A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 47: Clockwork

Or so Althaia observed to the two drow. "Perhaps it is because Caleldra's jealous dislike of Selene negates the psychic influence of Caleldir's affections for her, whereas since Caleldra does not dislike Ashyr, Caleldir's much greater affection for her influences his psionic doppelganger's opinion far more? At least, that is what I would assume..."

Caleldra herself did not respond. She merely lead the group back up the stairs, to about half-way to the brewmaster's domain, and then through a side passage. All the while, they passed dormitories, kitchens, workshops, storage rooms, and countless seemingly pointless rooms, showcasing how pointlessly large this place really was. Due to a mixture of Caleldra's navigation, and her ability to ward ghosts away, they did not meet any monsters, making for a rather quiet, spooky trip. Caleldra also dealt with any and all traps as she went by them, so even Slasjowskew did not seem to have anything to do. All in all, it was about an hour of navigating large and small passages before they came to an area where steaming pipes and clockwork gears covered the walls. Gauges and meters were everywhere, but what, exactly, anything did was a complete mystery. "We are almost there." Caleldra whispered. "Make any final preparation for battle now, because once we enter the Mechanist's domain, I cannot ward away any enemies or traps."

The drow heeded the imposter's words. Selene took a moment to cast a few longer-lasting buffs on herself and her cousin. She did not offer the same to the others in the party; she wanted to preserve her spells for the fight. If they had to stop and rest after every single fight, their time spent not rescuing Caleldir would be prohibitively long.

"Alright." Ashyr said. Her hands flexed, and Yin and Yang appeared in her hands. She couldn't keep the satisfied smile from her lips at that. These weapons were vastly better than her old, unmagical ones. Determination and excitement emanated from either side of her. "I'm ready. Shall we discuss strategy, or do we just want to jump in and see what happens?" Ashyr usually stuck to the latter. It had worked for her so far, though perhaps some heartache could have been spared if she was more cautious.

"I would prefer sstrategy mysself, but unlesss our essteemed guide iss willing to give uss a lot more information, I do not ssee how we can disscusss much." Slasjowskew replied. He looked towards Caleldra.

The fetch responded in her usual manner: giggling annoyingly. At least, Althaia seemed to find it annoying. She muttered something to that effect to no one in particular. Ashyr grunted in agreement. Caleldra did not respond to Althaia's complaint, though, choosing to address the more important issue. "There is no need for 'sstrategy'." She said. "Run in and bust things up is a pretty good strategy on its own. The Mechanical Clockwork Animator had a lot of minions-"

"Which follow the obvious theme?" Althaia interrupted. "Like, they are mechanical animated clockwork?"

Caledra giggled. Again. "Exactly like that. Anyway, hit them with stuff, and they will break. They will repair themselves later, but we will be gone by that time. You would all be dead within seconds facing these things, but I am here. As long as you do not make too much noise and bring them all down on you at once, I will inhibit their movements."

"That sounds suspiciously like a strategy that you just offered." Althaia observed.

Caledra's only response was the usual one.

"Acid attacks work well here, correct?" Selene asked the almost ghostly woman.

Ashyr hummed a soft sound of curiosity. A little bit of concentration later, and her blades took on a sickly green cast. How she knew to do this, she wasn't sure. It was like a gentle prodding in her mind. But now she was sure that there were low levels of acid damage added to her weapons.

"Oh?" Althaia responded. "Sounds like you have faced things like this before, Selene. Did you fight one while I was unconscious?"

"Sseeing asss they rode in on one, I would have to ssay yess." Slasjowskew responded laconically.

"Acid will work on the spider-tanks, if you target the joints." Caleldra confirmed.

Althaia, being the hardiest of the group, was the one to open the door, which seemed to lead to nothing more than another passage, albeit one where she was immediately attacked by monk-robed faceless human-sized automatons that moved jerkily but scarily fast, and spat boiling steam and punched with thunder. Althaia quickly cut one of the first ones down. "I thought you said these things were tough." She said cheerfully.

"No. Those things are not tough. The spider-tanks are tough." Caleldra said seriously. Which was even more ominous than her usual giggling.

