The Danger Gang Finds The Forge Itself

Early in the morning, the Danger Gang rises from a restful night's rest, ready to return to Mt. Moseklos. They head back downstairs to the pit of lava where they first encountered the steel Automaton that bested them the previous day. Gershom puts down an electrical glyph and then they wait on the farside for the big guy to come crawling back. Martialis and Karl hide, and soon the big galoot tromps by them. He staps over the glyph and gets juiced; the juice slows him significantly. Kotrag steps in front of the Automaton and starts fighting defensively. As he draws blows, Karl and Marty attack the Automaton from behind. This classic pincer soon proves too much for the Automaton, and he falls. Karl pockets a few more gears, springs, and the like.

That taken care of, the return to the suspension bridge above the lava pit. Hush is able to locate the trap this time, and confirms their suspicions that it would cause the bridge to drop out. Karl hammers in a few spikes into the wall and ties them to the bridge. Then he ties himself off. Everyone else gets off the bridge and Karl opens the door. The bridge drops a few inches before the new attachments kick in. The bridge stands. Unfortunately, there's nothing behind the door; just a stone wall. What a waste of time and spikes.

They spend the next few hours searching for secret doors. After a little while Karl strikes gold and finds a hidden door leading to a dumbwaiter leading down. Once down they find a large room with with sixteen pillars made to look like beautiful ladies. There's also a large throne made of bronze. It is then that they heard a clicking sound coming from the east. They go to investigate. Down another hallway they find another Automaton. It seems to be all locked up though. Just keeps on clicking and making the same jerky little spasm. It also seems to have another robot strapped to its back; it looks like a little backpack. They look at it for little while, it's not going anywhere. Martialis casts Rock to Mud on the stone beneath it, and it sinks into the ground. They also cast an Augery to see what would happen if they try to pry the backpack parasite off and they get a weal. They leave it alone and keep pressing on.

They find a bedroom that's been long abandoned. Underneath the giant bed they find three gold sheets with some greek writing on them. They detail the process of building some kind of mechanical singing nightengale, but there seems to be a page missing. Gershom takes a rubbing and Karl pockets the sheets. They take a quick rest.

After that, they treck on to another room that's full of scrap metal. There's a torn up metal net and some kind of giant cart wheelchair thing. The wheelchair seems unremarkable until it attacks them. Gershom tries to befriend it, but the thing doesn't even have ears. They smash it. They dig through the pile of scrap and find another gold sheet, this one listing the spells needed to activate the mechanical nightengale. They also find a bunch of paper delivery tags, one labled "Drop Off at Antigathara". No one knows what that means.

Back in the hallway, they hear some giggling in the distance. They follow the sound of children's laughter to a room with a big lava pit. On an island in the pit below is a forge labled "Alathea". There's also a large mold, and behind the mold, a barrel that detects as magical. On the wall, written in iron, are the following motivational phrases:

• Father Zeus says you are the least of the three who fell from heaven - today you will show him he was wrong.

• It meant nothing - she doesn't really love him.

• Let's do our best today, and make some awesome machines!

• You are a very attractive man from the shoulders to the waist.

• You don't have to be crazy to work here - but it helps.

They all have a good laugh, but then they remember that there's is not the only laughter in this room. Capering and playing the lava is a half dozen Lava Babies. The gang decides they should cut out for a little while, what with those weirdo Lava Babies, but Marty wants to get a closer look at that barrel. He gets slowed, though. They shoot him with a fireball at him and laugh and laugh. Several of them have climb out of the pit and start beating up Marty. Gershom snags him and they run out of there. Gershom doubles back and tries to Abjure one of them, but it doesn't work. They decide to come back later when they they're better prepared.

They search through the hallways some more and fully explore the rest of the dungeon, barring any other hidden doors. All they find is a pink slip that reads "Thank you for your efforts here, why not try Ilerya?"

They search the halls some more for hidden doors, but to no avail. They go back to the bedroom and hit the sack for the night.