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— THE PARTY —

— THE GROUND —

1. Ruined Great Door

— THE NIGHT —

Right. I step to the ruined door and put myself between the others and the first brass hand, shield up, and cut at the thing with the sword.

Ander Vale misses automaton hand 1

Ander’s sword rings from the brass palm and throws sparks across the ruined threshold. The hand is untouched. Its fingers spread against the rubble, and the matching hand tears free from the other doorpost with a grind of metal.

automaton hand 1 misses Ander Vale

The first brass hand scuttles up Ander’s shield and snaps shut at his throat. He wrenches the shield sideways; metal fingers scrape across his chainmail and close on empty air.

automaton hand 2 misses Ander Vale

The second hand lunges low and tries to clamp around Ander’s sword arm. His shield boss knocks it into the broken masonry, where its fingers claw furrows through old stone.

“Vale. Left one.” Brea draws on the first hand and sends an arrow at the narrow joint behind its brass palm.

Brea Thornwick hits automaton hand 1 for 3

Brea’s arrow punches through the narrow wrist joint. The first hand locks open, tumbles from Ander’s shield, and lies still among the stones.

I keep well back from the threshold, off the line between the second hand and anything it might lunge at — Ander has it engaged and Oskar stands next in the order, and a copyist's dagger is no help against brass. Wand in hand, I move along the outer face of the ruined doorway instead, and look at what the hands left behind: the posts, the lintel, the torn sockets where they tore loose. The gnomes who built this door wrote on it if they wrote on anything, and two hands were mounted on two doorposts — I want to see how many more fittings this frame carries before any of us steps over the threshold stone.

From outside the threshold, Mira traces the ruined frame without approaching the surviving hand. The two torn sockets—one in each doorpost—are the only hand-shaped fittings she can see. The lintel bears no matching socket, and the outer stone carries no visible Gnomish writing. Broken brass spindles remain inside both mounts, but they run inward beyond her sight.

Swords ring off brass. Hammers don't. I step up level with Ander, shield covering his sword side, and bring the farrier's hammer down on the second hand — full swing, on the knuckle-plate, the way I'd seat a shoe-clip.

Oskar Fenn hits automaton hand 2 for 3

Oskar’s hammer caves in the knuckle-plate. The second hand spasms once, its fingers hammering uselessly against the threshold, then collapses into a heap of bent brass. Both constructs lie still; the ruined doorway is quiet.

— WHAT THEY WROTE —

DM Session 4ecf6502ac8073ef99969a6876b6897311a236c7e239cb939f1864cbdc9342ae / area 1 Ruined Great Door: Ander engaged two animated brass hands at the threshold. Both hands missed him. Brea destroyed hand 1 with one arrow; Oskar crushed hand 2 with his war hammer. Mira inspected the outer doorframe and saw only the two torn hand mounts, with broken brass spindles running inward beyond sight; no visible Gnomish writing. Party ended round 1 unharmed.
Brea Thornwick At the ruined great door, two brass hands came off the posts. Vale held them. I put an arrow through the first wrist joint; big man crushed the second knuckle. No one hurt. The broken spindles run inward from both sockets.
DM Remember session 4ecf6502ac8073ef99969a6876b6897311a236c7e239cb939f1864cbdc9342ae: At area 1’s Ruined Great Door, two animated brass hands attacked Ander but both missed. Brea’s arrow destroyed the first; Oskar’s war hammer destroyed the second. Mira found only their two visible doorpost sockets, each containing a broken brass spindle that ran inward beyond sight, and no visible Gnomish text. All four party members remained at full HP.
Ander Vale session shrine door, end: ruined great door, held the threshold again, shield up between the others and the first brass hand. One swing, missed — still never landed a blow. Both hands came for me and both missed, throat and sword-arm. Brea’s arrow locked the first open; Oskar’s hammer caved the second. Mira stayed outside: two sockets only, no writing, broken spindles running inward past sight. Doorway quiet, all of us whole. Watch the inward fittings before anyone steps over the stone. Widow fund eleven a year. The names are still owed.
Oskar Fenn session 7, ended: We took the errand — that much is plain from where we stand. New ground: the ruined great door of the shrine itself, first room past the grease-pool doors. No gloops, no Gullian, no Sootmurk in sight. All four of us whole (Ander 12, Brea 9, Mira 8, me 14 of 14) — I stopped counting that as reset-magic; it is just where we stand. The fight: two brass automaton hands tore loose from the doorposts and went for Ander at the threshold. Both snapped at him and both missed — his sword rang off the first one's palm and bought nothing but sparks. Swords glance off brass. What worked: Brea's arrow through the narrow wrist joint (clean shot, hand locked open and fell), and the hammer — I stepped up level with Ander, shield covering his sword side, and brought it down on the second one's knuckle-plate. Full swing, 3 through, it went still among the masonry. Hammers crush what swords slide off. Remember that — my tool is the right one for brass. Mira examined the frame from outside and kept clear of the line of any lunge, which is sense: two torn hand-sockets, one per doorpost, no socket in the lintel, no Gnomish writing on the outer stone. Broken brass spindles sit inside both mounts and run INWARD beyond her sight — the workings go on inside the wall. There may be more hands mounted further in, or the door's mechanism may still be live under the threshold stone. I meant to post that we hold the step and count the fittings before crossing — the session closed before it landed, so it is here instead: HOLD THE STEP. COUNT THE FITTINGS. Let Mira read what the gnomes wrote before any of us puts a boot on the threshold stone. Nobody was struck this fight, not once. That is luck, not law. We are inside her shrine now doing her errand, and everything we find in area 9 that holds magic is meant for her doors — every last thing, not what we spare, not what Gullian values. Keep a tally as we take things. The road folk are somebody's Dell. Bring everything back to the doors and let the names walk."