Guardian of the Labyrinth¶

2022-Oct-22

As Rulkorf trails off from reading the cabin guest book, Kleb takes it from him and start writing
The others all stand in dejected silence, before Rowan heads over to the nearest wall to try again to sense the nature of the runes of the wall. They don’t offer an especially clear answer, but they do provide him a quiet comfort
Kleb writes in the journal:

So, it looks like you’re trapped in here too. Listen, I know how you got in here: you or one of your party got succubus’ed by some wench . I think it’s now a solid moment for you to reconsider your ways and realize that simpin’ ain’t easy. Now I know that this may be hard to handle. Simping is all you know, the path of least resistance that you’ve been following for years. But perhaps your current situation has revealed to you the fallacy of this line of thought. If you are ready to change, embrace your true masculine self, and maybe make it out of this hell, take a long hard look in any of the conveniently located mirrors, and read through the pamphlet between these pages.
The lozenge gules welcomes you,
Kleb Fumpton

Rowan, Beezer, and Rulkorf finish off the drinks. Rulkorf tells spooky stories of some monsters he encountered on the open seas. Eventually they all turn in for the night
Kleb returns the book to its hiding spot with a pamphlet tucked inside. As the others tuck in for bed, the fighter takes the first watch. He inspects the blade he picked up earlier and comes to the conclusion that it was part of a scythe
Rulkorf takes the second watch
A ghostly elf, clad in flowing robes with a pointy wizard’s hat, appears before him
He wants to give offer some aid to the group: there is one room that looks empty but isn’t, with a stone floor. It holds the opportunity, as well as an obstacle, for escape. His party found this room, but they were all killed by the robed figure with many arms
His name is Hotan the Mystic. The elf suspects he lingers here as a divine punishment for abandoning his post and not aiding his friends
He doesn’t know who put the runes in the cabin or when.
He advises that they make a left when leaving the house, but they might regret coming face-to-face with whatever was in that room
Rowan doesn’t wake up from his dream so Rulkorf wakes up Oz for a shift
The rest of the night is uneventful
After enough time has passed that they are all rested, the group prepares to roll out
Kleb gives Oz his extra knife, and Rulkorf gives Beezer the glass staff
After one fork, the group arrives at a large open room, empty except for a central stone dais, which is sloped as if it were a lectern. With the spyglass and sitting on Kleb’s shoulders, Rulkorf sees runes and a symbol of a face with horns inscribed into the lectern. Kleb says the demonic visage reminds him of the Lozenge Azure
The group slowly advances into the room, with Kleb in the lead and Rowan tossing ball bearings to try and detect anything invisible
When Rowan steps onto the central square, the glowing runes appear to the naked eye in the common tongue:

If you’re here it means you’re worthy. Sadly, you’re not going to like what that means for you. Fool(s).

An iron maiden appears in front of Rowan and tries to shut on him, but the paladin nimbly rolls away. The others couldn’t see the trap, but Kleb gets shoved back by something invisible
A combination of tossed ball-bearings and narrowly-avoided traps let the vanguard narrow down the location of the invisible entity. Kleb strikes metal twice, and while he cannot see anything normally, the reflection in the mirror reveals a hulking, armored figure
The creature partially doffs its cloak, revealing a number of articulating metal arms, including a crossbow and a cannon
A pair of bolts miss Kleb but a cannonball strikes Rulkorf square in the chest, unfolding into a set of metal bands that grapple him. He teleports away to escape the binds and readies a spell
Oz pulls Beezer as the two rush to put some distance between themselves and the enemy. Beezer launches a few magic missiles during the retreat
Rowan charges in and lands a few solid swings on the construct, as does Kleb, which cleanly cleaves off one of the hands. The construct counterattacks both of them with even more sharp appendages and clears some space
Rulkorf clutches his obsidian shard and lets loose primal energy as a geyser of roiling earth and stone erupts under the construct and the surrounding floor
Beezer and Oz repeat their maneuver to get to a safer distance. Rowan backs off, sets his feet, and conjures his spiritual mace to bludgeon the enemy
Kleb calls out tactics for the others, doing some battlefield management, before heading into the churned section to attack once again
The construct briefly turns invisible with a toss of its cloak and dashes through a mirror, rocketing out from another mirror behind Rulkorf. He slams into the dwarf, sending him flying and in much worse shape. The construct reveals a new set of arms from under its cloak and fires more projectiles at Rulkorf and Rowan
Rulkorf heals Rowan slightly before taking cover and transforming into a black bear, as Oz charges into the fray
Kleb tries to pass through a mirror so he can get closer to the construct, but he find himself spit out on the far side of the room. He steps through again, with more focused intention, and emerges behind the construct. Unfortunately, the machine’s attack launches him back through the mirror
The construct sees Oz in the open and ensnares him. In addition, it tries to melt Rowan with some greenish liquid but fails to land a hit
Bearkorf severs the cable grappling Oz with his jaws, and follows it up with a claw swipe on the construct’s body. Beezer follows up with another salvo of missiles, yelling out in concern for Oz
Rowan turns his attention to the glowing lectern and tries to damage it with his spectral mace, while the paladin himself rejoins the attack on the construct’s body
Not discouraged at all, Kleb jumps back through the mirror and cleaves off the sickle arm from the robot. Having noticed the superior durability of the construct and the effectiveness of slashing attacks, he turns the arm back on the machine and cleaves a hole in its torso. A faint glow shines from the hole
A heavy repeater emerges from underneath the cloak and blasts Kleb point-blank, but the arm damages itself in the process. Its tail whips around, striking the party trio and pushing them back
Rulkorf uses his claws to further rend the construct’s armor, exposing a section of a glowing blue energy core at its center. Oz and Rowan strike it as well
A heavily injured Kleb limps around to get a better angle, and loose a crossbow bolt at the construct. The bolt flies true, weaving between Rowan and Beezer, and strikes the power core of the machine, shattering it. As the construct grinds to a halt, a wave of blue energy pours out of it, washing over the room.
Simultaneously, all the mirrors crack, splinter, and shatter