Sacrilege

The party decide to leave the chapel since there is nothing left for them. They exit to the right and see a modest sleeping quarter. Someone once lived here but it was very dusty and hadn't been touched in some time.

Sakiran starts pulling through drawers and finds a necklace with a blue gem inside of it. It has script going in a spiral towards the gem. Flah'fle comes to her and has a look at the necklace. It looks kind of Elvish but he can't quite tell. She sees robes that were red but with a creamy white on them. She takes one and it is a simple red robe with a creamy white top half.

Leoric urges them to proceed. He goes to the door they haven't opened yet and as he pushes it open, he sees part of the wall had crumbled. Stagnant water permeates their nostrils as the corridor leads down with two doors in the corridor and one at the end. Sakiran pushes the door on the right open but it is jammed, so she barges into it. She struggles to push against the door and the wind blows dust and salt into the building. Leoric barges into it easily.

They see some machinery inside that is in decent condition. There are storage containers for mechanical parts and in the centre of the room there is a humanoid standing there. It is half contained with wires attached to it.

Leoric advises them not to touch anything and closes the door again. Pog walks up to the humanoid and greets it. He turns towards the right and starts rifling through boxes of machinery. Flah'fle goes to Pog and sees the humanoid figure for himself. He knocks on it to test if it is metal and it doesn't move. He makes an obscene gesture to see if it reacts to it. It does not. Leoric moves to examine the humanoid. He sees it is a mechanical being with wires and circuits exposed. It is wearing some clothes like the red robes from earlier. It has one eye lens and underneath it is a speaker grille. It is connected by wires. To the left is a monitor that doesn't have any power. Sakiran takes the robe from earlier and puts it on the being but nothing happens. He advises it may have malfunctioned and gained a conscience as Sakiran expresses confusion. Leoric smiles and says the rain doesn't let up. Sakiran said it doesn't rain often where she's from and she always did love the smell.

In a new room, there are components all over the shelves looking pristine and well-organised. Sakiran picks one up and can see her reflection and deduces that someone has been here recently and has been maintaining them. Sakiran says she doesn't think they're alone. Pog picks up a bowl and puts it on his head for a perfect fit. He brings them back to Flea for approval. Flea tustles his head and says thanks. He takes a goblet and gives one back to Pog. The one he took has fine writing with the same script as the talisman and it has been buffed and polished.

Jaxon refuses to touch anything. There was a third door so Sakiran opened it first. A Rusted chain breaks off the other side as she pushes open. Sakiran asks what a toilet is as Leoric says you drink from it. Sakiran says it doesn't make sense as Leoric and Jaxon laugh.

Leoric goes back to the room with the humanoid and it is gone. The robe is on the floor, so it had cast it aside. He closes the door and tells the others. Jaxon states it doesn't sound good. Sakiran concentrates to try and hear something. She just barely hears something walking up stairs and a voice. She isn't sure of the language but it sounds like chanting. She tells them what she heard and Flea hands the goblet back to Pog as a precaution then tells him to put everything back. Pog huffs as he throws everything down.

They walk out of the room as they argue whether to go up or down. They see the stage and the humanoid robot is on the stage. It is reading from a book on a lecturn. It is reading and chanting in an unknown language. Jaxon kind of understands since he took interest in Ancient Gratus. It is very old Elvish from the formation. The name of the language is lost to history. Jaxon knows it is chanting about the world and a goddess.

It notices the party and speaks something to them. Each syllable is smooth but it is robotic. It gestures for them to sit on the pews. Jaxon told them what it was saying. They sit and it starts reciting some passages. "Our faith" "compassion" "dignity" "Pride" "selflessness" "Estel" "Goddess" "Hands"

It finishes and places the book down. It is rickety and its motors are loud. It picks up a pewter bowl and walks around and holds the bowl out to the party. Sakiran puts the necklace she picked up earlier into the bowl. It goes to Leoric. He puts a couple of rands into the bowl. It bows to him. Jaxon also puts a few rands in. It again bows. Flea also puts some rands into the bowl. It bows again. It walks into the centre of the room towards the corpses on the floor. When it doesn't get a response, it keeps moving along. It walks up to the centre of the aisle and onto the stage again. "In Estel's arms, we are together". It walks off to the side again and puts the bowl down. It plugs itself into its enclosure and goes limp again. Leoric asks for a hand as he unplugs it. Sakiran helps him. "Charging cycle not completed". Leoric deduces the power is all in one area and looks for a way to reroute it. There is another power to turn the monitor on. He flicks a switch and the monitor comes on with a symbol, a semi-circle with a gem in the middle Gloria Estel

Unit active time 2500 years - remaining energy 13%. Maintenance required. And a list of dates with missing maintenance.

They pick the machine up along with the power gem. It glows dimly as Leoric pockets it. The party head towards the exit as Leoric carries the machine over his shoulder. They hear something from outside that sounds like a distant rumble. Then they hear gunfire getting closer, though still far away. The abandoned APC's radios start going off. Sakiran urges them to go back to the metal Beast. The rain is pelting it down. They hear a radio going for Mayday, code violet. An aircraft is on fire as it crashes into the other APC as it detonates and there is a smoking ruin. They hear heavy footsteps as a figure comes hulking out of the wreck. A deep robotic voice runs diagnostics as it walks out. It turns towards Sakiran as it stares at her. Elvish life signs detected - initiate traitor purge. It hunches over and is ten feet tall - it gets ready to move forward and it is fifteen feet with multiple limbs and digitigrade legs. It has claws on the ends of its arms and legs with rust and blood. It is scorched with burn marks from the crash.

