Enter
You find yourself in a dimly lit, makeshift laboratory filled with bubbling potions, arcane tomes, and mysterious mechanical devices. The air smells of ozone and static, and the walls are lined with shelves heavy with curiosities and ingredients.
Someone has been using this area as a workshop. Recently, perhaps, but you do see some cobwebs forming.
Seems empty for now?
A large, intricate circle of runes glows faintly on the floor in the center of the room.
Encounter
If you came from Hall of Echoes…
Nothing in the encounter section applies to you.
Enthralled by all the strange and inscrutable objects in the room, you suddenly hear a crackle.
You stepped on the arcane circle, and now are surrounded by a network of pylons, linked by white hot sparks of chain lightning.
You’ve been Trapped!
Avoid
There are two ways to avoid this trap:
- If you have Heavy Plate Armor, you can roll a Battle Roll to try simply walking the arcs. Win: you stay grounded, and it works. Like a boss. Lose: it triggers.
- Jump over it? Roll your die. If it’s a
19or higher, you succeed. If it’s10or lower, take 1 damage from exertion. If it’s a1, you slip and the trap triggers. Try as many times as you like.
Disarm
You don’t think you can disarm this without a Toolkit. If you have one, there are 3 pylon mechanisms to Disarm.
Smash
It’s quite possible knocking one of the pylons over could break the circuit. Then again, it might explode.
Your timing has to be just right!
Roll a Battle Roll
- Win: you knocked over a pylon. If the difference is even, the circuit breaks. Otherwise, try again.
- Lose: The pylons explode, dealing
1d20damage. Then the trap triggers.
Trigger
Open only if the trap is triggered.
The pylons fizzle out, the circuit is broken.
The laboratory is still for a moment.
Then you hear a humming noise, as if the pylons were preparing for something.
Suddenly, all three fire wide beams of crackling purple energy towards each other. They meet, just paces away from where you stand, forming a nexus of arcane power. Right in front of your eyes, metal begins to materialize, cooling from its white hot formation as the beam works its way up. With a jolt, the pylons fire a final blast into their creation. Its cobalt eyes sputter to life, locking onto yours coldly.
It doesn’t want you here.
Arc-Light Automata 12HP
- Chain Lightning: If it would deal
10damage or higher, you drop your weapon. Picking it up makes your next roll Cursed. If you have the Polished Shield this is negated. - Machine Learning: Every time it loses a Battle Roll it gets
+1on future Battle Rolls. This stacks up to +10.
if you have a full Waterskin you can pour it on the Automata to make all your rolls Lucky AND disable all its special abilities.
Fighting the Automata dulls your weapon, if it was sharpened.
Resolve
Somehow, you’re still in one piece! Find a Clue:
You find some blueprints…
…for a massive harness, designed for some great creature. Was someone trying to tame The Beast? To what end? \You don’t see any matching apparatus around the lab, but you do find a relatively recent journal entry, from around three weeks ago. It’s titled: “Field Attempt No 1.” There are seemingly no entries after that.
Rest
You find a slightly expired health potion. It won’t last another day, but could heal you right now for 1d20/4 HP.