After drilling with Stronghammer for an hour, Daveth called it quits; the recent fight with the golem in the alley had put a strain on his body he hadn’t recovered from quickly. No, perhaps it was a combination of all the phenomenal feats of strength he’d had to demonstrate since arriving in the Manufactorium that was the cause.

In any case, Daveth knew Aldric would run him ragged if he approached the forward base, so instead he returned to the gate that led into the Manufactorium compound and perched himself on it, eyeing the rows of buildings.

It wasn’t long before he was found; Audra monkeyed up the wall with her lithe, spidery grace and casually sat herself next to him.

“What’re you doing?” She asked curiously.

“Mmm. Trying to get a new perspective.” Daveth replied. He lifted his hand and moved it left to right, encompassing the whole of the Manufactorium.

“Three main avenues. A number of side streets, and an uncountable number of alleyways. The smallest buildings are living quarters like what we saw in Metzcal. What about the larger buildings?” he asked rhetorically.

“My guess is that the buildings like our base are workshops. Parts are moved there from somewhere else, and those... things are assembled.” Audra replied.

“So what’s in the pyramid?” Daveth asked curiously.

“It’s a place where the parts are made.” Audra replied simply.

“Hmm?” Daveth asked, confused.

Audra stood up and pointed. “There’s at least six buildings that’re the size of our base. Each one could be a shop where parts are distributed in order for those things to be built. But the parts have to be made somewhere first, right?” She pointed out. Daveth puffed smoke and nodded in agreement.

“You smell bad when you smoke that stuff, Commander.” Audra offered as an aside.

He shrugged indifferently.

“You want to know what I think that pyramid is? I think it’s a place where parts are made.... And maybe where the finished work is stored.” Audra decided.

“You don’t think they’re stored in the workshops?”

“Doesn’t make sense to me to do that. If it’s a place where something is assembled, once it’s put together it’s just taking up space, right?”

“Like a shipyard.” Daveth decided.

“What’s that?” Audra gave him a baffled look.

“You’ve never seen one?” Daveth asked, and she shook her head.

“Ah, it’s this great bloody place where boats are built.” He explained, and then described the process in which ships were built, first on land, and then then in the water.

Audra nodded. “Can’t store a ship in a shipyard because then you can’t make the next one.”

Daveth nodded back. “So you think parts are made there,” he gestured at the ziggurat, “sent to workshops there,” he pointed at the building they’d occupied, “and then the finished products are moved back there?” he finished this by pointing back at the massive building.

“There’s a guy in my village... well, he’s kinda easy with the bottle, if you know what I mean.” Audra explained. “He’s not a bad sort, it’s just... he lost his wife and son in a flash flood one spring before I was born.” Daveth gave her a puzzled look, but didn’t interrupt. “When he wasn’t tipping the bottle, he was a woodcutter.”

“Lumberjacking’s serious business. I’m surprised he didn’t get himself killed.” Daveth observed.

“Not a lumberjack, a woodcutter.” Audra corrected. “He cut firewood and traded it for the things he needed. In a mountain village, firewood is kind of a big deal.”

“I see. Keep going.” Daveth urged.

“Well, he wasn’t so great at remembering to put his tools away, so he was constantly having to get his axes reground because of rust.” She paused, and then added, “These golems are made of metal. Metal rusts. The ziggurat is big enough that it looks like it could be used to store those metal monsters when they’re completed. Make sense?”

Daveth thought it over carefully, examining her theory from every possible angle he could think of.

“Don’t think I want to deal with an entire building filled with them.” He stated flatly. “One was enough.”

“Try looking at it from my perspective. My arrows just bounce off them.” Audra replied sourly. “I want to do my best, but arrows just plink off them, I might as well be tossing pebbles at them.”

“Mmm.” Daveth acknowledged with a nod. “Magic?” He asked idly.

“Doesn’t work here.” She replied. “I don’t think there are any animals around, and even if there were, it’s not like they’d do any good against them, either.”

“What about our other mages?” Daveth asked curiously.

She shook her head. “The magic in this area is really...” she trailed off, searching for the right word, “thin.”

“Thin?” Daveth asked, frowning.

Audra nodded. “It’s hard to cast here. Overheard one of the healers going on about how it was hard to do even basic stuff.”

“We should have flattened this place with cannonfire, and damn the contract.” He muttered. “There’s only a handful of people that can fight these things.”

