The Danger Gang Busts Into Hephaestus' Forge
While Karl dug diligently through out the night, he did not dig in to the roof of the dungeon. Martialis, the impetuous youth, has had enough of this, and leads the Danger Gang back to the door. He uses his Ring Of Weather Control to get a light drizzle going and then whips up a Call Lightening. He melts the big metal door with his first lightening bolt. Turns out the villagers knew what they were talking about; there was nothing behind that door but a bunch of rock. Marty shoots the rock with another lightening bolt out of spite. Amazingly, this blasts through to a tunnel. The work up a marching order and head inside.
Immediately to the right of their improvised entrance, they find a hidden door. "Whatever works, right?" says Marty, sheepishly. They begin looking around, but soon hear the pitter-patter of more mechanical foot steps. Two more copper Automatons come out of the hallway on either sides in a classic pincer. Marty casts a Trip spell through by his improvied egress, and it works like a charm. With these brutes on their stomachs, the gang makes short work of them, then returns to the tunnels. They find a trapped door that shoots steam leading to a room from which these robots most likely emerged. However, they find no place to continue their exploration, that is until they find a secret door concealing a flight of stairs.
They head down the stairs which leads to a long, upward sloping hallway. It turns out the door at the end of this hallway is trapped, and it will most likely unleash a large, crushing boulder. They muscle together all the rope they can find and tie it end to end, then tie one end to the door. Everybody goes to wait on the stairs, and Karl grabs the rope. Kotrag grabs Karl, as Kotrag can run much faster than Karl's tiny legs can carry him. How's that for comradery? Karl yanks open the door and a boulder comes rolling shooting out towards them. Kotrag picks him up and they make it to the stairs just in time. Marty had tried to make a little stop to stop the boulder, but luckily, no one counted on it, becuase that shit did not work.
They press on down this long hallway. It's getting warm in here. They soon find out why; there is a large pool of lava with a rickety looking rope bridge leading across it. There is a door on the other side of this bridge, and this door is trapped. Everybody is sitting there, trying to figure out what to do with this door, as the thieves were not able to succesfully remove the traps. It is then they hear more metal steps approaching. This time, the Automaton is made of steel, and seems to move much more nimbly than his copper associates. Karl charges at him, but is knocked out with one blow. The metal man also dispatches with Kotrag with alarming allacrity. Gershom steps up, but is soon in trouble, and Marty tells him to just lie down. Marty leads the robot out on to the bridge, and surprisingly, the bridge does not collapse beneath his girth. Marty changes into a bird and flies around him. He and Gershom pick up Karl while Kotrag picks up Hush and they run out of there.
Once out of the dungeon, they head back to town for some rest. As they lick their wounds, they discuss more effecient ways of fighting these metal men then straight up force of arms. The new and improved models will require new and improved tactics.
