I, Robot

The party was still in battle with the alchemists and their plants, but the tide had clearly turned in their favor. Phil managed to escape the vines that had ensnared him and tried to put some distance between himself and the creature. The lone remaining active alchemist slipped away from Joe and hurled a couple more vials of chemicals his way, but it was too little, too late, and he soon became compost for the greenhouse. The party briefly considered leaving the plants alone, but another Caustic Cloud from the Vine Horror Spellfiend that left Joe blinded (again) quickly changed their minds.They had little trouble finishing off the two remaining plants, then delivered a coup de grace to the Held alchemist and his master. There was more rustling and movement from the far reaches of the greenhouse, suggesting that more of the plant creatures still remained, but for now, all was quiet.


 The party briefly rested and healed up, keeping a wary eye on the greenery. Then they moved to the doors on the right side of the room. They were not locked, so they pushed them open. They revealed a large, brightly-lit room. Unlike the stiflingly humid air in the previous room, this one was air-conditioned to the point of inducing shivering. The oppressive scents of the last room were replaced by a distinct smell of ozone.

In the center of the room, a dead body lay spread-eagled on some sort of metal table connected to strange equipment. A trail of blood led from a nearby metal stretcher. Another demon-like creature like the one they'd seen outside stood over the body with bloody surgical instruments. In the corner, and odd-looking man in a white lab coat fussed with some crackling electrical machinery.

Arrayed around the room were a variety of robots. Along the left wall were three huge robots; one arm ended in a massive hammer while the other ended in a wicked claw. Opposite them were three smaller robots with conical drill bits at the end of each arm. On the far wall were three small spider-like constructs with buzz saws where their mandibles would be. In between were three tall humanoid robots. At the end of their right arm were twin blades that began to spin into a circular blur as soon as the door was opened.

The man in the corner looked up at the party through thick glasses. “Hmm Guyvin-whey-hey make with the running and the exploding and the crying HOYVIN-GLAVIN! with the dancing and the twisting and kung-fu FIGHT-ing.” That apparently was the command to attack, and the robots began marching forward.

The Blades Automata took up defensive positions while the Hammer Automata moved towards the party; the Collider Automata seemed to be having trouble getting started. The Arachnid Clockwork Horrors scuttled quickly forward to take up positions near the demon creature.

Joe and Ice moved into the room to focus their attacks on the lead Blades Automaton, and quickly found that its twirling blade could attack both of them at once. To make matters worse, the demon, after casting an Infernal Bolt at Joe, animated some spikes from his tray of instruments that flew through the air and nailed Joe's feet to the floor, immobilizing him and causing ongoing damage as he struggled to free himself. Phil also made it into the room, and immediately found himself grabbed once again, this time by the claw of a Hammer Automaton. The machine raised its other arm to smash Phil with its giant hammer, but Phil poked it in the eyes, blinding it. Phil was unable to escape the grab, but the robot was unable to save to end the blindness, so the two danced with each other for several rounds.

James cast a Stinking Cloud around Professor Frink, forcing him to move away from the equipment that he seemed to be preparing to use; he did manage to create some sort of lightning creature before he left. Mary moved into the room and unlimbered her sniper rifle to take a shot at the professor, but found that the cloud obscured line of sight against him. When he moved out of the cloud, he cast Painful Jaunt against Mary; this did quite a bit of damage, but worse, it caused her and one of the Arachnids to swap places, putting her adjacent to one of the Blades Automata and far away from the rest of the party.

The Collider Automata finally rumbled to life. They were slow, but when they hit, they did serious damage. Joe and Ice found themselves surrounded in the center of the room, while Mary was on her own against two robots near the south wall. The rest of the party hung back by the doorway, casting ranged spells. Joe and Ice killed the first Blades Automaton, but its propeller-like blade exploded, sending shrapnel flying in a five-square radius. James kept moving his Stinking Cloud to keep the professor on the run. Jerry cast a good ol' 2nd Edition Fireball that bloodied the professor, his assistant, and one of the Blades and took out one Arachnid and the lightning creature. The professor cast a Temporal Disruption on the bulk of the party clustered near the door, leaving the all dazed and slowed.

Mary did a Spin Kick that damaged the two robots surrounding her and let her slip a few squares away. She chucked a Hand Grenade their way and killed the Blades Automaton, but was damaged by the resulting shrapnel. One more hit from the Collider and she fell unconscious, far away from the party's healers, who were still bottled up near the door.

Seeing poor defenseless (yeah, right!) little Mary fall seemed to be just the incentive the rest of the party needed to heat up their dice, and critical hits suddenly started coming right and left. Ice did a Simian Leap to get free of the robots surrounding him and then went all Donkey Kong on their asses, scoring not one, but TWO critical hits with his barrels. Joe scored a critical with Hito-kaze, and while he didn't sever anything he began putting down the robots around him (and Hito-kaze's blade began to flicker with electricity). Chuck scored a critical with an Avenging Light, then moved down to cast a Healing Word that revived Mary. 

Jerry was casting Magic Missile at anything that moved, and trying to ignite it, and James was using his Cloud of Daggers. The professor went down before he could do any further damage, and finally only one robot was left. Phil gave it a Bitch Slap that allowed Ice an opportunity attack - and he scored another critical to put it down and out. The room fell silent except for the heavy breathing of the exhausted characters.