Chapter 6: Is Morality Optional?

Forming a Plan (summary)

  Waking up the next day, the team is ready for action. Kiara casts Dispel Magic (3rd level spell) to unlock the door. They charge through the facility, encountering 5 lockdown strongholds. They wipe the floor with the first one, then repeats this attack process until all strongholds are wiped out, freeing all the magical creatures & humanoids, gaining 50 Goultani energy cylinders, and earning 6,750 XP. The group commandeers a military transport carriage and loads it up with their inventory, leaving enough room inside for 8 creatures. Kiara bonds with a Woodtrot Elephant (smaller member of the elephant family, but still Large & adapted to moving through woodland environments). She convinces it to join them on their journey with a successful Animal Handling check, exciting Haku. She takes the reins and they ride off, but not before Viko casts Infernal Buzzsaw (4th level spell) to cut through the foundations of the castle, dealing 54 fire damage & collapsing much of the castle in a 100 ft radius. Haku and Kiara take turns navigating, giving the whole group a chance to Short Rest and expends 2 Hit Dice to fully heal. Along the road, two spies attempt to report the stolen vessel, but are detected by Kiara and killed by Nyrus through an artillery hole.   While still undetected by the Grettanian Military, the group discusses their options. Viko points out that raiding military outposts is fun, but Hana points out that even with their skills, their enemy will eventually catch on and beat them before they make any significant damage to the empire (she seems somewhat disinvested with this point, as if she’s not referring to herself in the comment). Nyrus complains that while this path has provided him with many kills, it hasn't provided him with much in the way of direct coin. When he recommends selling the energy cylinders, Kiara & Haku immediately object on moral grounds, but for different reasons; while both believe that the energy was once the lifeforce of other creatures and should be respected, Kiara also doesn't want powerful magic like this to be let loose in the markets, whereas Haku doen't care about that (he also seems a bit more disinvested than before, but still his cheery self). Nyrus suggests offloading them to the right person then, as travelling around with such volatile treasure is dangerous. Hana agrees, as she has studied it thoroughly alongside Nyrus. Nyrus recommends Dr. Nizbon, a mad scientist that he's done work for in the past that is anti-government & selfish enough to keep the energy cylinders from the wider economy. Kiara protests that a mad scientist is the perfect example of the wrong hands, but Nyrus tells her to get past her black-&-white view of the world and its people, pointing out that by her logic, he & Viko are bad people due to their lines of work (assassin & gladiator). Surprised at such an insightful retort from Nyrus, Kiara relents, setting a course for Nizbon's Hill (four days travel).  

A Bump in the Metaphorical Road (script)

