Everyone shows up, and uniquely everyone does so pretty much on time: April (Sister Joann), Tim (Sir Brindal Karth), Chris (Peter Sangaree) and Nick (Brother Xavier).
The characters start out in Surreveil Valley, where they have largely concluded their business with the local monastery and now have twenty days to wait before the next aircraft shows up. The characters have two choices for lodging during that time: the monks agree will house characters in the monastery for 1 FB each; or the villagers of Empett will provide food and a room for 2 FB each. The monks' offer, of course, requires that the characters live in small stone-walled cells and subsist upon a diet of porridge mixed with vegetables. The villagers, though their houses are mostly of wood, offer a much better standard of living. Sister Joann, noted for her ascetic lifestyle, is the only character to agree to stay in the monastery.
Peter Sangaree arranges to have the carpenter in Empett make crates for the parts he removed from the Scorpion ARM golem. He discovers quickly that the carpenter refuses either to touch or even to look at the parts, but will work from Peter's measurements. Peter is glumly unsurprised by the first discovery, but overjoyed to learn that the man actually knows how to use a measuring stick. He spends ½ FB having the crates made, then spends a day boxing them up and preparing to cart them to the landing field.
Sir Brindal Karth initially spends his time eating, drinking, whoring, and pestering Brother Caldmon for information about the military installation the Scorpion ARM golem originally came from. Brother Caldmon knows nothing about the installation, but on Brindal Karth's request checks the genealogical records for the valley people, finding that the grandmother of Simon Hammerhand (the smith of Peg's Rook) had the family name Jas-al-Aheen, matching the name of the colonel whose nameplate the characters found at the abandoned military base in the forest.
Brother Xavier first checks with the Empett blacksmith to see if he can work the metal in the blades Peter took from the golem. The blacksmith notes that the hardest he can work with is carbon steel, and that he can't touch the material in the golem's blades. Disappointed, Brother Xavier turns to asking the locals about natural hazards, a task that he is dismally unsuccessful at. He does, however, manage to discover that the locals can make a passable mint julep. With this knowledge firmly in hand, he spends most of his time reclining in a lawn chair, tall glass in hand.
Sister Joann, ever interested in making the most of the local resources, discovers that Brother Caldmon knows the Laying on of Hands theurgical ritual. She persuades His Honor the Abbot to allow Brother Caldmon to teach it to her. Brother Caldmon agrees to this plan. The two of them spend several days converting six of Sister Joann's experience points into the ritual.
Peter Sangaree retains as much interest in the abandoned military base as Sir Brindal Karth, and exercises his curiosity by taking a day trip out to the site. He searches the area, looking for any intact structures. After some hours, he comes upon a large ceramcrete plaza, almost submerged underneath dirt and underbrush. A small stream has undercut one corner, leaving a huge slab of material suspended in space.
Peter investigates further, and locates both a large access hatch near the center of the plaza that clearly can only be opened with mechanical assistance, and a smaller stair access nearby that he can enter. He takes a look around, and realizes that both the stair access and (more troubling) the main access have been used within the last couple of years. Suspecting that someone might be around to guard the place, he elects to head home and come back with all his friends and whatever weaponry they can carry.
After a day or so, everyone (including Bob Lungflook) returns to the site. They head down the stairway, well-equipped with torches and firearms. They locate two corridors; one of them clearly collapsed beyond easy repair, and a huge pair of bay doors. Peter manages to puzzle through the mysterious Urthtech labels upon the walls, determining that the bay doors lead to, "Surface Access" while the corridor leads to "Cybernetics Maintenance Room." The characters easily decide that cybernetics are more interesting than mere surface access, and proceed down the corridor.
At the end of the corridor, they find a large set of armored doors that were once equipped with a very impressive high-security lock. They also note that sometime fairly recently, someone used explosives to blow the lock off the door. Undeterred by this sign of recent occupancy, they enter and discover a fairly substantial machine shop. The machines are all ancient and in fairly poor repair, but still include:
Unsatisfied with mere machines, Brother Xavier searches through the rooms connected to the Cybernetics Maintenance shop. He manages to find an employee locker room, and methodically loots the lockers. When he is done, he comes up with two synthsilk suits, apparently originally possessions of technicians on the base, and someone's 2000-year-old lunch, still carefully packed in it's nano-mimetic food storage bag. Noting that Peter appears a bit peckish, Brother Xavier offers him the sandwich from the bag, declining to mention until after Peter takes a couple of large bites from it where exactly it came from. Peter is not impressed.
