Our Adventure begins where we left off last time. Balthizaad, Malark, Marshall, Lyndiskel, and Doc stood on the pier near where the canal vomits into the sea. A giant hulk of twisted, burning wood smoldered in the rain about a block down one of the side-streets. The group discussed at great length what to do next. Some suggesting heading to Cog City to get more information. Others felt that hitting a few bars first to take the edge off might be the best choice.
Meanwhile, Lyndiskel worked with the head of a gangster robot they'd defeated. She was attempting to get useful information out of the creature and fix its body when two huge columns of robots began marching down either side of the canal. Malark immediately made the group invisible and created an illusion of them escaping down one of the piers. He backed off. Everyone but Lyn ran into the nearest building. Lyn broke south past the building.
When the robots reached the mouth of the canal, many of them jumped in the water while the rest threw themselves at the nearest buildings on either side of the canal. The robots all exploded. Lyn fell to the ground, Malark was blown back but he rolled with the fall. The two buildings and the shorelines collapsed into the canal. Marshall, Balthizaad, and Doc were buried under a massive pile of concrete. Lyn tried to contact Cog City, but to no avail.
Malark saw that Robots were attacking Bluearms several blocks down the shoreline where the sewers emptied into the ocean. Malark dashed forward, unable to resist the opportunity to mess around with the robots. Lyndiskel rushed east in the hopes of getting home. The robot head cackled in her arms. After a great deal of digging and climbing, Balthizaad was able to smuggle Marshall and Doc out of the rubble by carrying them in his bag of holding. Balthizaad called forth his Nightmare and took to the air. By this time, Malark noticed that robots were attacking Bluearms all along the coast and that he'd done all he could. He ran to meet up with the others and contacted Morphail along the way.
Eventually, they met on a rooftop and discussed what should be done next. From that vantage point, they saw that the city was infested with flying robots and that a very tall building far off in the Apothecary's District was surrounded by a protective bubble and it was being attacked by gryphon and dragon riders. Robots swarmed around the attackers.
There, Lyn found a chip bypassing the robot head's behavioral processor. She pulled it out and got quite a burn, but they were able to eventually question him regarding what Bannon had been up to. He informed them that Bannon will stop at nothing but the quite-lofty goal of the total annihilation of humanity in general, and, more specifically, flooding Jerusalem and Cog city in the process. He'd told the other robots in his employ that the event would "bring forth the rise of robot-kind throughout the world". The robot also told the group that Bannon had "foreseen" the rains and had claimed he was more powerful and more worthy of their worship than the MCP.
Lyn immediately tried to warn Cog City but couldn't reach them. She then tried to reach !!Robot and he answered. She ordered him to warn the others of an impending attack and he ran to comply. The robot head also told her that if they could create an similar shield to the one being used by Bannon on the roof, but tuned to a specific frequency, they could breach it.
They decided that everyone but Lyn should get in the bag and they should fly directly to her workshop to do some further investigation.
Due to the direct nature of the course, they were attacked by a roving robot. Balthizaad's steed was nearly slain by the whirling blades of the heartless creature, but he was able to heal the creature at the last second and they zoomed through the streets to Lyndiskel's workshop. Along the way, they noticed that Pantheonic forces fought the robots in the sky.
Lyn worked for two hours on the opposing energy field by using scrap pieces from blaster rifles. When they emerged from her Workshop, they found that the Pantheonic forces were fighting a pitched battle. Balthizaad warned Tullovial with a whisper paper that they might have a solution and to break off their attack for now and Tullovial broke off the attack.
They arrived at the base of the building where robots and Bluearms fought in the streets. Malark made the group invisible and they ducked into the building and climbed the 30 stories to the top. There, they activated the shield at the top of a stairwell where Bannon's shield barred the way. The shield there disappeared and they came up out of the stairwell. After much conversation and dithering, Balthizaad drew first blood on one of the robots. Bannon blasted him (and some invisible group members) with his electricity wave. They all moved and fought like an experienced unit. When things began to look bad for Bannon, he unleashed another blast from his electricity wave which caught most of the group. For the first time in her life, Lyn prayed. Only she saw the face of the MCP rise from the ground and absorb some of the blast. The face hung in the air for the rest of the battle.
Lyn and the Doc (in a radiant wisp form) went up another flight of stairs while the group tussled with another wave of robots. They found a single robot operating what appeared to be the machine which was generating the bubble of force. Doc warded her from attacks and the robot could do nothing but repair the machine as Lyn broke it.
In the end, the group below held their own long enough for Lyn to disable the shield (and destroyed Rourque Bannon in the process). At that point, the Pantheonic forces pressed their attack and the fight was quickly over. The group disassembled Rourque and found his memory centers still powered. The robot carcasses were taken back to Lyn's Workshop by Pantheonic forces. Tullovial thanked them and said that Morphail and his men had thwarted the robots along the shore and most of the city had been saved, though much of it was underwater and the cold air had frozen it solid.
Snow fell gently on the blood- and oil-stained battlegrounds as the group made its way to Cog City to make sure all was well there. The MCP was very grateful and, though he promised them only precious metals, he also granted them a boon of an advanced mechanical device of their choice.
Thus ends the Auspice Cycle. Prepare yourselves for the Primordial Resurgence Cycle starting in 5 to 7 weeks.