwork Myrmidon and pulled into another room. Darcy follows to help, but has taken enough damage that all she can do is dodge attacks. Wally attempts to heal his new human friend, but is shocked to find that his spells cannot find purchase on her.
Things only get more chaotic when Yuri tries to use the crystal from Bilmin's Office to try and deactivate the constructs. Instead this only seems to awaken something within the vault. "Turn it off! Turn it off!" Something large and powerful bangs into the vault door with such heavy force that it leaves a noticeable dent through what is surely a half-foot of solid steel. Yuri turns it off with another press of the crystal. Eventually the constructs are slain, but not without spraying a lot of grease on the ground. Gross.
The Vault
The group knows the Vault awaits and that something huge and powerful is inside. Before that, they do take note of what looks to be a drain in the room the Myrmidon was stationed. Wally suggests this could be a good way out through the sewers. Zed tries to open the safe with the combination, but she's not able to hear any of the gears turning over and suspects that the mechanism was destroyed by whatever was on the other side. The only other way in is to let whatever is on the other side of the vault break the door. Yuri presses the button! One slam. Two. Three. Four and the ruined door is left a mangled mess on the ground. An enormous Steam Golem charges the party, but Yuri is able to turn it off moments before it turns Ursa into a grease stain.
They step inside the vault and are treated to a criminal's wildest fantasies! Bilmin and his company seems to have collected a lot of unique items in the vault and the party is only too happy to relieve him of those items. They find Half Plate Armor, Mistwalker Armor, a Spellguard Shield, two magical stones, Goggles of Object Reading, a single gauntlet, a lock, a medallion, a magical scroll of Alarm, multiple potions of varying colors, various gems, a magical orb, and a glowing sapphire gem. While the party is happily throwing things into the Bag of Holding, Valia does the adult thing and actually looks for the information they were sent for.
Fortunately the sensitive records kept in the vault are indexed by date, so she is able to quickly look into the same time period as the notes they found in Ilyana Norwind's home. She finds some ciphered notes from that time, but she also finds a report that was written by Saria Pillwinter on Summer 28, 6829. It has an account of a robbery that happened in the vault, but how strange it was that nothing of value was actually taken in spite of the account books recording 10,000 gold that is unaccounted for. Bilmin had decided to not go public with the robbery.
The Vile Crawl
As chance would have it, that was the same time that Saria Pillwinter herself arrived in the basement with an escort of additional constructs, security guards, and Thok. The party abandon looting and make a beeline straight to the drainage. Ursa and Valia are able to rip it open together. Valia jumps down with Darcy to prevent her from taking additional damage and the others follow suit. But as they reach the bottom and their eyes adjust to the darkness, they realize that someone is missing. Nazsnag is still on top and is dragging the huge and heavy Myrmidon over top the hole. She promises to buy the party as much time as possible before sealing them in.
The small chamber they find themselves in is not part of the sewers that they have all become unfortunately acquainted with. Instead it only leades to a small chute that eventually connects to the sewers. Wally is able to walk through it, but the others are forced to crawl over a hundred feet through a vile filth. As they make their way through, they hear the sounds of mechanical noises in the chamber behind. It seems that Nazsnag was unable to keep them from following the party. But it does buy the group enough time for them to reach the other side where Wally leads them to a sewer access up to the streets.
Big Mad
The group are wet and covered in filth, but they've completed the mission. The group wearily begins their trek home. As they get closer and closer to the Bracemark Manor, they notice that the Moon dips behind a cloud. But as they draw closer, it becomes apparent that the cloud is actually a thick plume of smoke. And it's coming from the waterfront. The group hurry towards it and it becomes increasingly obvious that they're headed towards the Wanderlust. Upon entering that familiar intersection, they see the Wanderlust bathed in flames and the City Watch gathered outside trying to keep things contained while they wait for mages to put out the flames.
Mounted on the second floor and impaled on a spike is the familiar figure of Ezekiel Borden, a Swordrunner that the party had previously spared. A very obvious and immediate message intended for the party.
They talk to Onzo Wyld who is outside with the owner of the Wanderlust. He describes how a great large and menacing figure with a golden mask tore into the Wanderlust demanding to find the party. The group all have a terrible feeling about this and Zed leads the charge to find some way inside. They find a broken window where there's no risk of a backdraft. Once inside, they furiously call out for Limaera and Ava. They find no sign of Limaera, but they do find Ava trapped in the kitchen surrounded by flames. Yuri bursts through the flames and once he has his mother in hand, uses Thunder Step to teleport both of them safely outside.
From Ava they learn that the giant figure abducted Limaera, but Ava was lucky enough to hide herself away and not be taken. The group is at a loss for what to do, but they offer Ava a place to stay back at the Bracemark Manor since her personal apartment was in one of the rooms upstairs. The group head home without much to say as they settle in for a quiet, anxious night.
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