Heroica RPG - Quest #99: Six Thousand Feet Under

[Flipz]

"Interesting...definitely worth a look, then. I'm ready to question the miners as well, then."

[The_Customizer]

"Yep, let's question the miners, and I have an idea of what we want to do after that."

[Endgame]

"To the breakroom, then. I've called whatever miners have stayed to converse with you there..."

The party navigates the pebbly beaches of Goland, eventually reaching a small settlement. The wlak through the rows of short stone buildings, the towering mountain casting a shadow on the workers of Goland. They enter one of the buildings, meeting some of Cobb's miners face to face.

"Eh? Cory? I don't remember asking for you... What do you think you're doing here?"

"I decided to come anyway, boss! I saw it! I seriously did!"

"You also said you fought it in a "epic battle." Those were your exact words."

"Okay, so that was an exaggeration, but... I did see it!"

"...Don't even think about misleading them, Cory. The mine is at stake here."

"Understood, boss."

The heroes and three miners to interview. In the back of the room was a ridiculously cluttered desk.

[The_Customizer]

"Lets get this over with quickly, you guys question them, I'll check out the desk, see if there is anything of importance. Sound good?"

[Flipz]

"Sounds like a plan to me." Arthur approaches the woman(?) with blonde hair. "Hello, miss, the name's Arthur. What can you tell me about the creature you saw?"

[Endgame]

Erdathcath finds two things on the desk, and shows them both to the party:

A pencil sketch of some odd construct...

...And a real estate catalog? What were the meaning of these?

"Sounds like a plan to me." Arthur approaches the woman(?) with blonde hair. "Hello, miss, the name's Arthur. What can you tell me about the creature you saw?"

"So you're a hero of Heroica, eh? Can't say I've met one in person. Name's Emma.

The creature... It wasn't like anything I've ever seen. It was giant, and in the most literal sense. Huge. Forty feet tall, at least. It's head scraped the stalagtites. The way it moved just seemed... wrong, y'know? At first, it shambled about slowly, mechanically almost. The, suddenly it shoots out and lunges at me, with some sort of weapon! I couldn't tell what it was or what it wa susing... I wass running too fast, and it seemed to have an aura of smoke. Creepy, right?"

[LordoftheNoobs]

Grimwald approaches the man with the moustache.

"Hello sir, the name's Grimwald. My colleagues and I are here to see if we can get to the bottom of this whole monster business. Is there anything you may be able to recall about this creature that might help us find it and bring it down?"

[Endgame]

"My advice to ya? Run back to Armstrong at the docks. Whatever this abomination is, it has managed to kill about 18 miners and trap the rest behind walls of solid rock. It roars, too - sounds a little bit like a steamboat's horn. It's a weird damned thing, and I don't think you should even bother, really. Spare yourselves."

"Watson! You know damn well that the mine cannot go on like this!"

[LordoftheNoobs]

"Wait... a steamboat's horn? Hmm... Erdathcath, let me see that drawing again..."

The Gnome looks over the automaton picture carefully.

"Something tells me it's not a monster we're after... it's some kind of robot! ...Er, maybe."

[Endgame]

"Sure not the one in the picture, mister! That thing is only six feet tall, let alone the collosus this menace is! Besides, who ever heard of a 40 foot tall robot, anyway? That robot is called a... Minoid, I think?"

"That picture - and the real estate catalog, I guess he was house hunting in his downtime here - are from Mr. Cour, an inventor we hired. He built that automaton that picture is of to help work in the mine and such. He came here for a day to drop it off, used that table as a desk for a bit, and left. Guess he left the catalog behind accidentally."

"Yep, good ol' Cobb Altt is stingy to the point where he is replacing his workers with machines! One time fee and all that, practically slavery. Damn thing is trapped in the mine, so good riddance. It's a cooperative bucket of bolts, but I can't help but resent it anyway."

Edited April 17, 2014 by Endgame

[LordoftheNoobs]

"...Oh... I see. Aheheh... how silly of me. "

(OOC: I'll wait for the others to interject before saying anything else.)

Edited April 17, 2014 by LordoftheNoobs

[Flipz]

Arthur looks up in alarm. "Mr....?" Arthur takes another look at the real estate papers. "Guess Karie's going to have a new address soon," he murmurs, mostly to himself. "How is the automaton controlled? And Miss Emma--you said its head scraped the stalactites. That brings up another question--did it walk on two legs, or four, or more? What can you tell me about its shape and movement?"

