Last we left our heroes in the summoned temple of Knowledge, seconds stretched as the diamond on Yevin’s chest shattered and was absorbed by Wander’s casting of revivify. A moment passes, and another. The strained silence is broken by a gasp as Yevin comes back to life. Among casting of healing magic and “glad you came back” backslaps, the question is asked “is anything different?” Yevin replies that he doesn’t feel any different, he hasn’t changed, but he doesn’t know about his link to Kane.
Wander communes again and confirms that Kane’s link is broken. Not one to waste questions, she asks about the Orith, a weapon Ryker knows of that could kill Tharizdun. With the last three questions she’s able to narrow down that the Orith is on the material plane, in Zandoria, guarded by elves.
Relieved to not have a maniacal artificer on his track, Yevin requests that they stop in Filderfald to visit his father-figure-turned-actual-father Buck Willingham. They rest for the night in the temple and the next day is spent on horseback, in the rain. Along the way there is evidence of a large… beast? Crashing through the forest. Mismatched footprints, pushed over trees, and evidence of an explosion, all heading toward Filderfald.
Yevin gallops into town, the group trailing behind him. Nothing seems amiss as he steps up to Buck’s door, knocks, and enters, followed closely by Wander. Buck is tending to someone in the back room and is surprised to see them, raising a quizzical eye as he looks past and sees three new faces outside with the horses. There is cough from the figure in the back and Wander offers to take over, she is a healer after all. Buck passes her to embrace Yevin and they begin to catch up.
Wander steps past the curtain to see Guinevere, the sigil previously marking her skin now burnt and blistered, a stack of armor and weaponry in the corner. She begins to cast healing as Havayla pushes in. Seeing the patient, she calls for Ryker. Confused by the commotion, Yevin asks what’s going on and moves to see, but is pushed back by Ryker and Havayla insisting he doesn’t need to know. Perturbed, but not willing to argue in front of Buck, he backs down and continues the conversation with his Father, explaining what he had learned of his parentage. Buck is surprised, he was unaware of Aria’s alternate form, believing her only to be an elf, and unaware that they had a child together. It’s going to take him awhile to wrap his mind around this revelation.
Ryker examines the weapons with Gwen and finds it all similar to Steamer tech he’s seen before. Buck explains that he found her in the woods after an explosion the night before. The story lines up with timing of Yevin’s momentary death. Yevin fits the pieces together and surmises that whatever enchantment Kane had put on Gwen must have triggered when the link was broken. There is a rumble in the distance…
Outside in the rain, Nathan and Arunak feel the ground shake. And again. Closer, rhythmic, like footsteps. The horses begin to panic as a red eye looms from the clouds, housed in a massive body of metal and wood. Pieces of a ship’s hull mismatched across the torso, an anchor at the end of one arm and a trio of cannons on the other. The domed head holding one singular eye with a metal iris aperture opening and closing as it scans its surroundings. Arunak yells for the group and combat begins.
It is immediately apparent that the automaton is after Yevin, who does what he can to lure it away from town, casting heat-metal as he goes.. Wander instructs Buck to take Gwen and run, before joining the fray to cast bane on the metal monstrosity. Havayla casts moonbeam, but her divine connection reaches Tharizdun and the psychic rays have no effect on the mindless machine. Similarly, Wander tries to command it but finds no mind to control. Ryker attempts to hide, finding a better vantage point for a surprise attack, but the automaton seems to have a constant awareness of his presence. Arunak attacks with a stunning blow, but the effect is ignored. An anti-magic cone catches Yevin, neutralizing his innate scorcering. It’s as if it was created as the perfect counter to the Derailer’s primary attacks.
But it is not impervious to an invisible Nathan climbing up it’s arm to get a better vantage point. Nor is it able to fend off Wander dispelling the magic of its eye. Arunak brings out his own secret weapon: an immovable rod. He begins working his way up the machine, sticking the rod in and using the construct’s own movement against itself. A hole is breached in the back of the torso and Ryker dimension doors inside. Behind gears and wires, just out of reach, he finds the power source, an animus crystal.
The chest opens up, shooting out a claw aimed at capturing Yevin. Momentarily restrained, but able to break free, Yevin vanishes and reappears a far distance behind the machine, taking it on another chase and giving Arunak more opportunities to use his rod. Seeing an opening, Nathan climbs into the chest, joining Ryker in the belly of the beast. With the main workings of the construct between them, they’re able to cause enough damage for Ryker to access the animus crystal. And then the Construct closes its chest and rockets into the air. Trapped, Ryker unseats the crystal, trying to bring the construct down, while Nathan tries to eldritch blast a way out for Ryker. They spend most of their time arguing about who’s sacrificing themselves so the other can escape. In an attempt to get Ryker to flee, Nathan punches the crystal, cracking it. Ryker finally tosses it out a hole, and the construct goes into freefall.
In the ruckus, Arunak is struck unconscious by cannon fire and a similarly battered and prone Wander crawls over to bring him back as an animus crystal falls next to her, cracked in two. Looking up, they are able to move out of the way as the construct falls to the ground. But it isn’t done yet, it just can’t fly. Arunak backs behind a building as Aurora charges out, horn flashing, and strikes the construct, buckling its leg as Wander’s spiritual weapon, in the form of a book, smacks the other side. Those strikes knock the construct off balance and it finally collapses in a heap. There is a moment of stillness as everyone takes a breath. Then construct explodes in a burst of wood and metal. And that is where we left the party.
Did Ryker and Nathan survive? Is this really the last of Kane’s mechanizations? What will Yevin do now? We’ll find out next time.