  The gang rides in their stolen war carriage, pulled by the Woodtrot Elephant they saved from the compound. Once they are upon the day of arrival, Kiara convinces the elephant to continue straight on the road until they direct otherwise, returning to the group inside. Haku pipes up, “Now that we are gathered, Hana and I have something we wanted to discuss.” “Ooh it’s serious time is it? Whatcha got Hawk?” Viko interjects, earning both a chuckle & annoyance from Haku. He speaks lowly to Hana in Seregan, then continues.   “So like, this quest to free Grettania from tyranny has been great and all, there’s definitely some more ground for us to cover here. But we’re on our honeymoon and planning to wander Dalterran lands for a while, and while we’ve got nothing against taking lives when necessary, we weren’t expecting this much wanton violence.” Kiara thinks on this, remembering the centaurs, the treants, the sea monsters and their raid of that abhorrent castle. Hana chimes in.   “What we’re saying is that we hope to cross paths again in the future, but after we offload the goods to Nyrus’ friend, we’re gonna head back on our travels.” Viko is surprised by the sudden assertiveness, smirking in respect. Nyrus glances over briefly, but otherwise tinkers with his Lightning Hilt (check Chapter 5 to see if he already did something with this). Kiara’s face passes through betrayal, sadness, then understanding in a manner of seconds, without a word. Finally, she speaks up.   “I understand. This quest has tremendous risks, and has been MUCH bloodier than I wanted.” She glances over at Viko & Nyrus as she emphasizes this.   “Yep, that one’s definitely on me!” Viko excitedly exclaims, “Me and Broody!”   “I caught you angrily punching rocks this morning,” Nyrus grumbles in retort. Kiara seizes the moment to finish.   “Anyway, your terms work for me, I have no real care for money so take as much a share of the proceeds as you think you deserve.” She pauses for a moment, seemingly to collect herself. She then continues, “Since we’re on the subject, are you both still on board?”, staring directly at Viko & Nyrus.   “Hey, I’m just here to kill Garen, that fucker doesn’t get to put a low-budget hit out on me,” smirking at Nyrus as he says it to an annoyed scowl, “and continue breathing afterwords. As for the tyranny part, I hate authority and will gladly tear it down along the way!” Viko stands & shouts. Kiara takes brief comfort in this response, if not a little off-put by the excitement for murder.   “I can work with that,” Kiara breathes, smiling at Viko tenderly, right through to his soul. “What about you Nyrus?”   Unlike Viko’s enthusiastic socialization, Nyrus remains aloof, seemingly lost in thought. Kiara instinctively prepares to read his mind, but remembers the last time she did it to Viko and thinks better of it. Unbeknownst to her, Nyrus’ head is racing with devastating trauma, seeing flashes of his village burned down by a pyromaniac warlord, training with warrior monks on top of a mountain, and donning the armor/killing an unseen individual with passion. Finally, he looks to her, having heard her question from the end of a tunnel, and responds coldly.   “I’ll perform any stealth and assassination work your mission requires, taking a favorable cut of the proceeds we acquire. Beyond that, I won’t promise anything.” The rest of the crew is silent, not surprised but still off put. Kiara casts Empathic Sense (Warian cantrip) and feels the pain behind his words. After a moment of being aback, Kiara comes back to the moment.   “Fair enough, hopefully with emphasis on stealth.” Kiara then returns to her seat, after quickly thanking both of them. Haku chimes in.   “Don’t worry girl, you three are one of the most formidable trios I’ve ever fought beside, you’ll have no problem taking down an empire!” Hana looks to her life partner with amused confusion, wondering if he was being sarcastic or not. Kiara feels the genuineness in his words through Empathic Sense, smiling softly at him, but frowning in worry when she looks away from everyone.  

Nizbon’s Hill (summary)

  Nyrus takes the reins once the group arrives at a certain point, stating that its off road from here. The tiger stags pull the carriage through the woods for a bit, but Nyrus releases them and tells everyone that they must proceed on foot. Viko carries the pallet of 50 Goultani cylinders over his head, easily carrying them but barely moving through the narrow forest gaps. Nyrus leads the group, but Haku & Sergeant Jaguar follow their naturally tracked trail from the trees. Haku also ensures that they don’t leave a trail to be tracked. While trekking for about an hour, Hana & Kiara walk together, both deftly moving through the foliage as naturals. Hana notices Kiara’s distracted worry.

Hana & Kiara (script)

  “I know what you’re thinking; you don’t think you can do this with just the boys at your side. Believe me, I get that sometimes.” Hana chimes in, chuckling slightly as she glances over at Haku & Sergeant Jaguar, but stops when she remembers the mood. “Look, I hope you know that our decision wasn’t personal-“   “It’s ok, really.” Kiara interrupts, surprising Hana. “We never intended to pluck you two from your honeymoon, and I DEFINITELY prefer any Dalterran country over Grettania right now. All I’ll miss is having another girl in the group.” Both girls chuckle together for a bit, before Kiara chimes in again. “It’s just that the deeper we get, the less I know what to do about it all. I’ve never done anything to this scale before, and I’ve had my master or fellow Warians at my side to face everything that’s come close. But without the backing of the Collective, I don’t even know where to begin.” Hana takes this in, realizing how lost Kiara will be without the happy couple. She tries to reiterate her confidence in the druid, but Kiara’s Empathic Sense picks up the lie. Hana earns a soft, disapproving smirk from Kiara, which quickly melds into a worried frown as she looks forward into the woods.  

