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[Quest Update — The Dollmaker's Error]

You have restored D4QP to full functionality, and he has repaid you by activating some of the castle's self-defense measures. The Mechanoborg Factory is active and agitated, and there may be dangerous surprises waiting for you in other areas as well.

(Lawlimi receives 70 XP)

(Damwise Gamgy receives 70 XP)

(Sashimibandit receives 67 XP)

(Silva Ravenwolf was too advanced to receive XP for this quest, the remainder has been distributed amongst her party)

The Dollmaker's Error II - Heroic Level 6

Survive the Factory's Guardians to make use of its treasures.

Reward — 2000 XP

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The Mechanoborgs that were still floating in vats began waking up and crawling free despite some of them missing limbs or other organs. The heavier constructs along the assembly line whirred and clanked as their engines warmed and steam slipped from their exhaust vents.

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Assembly Droid — Heroic Level 5

Nadir — Metal — Brown

(Body — (19,000/19,000))

These machines are used by wizards for various construction and assembly tasks. While not designed for combat, their tremendous strength and layered plating make them formidable opponents.

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Silva's sword was already spinning in her hand. "You three take the Borgs and I'll aggro the tanks. Shout out if it gets too hot."

Damwise hopped forward, drawing his long dagger. He hacked at D4QP, who blocked with his iron arm. Sashimibandit ducked and tumbled into a flank, striking from behind with a wooden sword.

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(Bokken deals 680 Slashing Damage)

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Lawlimi was out of his league. The other Mechanoborgs would be spawning in seconds, and any one of them could knock him out in a single hit. He made his way behind the tanks, staring at the pipes and wires that kept them functioning.

Silva was on the Assembly Droids before they were fully operational.

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(Furious Charge — Dire Blow — Flamberge deals 8023 Slashing Damage)

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Her sword carved into the head dome of the first droid, and she danced easily back from its response swing. Its hands were steel clamps, all four of them moving independently of one another. It also had four columnar legs, which made it look like an ogre riding a rhinoceros. Silva readied her weapon again.

Lawlimi started hacking at the support accessories for the vats, the pipes were too sturdy, but the wires and tubes were cuttable. Greenish gel oozed out of them, along with little static sparks. But it was too late, the other Mechanoborgs were piercing their membranes and stepping onto the factory floor.

D4QP had taken damage from both sides, (Body — 4890/6100) so he pivoted and backed through a gap between vats, briefly putting Damwise and Sashimibandit in front of him, taking a fully defensive stance. Sashimibandit had to turn at the new threat from the other Mechanoborgs. They were missing parts, unarmed, and groggy, but there were a lot of them.

Silva was doing hit and runs on the Assembly Droids. They were a trio, awkwardly trying to circle her as she led them back and forth around a conveyor belt, hacking notches in the shielding around their knees. She hadn't been hit, and her sword was taking on an orange glow to its edge. Her hair was long, her feet were light, and her eyes were wild. But confidence betrayed her when she came in low and nearly severed the leg she'd been working on. Sparks erupted, and the column wobbled, but she paused for a fatal moment to take in her success.

A clamp closed over her shoulder, and she jerked out of its grip into the arms of one of the other droids. It snapped a claw around her waist, and she slashed down through its wrist. The other three arms got a hold of her, taking away her ability to fight back.

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(Clamp Grapple Failure — 666 Crush Damage)

(Flamberge — Dismembering Blow — deals 2803 Slashing Damage to Assembly Droid 2)

(Assembly Droid 002 Grapple Successful — Silva is Held)

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Silva bared her teeth and yelled. "Radiant Glory Wolf Companion!"

The fur she wore as a cloak slipped free, red light animating and empowering it. In half a second there was a beast beside her, a wolf with teeth like rubies and eyes of topaz. It growled and clambered up the side of the Assembly Droid, opening its jaws wide to crunch into its head dome.

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(Glory Wolf Bite — Searing Heat — Targeted Strike — deals 900 Piercing/Fire Damage)

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The droid's single radial eye flickered, and it released Silva to try to seize its new attacker. That was all the opportunity she needed.

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(Burning Whirlwind of Searious Anger)

(Deals 2,060 Slashing/Fire Damage)

(Deals 1,840 Slashing/Fire Damage)

(Deals 2,570 Slashing/Fire Damage)

(Deals 2,176 Slashing/Fire Damage)

(Deals 1,570 Slashing/Fire Damage)

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The ability was meant to target multiple opponents, but because the droid was so large, Silva was able to direct her strikes at different parts of its body. It wobbled, nearly disabled, and when her wolf bit down on its faceplate again it went stiff, and ponderously fell over onto one side.

That left two more.

