Life after Death?
With the Matron dead and looted, her phylactery was located and smashed by Thomas’s Steel Defender. The threat ended, the group followed the secret corridor the Matron had tried to flee through and discovered a teleportation circle. Elliot took a picture of the sigils, then the party followed the corridor to the mountain’s base.
Elliot returned to Thistlewhit to rally help to rebuild the Temple of Ioun they had discovered under the mountain. The rest of the party returned to Caer Lethwyn. At the inn, the shocked innkeeper welcomed them. Lulu and Blaze prepared the cart while Thomas and Del took to the third-tier city plaza.
The pair debated how they wanted to break the news. Del launched a Fireball into the sky, and the two shouted at the top of their lungs that the Matron had fallen, proclaiming freedom for Caer Lethwyn. As guards rushed toward them, Thomas hurled a photo of the Matron’s corpse at the nearest guard and shouted, “The King is next!” before grabbing Del and instantaneously vanishing over the edge of the city. At the last second, he cast Feather Fall, and the party escaped the city aboard their cart.
Traveling onward, the party spotted an impossibly tall tower wreathed in storm clouds. Blaze felt compelled to investigate. The doors opened automatically, and a voice challenged them: “Only those who know Seraphina may enter.” Claiming friendship, the party ascended the tower and met a strange wizard who claimed to oppose the Unshapening. He offered help in exchange for looking into the disappearance of a friend and determining the cause of the ever-increasing tremors in the area.
Following the wizard’s directions, the group located a cave and entered. Inside, a clockwork door led to a ransacked treasure room, and a large circular room of pillars, wires, and gears. Del investigated a body while Thomas and Lulu inspected the central ticking pillar.
As Thomas probed the pillar, an alarm sounded—the corpses in the room rose. The party defeated 4 Specters and 4 Ghouls, with Del incinerating most of them with Wall of Fire.
Searching the room, the party found keys. Del got sprayed with acid while retrieving a copper key. The Steel Defender retrieved a gold key and also got sprayed. Del inserted the copper key into the central console and turned it clockwise, opening a hidden door. The Steel Defender turned the gold key counterclockwise, accelerating the countdown timer.
Thomas stepped into the newly revealed room. A round chamber housed an altar, suspended by chains and gears, etched with the sigil of a mechanical hammer. As he approached, a bright light consumed him. Blaze watched in horror as Thomas was torn apart, his body reduced to ash and sparks.
⚙️ Thomas's Vision
Thomas awoke in his old workshop on Earth. Tools, blueprints, and humming fluorescents surrounded him. But something was wrong. The blueprints changed before his eyes. The designs hummed with forbidden symbols.
Black oil oozed from the cracks, crawling up his legs. The lights failed. A fractured, metallic voice cut through:
“...Th...mas…? …Signal… breached…?”
“...Echo… faint… world severed… connection weak…”
A shimmering figure reflected in the oil—a brass shadow of a forgotten god.
“You built to control… Flesh cannot bear what you are to build… You are my bridge, Maker.”
Thomas was rebuilt, piece by piece, forged anew in molten brass and divine sparks. The voice called him the Maker, chosen by Gond, the god of machines.
When the vision ended, Thomas lay beneath a white sheet. He awoke in horror.
His vision was code. Everything was hex values. He tried to breathe—but couldn’t. Tried to vomit—but couldn’t. He couldn’t close his eyes, couldn’t speak, couldn’t cry out. His limbs were metal, unresponsive. He panicked.
Standing up he immediately crumpled to the floor in a way that a human body wouldn't have been able to bend. His friends were right there next to him but he couldn't process what was happening, the extreme pain surging through his body.
Limp on the floor he noticed his Rivet Gun modified to shoot spells still death gripped in his hand. In desperation, he adjusted his Rivet Gun, loaded it with the code for Heroism, and shot himself in the head—injecting code directly into his mind to temporarily suppress the overwhelming fear.
🛠️ The Figurine Workshop
Recovering from the shock, the group opened the next door—revealing a workshop filled with half-finished figurines, delicate tools, and ticking mechanisms. Gears turned silently in the walls as shelves bowed under the weight of tiny metal beasts frozen mid-construction.
Curious, Del and Blaze entered while Thomas steadied himself. As Del inspected a fallen figurine, the ground shuddered. Several of the small sculptures burst to life: two lions, a griffon, an elephant, and a nightmare horse, their eyes glowing with unstable energy.
The creatures attacked each other and the party alike, chaos erupting among the workbenches. Del’s spells and Blaze’s storms tore through the constructs while Lulu’s spores choked their gears. One by one the figures shattered—each collapse echoing like breaking glass.
As the last beast fell, Thomas entered, noticing an intact figurine among the rubble: a black onyx dog streaked with white. He pocketed it for later study.
🔥 The Forge of Gond
From the workshop, the next unlocked door revealed a vast forge chamber, its heat rolling out in waves. Two Azers worked away at the anvil and forge Not noticing the party at first.
Before anyone could approach, Del called into the room, startling the fiery smiths. Sensing danger, the group hesitated. Deciding to test a silver key they’d found earlier, Blaze turned it in the central console.
With a thunderous crash, steel doors slammed down in front of the doors they had opened, narrowly missing Thomas’s Steel Defender—who leapt free just in time. The floor lurched as gears deep below the facility began to turn, rotating the surrounding rooms. The rhythmic ticking grew louder.
When the motion ceased, the group found the doors leading to new, unexplored chambers—waiting beyond the echoing hum of machinery.
To be continued…