Post
by waysoftheearth » Tue Mar 11, 2014 10:08 pm
Day 6
Strategy is discussed at great length, with two options evolving in parallel:
Gustave's strategy is to strike from behind at Hezmog, cutting them off at the head, as it were, and then--having toppled the enemy--to blaze a trail back to Ket.
But while Gustave is off looking for fair maidens, Desmond's strategy is discussed: that being to cut the enemy's line of supply at Gzum Atog, isolating the forces at Ket--and ideally drawing some of them back--leaving the line of retreat (to occupied Ket) open.
"I cannot say whether this be good or ill council," says Gallaine, "But I have sent word to the Autumn Queen requesting that reinforcements be lent here. I should expect news of this in the coming days..."
Ulric secludes himself to study his mysterious tomes.
Highbough continues to invest himself in the Gholum Manual, seeking a weakness he believes these automaton must surely have...
d6
...but once again his efforts lead only to frustration. The manual details the construction of a Decision Box which, he concludes, is what passes for the Gholum's "brain", although it is located in the torso cavity, adjacent to it's "heart"--a shard of the mountain's heart. The decision box is really quite a pitiful thing, and it is doubtful the gholum is any more sophisticated than a mule or bovine. It is inconclusive whether heating this component would adversely affect the monstrosity--in fact it is doubtful that the thing feels heat or pain--or anything else--at all.
The source of it's animation is the faint echo of life that remains to the shard of the mountain's heart... surely that must be the key?
Meanwhile, Armando spends his day spying over Highbough's shoulder, and catching glimpses of the manual as opportunity presents: d6=6 and during the day manages to get a good look at the manual without alerting the canny old elf...
| As a 3rd level thief, Armando is able to decipher the meaning of arcane ciphers and symbols without recourse to a magical spell: d6=2 | but alas! The text therein is dense and as meaningless to him as a ramshackle of old cobwebs. That Highbough can make any sense of it at all is a mystery.... perhaps he is faking it? The few diagrams he spots appear to be of the mathematical or engineering sort--not anything that Armando is chiefly schooled in.
He can glean nothing meaningful without proper access to the text for a good long study for there is no profit to be had in mere glimpses and snatches of the works therein...
[f=32]
Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak,
lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges;
torch[/f]