With the contents of the machine shop thoroughly investigated, the characters head to the Surface Access chamber. The place turns out to be a huge elevator leading to the massive access doors Peter had discovered on the surface. Brindal Karth and Brother Xavier also note that based upon the grime patterns on the floor, the Scorpion ARM golem the group defeated some days before had been standing here for much of it's history. Second, the elevator was used recently: a wall panel has been removed, a couple of electrical leads are exposed, and there are signs that a portable generator had been placed just beneath them.
While the other characters continue to investigate the elevator, Brother Xavier heads outside to look for other signs of recent use. Reasoning that a generator is fairly heavy, he searches for signs of a vehicle, and is rewarded with some wagon tracks. He follows them as far as the path from Empett to Peg's Rook, where he loses them. Before they disappear under more recent tracks, however, he does manage to discern that the wagon headed back towards Empett.
With Brother Xavier's discovery fresh at hand, Sister Joann heads towards the monastery as fast as she can go, seeking for whoever had been driving the wagon. Her choice of destination is made easy by the fact that the monks are the only folk in the valley she has seen using electricity. She speaks to Brother Caldmon first. He admits that the monastery possesses three generators. Two of them power his think machines, and the third runs the organ and the prayer wheels. He also comments that the third generator went down for several days about a month ago, forcing the monks to pump the organ blower and run the prayer wheels by hand.
By the time Sister Joann has obtained this information, the remaining characters have caught up and joined her. Peter, appraised of what she has learned, sets out the situation as he sees it in typically blunt style: he accuses Brother Caldmon of starting up the golem again, and endangering the entire valley in the process. Noting Brother Caldmon's shocked and hurt expression, he then softens the blow by commenting, "Don't get us wrong. If you hadn't activated the robot, we wouldn't have had the chance to kill it and strip it for parts." Brother Caldmon glumly admits that he was responsible.
The characters then ask the monk why he did it. He responds that he only wanted to talk to it. Brindal Karth notes that trying to talk to a war golem isn't the smartest thing imaginable, to which Caldmon offers the defense that he hadn't done it without any precautions, commenting, "I tied it down first…" The characters all dissolve in laughter.
As a compromise to simply exposing Brother Caldmon to the Abbot and the villagers, the characters elect to blackmail him. He agrees to continue researching the Fennen Marsh region for them, uncovering up to six additional useful pieces of information for the (comparative) bargain price of 1000 FB total, much less than the 1000 FB per piece of information he originally asked. The characters also emphasize that neither he nor they should speak of the base and the items that are still sitting there. They make clear to him that they'll be back shortly, with men and equipment to remove the gear in the machine shop.
The characters use their remaining time in Surreveil Valley to prepare for the flight back. For 2 FB, Sister Joann hires a cart and two near-mules, along with two villagers to drive them, from the village of Empett. Meanwhile, Peter Sangaree spends 3 FB having crates for several of the machine shop tools made up, then heads back to the forest to dismantle and crate up whatever he can. By the time Linus Link's plane is scheduled to arrive, they have managed to move five of the smaller machines to a simple pavilion at the edge of the landing strip (not including the CNC lathe).
The plane arrives on time, and the characters are quite glad to see Rebekah and Fergus Clerihew emerge. Their plane arrives heavily laden with trade goods for the monastery and the villagers, and by the time Fergus has half of it unloaded a procession of villagers from Empett and beyond have arrived bearing pseudo-sheep and vegetables to offer in trade.
Once Fergus has concluded all his dealings with the locals, gotten the proceeds loaded up, and packed in the characters' machinery, the Luftking is just a touch overloaded. Rebekah complains bitterly about it during takeoff, but manages to get everyone back to Llanfyrth in one piece.
