Clockwork Owlbear Looters

Cathance stared darkly at the human witch, Nix, who sat across the tavern, playing dragonchess with her surly familiar, Mercury.  Nix had recently arrived at Ripa Daneo Freelancers with 5 others from Cliffshadow, including Osric.  I bet Osric never threw her dragonchess board, Cathance thought, although really she wondered if she could get the winged cat to play her.

At another table, Kaikoa banged his tankard on the table, having just drained it of breakfast beer.  "What does one have to do to get a mission around here?" he asked, and Cathance and Ana looked at each other.  They rose, but Quelenna and Terrance rose, and Quelenna said, "We'll show you," and went upstairs without looking back.

"C'mon Kaikoa, let's see Damakaios," Cathance said, and they also went upstairs, Nix and Mercury following.

The door to Damakaios' office was open, and the Pungarehu hanyou looked like he'd just sat down at his desk.  He looked speculatively at Nix and Kaikoa as the Freelancers came in and made themselves comfortable.  Kaikoa looked around at the tidy rows of chairs, maps, and display cabinets with assorted small arms, and started studying them intently.

Terrance leaned against the edge of the windows, arms crossed, and Quelenna leaned against the doorframe, looking more at the taxidermied heads than Damakaios.  Cathance took a big chair and hopped into it, kicking her feet.  Ana took a chair sized for Cathance, and pretended she was tall.  Nix sat near Damakaios' desk, and Mercury hopped on top of it.

Damakaios carefully looked at everyone, then opened a thin drawer on his left, and reached pretty far into it to pull out 6 sheaves of papers, very tidy.

First – Amabel Villa.  Amabel family acquired the deed to an expensive, large, villa in the east/SE of Ripa Daneo; they did not do due diligence.  They have hired the Freelancers to destroy the creatures inhabiting it.  Do not destroy the villa.  Last group went into the room with harpies' nests and found spectres and wraiths.  250gp each; do not care about items, you can loot.

Kaikoa:  how much do we need to clear to get paid?
Damakaios:  just some.

The next 2 missions are for House Hadid.  They are the leading fashion house in Ripa Daneo.  They need phase spider venom & silk; 150gp each.  Also, separately, they need troll blood & teeth; 150gp each.

<Terrance made a face.>
Damakaios:  what?
Terrance:  trying to imaging how I would acquire this; under what circumstances, and also what would they do with this.
Damakaios:  they will make fashionable magic items.

The fourth mission – investigate House Teontra's disused stable.  <to Kaikoa> The House is the premier training House.  <to everyone> The mounts don't go near and there is faint laughter.  Destroy the source of the laughter, but not the building.

<At this, Damakaios stared at Ana and Cathance, and Cathance looked very innocent.>
Kaikoa:  a) how much does it pay?  And b) will they trade in service?
Damakaios:  250gp/person and with regard to services, Freelancers are at the head of the line for services.
Kaikoa:  but are there extras, if you forego the cash.
Damakaios <confused>:  or, just … pay the gold you got from the mission?

Mission #5 – pays 250gp.  High Abbot Gregor of Most Serene Boundary Monastery wants Freelancers to investigate the deaths of a few of his monks.

Cathance:  was it by a battleaxe, by any chance?
Damakaios:  … no.  I don't have a lot of information.  That's why we're being hired.

Sixth and final.  The Mayor of the komodo town near Moana's Eye would like Freelancers to drive off the mechanical owlbears which have been stealing coypu furs.

Everyone:  WHAT
Kaikoa:  I was zoning out, but, owlbears
Terrance:  stealing what?
Cathance:  was into the laughter, but what?
Ana:  would like a mystery.  Stable, mysterious death, or, owlbears?
Quelenna:  based on our reaction, owlbears.
Cathance:  I dunno, that laughter.
Kaikoa:  it seems, mechanical owlbears.  Those of you been here, how far is it?
Cathance:  Commerce is not big like Duquesne.  You can fly to the lake in a day.

And so the Freelancers took the mission to visit Bati Kasabasi and drive off mechanical owlbears.  I suspect that despite the nearness of Gata Nahaki and his recent arrival on Commerce, Kaikoa actually had the most experience interacting with komodo folk.

As they readied to leave, Ana saw Alvyn walking around with his mechanical bear Arth, and decided it would be a good idea for them to ask him what to expect.