The party wrecked the lighting-fisted mechanical monks - which was accomplished with only a minimum of electrocution, Ashyr and Althaia getting most of it. Then they advanced forward. The party rounded a corner, emerging into what was probably the largest room they had seen yet. Machines were endlessly taking apart and rebuilding other machines, running round and round in a pointless waste of energy, but apparently the factory could not turn itself off. Althaia took a step back. "Seriously, how tough are these things? Because I do not have the best feeling about this..."

"We fought a couple mechanisms, but we never managed to kill a spider one. The one we captured... well, Caleldir thought he would have to kill himself to even have the power to pull it off." Ashyr responded "Though, to be fair, he thinks that's the solution to any fight. He didn't, in the end, thank the goddess."

"They killed my hell hounds like they were pups. And that was just one of the spiders and three of my hounds." Selene added.

"They were really fun to ride. Too bad you weren't awake for it, Althaia."

"Ugh, it was not fun." Selene groaned. She'd just felt sick and confused the entire time, what with her newfound condition and worries that stemmed from it.

Althaia swallowed a little. "So... these things are that tough, then."

Caleldra nodded. "Very. Perhaps you should de-collar me for this fight? That way I can keep them from overrunning you."

The nymph's eyes turned red. "Excellent. I can use a challenge." She breathed. Both drow seemed ready to protest the uncollaring of the fetch. Before they could, however, the nymph turned to Caleldra to do just as the madwoman asked.

"Don't make us regret this..." Selene warned in a threatening tone. The younger drow was sure she'd be able to orchestrate something to make the Caleldir imposter bitterly regret betraying them. Selene was drow. She was creative like that.

When the group entered, a red light covered the room and a loud, obnoxious buzzer sounded. About twenty of the clockwork monks and four spider tanks turned towards the group. "...Shit." The younger drow threw up her arm, pointing directly at the upper leg joint of one of the four spider tanks. A line of acid shot from her finger. She managed to slow it down just as the creature started to pelt the area with fire and lightning, interrupting the attacks.

Ashyr went down to fighting position near Selene, trying to stay out of her line of fire and keeping anything hostile for getting too near the pregnant drow. Before she might have tried to run headlong into the fray, but without Bard or Caleldir to watch Selene - pregnant Selene - she didn't feel comfortable with straying too far from her cousin. "Do not die, Althaia." The ranger warned. "We don't know when Caleldir will be able to rescue you."

Althaia did not seem to heed the whole 'do not die' thing. Instead, she leapt into the fight, sword and shield at the fore. She rapidly hacked through the clockwork monks, doing her best to eliminate them before their sheer numbers overwhelmed them. Still, a few of them did make their way over to Ashyr and Selene, only to be cut down by the ranger.

For her part, the released fetch rose into the air and sent out psionic shockwaves at the spider-tanks, forcing three of them back into kneeling positions.

Selene's acid attack gave Slasjowskew a chance to disappear from sight, only to reappear on the spider tank's back. He began slashing at exposed conduit or tubing as best as he could. The tank stopped sending mad attacks at Selene, and started to try to get the slippery serpent off of its back. Selene did adjust her aim a little when she saw that the yuan-ti was on the spiders back. She didn't trust the male, but she also saw long ago that he was an asset to the party. Not that she'd inform him on that. She was also still a little peeved that he forced himself into the group without asking either drow. Ashyr had since gotten over that fact, clearly, but not so much the younger cousin.

One of Ashyr's manic grins stretched across her face as she began to fight the clockwork aggressors. It had been a while since she'd had a good, hard fight where she could be of real help. She had Yin and Yang to thank for that. Sometimes there was nothing like difficult battle to get her blood flowing. It was almost better than sex. Almost.

Althaia was not beyond reason, not exactly, but it was pretty clear that the exuberance of the fight had led her to act in a manner that was not exactly rational. She was quite effective, though, between her and Ashyr they soon cleared out all the clockwork monks. Both of them received quite a few wounds though, several slashes and electrical burns. It was nothing that Althaia could not easily patch up though. The upshot was that the clockwork monks, not being all that tough to begin with, were no longer a factor. Now all that remained actively attacking the party was a single spider-tank, the other three being held down by the fetch's overwhelming psionic force.