Sashimibandit was a good striker for his level, but though Damwise was technically more powerful, he hadn't focused on developing his combat abilities. He could handle Mechanoborg by himself probably better than Sashimibandit could, but they were surrounded.

As the fighting wore on, Lawlimi followed a stream of instructions from me. He used a shallow tin pan to collect gel from the still weeping vat tubes and brought it all to a worktable in the corner of the factory and pulled a few items out of his inventory.

Drissil cakes went into the pan with the gel and began to dissolve. The gel fizzled and fuzzed as it degraded the fungus, transforming it into a bleached emulsion. Lawlimi opened the small box with a silver cord he had pilfered from the catacombs. Inside were four cabochons, gems used for storing and discharging mana. There wasn't a glimmer of magic in any of them, so all four went into the pan with the fuzzy mush.

He picked up a rod wrapped in arcane markings and matched it with a pair of arches. All three pieces were forged from a rare and legendary material, Viridium, an alloy of orichalcum and ceruleum that was known for its for safely channeling mana. It looked like platinum that had somehow gone bad, veined and splotched with moss green marbling. Each of the segments was worth tens of thousands of gold lions.

Lawlimi had to attach the arches, so they became a full circle bisected by the ruined rod. For this purpose, there were ample rubber fittings that would have to be sealed with a heat treatment that Lawlimi didn't have the skill to undertake. After much finagling, he completed the circle and went to check on the cabochons, only one of which was charging properly.

"Can I speed this up?" he asked.

"Without Craft : Artifice, it's impressive that you've had even this much success. It's up to the game's randomizers and your unskilled status to determine whether it works and how quickly."

Lawlimi glanced worriedly toward his party. Sashimibandit and Damwise were fighting back-to-back, warding off six Mechanoborgs who had begun using debris and tools from the shop as makeshift weapons. Damwise was sweating heavily, but he was also humming a hearty tune that gave both of them a defensive bonus.

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(Hymn to Heroes — Duty (Rank 3)

You and your party members gain a 25% bonus to defensive actions and abilities as long as your song can be heard. 15% to revert an incoming Critical Hit into a normal strike.)

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They were holding their own, but the wounds they'd managed to inflict on the Mechanoborgs were mostly superficial. Silva had gambled her spiritual reserves on making a fast kill of Assembly Droid 002, and she and her companion were giving the remaining pair a run around while she regenerated her mana.

D4QP approached Lawlimi without aggression, walking within a couple of paces and eyeing the item he was assembling.

"A student of artifice."

"I'm thinking about taking it up," Lawlimi said, frustrated by his lack of ability and wary of the Mechanoborg. "Are you going to stop me?"

"Of course not, the factory is open to all the Maker's children."

"I appreciate that." Lawlimi was wrestling with a rubber joint that kept popping free. "Don't understand it, but I appreciate it. Since we're so friendly, why don't you stop attacking us?"

"I am not attacking you; we are dispelling the intruders."

"Stop?"

"Access denied."

"Worth a try."

One of the cabochons was completely charged, so Lawlimi fitted it in an indentation of the upper arch designed for that purpose. White electric lines snaked around the device, activating it as he gripped the runed bar.

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X-Cannon — Celestial Level1

Availability : Mythic Rare

Condition : Terrible

Damage : 20%/50%/120%

The X-Cannon is an artificer weapon of superior elegance and design. It transforms mana into pure destructive force without elemental affinity. It can be fired rapidly at reduced power or held until it attains its maximum payload and discharges automatically. The weakness of this device is in the quantities of mana it requires for use, and in its relative fragility.

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It was user-friendly, activated by a twist of the wrist, and released by reversing the motion. Lawlimi extended his arm and held the activation stance, watching as light fed from the cabochon into the arches and began gathering before his fist in coalescing balls of pure energy. It was yellow to begin with, then green, and finally royal blue. At that point, he could hold it no longer and the magic automatically released.

A massive fireball blasted ahead of the device and cut a straight line for the nearest Assembly Droid. They were big and slow, perfect targets, and yet Lawlimi's aim was so bad it was still a glancing shot. The fireball punched through its body plating, removing one of its primary arms at the shoulder. The X-Cannon, not properly fitted, shattered back into its constituent parts, cracking the cabochon and ruining the rubber fittings.

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(X-Cannon — Supercharge! — Lackadaisical Hit — Dismembering Blow — deals 9001 Force Damage)

(Lawlimi takes 100 Recoil Damage — Crippling Blow)

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The entire scene froze for a moment after the X-Cannon fired, a brief silence broken by Lawlimi's scream as he looked at the blackened ruin that had once been his hand.

Pain is dulled in Mystic Seasons to function as nature intended, a red flag, not a paralyzing agent. Even a disfiguring burn, though it would hurt, shouldn't have brought out the decibels l was registering. The neural blockers programmed into his net should have dimmed the agony to the level of a particularly bad sunburn. Certainly worthy of complaint, nothing to lose his mind over.

