The Haunted Harvester

The Mechanical Monster of the Mortal Lands

You stay out of that field, boy!
I know it's tempting to see what goes on in that Wizard's tower,
but you don't want to get bit by that monstrous guard dog of his.
If you could even call it a guard dog. Seems more like a demon most days.

-Regarding the Haunted Harvester

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The Memoria themselves alone know the inner workings of the Harvester. Theoretically it is a series of gears and arms that move the threshing arms back and forth, gathering the wheat into an inner chamber that tumbles the wheat until all the grains have tumbled off into their hopper. The leftover stalks are left behind, for the birds to pick through and carry the stalks away to make nesting material.
When the unnamed Wizard found it for his own use hundreds of years later, he added large, sloppy runes to either side of the Harvester's hopper, allowing him to command and control it like a guard dog. How exactly these runes control the old harvester has not yet been discovered, as no one has been able to approach long enough to get a good look.

History

The Memoria used it as a harvester. Nothing special or grandiose, just a simple cutter to gather the wheat and shuck it as it went, leaving the dry stalks on the ground. It didn't need the fancy brain of the more popular robots in the city, or even a humanoid form. Just its blades and a place to store the grain. Even as the Memoria died off one by one, and the need for grain dwindled, the Harvester kept about its business, busy during the harvest season and stored away in its underground shed when not.
When the command came from Atmo to shut down, it did so gracefully and without complaint. And so it slept under the ground for hundreds of years, long after the fields above had fallowed and returned to wild fields.
And then it was awoken. Not by brave explorers or cunning craftsman, but a Wizard who had found an interesting metal door in the ground and wanted to know what lay underneath. He fell in love almost instantly with the old harvester, which over the centuries had lost much of its luster and most of the synthetic casing fell away at a touch, exposing the dangerous metals underneath. He dragged it out of its underground bunker and back to his tower which stood at the center of the old field, and using magic runes commanded it to keep all people but him away from his tower.
And it did. Almost too well, really. The Field became a no-man's land to any travelers or local villagers, as folk started disappearing if they dared approach the tower. Although the Harvester was not innately built with weaponry, it's sharp threshing blades did the job more than well enough for those not fast enough to escape. Soon rumors came that it was haunted by the souls it had claimed, giving it the power to continue guarding the Wizard's tower.
Then one day, the Wizard died. No one knows the cause, although explosions were reportedly heard. But no one dared approach to inspect or collect the body. The Harvester remained operational and continued to guard the site long after the wizard's death.
No one is sure if the Tower or the Harvester are still there; the surrounding fields were abandoned long ago as the villagers moved towards the coasts in search of safer ground, fearful of the beast whose master was no longer around to tame it.

Significance

While the harvester would have been some mild interest to farmers due to its ability to easily gather crops come rain or shine, it's true significance now is to the Mages. Sworn to collect and destroy any Wizard Artifacts they come across, even the boldest mages have been stymied by this monster of an Artifact. Even after its re-discovery, it remains in its field as no mage has been able to get close to it long enough to figure out how to shut it off.

Item type

Mechanical

Creation Date

Mid Lunis Era (Circa 1500 years before Ageis Kingdom)

Current Location

The Unclaimed Lands

Rarity

While there were multiple harvesters made in the time of the Memoria, as of today only one still roams the unclaimed Lands. That being said, most of them weren't rumored to be haunted, either.

Weight

Unkown

Dimensions

According to Reports, as large as a small house.

Raw materials & Components

When the Harvester was first constructed, it was made out of both metals and synthetic materials not currently known to the Mortal Lands. Those synthetic casings were not designed to be durable in the elements, as they had all but crumbled to dust by the time the Harvester was found by a wandering Wizard. Now all that remains are the metal innards, and the wiring that snakes in and out of its arms, communicating with what is left of the internal computer.