That one tank was pretty dang resilient, though, sending a powerful counter-attack in Selene's direction that struck the mage with a stream of fire. Not enough to kill or maim, but enough to seriously inconvenience. The pain of the fire only made her angrier. It also managed to rip Slasjowskew off its back, and send him hurtling through the air, where he disappeared. That was the thing's last hurrah though, under the combined weight of attacks from all four of them, the thing finally shuddered and collapsed into an inert mass. All the while, the machined voice kept talking in the language of Deusterra, and occasionally common, speaking about 'intruders' and 'repairs.' It was promptly swept into the assembly line to be repaired, but that would take hours. There was no celebration in Selene's countenance. She looked more annoyed than anything.

"Any way you can turn one of those things against the others?" Ashyr yelled up at Caleldra. If Caleldir could re-wire one to be a docile mount, maybe the fetch could do it with her mind powers? The ranger wasn't entirely sure about the feasibility of the idea, but she figured she might as well ask. They were having enough problems as it was taking down likely the first of many such enemies.

"I can possess one and use it to attack another, if you wish. I see that you four can handle one of these things, can't you?" With that, she ended her attack, and phased right through the hull of the nearest spider-tank (which protested very loudly in its machined voice), using it to begin savagely attacking another one, which also protested very loudly. The last one turned towards the group. INTRUDERS WILL BE ELIMINATED. DESPITE PSYCHIC POSSESSION. It stoically declared.

Whatever primitive Animating Intellects seemed to be in charge of the spider-tanks were, while undoubtedly far more competent than the average golem, not the intellectual equal of anyone in the party. Of course, they were less sapient beings than mere sophisticated interlays of instructions, and Caleldra knew what those instructions were. Hence, she was able to use the possessed spider-tank far more effectively than the unpossessed tank was able to use itself. While the party was taking on the third tank, she was nearly effortlessly ripped apart the second with the first. It was a good thing that she had not had access to one of these things back when the group faced her in the vault, otherwise she could have easily killed all of them. Then again, with the level of power she was displaying (in a league with ghost-Caleldir) perhaps she had, in the end, lost on purpose.

Ashyr took a page from the yuan-ti's book and tried to evade the mechanism's sight while Althaia took it head-on. The younger drow watched her cousin slink away from her presence with that familiar manic grin on her cousin's face. Well, at least half of the party seemed to be enjoying themselves. Selene would have much preferred to be somewhere else. These things were absolutely no fun to kill. They did not scream in pain. They did not have faces to display their beautiful agony. Hell, they probably didn't feel anything. No fun at all.

Again, disapproval resonated from the staff-made-circlet nestled in her hair. He was no fun, either.

Even still, Selene shot at its joints with her acid spells. They weren't very taxing on her magical reserves, but she could cast a lot of them in a short amount of time.

The spider tried to gore them with its legs, crisp them with fire or lightning, or shred them with spinning sawblades. That said, between Selene's acid, Ashyr's potent blades, and Althaia's crushing attacks, the thing was rather efficiently beaten down with no serious injury on the part of the assailants.

Slasjowskew apparently recovered from his bad case of being flung in time to get in a few of the last blows, appearing feet away from Ashyr to deliver a few sabotaging strikes. And so, the spider-tank groaned and collapsed into the assembly line to be repaired around the same time that Caleldra succeeded in wrecking both the spider-tank she was fighting, and the one that she was in.

The ranger let out a short burst of exultant laughter, and shot a grin over to the suddenly reappeared yuan-ti. Good. They clearly needed his help. It was a bit of an oversight to not cast the anti-death ritual on him. Well, it was his fault for inserting himself into the party and acting all secretive instead of simply asking. The drow brushed against each other in a distracted sort of way as if they were subconsciously reassuring each other by touch that both were still alive and well. The ranger seemed pleased with how things were going so far, and the mage was simply resigned - and maybe slightly annoyed.

Caleldra exited the ruined mechanism just as it fell into the assembly line. "That was a good start." She said nonchalantly. "None of you died, which is more than I thought would happen. At least one of you will probably die when the Mechanist arrives though. Speaking of which..." As she ended her sentence, the factory began to groan and clank. Gears, pistons, boilers, and thousands of other types of machine pieces twisted and wrapped around themselves. In unison the party's eyes widened as they looked up and up... and up... After a few moments, it gradually became apparent what it was forming: a human-shaped armoured figure that stood nearly sixty feet tall. A sword and shield sized appropriately formed at the end of its arms. Its head seemed to be some sort of cockpit, with a bulky figure in monkish robes piloting it. "Ah! There he is!" Caleldra said cheerfully.