Leoric sees it through the barricade and moves to shoot over the ledge. He fires with his two pistols and another pings off his armour. It stutters as it says damage sustained - activating purge protocols. Jaxon fires off a sacred flame. It is damaged and it targets him. It activates anti magic armour and lands in front of Jaxon and Sakiran. It rears up on its hind legs and claws at Jaxon twice. It slammed into the ground with its claws as it missed, then swung round with its tail. It swung into him and collided with his breastplate.

Flea casts heat metal level 3 as its armours glows red hot and it dissipates.

Pog screams as it gets underneath the being, though he gets stuck in a piston. Sakiran yells for Jaxon to run as she activates the rage, but she's unable to control the rage. Her fangs extend and her hand turns into a claw as the tail gains protrusions. She swings with Finisher but doesn't quite hook on. Leoric fires with his pistols and fires as it hits something in the being that explodes. He drops the pistols and aims to fire as the pistol is jammed.

Jaxon runs away from Sakiran as the being tries to grab for him but he misses. He casts Sanctuary on Sakiran to protect her from its inevitable blow. It swipes into Sakiran twice. Sanctuary causes it to miss the attack against her as it produces a ranged weapon and fires upon Leoric. He just tried to get behind cover as two huge balls of fire head towards him. It splashes over him and it ignites.

By the word of the council, disperse, it said. Flah'fle casts Thunderwave. Sakiran is knocked away as she fails to protect herself against it, whereas the being dug in with its claws. Flea quickly cast Healing Word on Sakiran as she shook off the damage. Pog screams underneath as he jams his sword into the piston. He hoists himself up and bites a cable as it sparks everywhere. Flea tells Pog to teleport and try to charm the machine. Pog fails as it moves towards him.

Sakiran swings again with the sword and it is leaking oil, now. Leoric hops over the barricade and uses a Deadeye Shot with his pistols. One of them pierces into the plates between the abdomen. It spurts oil and another liquid out. Jaxon blesses Sakiran, Flea and Pog. The machine turns to Flea and unfolds its ranged weapon. It fired two shots at him. The two massive balls of fire miss him as one jams in the machine. It turns to Sakiran and attacks with its claws again. She dodges the blows and kicks another claw away. Flea runs to her and is able to touch her with curing magic, and he yells to Jaxon to heal him with his words.

Pog then attacks at Flea's command and keeps stabbing at the huge being. A lens has come loose and it is limping. Sakiran slams Finisher down again as it catches the blade and pushes it aside. Leoric moves again towards the APC and fires his pistols. He says "This is it - it's high noon" as he launches a single volley as it explodes through the back of its skull just as it was about to attack Sakiran again. It collapses as its skull is caved in and the viscera lands on Sakiran. The head is completely destroyed. It died in a clawing motion. Flea investigates the corpse. The outside is too badly damaged for him to even know where to start.

Sakiran is deeply upset by her lack of control and holsters Finisher again. She takes out her shortsword and slumps on the stairs, her head resting on her hand.

Pog crawls from underneath the machine and is covered in oil and blood. He seems exasperated and flops on the ground as the portal tears him away from this reality. Leoric decides to try to investigate himself. He sees he could potentially take off the claws and remove the technology to sell. Flea plays a tune to inspire everyone to remove the technology carefully. Leoric extracts seven claw blades. They obtain around 400 rands worth of scrap. Jaxon looks at the power core after Flea asks if he'll do it. He agrees to try and get it out. He pries open the back to expose the energy core. He is just able to get it out. It is a fully powered energy core. They take the alcohol out of the APC to make room for their new haul. Flea places the robot into the gunner seat.

They drive a little bit out of the abandoned city. Water is pooling and flooding the streets. They hear the rumbling coming in again, then it turns into a hovering with radio chatter. As they keep driving, it dissipates. As they drive towards Bastion, there are patrols on the roads and there is the occasional aircraft and airship. They see the rise of the huge city in the distance.

There is a purple beam of energy coming up from the central spire and they see towns that look advanced, with properly constructed buildings and better technology. They see slums outside of the main city.

The streets are dirt roads. After another half day of travel, they reach the front gates of Bastion. The gate is over three feet thick and it is heavily guarded with troopers and unfamiliar machines.

The party are halted by one of the guards. Jaxon is driving and is signalled to wind the window down. The guard greets him for a cargo inspection. They open the door of the APC. They ask if they are scrap sellers and Jaxon nudges Flea. The guard asks if he is mute. He goes through their salvage disinterestedly. Then his eyes perk up when he sees the robot and Leoric says it's a long story how he got it.

Jaxon is told it's a five rand charge. Leoric hands some rands over and the guard confirms the authenticity before pocketing it and lets them go. They start driving into Bastion.