The Hill (script)

  The gang arrives at the base of a nondescript hill. Nyrus stops them abruptly, then issues his command.   “The entrance is at the top of this hill, but follow my lead EXACTLY.” Nyrus announces before immediately taking off. The group makes Acrobatics checks to follow (Nyrus 30, Viko 13, Kiara 12, Hana nat20, Haku 18), with Viko & Kiara struggling a bit. Towards the top, Kiara gets her act together and deftly makes it (nat20), while Viko slips up and activates a Stovetop Trap from below. However, even with the cylinders on his back, Viko musters his strength and leaps out of the trap’s flames (nat20 Dex save), taking only 8 fire damage. After making it to the top, Viko glares at Nyrus.   “A warning would have been nice, you’re lucky I’m basically fireproof.” He grumbles.   “I said follow my lead EXACTLY, didn’t I?” asks Nyrus, who can’t help but chuckle as he says it. “Regardless, Nizbon will know we’re here now, his traps are VibroNet-linked to each other.”   “You seem to know a lot about this guy’s setup for just being a client.” Haku questions. Hana & Kiara agree with their glances. Nyrus doesn’t respond, instead staring at a cluster of rocks at the top of the hill.   “Soooo, where’s this entrance you were talking about?” Viko asks. “Not that this is heavy or anything, but it wouldn’t be too upsetting to offload it soon.” As he finishes his thoughts, a deep rumbling emanates through the hill, centered on the rock cluster. The rocks slowly levitate into the air, clearing an opening that was cleverly hidden below. Without another word, Nyrus looks to his crew and starts walking down the hole. It’s certainly tight, but with some sleight of hand maneuvering, Viko gets all the cylinders down with him.  

Meeting Dr. Nizbon (summary & script)

  The gang moves down this small, dark tunnel. Kiara leads behind Nyrus, grabbing a small twig and casting Druidcraft on the tip to create a small candle. As they crawl, a voice reverberates through the walls.   “Well well well, look what the winds blew in. I wasn’t sure you’d ever come back to my little hole.” It says, seemingly directed towards Nyrus. The gang looks confusedly at Nyrus; Kiara casts Empathic Sense and can feel Nyrus’ mixture of embarrassment and relief. “And you brought friends- scratch that- you MADE friends?! Who are you and what have you done with the real Nyrus?”   After this joke, the walls rumble a bit; Haku quickly reacts to stabilize them, but finds that they have stopped as quickly as they started. Light radiates from the cracks formed, followed by the voice, “Oh don’t you worry, I merely wish to provide light for my esteemed guests, unless you’re holding Nyrus hostage. In that case, I’ll start dispersing the poison gas.”   Finally, Nyrus shouts, “Enough Nizbon, it’s me! Now let us through unhindered or you’ll find my latest inventions deep within your throat.” (12 Intimidation check). Nizbon cackles as the group crawls towards the brightest light, at the end of the tunnel. They finally poke through and are met by the face of a geeky Rock Gnome, or at least part Gnome. He almost looks, Halfling, as well?   “Ohohoho welcome WELCOME my friends, Nyrus I knew it was you I just KNEW IT!!” Nizbon exclaims as he jumps into the air, immediately caught and propelled by a fire-spitting wing contraption on his back. He flies up to Nyrus and gives his a firm, neck-choking hug, earning chuckles from Viko & Kiara at a visibly uncomfortable Nyrus. Nizbon takes notice and immediately flies over to Viko, this time out of arm’s reach. “Ooooh? A man cannot enjoy affection with another man without snickers, and who might you be to judge?!” Nizbon says, shifting between joking eccentricity and unhinged anger. Viko is stunned for a moment, not sure how to backtrack and correct his implication, when Kiara chimes in.   “Apologies, I take it you are the man we’re looking for, Nizbon?”, she says.   “That’s DR. Nizbon to you ma’am, and don’t you forget it!” Dr. Nizbon retorts with serious conviction, but quickly chuckles. “Do not worry, I kid I kid! Come come, I’m sure you travelled some distance to get here yeah?”.   He lands with notable sputters from his device, grumbling that its still not at full efficiency. He then invites the group into his lair, which is full of gadgets, blueprints & beakers galore. They each introduce themselves, with Haku & Hana showing hesitation about revealing too much. Kiara takes notice, but does not press them. Viko, however, spills everything, explaining their journey & the Goultani cylinders.   “Yeah, we took down an entire castle of Grettanusses to get these cylinders, and it won’t be long before I crush Garen’s head between my hands.” He exclaims pridefully.   “Ohoho Knightlord Garen, eh? He’s already got a lot of enemies, so for a task like that, you may have to get in line. The execution line that is! HAHAHAHA!!” Dr. Nizbon bellows in laughter, stopping in place as he amuses himself. Nyrus has his forehead resting in his open fist, both embarrassed & frustrated. Haku, Hana & Kiara laugh at this objectively hilarious scene, while Viko half-laughs and half-scowls.   “Look Nizbon, do you want these cylinders or not?” Nyrus impatiently asks, shutting off the vibe of laughter. “We have our own things to do and we need coin, figured you’d be the best pick for these scientific treasures.” Dr. Nizbon looks at Nyrus inquisitively for a moment, then chimes in with feigned seriousness.   “Ok Nyra, tell you what. I’ll buy ‘em all, full price. No friends or family discount, I’m more than willing to support your anti-Garen task force. All I ask in return is that you at least stick around for dinner, is that too much for an old gnome to ask?” (Nat20 Persuasion). Nyrus sighs and relents, much to the excitement and intense curiosity of the group.  