“Who are they making them for?” Audra asked suddenly. “I don’t think- the captain says that nobody fucks with the Shapers, right? So they don’t need weapons like this, right?” She asked, and then tapped her chin. “If they had weapons like these, why did they need us? Couldn’t they just line up a bunch of these monsters and march them around and have them kill everything for them?”

Daveth nodded. “I’ve been asking myself the same questions. A few others, too.”

“Like?” Audra prodded.

“Well, for instance, let’s say that this whole armory was co-opted by an enemy we haven’t seen yet.” Daveth postulated. Audra nodded to indicate she was following along. “This is stuff that’s way beyond us. I have no idea how this shit works, do you? Who is it that’s crafty enough to turn a Shaper’s weapons against them?”

Audra stood up suddenly at the realization, and then plopped herself back down and folded her arms, leaning against him.

“A faction dispute?” She hazarded. “One group of Shapers against another?”

“Then why would they need us? They can duke it out themselves, right?” Daveth asked, and Audra sighed in frustration.

“Do you have any ideas?” Audra asked, and Daveth nodded. “I do. It doesn’t make me happy to think it, and Aldric hates it.”

“What is it?” Audra asked.

Daveth waved his hand. “I’ve no proof. It’s just a stupid thought.”

“You might not be able to write your name very well, but I don’t think you’re stupid, Commander.” Audra offered, and climbed up on his shoulders, holding on to his head for balance.

“What’re you doing? Stop that.” Daveth grumbled, but he made no move to shake her off.

“Tell me what’s on your mind, Commander. Maybe it’s not a stupid idea.” Audra urged, leaning down to peer into his face upside down.

“I think it’s a weapons test.” He finally admitted.

“Eh?” She jolted, nearly tumbling from her perch.

“I think they made a bunch of weapons and didn’t have anything to test them out on, so they went and scooped up a bunch of no-name mercenaries with no land or flag to call their home and dropped them in the shit. Just to see if the weapons worked right.”

“That’s crazy. Shapers wouldn’t do that.” Audra argued.

“There’ve been times when our employers have tried to break faith with us. It was before you signed on.” He explained. “This, though... This is something else. Besides, who would come looking for us? Who would know? Who would dare ask questions of the mighty and respectable Shapers?”

Audra linked her ankles together and gave Daveth’s neck a squeeze with her thighs. “Then it falls to me to keep you alive.”

Daveth gave her leg a pat. “Think it’s the other way ‘round. Can’t command anything if they’re all dead.”

“Can’t do anything if my Commander’s dead.” She rebutted. “So do we have a plan?”

Daveth puffed on his pipe thoughtfully and she coughed and waved her hand exaggeratedly to wave away the smoke.

“I told you that shit’s disgusting.” she complained, and Daveth barked a laugh. “I won’t sleep with you if you keep doing that around me.” She warned, and he chuckled.

“Not like we’ve got any room to do it in our camp.” Daveth replied. Audra laughed, and climbed off of Daveth’s back.

“I’ll gather some of the senior scouts, the ones I trust to be light on their feet and can stick to shadows, and we’ll have a peek in yonder building.”

Daveth turned, nearly knocking her off the wall. “Weren’t you listening? Those things are huge. They’re tough. Didn’t you say that your arrows bounce right off of them?”

Audra slipped off the wall lithely, like a cat, and looked up at her commander. “I told you that we’ll just be taking a quick peek. Nothing that’ll get us killed.”

Daveth rolled his eyes as he pushed himself off the wall.

*****

Daveth was returning to camp when he was approached by Stronghammer.

Stronghammer was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man that was a smith by trade, though he’d signed on as a mercenary. The man was brawny with muscle, had a hard edge to his youthful eyes, and was practically a surgeon with his hammers. Daveth himself was impressed when Stronghammer had shattered Daveth’s sword nearly did the same to the giant’s knee.

“Report.” Daveth commanded, and Stronghammer nodded.

“We’ve got a working strategy with the Wolf sisters.”

“Oh?” Daveth asked, curious.

Stronghammer nodded. “We were able to take out two of the metal monsters on our own.”

“You fucking-” Daveth began, furious that they’d just decided to try out a strategy on their own.

“It worked. Twice.” Stronghammer reiterated. “They move in predictable patrols. Practically walk in the same footsteps. We were able to dig a few pit traps big enough for a leg, and when they went down, boom.”

“Boom?” Daveth asked doubtfully.

“Well, a couple of shots to the cannon arm with the sledge and it doesn’t work right. A few solid blows to the chest or head and it just grinds to a stop in its tracks.”

Daveth’s eyebrows rose as he considered this. “Not bad. Not bad at all.”