The characters are almost grateful to pile out of the aircraft and into the office of the water-slug-chewing Scraver. Brindal Karth and Peter Sangaree immediately start to talk bargains with him: they want to use the machine tools they found in Surreveil Valley to make parts to repair Linus' two broken-down Luftkings. In exchange, they want to take one of them for their own. Linus listens to them, smacking and slurping upon unfortunate slugs all the while, then turns the business of negotiation over to his Master Mechanician, Robbie Barron.
The Master Mechanician turns out to be a solid man in overalls whose skin is nearly invisible beneath multiple layers of aging grease. He and Peter have a long, drawling conversation about the specifics of the deal. In the process, the characters learn that a CNC lathe and a Morgen Luftking-2 are both worth about 2000 to 2500 FB, while each of the various other machine tools are worth about 500 FB. They finally come to the following agreement:
Brindal Karth immediately drops 300 FB on the generator, & sends back to Delphi for the remaining parts, costing 700 FB from his line-of-credit. Anticipating a need to fund a fairly elaborate trip out to the Fennen Marsh, he also requests 5000 FB in cash. To reassure Director Yie that he isn't just burning up the MachtArbeiterBank's money, he also provides a brief report on what the characters have learned and why they need the money. The characters (and Linus Link) estimate that the parts should arrive within 60 days.
The trip out to Surreveil Valley to retrieve the CNC lathe is fairly uneventful, and takes a total of five days.
With their bargains concluded, the characters settle down to wait out the time before their machine parts arrive. Some of them offer thoughts of heading off on new voyages during that time, but Linus Link cautions them that he doesn't want them doing risky things until he gets his aircraft repaired. With some unwillingness, the characters agree.
Brindal Karth determines that his Riches give him an income of 300 FB per month, with a bonus of 400 FB at year's end. He collects three months of income during the time he waits. Brother Xavier has an income of only 1400 FB per year, or 115 FB per month, and also collects (less a 10% tithe). Sister Joann, lacking any Riches, offers her services to the Quinta Sacra Cathedral. The churchmen, fascinated by the sight of a freelance Brother Battle available for their use, give her a list of parishioners who owe tithes to the Church. They tell her that she can keep 10% of whatever she collects. Over the course of 60 days, she manages to pull in 20 FB.
Brother Xavier and Sister Joann set out to modify the Scorpion ARM's claws into usable blades. They go to an Engineers' Shop recommended by Linus Link to get the work done. The shop foreman tells them that the work will take about two weeks. Correcting the balance of the blades costs 20 FB. Adding in titanium conductors on the blade to accommodate Brother Xavier's electric shocker costs an additional 15 FB. Stamping Brother Battle sigils upon the hilt costs 4 FB, while Avestite sigils costs 10 FB (because the shop does not currently have a suitable die). Altogether, Brother Xavier spends 45 FB on his weapon, while Sister Joann spends 39 FB on hers (which she gets from Brindal Karth's purse). When completed, the blades are serviceable if unusual-looking. They inflict a base damage of 10, require a STR of 7 to use, will have some trouble in close quarters, and are totally impossible to conceal.
Sir Brindal Karth has the two synthsilk suits Brother Xavier found modified by a tailor in Llanfyrth. Each suit costs him 10 FB to alter. He gives one to Bob Lungflook and the other to Peter Sangaree. Knowing Peter's proclivities, he has the tailor add huge numbers of pockets and utility pouches to his suit.
During the latter part of their wait, Sir Brindal Karth and Sister Joann start the search for colonists. They look primarily for adventurous freemen, offering wages of 1 FB per week, plus ½ FB per week for "danger pay" once the colonists actually get to Fennen Marsh. For skilled laborers, they offer 3 FB per week, plus 1 FB in "danger pay." Over the course of eight weeks, they manage to find twelve unskilled laborers, three skilled workers, and one Orthodox priest willing to accept their offer. Brindal Karth pays these worthies a total of 168 FB for their time.
Peter Sangaree, having noticed Loughrea Prison on a map of Gwynneth, wonders if there might be a quicker way to get colonists. He asks Rebekah Clerihew about the place. She tells him that she's flown prisoners out there a few times. The whole place is located on a peninsula, with guards along the crossing to the mainland. The shores are dotted with antiship mines and hull-rippers. She also notes that the place is essentially a large subsistence farm: most people who get shipped out there are sent there for a long time. However, most prisoners do end up there, as there are no prisons in Llanfyrth.
