18th May 2006

The trek back to Sentinel Hill was pretty smooth until Tizgot and I noticed a strange mechanical clanking from the fields of an abandoned farm nearby. Our excitable little tinker ran off through the hedge to investigate, finding himself in front of two large tin scarecrows with scythe-like claws instead of hands. With no crops left to harvest, the pair of constructs turned and advanced on him. As Metrius and Dace ran to stand by his side he pulled out one of his grenades and was about to throw it when he noticed something wrong – “Hmm, isn’t this timer the wrong way rou…BOOOM!” It detonated, catching all three of them in the blast. I think that’s a 1-in-3 success rate for his devices so far, I must remember to keep little more distance from him in future.

Unfortunately things only got worse as the harvesters started grabbing us apparently at random and raked their cutting fingers across our backs before dumping us down again. After being wounded I managed to back off and unleash a blast from my blunderbuss at my attacker while trusty Abraxas leapt to my aid. Dodging its attempts to grab him he fought tooth and claw, ripping out wiring until it ground to a halt in front of us. After the initial shock wore off the others were also faring much better against the second golem, and Metrius dodged under one grasping hand and impaled his sword deep into the hest of the creature, leaving it motionless.

Getting back to Sentinel Hill the next day, Gryan Stoutmantle was pleased to receive the coded

letters and wanted to know if we were willing to continue the investigation. After some negotiation over compensation we agreed to investigate the Deadmines in Moonbrook, right in the centre of the Defias stronghold. A captive member of the Defias is going to lead us safely through the area to the mines in return for his life being spared; we’ll have to keep an eye on him that’s for sure. The plan is to scale the Daggerhills behind Moonbrook and then climb down onto the building next to the Deadmines entrance under cover of night. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, firstly, running into a quartet of Fleshrippers; large vulture-like birds feeding at the top of a hill. They flew to attack in a flurry of talons and beaks while we tried to retaliate with swords, crossbows, blunderbuss and grenade. Magick by both Tanavar and me was shrugged off repeatedly so it was left to Wendel, Dace, Metrius and Abraxas to kill the first. The death of one spurred the others and Dace was savagely cut down, Metrius almost joining him on the floor as chunks were ripped out of him. Wendel’s more measured, careful approach slowly paid off as my trusty Abraxas stood firm and took blow after blow until Tanavar could heal the others and they were able to return to the fight. Finally our weight of numbers started to tell and we proved victorious, a very hard earned victory indeed.

Index

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