A Week of Wonder

After dinner, the gang & Dr. Nizbon begin the sale, while Sergeant Jaguar roams the woods outside, understanding how to avoid the hill traps thanks to a 15 Animal Handling check from Haku. Dr. Nizbon examines the cylinders and determines them to be worth at least 700 gp a pop, offering 35,000 gp in total. In awe at the price tag, Kiara insists on taking less to immediate protest from her group. The Rock Gnome assures them that he has plenty of funds to spare; he’s sold many of his basic creations to private parties, keeping a steady income to fund his operations. This gives Kiara pause, who yelled to Nyrus, “I thought he could be trusted to keep it out of the wrong hands!”   “Nononono I can assure you, my vetting process for buyers is quite secure, they’re MY creations after all! Can’t have some amateurs or punks out there with them. Or better yet, anywhere the government could get their hands on it!” Kiara sees through his Deception and tries to call off the sale. Nyrus immediately interjects.   ”Dammit Kiara, we are so close to achieving our goal here, now isn’t the time for your moral quandaries! Do you want to save this stupid country from tyranny or not? You need money to do that, and I’m only in this for money anyway. You want my help in this battle? Then get out of the way and let this happen!” Nyrus yells with more conviction than he ever has around the group, leaving everyone silent. Kiara doesn’t even need Empathic Sense to feel the anger coming off him, and also feels the true threat of losing another fighter for her cause. Hana glares at Nyrus, truly empathizing with what her mission means to her. Viko & Haku, previously joking around, gaze seriously at the conversation, with Viko ready to jump in if needed. Feeling the pressure of the room on her, Kiara finally relents.   ”Fine, you win. 35,000 gp for the canned lifeforce of innocent Hythenosian animals recovered from a government-sanctioned hellhole. I hope that you can feel their last moments as you drain the power from each & every canister. Or better yet, maybe the criminals you sell to will drain its power from some horrible weapon that feeds on the misery of their final hours! Why not, right?” Kiara shouts, losing her hinges for the first time in front of the group. Viko and Hana both start towards her, but she continues, “I mean, that’s not worse than slaughtering droves of people in a day, or killing innocent creatures of the forest because they were rightfully afraid of us, so I’m sure it’ll be fine!” Hey Doctor, did you happen to sell a man-made stormship to one of your clients? Because guess what? That one really works! Well enough to nearly level an entire port town of innocent civilians!!” She screams this with the most conviction she’s ever had around the group, sending ripples of psychic energy throughout the room as she enunciates with tears welling up in her eyes. The group is silent; Viko bears his first outward expression of guilt for how much pain his actions have indirectly caused her, Hana & Haku show guilt for their dismissal of her mission’s importance, & Dr. Nizbon shows guilt when he realizes that stormship WAS his product. Nyrus remains silent, experiencing more flashes of traumatic memories with each of Kiara’s words (she unintentionally cast Trauma Wave on Nyrus in her emotional state). Finally, Dr. Nizbon breaks the silence.   “I... did not know my Stormship had been used for that calamity, I’m so sorry. I will reevaluate my sales processes. In the meantime, I can draft an arcane contract of conditional sale for these cylinders. I pay you 35,000 gp and swear to not sell or make any profit on their direct outputs in association with known or credibly suspected criminal enterprises. I will also offer any help I can for your mission, including access to my laboratory for whenever and as long as you need. Are these terms agreeable?” Kiara looks to him, holding back her tears, and feeling some emotional reprieve through her powers. She calmly looks to Nyrus, then the group, then finally at Nizbon.   “I agree, thank you for your generosity Dr. Nizbon. I apologize for my unprofessional behavior. Nyrus, you can take it from here.” Kiara calmly, but somewhat coldly, responds. She leaves the room, not in a hurry, but not slowly either. The gang completes the sale, with Nyrus taking his 7,000 gp share, while Viko, Haku & Hana contemplate how much they should take. Nyrus scoffs and heads off, clearly shaken up by this whole experience. Meanwhile, the trio agrees on the breakdown as a surprise to their friend; Viko takes 5,000 gp, the couple takes 5,000 gp total for themselves and leave 18,000 gp for Kiara & the mission.   In the following week, the gang performs the following downtime activities:    

Nyrus

• Bladed Longbow - The bow shaft now operates as two retractable blades on each side of the center mechanism. The string is entirely energy-based and channeled through the weapon similar to how Lady Zaeta used the lightning hilt. Still uses explosive arrow tips, The whole design is a combination of the lightning hilt and his existing long bow, when not firing arrows the long bow can be retracted from arrow duty to be used as a double sided short sword. Constructed with advice from Dr. Nizbon
• Scope Goggles: doubles range of ranged weapons and removes disadvantage from long range attacks; gives disadvantage on melee attacks while being used
• Enhanced grapple blade range: 200/500 ft
• Enhances storage space on inner arm for shurikens, with two draw chambers on each arm for different style shurikens. Allows significantly easier draw time, justifies Nyrus’ current draw speed of 4 shurikens per attack action

Kiara

  While the others use the lab, Kiara retreats into the woods, meditating in the trees on her recent actions & ventures. Throughout the days, she does the following things:

• Communicates with her mentor and vents about her current struggles with the mission. Master Dreshu (her mentor’s name, a Warian Archdruid) offers his condolences for her troubles, as well as his direct support if she desires. However, she doesn’t want to fall back into a master-apprentice role again, as it would disprove the point that she’s ready to lead a peace mission on her own. As an alternative, Master Dreshu encourages her to reach out to Aelsor, the Warian Whisper that she met, for information on places they could strike or find more resources. However, she must be careful not to reveal too much of her mission to Whispers outside of Aelsor, as they might be in deep cover operations or other situations where your information could or must be used to bargain.
• Draws on the magic of nature to prepare new spells. She swapped Spider Climb for Trauma Wave, since she unintentionally casted it on Nyrus. She also swapped Dispel Magic for Call Lightning, since she knows that despite her feelings against violence, it would be useful in a pinch. She swaps Goodberry with Cure Wounds, remembering how she ran out of healing spell slots earlier. Finally, she swaps Giant Insect with Wrath of Nature, believing she’ll need the stronger allies the spell provides.
• Meditates in the trees to search deep within herself, pondering the moral dilemma of whether blood should be spilled for their cause. Through her search, she spiritually bonds with the life of the forest. She also detects a human village in a woods a few miles away, bonding with the lives of its people as well. At the end of the week, it is this bond that alerts her to dangers the people face.