Ana:  can you describe the weaknesses?
Alvyn:  well, I didn't make it, but… <fell into a fugue>
Ana:  also do you have any disaffected students?
Alvyn:  no I don't and I haven't heard of any from the Great Workshop of Eternal Refinements <Narrator voice:  the artificer school in Vathia Estia>
Alvyn:  so the constructs are invulnerable to charm.  They only do what they've been told to do, but other resistances and vulnerabilities will depend on the artificer.
Terrance:  reminds me of the whales controlled on Kizil.
Kaikoa:  let's hope it's a really shitty artificer who favoured form over function.  Alvyn, is there anything special to fight?
Alvyn:  like a normal creature.
Cathance:  but, hypnotic pattern will not work.
Alvyn:  not so much, no.
Kaikoa:  we should bring lots of ball bearings.
Terrance:  I'm sure someone still had them
Cathance:  I have them

Musing on Alvyn's words and considering Arth, Quelenna and Kaikoa stopped by the quartermaster.  Fans or a scimitar didn't seem like the best weapon against mechanicals.  Quelenna picked up a pair of knuckles, and Kaikoa picked up a warhammer.  Then they took off for Bati Kasabasi.

Everyone but Terrance and Quelenna had a flying mount, so they just flew to the komodo town.  Terrance rode her broom of flying, and Quelenna rode pillion on Snowbolt behind Nix.  The town was westward, and far enough down the crater that it would take most of the day, and they did have to stay out of the airship lanes.

The weather started out nice, but the skies darkened, and around midday, a bolt of lightning unexpectedly cracked across the sky, longer than the width of the crater.  Terrance, startled, wobbled a bit on her broom, but Jigsaw spooked, and Cathance, caught by surprise, had to hang on not to be thrown mid-air.

Later that afternoon, they were following the river, and came to where it slowed and meandered.  Pens and pens of coypu were on both riverbanks.  In the center of it all was a small but bustling town with warehouses to the south.  Most of the inhabitants were komodos, and the town has no walls.  The buildings were up on pillars or poles, to accommodate flooding.  The older buildings seemed to be on stone pillars.

The Freelancers circled, and some residents were watching; what few Trading peoples normally visited were with carts, to haul goods and trade.  They spotted a stable & inn, and landed nearby.  The town was just 6 miles in from the western Rim, and thus protected from the breeze and felt a bit muggy.

Scattered with the komodo were a few Pteroti, more kobolds.  And of course, sagani; mostly Rain sagani.  Near the riverbanks, some kero.  What Trade people did speak was a bit broken.  Kaikoa went into the inn and secured rooms and stabling, while Cathance soothed Jigsaw.  After the Freelancers got the mounts stabled, they went into the tavern to get some food; they could talk to the Mayor in the morning.

Food was rice pilaf, with coypu as the meat.  As they ate, feeling a bit alien, the Freelancers were subject to a bit of side-eye.  Much of the conversation around them was in Komodo and Ophis, some Primordial.  A komodo was in the corner playing music; the scale was different, and eerie.  It appeared most of the patrons were 'hands either on farms or at the coypu pens.

Kaikoa had enough of that.  "Let's see if we can get people talking!" he exclaimed.  He went to the bar and spun a platinum piece on the counter.  He bought a round of drinks for all.

After that the Commonweal patrons turned out to know quite a bit of Trade, and about as many new Primordial as Trading peoples did.  Moreover, everyone in the town was pissed off about the mechanical owlbears and willing to talk about them…

• Coming from the south
• Stealing the furs
• Coming to the warehouse
• Stealing bales of cured furs
• Running away to the south
• Anyone who tries to stop them just gets bludgeoned
• They seem to be coming every 3-4 days
• Due again either tomorrow or the next day.

The Freelancers frowned, this rang a bell… Terrance pointed out they'd been on a mission in the Vathia Estia Tunnels with constructs, who also did this sort of thing.

The komodos they were talking to asked, "Why do you want to know?"  The Freelancers said who they were, and that the Mayor had hired them.  Kaikoa asked about the Mayor.  "Does he need flattering?  Straight-up guy?"

The others laughed, and told Kaikoa the Mayor was a good dude, sure he wants to be flattered, but only if "it's real."

