The gas quickly dissipates quickly. With renewed confidence, Crow and Gamard attack the Iron Men. The automatons are not designed to defend themselves so Crow is able to damage one of them so much that it stops moving. The one attacking Gamard is bearing a couple of deep dents.

Alondas attempts to trip up a Metal man with his staff but the creatures are too well grounded to be upset by such a trick.

Mal boldly states his refusal to die without the winds and or roar of the sea to take his spirit. Such declarations have no visible effects of the Iron Men but they are focused upon those who have taken the weapons from the case.

The short staff that Dudley grabs is of a perfect height for a Cidal or a Khord and is framed with a bluish-white metallic cap on one end and a brownish red cap on the other. The heft is light and it is easy to handle. There is a black button on the centre of the staff, exactly half way between the two ends. There is no sign as to which end you point towards your target when the button is pressed and wishing for a wind creature has no effect.

When Wembley grabs the orb, something odd happens. The silver metal becomes like a liquid in his hand, twisting and curves around. It is warm to the touch and as it shifts it sudden solidifies into the shape of a dagger. Then the metal changes to liquid again and forms the shape of a sling-staff, just the right size for Wembley.

The Men of Iron attacks hit Gamard against a string blow to the chest that would have floored a normal man but the hearty Khord roll back to his feet and continues with the attacks. Wembley is struck hard as well as he attempts to gain some control over the liquid metal in his hands. The third one strikes out at Dudley but the fast moving cleric is lucky enough to avoid a solid blow.

OOC:
Crow - Light wounds
Gamard - Serious wounds
Dudley - Light wounds
Alondas -Light wounds
Wembley - Serious wounds
Mal - Serious Wounds

One Iron Man is down, One is wounded. Two are still fine

In case people have forgot
Light = 25% of HP lost
Serious = 26-50% of HP lost
Critical = 51-75% of HP lost
Death Door = 76% or more of HP lost

The fight with these metal men proved to be a tough one. Those constructs seemed bent on acting rude, which they emphasized by breaking gas in a full room. Gamard's brain was racing while he fought, trying to figure out a smarter way to deal with these things. He found he could not. Sometimes a stone wouldn't form unless it was hammered into submission.

Then one of the creatures struck him hard in the chest. For a moment he lost his balance and breath. Standing up, his eyes gleamed with the fire of his God. At home, somebody would've told him he was already Seriously Wounded and should consider healing himself. But if he took the time now, his friends would be in danger even more. He could not allow it. Not when they were finally showing progress.

Raising his staff he took another swing at the iron man before him, throwing all his weight into the blow.

(OOC: Through all his heroics, Gamard will heal himself if he goes up one step on the ladder towards death, but hopefully that will take another few rounds).

Crow swung his new black longsword hard in a quick sideways throat slash and watched as the creature went down, no longer moving. Without stopping to wonder at the magical nature of the sword he once again moved to attack the closet of the three remaining Midgets.

Alondas failed in his attempt to trip one of the golems and it was becoming clear that in this fight he was not much help. This was a battle that would be determined by muscle and steel, not magic or trickery. Such a fight was not made for a mage so Alondas stepped clear and watched, hoping his companions would win.

Grabbing the staff from cabinet the Cid wanted it to create magic to swish away the green gas but nothing happened. The Iron guards kept advancing and one got close enough to strike at the Cleric. Deftly dodging away Dudley had time to examine to staff that he now held. It felt really good in his grip. One end had a bluish metal cap and the a brownish red cap. But most wondrous of all it had a button in the middle.

Dudley called out to Wembley, "I got a but..ton,..I got a but..ton."

Turning the staff so Wembley could see to button the reddish end of the staff was directly pointed toward the Ironman that nearly hit Dudley. With a joyously huge smile on his face the cleric pushed the button.

For Dudley, the touch of the button turns the world from colour to shades of black, white and grey. To all the other members of the party, Dudley vanishes from sight.

The metal men continue to attack with fists and focusing on the people with "stolen" magic in their possession; however with Dudley gone, the three are on Wembley and Crow. Crow ducks when he should have dodged and takes a fist to the face leaving a big red mark on cheek and eye. Wembley is also hit in the shoulder by a blow which hurts him badly.

Crow attacks back, ignoring the pain and hit a solid blow on a metal man that causes its head to "pop" off out of its neck socket and then clatter across the floor. Gamard attacks and hits his again a solid blow, followed by Wembley using the silver sling staff which does seem to damage the metal man. The one automation is looking very battered.

