“I SURRENDER.”
Those were his first words in Common. The metal man set his strange beam wand on the work table and commanded (switching back to that strange screeching tone) the last two assembled skeletons to disengage from the fight.
The party had been winning, but had been soundly thrashed in the process. Starkin the dwarf paladin was on the floor, his life quickly ebbing away.
Previous sessions in this prequel to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
BARRIER PEAKS EXPEDITION Prelude: The Tower of Mourning 1 – Vegepygmies
BARRIER PEAKS EXPEDITION Prelude: The Tower of Mourning 2 – Assembled Skeletons
BARRIER PEAKS EXPEDITION Prelude: The Tower of Mourning 3 – Bloody Footprints & Metal Man
Prisoner
Del-Li the gnome stepped forward and seized the strange wand.
Wil-Li cast a Cure spell to save Starkin from death’s door.
The party, surprised at the abrupt turn of events, peppered the metal man with questions.
- “What are you? A construct?” Yes, I am a superior form of life.
- “What are you called?” AB-101
- “What are you doing here? Why all the gore?” I am assembling workers from available materials.
- “Where are you from?” I am from a ship section that crashed in the mountains in this region.
The group was a bit flummoxed by that last bit. How would a ship crash in the mountains?
The metal man continued speaking. “The ship is different than your primitive sea vessels. This ship once travelled between the stars, but no longer.”
“That is not important. My Competitor is elsewhere in this tower, and it cannot be allowed to win.”
This “Competitor” was another construct. “A refuse receptacle with appendages,” the metal man called 2-2B … “barely sentient” … creating “abominations“.
“AB-101? 2-2B? Ya’ll mothers didn’t like you very much,” Zoltan the barbarian dwarf mused.
When asked again about the disgusting, bloody mess, AB-101 deflected. “You biologicals contaminate everything around you when disassembled, leaking fluids everywhere. It was inefficient to clean until the end of the process.“
Despite their wish to destroy this evil entity, they recognized his value for information. The group took AB-101 and its 2 servants to the well room to watch while some party members rested and healed.
Del-Li, set as guard, was fascinated watching AB-101 repairing battle damage on himself and his two skeleton servants. The gnome was an artificer when he wasn’t adventuring. The craftsmanship on these constructs was exquisite: miniature connectors and assemblies, and the finest wire.
Abominations
Interests temporarily aligned, AB-101 directed the party back upstairs to the ground level. They asked if he could disable the device projecting the force bubble blocking the stairs up the the second level. “Of course. I placed them there.” AB-101 pushed a few buttons, and the field blinked out of existence. The enlarged party went upstairs.
…and were immediately beset by the Abominations. AB-101 hadn’t been exaggerating. They were disgusting.
They were once men, but now mindless zombies. Growing out of each of their heads was a plant sprouting yellow flowers.
“Yellow musk zombies are victims of the yellow musk creeper whose intelligence has been reduced to 1 or 2 points. When this takes place, the victim becomes mindless, his skin turns yellow and his eyes become fixed and glazed…”
Most of the creatures in the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks module are original Gygax creations, several later making it into the Monster Manual II.
The yellow musk zombie is from the original Fiend Folio (1981), and hit exactly the vibe I was looking for.
The party set to battle, and found the yellow musk zombies to be less formidable than the assembled skeletons. As if reading their minds, AB-101 nodded, asserting “my creations are superior“.
However, both the skeletons and zombies had difficulties navigating the fight around the table on this level, stumbling and falling at times.
Del-Li decided to risk using the metal man’s beam wand. Based on his observation of the metal man’s use, he correctly guessed its functionality. Aiming for one of the zombies, a terrible, powerful beam [3d6 damage] lanced out, blasting through the walking corpse.
The gnome noted that the lights on the outside changed their appearance. Unlike magic items, which are typically very resistant to wear and damage, this tech wand felt fragile. Del-Li would need to exercise care. He put it away, resolving to only use it in dire situations.
The party mopped up the zombies. A few more that came down the stairs from the level above. Those were dispatched as well. The party discovered the flowers, which had a disconcerting habit of turning toward their foes, were the vulnerable point on the zombies. The flowers also didn’t much like fire.
“So this is what your enemy is up to,” a party member quipped to AB-101. “Enemy? Worse. 2-2B is my Competitor.”
The party saw several immature flowers growing in places around this level. Venlana set about torching them with her Fire Bolt cantrip.
A Warhammer +1 was found discarded on the floor. The party decided Zoltan could use it best.
Continued next session!
What we’re playing
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
During this adventure walkthrough / playthrough, I use primarily the original module, with some extras lifted from Goodman Games fantastic Original Adventures Reincarnated hardcover.
Amazon | DriveThruRPG (PDF)
Gorgeous hardcover Original Adventures Reincarnated #3: Expedition to The Barrier Peaks at Amazon
The most excellent map is by Dyson Logos
See Also:
That other time when the party took prisoners:
Surprised that the metal man surrendered, I guess robots have morale too!
Having an Artificer in the group definitely changes things for this module. That reminds me, are you using the crazy tables for figuring out devices? Does the Artificer get a bonus? I should look at the 5e conversion to see how that might have changed.
WordPress has been pretty buggy and it looks like it ate my comment on your last Barrier Peaks post. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I’m sure it was something about how much fun it is reading these posts as your players make their way through this module! 😃
No, I’m not using the tables. Thought about it, but figured it’d bog down the online game too much, focusing so much on one player’s actions. I’m having them describe what they’re doing, with an occasional skill roll.
Artificer stuff I’m playing off-the-cuff. It gives him some insight into the technology, but it only goes so far.
I think you’re alright re commenting. You commented on Session 2, about enjoyment and PCs scavenging the wire.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the recaps. I enjoy writing them.
best, -W
It looks like the Original Adventures Reincarnated copy of Barrier Peaks has a newer method for tech discovery. Basically making INT rolls, with the complexity of the item determining how many successes are needed. There are also mishaps for failures. It might still be too much for your online game though. If my players ever make it to Barrier Peaks though, I think that’s something I’ll use.