It was mid-evening by this time, and the Freelancers had travelled far that day.  They retired to their rooms for a well-deserved rest.

The next morning, the Freelancers headed to Bati Kasabasi town square, to meet Thruxl, the Mayor.  Thruxl was a long wiry komodo, greenish with brown stripes; he wore an ornate chain of office, which was like a shoulder stole of coypu fur with a heavy silver chain.

Thruxl was perfectly fluent in Trade, and gave the Freelancers a lot of the info they'd already found out by Kaikoa buying everyone a round of drinks the night before, then directed them to talk to a female komodo, Ukokhria.  She should know the Freelancers are coming, he informed them; just go south.

The Freelancers looked south, recollecting the warehouses they'd seen.  They were on the west bank of the river.

Kaikoa:  so, is this where the owlbears will come?
Thruxl:  I'm not sure if they will come today, or tomorrow.
Terrance:  have you tried fences?
Thruxl:  have you seen a full-size owlbear?  It's kind of unstoppable, and these are metal.

Anyhow, the Freelancers walked over to the warehouse and quickly found Ukokhria.  She was the same colours as Thruxl, except reversed, causing the Freelancers to speculate whether the two komodos were related.  She greeted them in Trade, and led them into the warehouse, where the south-facing doors were getting repaired.  As she spoke, she kept looking nervously to the south.

As they were led around the warehouse, Cathance and Terrance looked around, murmuring to each other about potentially trapping them in the warehouse.  They marked the other exits, and confirmed that the walls were sturdier than the doors.

Terrance:  are the owlbears busting in this warehouse, or going for furs?
Kaikoa:  can we pit trap them?
Ana:  do they follow a set route?
Cathance:  Alvyn said they do what they're told
<Narrator voice:  the GM interjected here that they can take complicated direction.>
Ukokhria:  they usually come from south/southwest.  A couple employees are still laid up from last time.  Nobody tried to follow them.
Cathance:  let's track them, they're heavy.  They don't fly, do they?
Ukokhria:  no
Kaikoa:  let's go and try to catch them where they're sleepin'!
Ana:  if we can't trap them, leave one "alive" so we can see where they are going.

The Freelancers liked Cathance's and Kaikoa's idea, so they took their leave of Ukokhria to see if they could follow the heavy mechanical owlbear tracks to where they'd originated.  Finding the tracks proved to be a challenge; it had rained since the last visit, and of course there were creatures and caravans also having walked over them.

Ana was able to spot the tracks, and followed the trail for a while, but lost them long before she got to any destination.  She returned to where the others waited with U.

Ana:  so, at least we can put a pit trap
Terrance:  put the ball bearings under a thin coating of leaves
Cathance:  wouldn't that make the ball bearings useless?
Kaikoa:  don't put them on dirt!
Terrance:  oh!  I was envisioning hard-packed dirt
Cathance:  guys, I have a very important question before pit trap.  <to Ukokhria>  how many owlbears?
Ukokhria:  sometimes two, and sometimes three.

At this point, the conversation turned to how to dig a pit trap, not exactly something any of the Freelancers were especially good at or interested in doing.  Nix offered to create the necessary stakes for the bottom.  Cathance suggested getting the coypu to dig it, earning her a look from Ukokhria.  The warehouse manager deputized two komodo from the warehouse to dig it.  They grumbled, and she asked if they'd rather continue dealing with hostile mechanical owlbears.

Kaikoa suggested, "we might have to follow one back, maybe hide the furs, or move them away."  Ukokhria replied, "I'll make up a box of scraps," and went into the warehouse to do so.

After an hour, the pit trap was prepared.  The two komodo had dug it; Nix had put stakes; Terrance made branches to hide it and set the trap; Cathance cast guidance of The Tortoise on the firbolg as she did so.  Nix cast alarm around the pit trap.  Meanwhile, at the warehouse, the furs had been pulled into the back, and a fake bale of fur had been put near the door for any owlbear that had avoided the trap.  Ana made a clockwork toy to lure the owlbears into the trap, but got distracted by making it and forgot to emplace it.

All was ready.  Cathance and Nix took to the air on Jigsaw and Snowbolt; Terrance and Quelenna hid behind nearby trees; Kaikoa was dicing with the warehouse workers; Ana sat on Pelorus nearby, watching them play, while Hawkie circled high above the trap.

