TIME June 8th, mid afternoon LOCATION Wharf, Chuzan seaport.
BACKGROUND:
After a chase through the streets of Chuza and a rooftop melee, the Agents cornered the high-ranking Kleet criminal, Shirdrella.
An explosion from the dock area in the northeast distracted the Agents momentarily, but not long enough for Shirdrella to escape.
Meanwhile, Agent Raven dealt with the aftermath at the Broken Mug, securing prisoners and attempting to regroup with her team. She eventually spotted them from a rooftop and rejoined them as they secured Shirdrella.
The dock was a scene of chaotic destruction being delivered by a huge golem construct. As the monstrous obsidian creature pounded on the locked doors of a warehouse to reach a handful of soldiers trapped inside, the three Agents (accompanied by the dock mage Dawson, fellow Agent Dew and soldier Jeff) ran the cobbled slabs of the curved wharf to intervene.
The Agents gathered reinforcements and advanced toward the threat, joined by a Tol Kerrate knight who advised caution and offered to assess the golem’s weakness.
WHAT HAPPENED
The construct continued its relentless assault on the warehouse doors as the group closed in. Frost, the mounted Knight of Tol Kerria, and Hawke-still under the effects of Longstrider-reached the scene first. Though the reinforced doors held, the golem had punched a hole large enough to force its flaming fist through.
As Hawke and Frost prepared to engage, a stream of fire erupted from the golem’s arm, pouring into the warehouse interior.
Frost urged Hawke to hold back, intending to lure the creature away.
The tactic began to work-the golem shifted its focus from the warehouse, even as flames took hold inside.
Unseen by the Agents, a naval vessel-the Bluebird-was rapidly approaching the wharf from the northwest.
But the plan faltered. The golem bypassed Frost and targeted Jeff, incinerating the soldier in a burst of flame. Agent Dew was caught in the inferno. Jeff collapsed, screaming. Dawson, the dock mage, released the magical lock and shouted for the trapped soldiers to open the doors.
Inside, choking and burned, the soldiers scrambled to release the counterweights. The massive doors slid open, unleashing a rush of air that fanned the flames up the stairwell, sending thick, oily smoke to the second floor.
Raven and Crowe fired their KemerCannons at the golem, but the shots barely scratched its obsidian hide. Frost, now badly injured, continued to fight, but the construct showed no signs of slowing.
The Bluebird launched catapult bombardments, though it was still too far for precision. Frost again tried to draw the golem toward the water’s edge, calling for the Agents to assist those trapped inside.
Hawke rushed into the burning warehouse, searching for the source of the screams above.
Outside, arrows from the naval ship rained down-ineffective against the golem’s armour.
Inside, Raven found an unconscious body and dragged it out. Hawke carried a dockworker from the flaming stairwell and led the remaining soldiers to safety.
Gasping, scorched, and barely conscious, they emerged just as the second floor collapsed behind them.
On the wharf, a surviving soldier begged the Agents to help recover the bodies of the fallen. The Agents declined.
The Bluebird finally closed into effective range and scored a direct hit with its catapult. The golem staggered, then broke off its attack. It vaulted over crates and lumbered down the wharf, retracing its path of destruction.
The Agents followed at a cautious distance.
They watched as the golem climbed into a crate suspended by a broken crane beside the docked merchant ship Nightingale. The group held back-very deliberately staying at least twenty feet away.
Raven stepped forward, peering into the crate.
It was empty.
IMPORTANT LESSON.
Introducing the Agents to a creature that they didn’t have much chance of defeating and having an NPC ‘assist’ to distract the danger (to let the PCs deal with a lesser danger) felt like a good idea at the time.
With the benefit of hindsight, erm, no it was definitely a bit ‘meh’.
They could survive a glancing blow, maybe an AOO as they heroically rushed past, but standing toe to toe would be a very different story.
So, in execution, it came across as too much of a railroad.
And removed the PC involvement rather than engaging it.
Can’t hit it, can’t damage it, just along to watch.