Mal, Alondas and Ivan remain out of the way of the combat as they have no weapons or magic effective against them.

OOC: Two Iron Men left, one is very damaged
Crow - Serious wounds
Gamard - Serious wounds
Dudley - Light wounds
Alondas -Light wounds
Wembley - Critical wounds
Mal - Serious wounds

One moment Dudley was yammerign on about having a button on his staff and the next he was gone. "Now what has that Cid gotten himself into?" Alondas said to nobody in particular. Seeing as he was not much real use in the fight, Alondas amused himself in what might be his last moments alive by randomly throwing objects at the golems hoping to at least distract them and make them easier targets for his friends.

Mal is now leaned back on the shelves that were being used as a stepping-stone to the next room. He is attempting to catch his breath just incase the fight in the room turns.

Suddenly the room and surroundings looked different. The colors were gone. Dudley saw Iron Men turn away as if they had no interest in him. Whatever the button had done his Goddess had blessed him with luck again.

Dudley wanted to share the fun with Wembley so he hurried over to the small rogue. As he approached the other Cid he could see Wembley was hurt badly by Iron guards. The Cleric knew he must help his friend. Whispering a prayer of healing, while ducking and moving with Wembley as he continued to chatter and attack, the Cleric lightly places a hand on Wembley's shoulder. He called upon Shinara to apply what little skill he had to cure some of Wembley's wounds.

(O.O.C., Dudley cast cure light wounds. At first level that is all the healing he has to offer.)

Gamard hit another solid blow and hoped by Solanis that his next would end its aggressive life. He had no hate for the thing, understanding that it was designed to protect the items at display. He knew that it wasn't acting out of anger but out of servitude, and he felt a little dismayed about having to destroy the thing. Why couldn't it have an off-button or something?

He noted the focus of the iron men now lay on Crow and Wembley and thought that if his next blow did not cancel the machination before him, he would instead focus his healing skills on whoever needed them most.

(OOC: one more attack and then healing (probably Crow) in the next round.)

Wembley had been so fascinated by the magic of the orb, his normal near-instant reflexes failed him and the cidal took a hard blow to the shoulder.

"Ouch!" the thief cried out. "That really hurt, you know." He swung the staff-sling around and attempted to knock the head off the damaged iron-man, even as he continued to speak to the attackers. "Look, I don't even know why you're here. We didn't steal anything and the only reason I'm holding on this this orb is because you started attacking my friends. So, why don't you stop! And, go away! And we'll put all the stuff back where we found it. And then we can try again and it will be so great, because you won't have to worry about attacking us and we could have peace with each other. Doesn't that sound like a good idea? ..."

As Crow attempted to dodge the three remaining Iron Midgets the Ranger could not help but end up seriously hurt. With no potion of healing or any thing of healing on his person he did his best to ignore the pain and scored a solid blow on the midget before him.

The black bladed sword true on target caused the Iron Midget's head to explode off of its neck socket to clatter across the floor. Hoping for a quick end and no more serious hits to his person, Crow moved in with his new sword and once again attacked..................

Gamard and Wembley combine their attacks on the damaged iron man and manage to put it down on the ground where it stops moving. Just as they do, an invisible Dudley casts a curt light wounds on Wembley and by doing so - reappears.

Crow attacks with the black sword, hitting the metal man and causing it some damage. It attacks back with two strong blows on Crow, causing the Ranger considerable damage and pain.

With a fierce attack by the three of them, they manage to put the last ironman down. The metal men rise to attack no more. Now it is time to attend to the wounded as Crow, Mal and Garmard are quite wounded.


Crow - Critical wounds
Gamard - Serious wounds
Dudley - Light wounds
Alondas -Light wounds
Wembley - light wounds
Mal - Serious wounds

Shinara granted Dudley's prayer and through his touch released a warmth of healing into the Cid Wembley. As the spell coursed out of Dudley the colors returned to his world.

Watching as the last of the Iron men finally falls the little sees the human ranger standing over it tire, hurt and bleeding. Lowering the staff Dudley stepped over to Crow and once again called Shinara. The cleric still another prayer for healing. Placing a hand on the human ranger Dudley asked for healing for his friend.

Alondas watched as his companions finally finished off the last of the metal creations. It looked like a few of them were rather hurt. "Perhaps in the future we should refrain from touching things that are obviously not to be touched." He waited to see what the next move was to be for the party.