A Conundrum - February 24, 2017

- Prime Rib Roast - Nuh uh!
- Troublesome sisters-in-law
- Birthday shoes!
- Beware of mint
- Mattress troubles

- Felosyal disappears off down the tunnel. The last Tunneler is still tied up, so she murderizes it easily and collects the claw.
- The giant lets the girls hold onto the rope then just lifts them out.
- Back at the giant's village, Gromnir's grandson answers the door. There is some 'splaining.
- Gromnir is impressed.
- A Surfacewalker will accompany them to the City of Machines the next day.
- T asks a random giant in the hallways how long Giants live. Answer: Between 250-300 years.
- The next morning, T is roused (The elves still don't sleep.) by a loud thumping knock. S invites him to enter in a welcoming voice.
- Hugrug is a giant with stony protrusions coming out of his chest and back.
- FST say goodbye to Gromnir, and then head out to meet Hugrug and his cart, which is entirely made of stone and is pulled by two very large bears.
- H helps the girls into the back of the cart, and they set off.

- CAKE BREAK (Apple Pie Cake - Happy Prime Number!)

- F really like Hugrug
- The next few weeks pass without much happening. Events of note:
          - A week and a half in S hears a low growling, then a large cat-like creature jumps out at the bears, but Hugrug looks into its soul stopping it from attacking, then he touches it, and it starts to turn to stone, then he sticks it onto his back where it becomes another protrusion.
          - Divine Intervention does not remove Lellzutho from the world.
          - Hugrug tells them that the city is "contaminated by contraptions"
- After nearly a month Hugrug stops one afternoon and point up a hill into some brush telling FST that this is the path.
- The narrow way soon becomes a narrow path that soon becomes an old degraded road. The elves both hear some whirring, mechanical type noises. They look around and see a metallic looking claw coming over the top of a pile of rubble. S whispers "Hide!" to T and then they all dart behind rocks.
- The claw thing climbs over the rock and it looks like a giant ant without the big thorax, then FST all realize that there's another one behind each of them where they are crouching behind their separate rock piles.

- Better Buggy Battle
- Mechanical Ant1 breaths fire at FST. T takes 26 fire dmg, S takes 13 fire dmg, F takes none.
- S stumbles back across the rocks and casts Leomund's Tiny Hut such that the girls are all in, but neither of the MA's are in.
- MA2 moves around and chitters.
- T casts Tongues on herself then sticks her head out and says, "We don't any harm, please!"
- MA2 says "Intruders must be eliminated!"
- MA1 says "Provide appropriate access codes."
- F readies an Attack if the Hut disappears
- S yells at the ants to go get their leader. "Intruders must be eliminated!" "Provide appropriate passcode."
- A Swarm of Mechanical Insects flies in
- T casts Thaumaturgy to make her voice boom loudly, "Go away! We don't want to hurt you!"
- FST decide to make camp in their Tiny Hut for a few hours to see if something more intelligent than these clockwork beings will show up.
- After about half an hour the Swarm buggers off. Nearly four hours later the two MA's also wander off.
- The girls try to hide in the bushes and rubble and creep up the path.
- After only ten minutes, T hears that whirring noise again, and there are two of the MA's charging her
- S immediately casts the Hut again
- Upon closer inspection, the construction of the insectbots resembles the Goldfish Bauble that S found, and it also seems to have some of those glowing crystals from the tower / rhinoceros buried deep in its abdomen

- 2,500 XP ea for 76,790 XP ea.