[The_Customizer]

"Actually Grimwald, you might be onto something here! Agreed, it may not be the same machine, but perhaps it is sometime of robot not a monster at all! As for this real estate paper, I'm guessing it just means that someone is looking for a place to move to until this whole mess clears up, what do you think?"

[LordoftheNoobs]

"Hmm... I suppose so. Thanks for letting this old man see he might not be as senile as he thinks! "

Edited April 17, 2014 by LordoftheNoobs

[Flipz]

"Wait... a steamboat's horn? Hmm... Erdathcath, let me see that drawing again..."

The Gnome looks over the automaton picture carefully.

"Something tells me it's not a monster we're after... it's some kind of robot! ...Er, maybe."

"Actually Grimwald, you might be onto something here! Agreed, it may not be the same machine, but perhaps it is sometime of robot not a monster at all! As for this real estate paper, I'm guessing it just means that someone is looking for a place to move to until this whole mess clears up, what do you think?"

"Hmm... I suppose so. Thanks for letting this old man see he might not be as senile as he thinks! "

"You make a good point, Master Grimwald, but I do hope that's not the case--it would have...somewhat disturbing implications..."

"I...happen to know Mr. Cour. We just met one of his employees at the docks, actually. ...Trust me when I say, these real estate papers relate to a...personal matter I happen to be privy to, thanks to a good friend of mine." He glances at the prices again. "If he's looking at houses in this price range, the wedding's going to cost a fortune," he mutters, apparently unaware that he'd voiced the thought aloud.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Flipz

[LordoftheNoobs]

"Oh yes, I hope it's not the case either. That would most likely... complicate things somewhat."

"Anyhow, whatever the case, we need to find out as much about this thing as we can. Is there anything, anything at all, else that you can tell us about this thing?"

[Endgame]

He glances at the prices again. "If he's looking at houses in this price range, the wedding's going to cost a fortune," he mutters, apparently unaware that he'd voiced the thought aloud.

"You'd be shocked that hes looking at low to middle range property, in terms of pricing. They have a nasty habit of setting house prices absurdly high, and making the buyers talk them down. From what I've seen of Mr. Cour, though, he's probably good enough to shave a full thousand off the price. He was pretty handsome, but he really didn't respond to any of my advances. I wonder why...

The monster walked around on twos."

"What would be disturbing about it being a robot? Robots are cool!"

[Flipz]

"You'd be shocked that hes looking at low to middle range property, in terms of pricing. They have a nasty habit of setting house prices absurdly high, and making the buyers talk them down. From what I've seen of Mr. Cour, though, he's probably good enough to shave a full thousand off the price. He was pretty handsome, but he really didn't respond to any of my advances. I wonder why...

The monster walked around on twos."

"What would be disturbing about it being a robot? Robots are cool!"

"Robots," Arthur notes, "are built by people. The implications are obvious."

[Endgame]

"Oh. Yeah."

"I apologize for Cory's, err... Certain inefficiencies. Are you done interviewing everyone? If so, you may enter the mine, or propose any alternate courses of action you may have."

[LordoftheNoobs]

"Hmm... I suppose it would be wise to come up with some sort of plan... Um, anyone?"

[The_Customizer]

"I would say we could split up to cover more distance, but with how dangerous this beast sounds, staying together would be a good idea. We could try the cliche 'running in with weapons gleaming' tactic, or we could just start with finding a way into the hidden places in the mine."

[Endgame]

"The sealed off places are at the lowest depths of the mine. You're not going in there without trodding through a grand majority of the mine."

[LordoftheNoobs]

"Perhaps the 'running in with weapons gleaming' is our best bet, then. Might as well get on with it, eh?

I'm ready when you two are."

Edited April 18, 2014 by LordoftheNoobs

[The_Customizer]

"Yep, let's do this then! Might want to drink up some Smelling salts in case we have to fight our way into the mine." Erdathcath consumes a Smelling Salts to prepare for the upcoming battle.

[Flipz]

"Indeed, I'll take the moment to prepare as well." Arthur drinks a Nostrum, and replaces the Remedy in his Duplovian Swift Halberd with an Ambrosia. "If one of you fine folks could give me instructions on how to command the Minoid should we encounter it, I think we'll be ready."