Stronghammer nodded. “It ups our chances of success a bit, but... those things are large and armored thick. There aren’t many we can use for this.”

Daveth nodded with a sour expression on his face. “Don’t I know it.”

“Also, Cap wants to see you.” Stronghammer added.

“Swell.” Daveth muttered.

At the building they were using as their forward base, Aldric approached him. “Feel like assaulting the ziggurat?”

“I feel like shit that’s been hammered flat.” Daveth reported. Aldric grinned.

“Good. I heard the scouts are gonna take a peek inside that great building. I want you and our heavy troops there as backup. Also, we’ve got some chains, I’m thinking we can use cavalry to hook the feet out from under the golems. They’ll be easier to crush if we can yank them off their feet.”

“Not sure about that.” Daveth replied.

“I’m willing to try. Drag them out and drag them down.” Aldric affirmed.

“And if they come out marching in lockstep, gunning everything in sight down?” Daveth argued.

“You raise a good point. I’d rather get this done and over with rather than live in fear, though. We’ve got a job to do.”

“Let’s see if the scouts make it out before our move.” Daveth urged, and Aldric nodded. “I’ve given them an hour. If we don’t hear back, we move in, and damn the consequences.”

“Any way we can get that gatling from that giant monster up and running?” Daveth asked. “It’d probably smash the others pretty good.”

“If we had the Brotherhood, sure.” Aldric replied. “They get machinery. I got no fucking clue.”

“I’m liking this less and less.” Daveth stated flatly.

“Yeah well, we need to get out of here and move on to our next objective.” Aldric argued. “We can’t stay pinned down in this scrap heap forever.”

“Fair point.” Daveth acknowledged, and approached the ziggurat, a massive stepped tower with staircases built into the sides.

Atop the tallest level was a stepped pyramid, an obelisk erected at each point. As he got closer, he could see relief carvings in the sides, massive winged lizards soaring above warriors carrying spears. The building radiated a sense of great age, and again, Daveth was forcibly reminded of the same buildings in Metzcal.

“Reminds me of the Tower of Cumorah in Hesperia.” Aldric noted.

“There’s another of these things?” Daveth asked, startled.

Aldric nodded. “Something I learned as a kid. The Shapers once tried to set up colonies here and there. I’m guessing they gave them up and retreated back here.”

“...huh. Explains Metzcal.” Daveth observed, and Aldric nodded.

Suddenly the ground started shaking, and Aldric grabbed onto Daveth for support. The horses whinnied and tried to throw their riders, the infantry clutched swords and spears.

Without warning one of the walls collapsed and one of the tall skeletons staggered out, black smoke belching from the thick pipes running up its back, gatling cannon thundering at something in the hole it had created.

Another one of the metal demons strode out and brutally punched the first, long blades on its skeletal fist slashing into the skull of the first, which toppled over with a roar. Something inside it detonated with a flare of greasy fire that boiled out.

“Shit shit shit, get back get back get back!” Daveth yelled, but the surviving metal monster turned and went inside and the dull thunder of its gun started up again, pounding out a message of death.

“What the...” Daveth began, but Aldric cut him off.

“Get the troops away from that hole. Flank the building. If they’re duking it out we ain’t fucking with them till it’s over!”

Daveth started calling out, waving his hands in signals.

“Where are the scouts?” Daveth yelled but nobody had any answers.

The rattle of gunfire was picked up by another, and suddenly the building shook with the thunder of multiple guns shattering the air with their chant of death.

Unexpectedly there was a crumping series of dull explosions that vibrated the ground; Daveth ducked down unexpectedly as the wall he was hunched next to cracked, a cloud of pulverized stone squirting out with each atonal blast.

Out of the blue, Daveth wished desperately for Eirawen, the seemingly indestructible Champion to come and save them from whatever was going on inside. He didn’t care if she creeped him out; she’d been a good soldier, a solid warrior, and she would have been able to defeat those metallic demons with indifference.

The wall next to Daveth gave way; Daveth rolled backwards away from it as it ruptured, and a mass of bloody rags and gobbets of flesh flopped out, the only part of it recognizable was an arm, grayish-black, splattered with blood.

Still the thunder of gunfire and the rumble of explosions continued, the earth-rumbling stomp of metalshod feet pounding the ground inside the building revealing some brutal war of untold savagery going on within.

“Catch me!” A voice shouted from above, and Daveth had a split second to look up as Audra vaulted over the edge of one of the upper stories of the building. Fortunately, he caught her, but it was a close thing.