Peter decides to try and talk to someone about getting convict labor. He heads to Custom House, a truly impressive 50-story skyscraper that dominates its quarter of the city, and waits in line with an array of commoners for an hour before he loses patience. He bribes first a guard and then a rather simpering clerk with trivial quantities of money in order to get an appointment with someone who, in the words of the clerk, "Can get you an appointment with the Assistant Judiciare of Prisons!"
Peter elects to show up for this appointment with the rest of the group in tow. The characters are led into a smallish interior office where they meet Gary Flacson, a bloated tick of a man who sits in his overstuffed chair with the true self-satisfaction of a mean-spirited functionary who can control the lives of his betters.
Flacson puts on a big show of being bored and busy at the same time, implying that he expects a substantial bribe to even consider giving the characters access to the Assistant Judiciare. Sir Brindal Karth leads off by placing a single Firebird upon his desk. Flacson does not even acknowledge it. Brindal Karth continues placing Firebirds upon the desk, one at a time, while Flacson asks his assistant (the same clerk that Peter bribed earlier in the day) about his next appointments. By the time Brindal Karth reaches 15 Firebirds, he notices that Flacson is wearing three rings, each of which is worth easily hundreds of Firebirds. Flacson starts to dismiss the characters, convinced that they aren't going to be willing to offer him enough money.
At this juncture, Sister Joann happens to notice that Flacson's name appears upon her list of parishioners who owe tithes. In fact, he is listed as owing the Church some 300 FB, a princely sum for someone who is theoretically a low-level bureaucrat. The other characters instantly seize upon this knowledge and use it to squeeze Flacson like a grape (in Brother Xavier's case, literally). While Flacson stammers, his assistant tries to get out of the office. This attempt is swiftly put down by Peter, who points a pistol between the assistant's beady little eyes and listens in satisfaction as the fellow makes noises like Beaker.
It suddenly becomes rather trivial for the characters to get the appointment they wanted, at a surprisingly cheap price (Flacson's life). Peter takes further advantage of the situation by helping himself to some sandwiches that happened to be sitting on the office sideboard.
Later that morning, Flacson leads the characters up to the 25th floor of Custom House to speak to the Assistant Judiciare of Prisons, Louis Fallmen-Hawkwood. Fallmen-Hawkwood turns out to be a fortyish man with classically handsome Hawkwood features who absolutely exudes warmth and good cheer. Not even pausing to acknowledge that Flacson is alive, he greets Sir Brindal Karth like an old friend, then graciously allows himself to be introduced to all of the other characters. To each of them, he offers some small comment of praise or gratitude, as appropriate to their sect or guild. The characters instantly recognize Fallmen-Hawkwood as a born politician.
Fallmen's office, though not nearly as luxuriously appointed as Flacson's, is substantially larger and features a huge bay window overlooking Llanfyrth harbor. His walls are festooned with holograms of himself, shaking hands with all manner of important people, from a battle-weary Brother Battle Bishop-Colonel to Prince Philip Hawkwood, ruler of Gwynneth.
Fallmen-Hawkwood listens to the characters' offer, and immediately seizes upon it as a way to even further save money in the prison system. Even though he asks that the characters work out the details with his assistant (a man as colorless as Fallmen-Hawkwood is vital), the characters get the idea that he already thinks of the plan as a done deal. Brother Xavier tries his Knowing the False Heart rite and immediately realizes that Fallmen-Hawkwood believes everything he says. Brother Xavier also recognizes that this man would be the worst possible person to bring before the Inquisition.
The final terms of the deal are that the characters can get access to convicted prisoners sentenced to transportation for 1 FB each. The prisoners are normally shipped out in coffles of 25. They'll get an essentially random assortment of convicts unless they send someone over to Custom House to help assemble the coffles. If they do provide help, they will be able to have some influence over the types of convicts they accept.
The session ends with the characters' machine parts almost arrived from Delphi. The characters remain in Llanfyrth, eagerly awaiting their arrival. Each character gains 5 experience.