 

Haku

• Retreats into the woods with Jezza (the jaguar) and patrols diligently, practicing his Garonis magic in this new terrain. He learns Earth Tremor (replaces Hail of Thorns) & Geostrength (replaces Conjure Barrage), and gains a strong connection to the forest. At the end of the week, it is this bond that alerts him to a dangerous mercenary group that is hunting them in these woods.
• During his week, Haku contemplates Kiara’s feelings on this mission and whether he and Hana should remain a part of it.

Hana

  Unlike her partner, Hana is enthralled by Nizbon’s magic laboratory and immediately gets to work on several things:

• Pouch of the Open Sea: using her component pouch, her waterskin, a mystically malfunctioning Bag of Holding she found in Nizbon’s rejected project storage, and her innate Garonis connection to the ocean, she creates a new component pouch for her spells. This pouch connects directly to Gaion’s seas, giving her access to endless amounts of water & any components she could reasonably find in the ocean (attunement required, must roll successful Nature or Survival checks when using it until you succeed three times). The pouch resembles clumps of sea life woven together.
• Helps Dr. Nizbon with his understanding of hyrdokinetics, who in turn helps her understand how to use energy to destabilize or alter density of matter. In this case, she could use energies harnessed in the brewing process to suspend her magicks within a potion, only being released when the potion/poison is used.
• Poison of Fleshmelt (2): 1d20+10 to hydrokinetically attack. DC 18 Constitution saving throw or target is transmuted into a liquid puddle of organic matter. While in puddle form, the target is resistant to bludgeoning, piercing & slashing damage from nonmagical attacks, and is vulnerable to fire, lightning & cold damage. The target can repeat the saving throw at the start of each subsequent turn, using their Action or Movement (player’s choice) to reconstitute if they succeed. If the target is hit by either of the damage types it is vulnerable to, they will reconstitute after taking the damage, but will have disadvantage on attack rolls for the first turn after reconstituting..
• Potion of Stimulus (2): immediately evaporates in natural conditions (once released from it’s beaker and/or Hana’s control), spreading gas in a 20 ft AoE radius centered on it’s release point. Hana can control this gas with her Garonis magic, directing it to chosen targets instead of everyone if she chooses. Anyone inhaling the gas gains advantage on attack rolls & Dexterity saving throws for 1 minute

Viko

  Viko shows great excitement and works to refine his arsenal while here, crafting or improving several weapons. He also learns new spells, thanks to scientific & practical training from Nizbon & Nyrus. Unknowingly, but innately, he also unlocks a demonic ability that has only surfaced sporadically until now.   Weapons:

• Brutal Longsword: 1d8 / 1d10 slashing, thrown range 15/45 ft in a spinning motion. Can be called back to Viko on the same turn by traveling the exact distance it was thrown.

 

• Dense Morningstar: 1d8 / 1d10 bludgeoning or piercing, thrown range 10/30 ft in a headfirst motion. Can be called back to Viko on the same turn by traveling the exact distance it was thrown. Due to its weight, Viko must succeed on a DC 18 Strength saving throw to catch the weapon, dropping it upon failure and ending his turn. If he crit fails, he takes 1d10 bludgeoning damage. Time & training with his new power may relieve this limitation in the future. Any opponents in the weapon’s flight path must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d10 bludgeoning damage.
• Versatile Shield: +3 to AC, 1d6 bludgeoning, thrown range 20/60 ft in a spinning motion. Can be called back to Viko on the same turn by traveling the exact distance it was thrown.
• War Bident: 1d8 / 1d10 piercing or slashing, reach 10 ft, thrown range 20/60 ft in a javelin motion. Can be called back to Viko on the same turn by traveling the exact distance it was thrown. Due to its proportions, it flies back in a spinning motion. Viko must succeed on a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw to catch the weapon, dropping it upon failure and ending his turn. If he crit fails, he takes 1d12 slashing damage. Time & training with his new power may relieve this limitation in the future. Any opponents in the weapon’s flight path must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d12 slashing damage.