<Narrator voice:  Give me a flat d20 roll, the GM said.  Wendy rolled a natural 1.

Three mechanical owlbears had come; a silver one had been in the lead and was now in the pit trap.  The other two, one of various shades of brass and a patchwork one, were walking around the pit.  The silver owlbear roared, a rather creaky sound.

Cathance, in an attempt to slow down their advance, cast ray of frost at the patchwork owlbear, but the ray was deflected!  The owlbear let out a creaky roar of its own and turned towards Cathance & Jigsaw.

• Mercury, from his perch on Snowbolt, prepared to dodge.
• Hawkie took off towards the warehouse to warn Ana and Kaikoa.
• The silver owlbear clambered out of the pit trap.
• The brass owlbear turned and also issued a creaky roar, then spotted Quelenna, who wasn't nearly as well-hidden as she'd thought.  It moved to the WIld elf, then reared up and slammed at her with its arms.  One of them connected, like a big metal truncheon.
• The patchwork mechanical owlbear, watching Cathance, opened its mouth and roared again, then shot her with two crossbow bolts from inside its mouth!  Cathance was badly hurt, and so surprised she didn't say anything.
• The silver owlbear, having got out of the pit, did the same to Nix, although one of the bolts missed, so Nix wasn't nearly so hurt.
• Quelenna was very unhappy at this thing in her face, and made use of her knuckles.  Her first blow crit the brass owlbear, but her second blow critfailed and she dropped those knuckles as she overextended her strike.
  • "This is bullshit!" she cried, as she deftly picked them back up and then proceeded to use flurry of blows on the owlbear.  She missed, then overextended on another critfail and dropped the knuckles again.
• Terrance was still hidden in the tree, listening to Quelenna muttering about needing training, and leapt from the tree onto the back of the patchwork owlbear.
  • Or, that was her plan, anyhow.  In reality the firbolg critfailed, so did a beautiful triple somersault out of the tree to land prone at the construct's feet, battered by the fall.
  • "This is fine," she muttered, stood up, and drew her magical scimitar and magical rapier.  She struck the patchwork owlbear with both, although the offhand rapier did not really hurt it much.
• At that moment, Kaikoa arrived on Mordant, and unable to do much, he threw a military dart at the silver owlbear, and he too critfailed.
• Ana also arrived on Pelorus, considerably higher up.  She cast an uplevel'd flaming sphere between the brass and patchwork mechanical owlbears, then rammed it into the patchwork one, burning it somehow.
• Nix also tried to cast ray of frost on the patchwork owlbear, but she simply missed.
  • She cast an uplevel'd dragon's breath on Mercury though. 

Cathance, wounded and seeing the flaming sphere, pulled tides of chaos out of the very air, and cast a twice-uplevel'd chromatic orb at the patchwork owlbear that had hurt her.  The 5" sphere settled on fire before it crit the construct, and Cathance exclaimed, "My Roommate had a good Idea!  Let's see how you take THAT!"  However as the fire struck, the chaos rebounded on the Mikumwesauk halfling, and she remembered how she'd burned Jigsaw with a fireball once, and became frightened the pony hippogryph would turn and bite her.  The fright was so unfamiliar she just held very still, and forgot to quaff her healing potion.