Lolth's tits that thing was huge.

How the fuck were they supposed to fight that thing?

"Caleldir's people really did like oversized things." Althaia said dryly. In her voice, it sounded like a euphemism.

"Guess the monks had to do something instead of fucking." Ashyr observed. How much could she accomplish if she somehow couldn't have sex? She'd probably rule the world. Badly.

"So..." The enormous creature rumbled. "It seems that you have finally betrayed us, 'Forgotten Adventuress.' Trying to escape? You know that there is no escape from the curse." The voice sounded like gears grinding through rust and oil, at once smooth and gravelly, deep and screeching.

"It talkss." Slasjowskew marveled. "I did not ssee that coming, to be honesst."

The mage ignored the chatter. Instead, she gathered her power to shoot the biggest goddessdamned ball of acid she could muster at the monstrosity. If they had to bring this thing down, she figured she might as well start now. Selene's acidic attack hit the thing's chest head on, but harmlessly dissipated. The head turned down, looking at Selene. "Your attacks are useless against me!" The pilot boomed. "But you have spirit! I will enjoy crushing you!"

The flying fetch hurled a burst of psionic energy at the mechanical man. "You cannot afford to focus on them. I am your foe, Mechanical Clockwork Animator!"

"You only wish that you were my equal!" The Animator boomed. The monstrous creature step forward and swung its blade. Now, in proportion to its size, the thing moved rather slower than a normal fighter. But it was not normal sized. When its scale was taken into consideration, it moved fast. Far, far faster than should be possible. The end of its blade swept across space at a terrifying speed, slicing through the fetch like a piece of falling paper.

Or would have, had she not teleported away. "Oh! Ghost-touch on your blade!" Caleldra observed. "This is going to be fun!"

"You do not know the half of it!" The Animator boomed. "This is no mere warrior, but a mesh of magic and machine that equals the greatest of mages! Now, taste meteors!" Adjusting its stance, the gargantuan mechanism stroke a pose like a sorcerer casting a spell, and summoned forth a maelstrom of earth and fire that pounded everything, including temporarily knocking the fetch from the air.

Temporarily not the focus of the Animator (although they all had to dodge for cover as meteors blanketed the room...), Althaia turned towards the group on the ground. "Talk or not, we need to bring it down. And simply slashing at its boots is going to do nothing to something that massive. I am going to climb it and attack the guy in the cockpit. He is, after all, in the head." Althaia said determinedly. She ran at its leg, barely escaping being crushed as it moved, and began to climb.

Slasjowskew shrugged. "Sseemss reassonable." He said laconically, following the nymph.

"Sure. Yeah. Fabulous idea." Selene responded in a strained voice filled with sarcasm. The younger drow looked to the older to share in the ridiculousness of Althaia's suggestion. She wasn't sure why she thought that Ashyr wouldn't go for it. The fool ranger was grinning that manic, excited grin of hers that always seemed to be on her face when she was about to do something near suicidal. Selene huffed out an exasperated breath. Great.

Ashyr winked at her cousin, then ran after Althaia and Slasjowskew with an almost eager step. Lolth-damned insane, every one of them.

Selene was less eager to follow them. But follow them she did. The mage couldn't think of any better idea. She was the only one who didn't try to climb the thing unaided. Before she mounted it, she cast spider climb on herself, then her robe changed into more sensible pants and a shirt, and finally she pulled her hair back into a tight bun. With a surprising burst of speed and dexterity that the mage never really displayed before, she sprinted at the leg of the monstrosity and leapt onto it. Then she was able to climb even better than her cousin. Selene swarmed up the thing with a strange grace, looking for weak spots along the way to try to corrode with acid while avoiding anything trying to crush her.

The older drow focused simply on getting to the top of the huge metallic guy. She didn't need to help of magic to be good a climbing. Whether it be cavern walls, cliffs, or trees, Ashyr had been climbing all her life and had a lithely athletic body to show for it.