Iron Gods - The final showdown

We conclude our Iron Gods adventure path - spoilers ahead.

After a day to recover from the devastating battle against Ophelia, the party returned for the final showdown against the mad AI Unity. They entered the interface centre which housed devices called mindmelders that would allow them to enter the Godmind, Unity's virtual domain. Casandalee agreed to accompany them into the Godmind and would fight beside them. Upon entering the mindmelders, they found themselves standing on a balcony of a cathedral overlooking an idyllic pastoral tableau. Guarding the entrance to the cathedral, a pair of angelic figures. They offer to accompany the party to their audience with Unity. Deciding to play along for now, they follow the angels into a large open nave. The great walls of the structure were alive with digital codes and cyphers constantly changing and moving. In the centre of the nave was a colossal ice linnorm who watched the party intently, but did not immediately attack. Nonetheless, the party felt threatened by the massive dragon and began to prepare for battle. The linnorm and the angels responded in kind and battle ensued. The linnorm started it off with a frigid blast of cold breath, catching the entire party in the cone of frosty death. Several party members were seriously injured. Still they fought on. Casandalee put up a wall of force, giving the party a brief window to concentrate on the angels and heal up, before turning once again to the linnorm. Relentless laser fire, combined with deadly spell and melee attacks eventually brought the beast low.

At this point, a large radiant angelic figure coalesced, seemingly out of thin air. It was flanked by four lesser beings, similar to the angels they had just defeated. They knew immediately that this was Unity. It congratulated them on their success and offered them great power if they joined him. The company responded with an immediate attack. Unity stepped up and tore into Casandalee, the former lieutenant that betrayed him. Meanwhile, his bodyguards engaged the rest of the party. The fight was intense, but timely successful resistance against a couple of Unity's more powerful spells proved the difference. Unity was destroyed and he and his guards and the entire virtual realm shut down. The company was shunted back to the interface centre, although Casandalee was not among them. For a few moments, they celebrated their victory. When the monitors in the room came to life and Casandalee's face appeared, they cheered. However, the festivity was short-lived. Casandalee said something was wrong. Unity was not destroyed. She worked intently to get internal systems back online in order to locate the AI. Eventually, she located it in a powerful robot chassis and it appeared to be searching for something, possibly allies. Augusto was able to locate the robot and the party quickly teleported to its location in order to finish off Unity once and for all.

Unity had installed itself in an overlord robot, a powerful frame with a force field, slashing claws and an integrated laser rifle. The mad AI had added a couple of potent additions of its own, a vorpal battleaxe and a gravity bomb launcher build into its one large eye. Nils opened up with his deadly laser fire, which passed effortlessly through the force field and blasted the robot chassis. Unity responded by tearing into Nils with claws and axe, badly mauling the inquisitor that had caused him so much misery over the last few weeks. Nils was down, bloody and hovering on death's door. At the same time, Unity launched a gravity bomb at Targus and Smangtooth. Both were slammed for massive damage and Targus was entrapped in a sphere of force. It was Smangtooth's turn. The enraged barbarian tore into Unity with her adamantine-toothed chainsword. The force field held momentarily, but the onslaught was too great and sparks began to fly as metal bit into metal. Augusto added his magical prowess, slippery Targus quickly escaped his confinement to join the fray and Hala worked tirelessly to keep his comrades from joining the Choir Invisible. The battle was brutal and a couple of the company almost didn't make it out alive, but finally the killing blow was struck. The robot collapsed in a shower of sparks and the evil AI god Unity ran out of options.

Epilogue: Casandalee took over control of Divinity and with the groundwork done by Unity, soon ascended to godhood. Her own personality as well as the installation of certain AI-modifying devices which the party had collected along the way led to the moulding of Casandalee's divine profile. She was lawful, with an interest in artifice and the void. She also saw herself as the patron deity of androids and other synthetic beings.

Fin

-Rognar-

Iron Gods - The Divinity Drive 2

We continue our Iron Gods campaign journal - spoilers ahead.

Sensing a need for haste, the party decided to move on without seeking out Deacon Hope. They found another monorail station which provided them access to the security deck. They battled undead security personnel in the monorail hub, interrogation centre and surveillance control room, before moving on the security administration area. This area was guarded by several director robots. After destroying them, the company assaulted the control centre. A pulsepounder golem stood guard outside, but despite its fearsome appearance, it proved little threat to the party.

Once inside the control centre, the company encountered one of Unity's top lieutenants, a noqual golem robot called Bastion. Combining the magic resistance afforded by its noqual construction and two integrated gravity rifles, the towering robot proved a powerful opponent. Nonetheless, Nils' laser rifle once again proved equal to the challenge and Bastion was destroyed.

Sensing that his lieutenant was defeated, Unity finally made direct contact to the party by way of viewing screens in the control centre. He offered them the opportunity to join him, before promptly destroying the computer controls. It was time to confront Unity.

Casandalee provided the party with instructions on how to get to the command deck, which would lead to the computer core and the virtual realm where Unity awaited. They battled a group of cyber-gargoyles, priests of Unity, for control of the command deck, then defeated an ancient vortex dragon who served as mercenary and astrogator in support of Unity's plan for world domination and ascension to full godhood. The last defender standing in the way of the party's final showdown with the mad machine god was the high priestess, the cybernetically-enhanced leader of the gargoyle cult named Ophelia. Protected behind a wall of four evaluator robots, she fired at will with her rail gun. Nils responded with his laser rifle, but Ophelia was prepared and she had cast protection from fire on herself. Meanwhile, the rest of the party battled the robots in melee. Switching to his zero rifle, Nils was able to do some damage, but Ophelia had cold resistance as well, so it was slow going.

As Ophelia's situation grew more desperate, she cast a quickened irradiate spell to devastating effect. Jols and Hala suffered massive radiation poisoning and Jols was killed. Luckily the party had a cardioamp available which pulled their deceased comrade back from the jaws of death. Still, both stricken party members were gravely ill. The rest of the party finished off Ophelia and they retreated for some much needed rest and magical healing. Unity would wait for now.

-Rognar-