“You dumb broad, you could have been paste!” Daveth yelled, and Audra nodded in agreement.

“We should fall back to the base, Commander. Let them fight it out.”

“What?” He asked, baffled, but waved at Aldric to get his attention and then signaled for a retreat.

The Seventh Seal fell back in organized columns as the thunder of the guns went on and on and on from inside the ziggurat.

Once back at base, Aldric produced a handkerchief from somewhere and vigorously cleaned the dust from his face. He glared at Audra.

“What the fuck is going on in there, Scout?” he damnded.

“War.” She replied, rubbing her ears. “War is going on in there. Forgive me but my ears are ringing something fierce.” She complained.

“Tell us what happened.” Daveth commanded.

*****

Audra eyed her captain, commander, and the leaders of the files as she prepared to report on what went on inside the building. How could she explain it? What words should she use?

“First, I figured out how to turn them on.” She began, and Aldric went pale in the face.

“You what?” he began, and she intercepted him with a nod.

“I figured out how to turn them on. There’s a pull-switch at the neck,” she reached back and tapped a point where her slender neck met her shoulders. “There are... things... in there. In that building, I mean. They’re shorter than me, but strong. They were in the building too, doing something with the metal monsters. I don’t know what. Maybe a Shaper could say. But when I started switching the things on, the ones that those ... things were messing with fought back. I think those things are turning those metal monsters into ...” she trailed off, trying to find the right words. “Turning them against the Shapers.”

“So you switched them all on?” Daveth asked, and Audra nodded. “The ones that hadn’t been sabotaged by the creatures immediately began shooting the ones that had, and they fought back.” She paused again. “Then everything started blowing up.”

Aldric and Daveth exchanged confused looks, so Audra pulled her shoulder pack off and reached inside, pulling out a number of what looked to be steel pineapples, a fruit they’d discovered in Metzcal.

“You yank the pin here, and throw it, and then it explodes.” She described. “It’s like a fireball spell in a metal bottle.”

Aldric let out a slow breath. “Fucking...” He began, but couldn’t complete his sentence. He picked up the metal device gingerly, as if he was afraid it would explode on its own. He tried to find words to explain what it was like, but struggled. He understood the concept itself, but couldn’t articulate it into words.

When firing a cannon, the accepted philosophy was that you used a solid ball to smash through barricades, emplacements, and castle walls. When dealing with massed infantry or cavalry, it was best to use something like grapeshot, which was just a bunch of little balls loaded with a similar charge of gunpowder. This thing was like ... an explosive charge surrounded by chunks of metal. A handful of these things could be tossed around a battlefield and wipe it clean in moments. He wondered how discriminate it was. Could they be shot out of a cannon and explode on impact? Doing something like that would shatter warfare conventions. If they couldn’t be fired from a cannon, could they be thrown? What was the safe distance? Could they be slung, or flung into battle via catapults or trebuchet?

The possibilities were endless and deadly. He wanted more. Dozens more, hundreds if possible.

He set it back on the table gingerly. Daveth gave it a single curious glance and then ignored it.

“So right now, you’re saying that the metal machines in that building are shooting each other?” He asked, and Audra nodded in confirmation.

“Best thing to do would be to wait until they’re done and then mop up, I think.” He muttered.

Aldric immediately waved his hands in negation. “No go.” He immediately interjected. “We have no idea what the numbers are like in there. We have no idea if the ones that haven’t been sabotaged will be strong enough to overcome the ones that have. Even if they have been overcome, how can we tell if the ones that haven’t been sabotaged will regard us as friendlies? How can we tell the difference between the two?”

“We could shut them off.” Daveth offered. “How?!” Aldric barked, baffled and frustrated.

“The switch that Audra mentioned. If you toggle it and it turns on, then you should be able to turn it off in the same way, right?”

Aldric immediately shook his head. “Too risky. Those things are fast, mean, and deadly. I won’t throw troops into the meat grinder just to try and figure out if we can turn them off.”

Daveth turned back to Audra. “So the entirety of that building is filled with those things?” He asked, and she shook her head. “There are all sorts of things in there. I think I saw some sort of farming equipment, like a giant rake, and some other things that I ... have no idea what they’re used for. The machines are just in a room on the first floor. I think this ‘Manufactorium’ is literally where they make everything they need... including weapons.”

Aldric nodded thoughtfully. “You get a count of those monsters? And what about the smaller ones? The ones we’ve seen on patrol.”