  Magic:

• Demonic Weaponsmaster: you can telekinetically command any weapon that you have touched before. If you can see it and it is not being held by a creature, you can make a DC 10 spell attack roll to command it. If it is being held, you can make a spell attack roll contested by their Strength saving throw. If a magic weapon requires attunement to use all its features, you can use its features without attunement. You must still meet the other requirements the magic weapon may have for use.
• Replaces Scorching Ray with Antivision

Dr. Nizbon

    Dr. Nizbon uses his new energy cylinders to complete his inventions, collectively referred to as Niztech. Despite being a pioneer in sustainable energy science, he has never been innately strong with the Goultani Gaioforce. However, he has enhanced his weaker connection with his mind and artificers skills, crafting several magitech creations beyond what most people could understand. Throughout the week, Nizbon creates the following magitech inventions (permanent, non-infusions):

• Firefly WarSuit: draws solar, wind & heat energy from the air it flies through, wired with energy from the cylinders and controlled by Dr. Nizbon’s magic. Allows for enhanced durability (18 AC ) & agility (expertise on Dexterity saving throws & Acrobatics checks), as well as a 50 ft flight speed via fairy wings propelled by fire.
• The ELATAN (Elephantine All-Terrain Armored Navigator): an advanced, magitech walker resembling a Woodtrot Elephant. The vessel is equipped with a 6-passenger body, full armor, four legs, and a cockpit shaped like an elephant head. Dr. Nizbon’s control board in the head is high specialized and can only be communicated with through certain Gnomish instructions that only Nizbon knows. The trunk & tusks can function to move heavy cargo or obstacles, the roof is built with solar-absorbing metal drawn into a heat funnel directly to the Heat Battery, and the undercarriage is hooked up to a Kinetic Generator, which helps sandwich the Heat Battery with thermal energy from the other side. The Kinetic Generator draws kinetic energy from its surroundings and pushes special turbines to generate heat or electrical energy, while the Heat Battery draws thermal energy from any source it can. The battery operates with 100% heat efficiency, since it can draw back the heat/energy loss from the tech that uses its power. The cockpit also has a built-in VibroNet Receiver, allowing him to keep a steady information flow.

After completing his prized projects, Dr. Nizbon turned to his preferred infused items, settling on several:

• Turbine Blaster: draws in heat & wind to generate a blast of Goultani energy, firing at a 30/90 ft. Spell attack roll to hit, 1d12 radiant damage.
• Gale Grenade: shaped like a spherical explosive, this item releases a concentrated wind storm in a 40 ft AoE, then compresses into the epicenter upon completion. Anything caught in its radius must make a DC 19 Strength saving throw or get sucked in, taking 3d10 force damage. Grenades reform upon this compression, but must be recharged by a 5-6 1d6 before being used again.
• Targeting Leech: Thrown range 20/60 ft, one target, Bonus Action. If hit, your next shot has advantage and you don’t require line of sight to hit them.
• Electrobolas: Thrown range 20/60 ft, one target. If hit, target makes DC 19 Constitution saving throw or falls prone. Must be recharged by a 5-6 1d6 before being used again.

The Danger Ahead

  While the gang gears up at Dr. Nizbon’s lab, we see a mercenary group searching the woods by the road the gang pulled off on. Frustrated that the trail has disappeared, the Wood Elf Ranger among them shows annoyance and confusion. A Bog Elf Druid states they must merely look harder, as Knightlord Garen has offered too high a price for them to fail.