• Hawkie prepared to dodge any incoming crossbow bolts or other unpleasantness.
• Mercury flew into range of the patchwork owlbear, and then let loose with dragon's breath, which was of course fire.
• The patchwork owlbear, which had somehow not yet melted into slag, reared up and slammed at Terrance with its arms.  One arm missed but the other clocked Terrance, who twisted and dodged much of the damage.
  • The flaming sphere burned the construct again, and finally it collapsed into a pile of smoldering metal.
• The brass owlbear reared up and slammed at Quelenna with its arms, missing with one and striking her with the other.
• The silver owlbear cast about, then leaned back to send two crossbow bolts at Kaikoa.  The first one missed, but the second one critfailed, backfiring into its head.
  • It started moving down the path towards Bati Kasabasi.
• Quelenna, pissed at the brass owlbear and frustrated with the knuckles, dropped the other knuckles and pulled out her magical fans.  She slashed the brass mechanical owlbear once with each fan, then followed up with precision flurry of blows, striking it twice on the followups.
• Terrance jogged carefully around Ana's flaming sphere to get to the brass owlbear, then stabbed it with her magical rapier.  The construct started to make dinging sounds and shoot out arcane sparks.
  • Terrance then hid in the tree.
  • Cathance cried out, "Terrance, where did you go?!  Are you okay?!"  The only response was the sound of wind in the leaves.
• Kaikoa swooped down next to the brass owlbear and slashed it with his magical FUCK THE Daystar scimitar, then slashed it again and critfailed.
  • The scimitar got stuck in the mechanical owlbear's butt without causing any injury, the Wind sagani yanking on it and swearing.
  • With a surge of adrenaline, Kaikoa wrenched his scimitar free!  He slashed the brass owlbear again, more successfully this time; and also one last time, but this slash clanged off the brass harmlessly.
  • The cavalier placed his unwavering mark on the construct.
• Ana slammed her flaming sphere into the brass owlbear, burning it to slag.  She cast reduce on the silver owlbear, but it avoided the spell's effects.
• Nix cast an uplevel'd sleep on the silver owlbear, but… turns out they are also immune to sleep as well as charm.

Cathance, still frightened of Jigsaw and unsure what to do, cast suggestion on the little hippogryph:  "Please don't attack me."  Who knows if it worked; Jigsaw didn't attack her.

• Hawkie again prepared to dodge any incoming crossbow bolts or other unpleasantness.
• Mercury pivoted to the silver owlbear, and then let loose with fiery dragon's breath again.  The silver owlbear was burned, and the winged cat flew straight up to put distance between himself and those crossbow bolts.
  • <Narrator's voice:  and perhaps also to position himself in the singularity at which the owlbear cannot actually physically aim, but perhaps the Narrator is projecting intent onto Brian.>
  • Regardless of the Narrator's speculation, the silver owlbear was able to aim at Mercury and <Narrator's voice:  despite the disadvantage> shot him out of the sky.

Nix swore, but the Freelancers backed off, and let it go.

The silver mechanical owlbear trundled to the warehouse and, as planned, grabbed the bale of fur scraps Ukokhria had prepared, then trundled back the way it came.

The Freelancers had withdrawn somewhat from the scene of the altercation, and watched as the silver owlbear avoided the trap and kept heading to wherever it was going.  They followed it from a distance.  Fortunately for cohesion, Cathance had stopped being frightened of Jigsaw.

The construct took a meandering route somewhere between south and southwest, heading to the rim with determination.  Time passed, but the Freelancers were patient, and after 3 hours they were rewarded when the mechanical owlbear came to a small cave in the crater wall, and carefully squeezed itself and the bale of fur scraps through the opening.

The Freelancers noted the location and landmarks, and returned to the pit trap.  They were of a mind that the two "dead" constructs could be scavenged and inspected for clues.  Terrance, especially, wanted to see if there was a maker's mark that matched that on the constructs she and other Freelancers had fought in the Vathia Estia Tunnel a while back.

Nix found the maker's mark, and Terrance looked at it.  She wasn't 100% sure, but thought it seemed very similar.  Meanwhile, the group stashed all the components they could.  Unfortunately there was no recovering the power sources; those were slagged.

Back at Bati Kasabasi, upon hearing the events of the day, Thruxl was not completely happy that the Freelancers had let one "get away".  He paid them their fee of 250gp each, but informed them he would have another mission for Freelancers to come back quickly, to take care of this.

However it was late in the day, so the Freelancers stayed another night in the komodo settlement before returning to Ripa Daneo.

Upon return, the group did not immediately report to Damakaios, but instead brought the parts to Alvyn.  The Maker gnome looked the parts over, and commented, "Fairly high quality!"  He still had a piece from the other constructs with a maker's mark, and brought it out of some vault so they could be compared.  "Definitely the same maker of these things," he told them.

Then he bought all the pieces from them for 900gp.

Pleased, they reported to Damakaios, who was happy to see everyone back safely.  He collected the Freelancers Cut of 25gp each, and was sort of glad to have a new mission for Freelancers; but upon the news from Alvyn he was especially happy to have a lead on this construct business, which had been shaping up to be quite a mystery.

• Nix → lvl 6!  (Sorcerer5/Wizard1)