“The smaller ones are on the second floor. I think they’re dormant or turned off or something. I didn’t have enough time to figure out how to turn them on.” she reported succinctly.

“Alright; do your job as a scout. I want a map of the inside of the building.” He paused, and then added, “How many of you went in? Do you know if any others got out?”

Audra grimaced. “I went in with four others. We got separated, and then we hit the enemy.”

Aldric tugged on his beard. “Getting them out of there will be a challenge.” He muttered. “I don’t like to leave my men cut off without support.” He frowned as if trying to convince himself that the correct decision was to write them off as dead.

“What about the enemy? What did they look like?” Daveth urged.

“They’re all swaddled up in robes, so it was hard to get a look at them, but they’re shorter than me, bald, and wicked strong.” Audra reported succinctly. “I saw one riding around on the back of one of those machines like a piggyback.”

Daveth raised a surprised eyebrow. “Huh. Guess that kills my theory.”

Aldric shot him a look, but Daveth waved his hand in a dismissive manner. Aldric seemed unwilling to believe in Daveth’s idea, so there was no point in hashing it out with him again.

Audra began sketching out the interior of the building, floor by floor. The building itself was a massive, titanic structure, much larger than the one they’d explored in Metzcal. There was enough room to stuff an entire town in the first floor, as long as they were willing to give up all pretense of privacy. There were foundries where ingots were melted down and poured into molds for various things, there was a system of wells that were all somehow interconnected with metal tubes, there were places that looked like individual smithies where things were fabricated, warehouses with piles of finished goods reached the ceiling, and finally the armory, which was under assault from within.

“I say we make our assault as planned.” Alysia volunteered from behind them, drawing their attention to her.

“We prepared to face this already. Win or lose, live or die, we’ve already made the choice. If you’re accepting opinions, then mine is that we go back there and fight. If we’re lucky, we may find one of these enemies and interrogate them.”

“Assuming they even speak Anglish.” Daveth muttered in Urthan.

“Asshole.” Aldric rebutted in the same language, and then, to Alysia, Aldric nodded. “The original plan didn’t account for something like this, but you’ve reminded me of the fact that we’re committed to this. Let’s move out.”

*****

The armory was filled with the rank scent of gunpowder, the air was thick with the fumes that belched from the smokestacks on the backs of the machines. Metal bodies lay everywhere; in a corner of the room were three small bodies with skin the color of stone, faces frozen in twisted snarls.

“Fan out. See if we can find the scouts.” Daveth called, and one of them hollered down at him from a wooden beam.

“If you’ll toss us a rope we’ll be right down.”

“How the fuck did you get up there?” Daveth wondered as they were lowered to the dirt flooring.

“Climbed up one of the beasties and jumped up here.” the scout explained, his Blackwall accent thick. “They didn’t look up at all, just kept shooting and bashing each other.”

“Any left?” Daveth asked, and the man shook his head. “Aye. the last one standing had one of them wee beasties on its back and took off running to the south.” He pointed at the small bodies on the floor.

“Anything you can tell us about them?”

“No idea what language they speak. Harsh and guttural. Hard to see under their robes.”

“Fall in. We’re moving out.” Aldric ordered, and then began directing the Seal.

“We’re leaving the Manufactorium?” Daveth asked curiously.

“I’d really like to do a full sweep of the parts we haven’t cleared, but we’ve got a runner... which means he’s after reinforcements.” Aldric explained.

“I can catch him.” A voice floated up behind Daveth and he turned. Orelia looked up at him with a determined expression.

He recalled either Alysia or Lynnabel telling him that their gold-rank warriors were capable of running as fast as a horse, even in full plate. He wanted to confirm it before giving the order, but he was beginning to understand the shape of the Wolf sister’s honor. Asking her if she could do it would probably be treated as a slap to her face. In this situation, the best course of action would probably be...

“The fuck are you standing around for then? Go!” He ordered and she immediately bolted towards the hole in the wall and dashed off.

Aldric gave him a sarcastic smile. “You think she can do it?”

Daveth shrugged down at him. “You think she can’t?”

His captain shrugged. “I’m more worried she’ll catch a bullet in the guts for her trouble, like Arcene.”

“How much of the Manufactorium do we have to sweep?” Daveth asked, thinking back to the map that’d been made by the scouts.

“Not much. The cavalry’s been busy. We should be able to head out to the Crucible in less than two hours.”

Daveth barked a laugh. “You think the Tross will be ready to roll out in less than two hours?”

Aldric shrugged. “I can hope, can’t I?”