Lawlimi kept screaming.

The lull in combat was temporary. Damwise's humming faltered, and he took a hack on his shoulder that penetrated his long coat.

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(Hacksaw deals 420 Slashing Damage to Damwise Gamgy)

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He gave a surprised yelp and stabbed the offending Mechanoborg in the throat.

It went down gargling blood.

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(Critical Hit! — Short Sword deals 1,835 Piercing Damage)

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Damwise glanced at the bloodstain spreading on his shoulder and turned pale behind his beard.

"Ow," he said, confusedly. There wasn't an opportunity to contemplate what was wrong. The Mechanoborgs had closed in again, eyes glossy and uncaring as they stepped over their fallen comrade.

Silva beheaded 001, and she was using the wolf to flank the last Assembly Droid. The X-Cannon had given her the edge she needed to turn the duel around. A single Droid wasn't able to cope with her mobility, or the wolf nipping at its legs. Its clamps lashed out, closing on air, as her superheated sword hacked chunks of them away.

D4QP watched Lawlimi with concern. My friend was gasping on his knees, gripping his forearm just beneath his ruined hand and not bothering to wipe away the fluids that were leaking from his face. This problem baffled me because it shouldn't have existed. There were certainly ingredients for healing and anesthetics in the factory, as the Mechanoborgs were half flesh, but he wasn't in any condition to use them.

D4QP, however, was. The Mechanoborg noted Lawlimi's condition and set out to remedy it with decisiveness. He filled a syringe with Ghostflower Extract, which depending on its preparation could either be a deadly poison or a powerful analgesic, and with his other hand he picked up a tourniquet and a dramatic looking pair of ceruleum shears, sharp enough to clip an iron rod like a stubborn wisteria.

He stuck the syringe just below the blackened skin on Lawlimi's wrist, and the Ghostflower had an immediate effect. His breathing steadied, and he looked at D4QP with utter and unquestioning gratitude as the Mechanoborg applied a tourniquet to his forearm. His hand looked like a crab that had been attacked by seagulls before being held over a bonfire. The Mechanoborg lopped it off like he was pruning a bonsai. Lawlimi's eyes and mouth formed identical Os.

Sashimibandit drove his Bokken up into a Mechanoborg’s groin. It was a finishing blow, but he lost his grip on the weapon and was forced to dance away as the next one waded in. This left Damwise exposed, and they both broke into retreat between the vats, taking some bruises on the way out of the fray.

"By the gods," Damwise said, "this hurts more than it should."

Sashimibandit picked up a toolbox and threw it at the pursuing Mechanoborgs. "Are we poisoned? Did they poison our shit?" Then he noticed Lawlimi.

"He's killing him!" Sashimibandit put on a burst of speed and tackled D4QP, who was holding Lawlimi's hand, from behind.

They fell in a tangle, and Damwise turned to see the other Mechanoborgs only a pace behind him. There were four of them left, one crawling toward him without any legs. That one was the worst. His lower lip quivered.

Silva plunged her flamberge up under the plastron that covered the last assembly Droid’s stomach. Her wolf had the last clamp in its teeth. The big machine sparked and groaned but didn't fall. It just went still. She pulled out her blade, and the bright orange of its edge had cooled to a dull red. She was tired, and she ached in ways she did not associate with the game. A glance across the factory told her she was needed.

Damwise raised his dagger, shaking from exhaustion and pain, and watched as a red wolf appeared from nowhere to launch itself at the face of the lead Mechanoborg.

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(Glory Wolf Bite — Surprise Attack — In Your Face! — deals 1,250 Piercing Damage)

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The other three ignored it, coming for Damwise as he backed away, until Silva was among them, slashing wide arcs with her cooling flamberge. That left the legless wonder.

Damwise took a deep breath and inelegantly hacked at it with his short sword until it stopped moving.

D4QP rolled about with Sashimibandit, then pushed him off under a table, and came at him with the shears. Sashimibandit produced a knife from his sleeve, and it was promptly clipped in half as he worked himself into a sitting position, trapped under the table.

Lawlimi was staring at his hand where it lay on the ground, drugged and in shock.

"I'm very sorry about this," I said. "The X-Cannon isn't a standard item; I had no way to predict that kind of back-blast."

Lawlimi wasn't listening to me. He glassily observed that Sashimibandit was in trouble and lunged to save him. He equipped a gauntlet and plunged it into D4QPs neck. Or tried to.

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(Bladed Gauntlet deals 5 Slashing Damage)

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D4QP barely noticed, jabbing the shears under Sashimibandit's chin and clipping through his trachea.

