Story II: City of Shadow

Ameera stays to the wall, but follows Devanis. Using her mind, she sends a message to him. I hope you know what were doing old man. I have your back.

As Devanis passes from the hallway and into the room on the other end, he is immediately alerted by the scraping sound to his left. Turning, his first sight is of two large eyes, glowing in the dark of the room. Soon he can make out the rest of it. It is some sort of machine; a tall, thin, lanky frame of iron and steel parts, connected by gear-like joints. Its head is small, like a human skull that is missing its lower jaw. On the head itself, no place for the eyes exist, and yet two circular, magical lights exist just off of its face. The lights move with its head, as though attached by some invisible means. Its body is scraped and marked all over, covered in dirt and stone dust. Parts of it are covered in rust, especially around the feet and legs. In its hand is a piece of sharp, rusty metal, perhaps once a piece of a sword or axe. It is crouched low, like an animal, with one hand on the ground. The other grinds the piece of metal against the stone wall.

Devanis is alerted to a sound above, and finds a second of these machines perched upon the ceiling. This second one is different only in that its arms and legs appear to be odd-looking hooks, which it has dug into the stone. Its head is turned around; its glowing eyes stare blankly at the ranger.

Though it does not even so much as twitch - in fact, it is completely and utterly motionless - Seraph speaks about it, "That's.. that's them..!" Seraph pauses, as though startled. He picks up again by saying, "He's.. talking to me. He's yelling about... an oath, I think, but I don't know what he means. Wh-what should I say?"

This room seems to be a direct copy of the last, with a cuboid monument in the center and statues around the walls. None of the statues appear broken, however. A stairway descends on the left, leading deeper into the Hall.

"Tell them we mean no harm." Devanis whispers, just glad they have not been attacked. "Ask them about this oath...Maybe we can help."

"I don't...I've never heard of Crucible. Do you know it, Seraph?" Devanis begins to wonder, if these beings are beyond his capacity to help, would they let him leave?

Pyrrah looks from Neph to Evendur, then sighs. She rolls her shoulders a bit to loosen up some developing tension knots. "Forget waiting. Those two don't normally take this long to scout, or Ameera would have sent Zubie out to tell us what's happening if everything was fine. Maybe we should check on them: carefully and quietly. Besides,
this Hall of Gems might be something good to bring back to the guild. I want to investigate it a bit myself. "

She braces herself for the torrent of cold water that she needs to pass under and gets a bit of a loping start before disappearing under the deluge. On the other side, she shakes herself off readjusts her bow and arrow and slowly, stealthily follows the tunnel while listening for signs of struggle

"Devanis, Maybe we should tell them what they want to hear, that they have fulfilled their oath. The King of the Crucible has retired from this world and no longer requires their service. We should also ask Neph if these have been here before." Ameera makes a small motion with her hand and summons Zubie 30 feet behind her, glancing over her shoulder she sends Zubie, Go tell Neph and the others that there are two mechanical beings in our path, and we need to know how to deal with them.

"Good thinking, Ameera." Devanis nods. Inwardly, he wonders if the creatures will believe him. More likely they'll only believe this long lost king.

"Faithful one, Crucible and its King are long gone from this world and no longer require your service. You are released from your oath."

Neph's shocked expression is a clear indicator that she has not seen these before. She instinctively edges closer to Pyrrah's leg. "What are these?" She asks, her voice loud enough to echo off the walls, "What are they doing here?" Eventually, she seems to piece together a bit of a conversation and asks, "Throne? Is he saying something about the Shadowkin city?" She then notices the creature perched on the ceiling and startles. She puts a hand on the top of Pyrrah's boot.

She speaks with an ominous, sad tone as she looks around at the walls, "This place has changed."

Upon seeing the mechanzations, Pyrrah immediately puts a protective hand in front of Neph and immediately begins backpedaling towards the entrance, bringing Neph with her, and shrinking low towards the floor in an effort to remain hidden. She stops just outside the entrance, but within sight of the others. Her torch bearing wyrd-hand immediately backs away with them, racing down the hall to shelter some of the light. Her other hand clenches her bow fiercely.

"We should get out of here, leave them be. They don't look friendly... "