The Iron Spire rises like a jagged tooth against the smog-choked horizon of the city. Thava scales the outer buttress, his talons finding purchase in the weathered mortar. The air here tastes of ozone and hot iron.
Thava Tymont
The ledger confirmed it. Garrick is inside, likely planning his next contract while my unit's blood still stains his conscience.
A silhouette detaches itself from the shadows of a gargoyle-studded archway. It is a tall figure in a scorched trench coat, eyes glowing with a faint, artificial luminescence. This is the Iron Warden.
Iron Warden 1
Stranger You are far from home, lizard. This archive is closed to the living, especially those who carry stolen cargo.
Thava Tymont
If he wants the ledger, he will have to pry it from my cold, dead hands. I didn't survive the foundry to be stopped by a glorified sentry.
The Warden draws a crackling shock-baton, the electric hum drowning out the distant city bells.
+ Scene Quest Added
Defeat the Iron Warden
“Tell him "you can keep your secrets. I only want Garrick's head"”
FAILURE (Poor Persuasion, rolled +0)
Thava Tymont
You can keep your secrets. I only want Garrick's head.
Stranger
Your pathetic vendetta bores me, dragon. You come here to beg for an audience with a ghost, and you offer me nothing but empty threats.
The Warden does not pause. He steps forward with unnatural speed, the shock-baton whistling through the air in a tight arc. Thava raises his weapon, but he is too slow. The electrified tip slams into his shoulder, sending a searing jolt of agony through his scales. His armor sparks as the current bites deep, throwing him backward against the jagged spire parapet.
Thava Tymont
My muscles are locked tight. If I can't find a way to deflect that baton, the next strike is going to put me over the edge of this roof.
Stranger
This ends now. Your interference is an inefficiency I will correct permanently.
“Is Iron Warden and Garrick the same person?”
EXCEPTIONAL NO (Likely, rolled 95)
The Stranger stands tall, his movements possessing a cold, mechanical precision that Garrick never possessed.
Thava Tymont
This is not the man I hunted; Garrick is a coward who hides behind coin, while this thing is a weapon forged for a master who is clearly not him.
“Do I know a secret passcode to make him stand down?”
NO (VeryUnlikely, rolled 52)
Thava searches his memory for any phrase or code that might halt the automaton, but he finds only a hollow silence. No such knowledge exists within his mind to influence the Warden.
“Can I precieve iron wardens weakness”
NO (Unlikely, rolled 66)
Thava scans the construct for a structural flaw or mechanical vulnerability, but the Iron Warden remains an impenetrable enigma of steel and cold logic. No weakness reveals itself to his desperate gaze.
“Use my wit and athleticism to disarm iron warden and turn his weapon on him”
Critical hit for 8 damage — Iron Warden 1 is down
Thava lunges, his teal scales blurring as he pivots around a stiff hydraulic hiss. He catches the warden’s wrist mid-swing, wrenching the shock-baton upward with a surge of draconic strength. The weapon arcs, the electrified tip burying deep into the construct’s primary chest relay.
Iron Warden 2
System failure. Critical integrity loss.
The machine shutters, sparks spraying like dying stars against the rain-slicked roof. Its metallic grip loosens, and the baton clatters against the stone as the Warden slumps, its internal lights flickering once before fading to black. Thava stands over the pile of inert scrap, his breathing ragged.
Thava Tymont
If I can tear apart a machine this easily, Garrick will be nothing more than a stain on this spire.
Quest Complete
Defeat the Iron Warden
Item Acquired: Shock-baton
“Finish off the other 2 iron wardens with the shock baton”
Critical hit for 3 damage — Iron Warden 2 struck back but missed
Thava swings the crackling shock-baton in a brutal arc, the heavy tip slamming into Iron Warden 2’s chassis with a shower of ozone and twisted metal. The construct staggers, its internal gyros whining in a discordant pitch as it collapses against the parapet, joints locking in a shower of sparks.
Iron Warden 3
Unit integrity... compromised. Requesting... immediate... repairs.
The Warden attempts a clumsy, desperate strike with its remaining arm, but the blow sails harmlessly over Thava’s head as the machine’s vision processors flicker and fail. Thava ducks, the stale air hums with the residual static of the weapon, and he feels the weight of his own exhaustion mounting.
Thava Tymont
This technology is failing, yet the archive’s defenses are only growing more aggressive.
“Find Garrick”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled +2)
Thava Tymont
The machine is blind, but Garrick is not. He’s counting on the sentry to finish me.
Thava ignores the sparking heap of scrap. His eyes, keen and piercing, sweep the rooftop. He ignores the parapet's edge and the open sky, focusing instead on the unnatural stillness near the main ventilation shaft. A shimmer of displacement, like heat rising off hot asphalt, betrays a silhouette huddled behind a rusted turbine housing.
Garrick
Stay down, you rusted bucket. Just one more pulse. Don't die on me now.
The mercenary leader leans forward, his hand hovering over a hidden detonator, his gaze locked intently on the smoking wreckage of the Iron Warden. He remains entirely unaware that he has been spotted. Thava shifts his weight, his teal scales scraping against the stone, ready to spring from his concealment.
Thava Tymont
Found you, coward. You won't have the chance to trigger anything this time.