Automata

Lock text: No matter how we might look at them, these machines cannot be mistaken for anything but what they are. We might fight them, if we were fools enough. But it would be better to seek another way.
Start text: A legion of hissing, thundering, roaring automata, stand before us, their gleaming bronze weaponry leveled. Fighting them would be foolish, very foolish... but perhaps we might succeed. Lantern or Knock might allow us more prudent passage.

Expeditions

• The Prometheus Institute for Higher Education
• The Museum of Arcane Science and Technology
• Guts of the Engine

Requirements

• Edge (No Invocation)
• Knock (Invokes the Anaconda)
• Lantern (Invokes the Star)

Edge Invocation

Our strength.

• Edge 10: Our strength is matchless. But... But we are also made for other things. These things were designed only to destroy, by a History well versed in how. They may yet prevail...
• Edge 5: Our strength is considerable. But these things are more than considerable. Eyes narrow, powers gather as barrels spin and glowing orbs fix. This fight will be thunderous.
• Edge 1: Our strength may not be enough. And this is not a situation where you want insufficient strength. Hope here is a waning flame. But just maybe...
• Edge Success: The Detritus of War. The last wisp of cordite from the guns of our foes drifts away to reveal a battlefield strewn with metal. We shall pass.
• Edge Failure: As Bismarck Said... Blood and iron! Blood and iron! Far more blood, the blood of your people, than the iron of the automata. The thunder of the gatling guns begin to sound. Run, run!

Winter Invocation

We call upon the Anaconda.

• Knock 10: We call upon the Anaconda, against whom the sharpest eyes fail. The glowing orbs that are their eyes scan. But the Anaconda evades even the wards of the Golden City. We shall be concealed.
• Knock 5: We call upon the Anaconda, who steals through defenses. These are merely more watchmen, more sentries. The Anaconda has bypassed these easily. Likely, so shall we.
• Knock 1: We call upon the Anaconda, who is unseen. Their eyes are not their only sensory arrays. We will have to make no noise, maybe give off no warmth. But perhaps we might be seen through safely.
• Knock Success: Silence. We pass unseen, unheard. The automata detect nothing and their lights wink out, returning to their long slumber.
• Knock Failure: As Bismarck Said... Blood and iron! Blood and iron! Far more blood, the blood of your people, than the iron of the automata. The thunder of the gatling guns begin to sound. Run, run!

Lantern Invocation

We call upon the Star.

• Lantern 10: We call upon the Star, who inspires all invention. Directly or indirectly, this sprang from the generosity of the Star. Understanding will allow us subversion, will allow us passage.
• Lantern 5: We call upon the Star, whose inspiration shines. The works of the Engine's History were mighty, but crude. We should understand them and bypass them.
• Lantern 1: We call upon the Star, who lights the Journey. We will have to watch from a distance. Still, there is much information we can glean. It may be enough.
• Lantern Success: Knowledge is Gunpowder. A terrible, fatal structural flaw, that the ammunition stores are so easily breached with a thrown stone. Wait for the smoke to clear and walk by.
• Lantern Failure: As Bismarck Said... Blood and iron! Blood and iron! Far more blood, the blood of your people, than the iron of the automata. The thunder of the gatling guns begin to sound. Run, run!