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(Vital Strike! — Shears deal 1,540 Slashing Damage)

(Sashimibandit is BLEEDING)

(Sashimibandit is DROWNING)

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"No!" It's in the nature of the game for players to overreact to the simulated deaths of their friends and party members. It looks and sounds as real as the world they left behind when they logged in. In this case, for reasons unknown, Sashimibandit was experiencing the real pain of death, which added to the terror of the moment. So Lawlimi's distress was understandable, as well as fury with which he pulled D4PQ away from his friend and ineffectually stabbed at his machine and mortal parts alike.

The Mechanoborg listlessly pushed him off and retreated to the worktable. Lawlimi crouched by Sashimibandit and grabbed his shoulders for the lack of anything better to do.

"What have I got? How do I save him?"

Fair question, there were surgical instruments and alchemical ingredients in the factory, but magical solutions would require too much time and skill, and Lawlimi was still woozy from painkillers. We needed a simpler solution.

"Shove a clear plastic tube down his airway."

"What?!"

"Come with me if you want to live."

"That's not even appropriate right now!" Lawlimi remembered where there was spare tubing and ran to grab it, nearly falling in his haste, and trying to grab things with his stump. The spare was too long, so he slashed it in half and wrestled Sashimibandit's frantic hands away from his own throat.

"I'm helping," he said, "I'm helping!" Sashimibandit relented, out of strength and approaching unconsciousness when Lawlimi almost put the straw in the wrong place.

"Not there, adjust."

He did, and Sashimibandit started breathing, if barely.

Damwise let Silva finish off the Mechanoborgs, rushing to help. He looked askance at what Lawlimi had done, then produced a moss paste to apply to the hanging edges of the wound.

"An astringent," he said, "stops the bleeding." Then he pushed a bluish orb into Sashimibandit’s mouth and pulled the tube out of his throat.

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(Sashimibandit is DYING)

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"The Breathing Bauble will give us some time."

Sashimibandit was unconscious, and his Body continued to tick down into the negatives. The dwarf bustled with needle and thread and more pastes until his patient was stable and he'd laid him down on his side. Then he looked at Lawlimi.

"Pray tell, did you attempt a tracheotomy?"

"I don't know," Lawlimi said, and he didn't have to answer further, because a flamberge was abruptly at his neck.

"Don't move," Silva said. "Our messaging is cut off, but you keep talking to someone I can't see. And that," she tilted her chin toward D4PQ, "helped you. None of these mobs attacked you at all. What the fuck is going on?"

"He said the Maker's children are welcome," Lawlimi spoke carefully, feeling the cold edge of the blade and the throb of his missing hand through the painkillers. "I don't know what it means."

"Then who are you talking to?"

"It's a mod, like a personal Hollen. Told me how to put together the thing that blew up my hand. So, it's not that great."

"I don't trust you," Silva said, breathing hard and flushed with battle. She had a beautiful, barbarian face, her canines were sharp. "But you're not a threat either." She left the wolf to guard Lawlimi and went to confront D4PQ.

The Mechanoborg raised its notched metal arm in defense but made no other move.

"What the fuck was that about?"

D4PQ lowered his arm. "You are intruders. It is my duty to reject you."

"What about him?" The sword wasn't designed to be swung around in a workshop—she knocked over several metal canisters in the process of pointing it back at Lawlimi.

"He is one of the Maker's children. He is marked by the Maker's own True Words. To harm him would be sacrilege."

"Uh-huh. So where are these True Words, is that like a quest item or something?"

"They are not what can be gained. They only are."

"So, what now?" Silva flipped the sword into her baldric. "You going to try to kill us again?"

"Yes. If I can."

Silva whistled, and her wolf bolted away from Lawlimi and launched himself at D4QP. The Mechanoborg barely resisted.

"We're going to find what runs this place." Silva produced the blueprint and examined it as D4QP was mauled by her companion. "Then we can figure out this mysterious Maker stuff. It's probably part of how this zone works. One person gets marked for the purpose of the meta-quest; they can be the chosen one. It's fine."

Damwise was humming quietly to Sashimibandit, aiding his healing like he had aided their defense. Lawlimi gave him a piece of Drissil cake, and he accepted it wordlessly.

"You can tell them about me," I said to him, but he shook his head slightly. He carefully collected the pieces of the X-Cannon we had assembled and placed them in his inventory.

The wolf finished his work and returned to Silva. It suddenly lost solidity, becoming a fur full of red light, and wrapped itself around its master again, its head resting on top of hers as a hood.

Sashimibandit opened his eyes, already crying. "I tried to log out," he said. "I kept trying. And it hurt so bad. Like for real hurt. I don't want to play anymore."

"It's all right, Sash. You're not going to die."

"You don't get it!" His voice was shrill, and he seemed younger than he had before.