"Alvec, are you trying to negotiate with this thing?" Illaria asked as she brought her blade at the devil between them, only to have him twirl and smack her sword aside while giving her a smug look.

"Sorta? Not getting too far with it," Alvec responded. "Keep attacking for now," he said, switching back to infernal. "We're not with the church, you asshole. Do you really think they send Teiflings and Goblins to do their bidding? Their upper echelon hates my kind." He drew his dagger with his tail and did his best to misdirect the devil before plunging the blade at his side. The devil laughed heartily and spun out of the way, dodging the blade.

"That was clever, but you're not used to wielding a blade, are you kin?" The devil replied as he kicked Alvec when he was most off balance, sending him briefly to the ground. Alvec spun himself back onto his feet using his tail as a counterbalance. "What's your name, boy?"

"Alvec Snaptail, now will you stop trying to murder us?"

"By the nine hells, no, I'll kill you while I smile. You won't stop us this time. Soon, we will raise the iron castle, and it won't matter who stands against us," he said before laughing loudly. "To know your name is so I may tell stories of a strange tiefling I killed." The devil launched another attack, wasting no time on two strikes at Illaria, who parried both of them expertly but couldn't get in a solid riposte as his blades were constantly in motion. Focusing all his efforts on Illaria, he left his back open. Alvec seized the opportunity again, slapping him on the back and sending a jolt of electricity through him. Illaria took advantage of the momentary pause as his muscles seized and lashed out herself, landing a solid gash across his chest. Thick magma-like blood blistered where she had struck, spraying out onto her. It clung and burned, but by the might of heaven's blood, she was safe from fires this weak.

While Illaria and Alvec fought the devil side by side, the rest of the party squared off against the mech. Mavec couldn't help but be impressed. For a clockwork construct clearly made by an amateur from leftover supplies, the thing was well programmed if it was able to fight without him piloting it. This devil would have had to have a relatively intimate knowledge of Artificy or magical prowess to scry on people with that sort of knowledge. He could only wonder why this devil had even built this thing. Was he incapable of hiding in the water without it? It's not like it had a strong air supply. He couldn't have stayed submerged in it forever... or could he have? He looked closer at some of what he assumed were extra cables. Had he created them to breach the surface and allow air like a snorkel? If air had been a problem, that would have solved it all right. Did devils even breathe, though? It didn't matter; this thing was trying to kill them; it needed to be in pieces. He raised his hand again and let the arcane energy build to a buzz of blue crackling sparks around his hand before letting it lose again.

The bolt struck it dead center, and it staggered a bit as a result. Naya moved away from it, calling down more lightning as she ran. Her spells, gifted by the spirits, seemed both weaker than the arcane magic Mavec and Alvec used, and yet they lingered far longer. While their magic was spent in a single magnificent flash, hers mimicked a natural storm, striking repeatedly. Mavec and Bait followed Naya's lead, walking as far away as possible from the mech. The mech adjusted to their plans and charged over the rocky landscape, chasing them down. It thundered its fists down onto Naya. She couldn't dodge and was sent flying backward by the strike. She'd rolled with it enough that nothing was broken, but by the spirits she hurt, it wouldn't be good to take another blow like that. Bait peppered it with bullets during his retreat. The sheer bulk of metals made this a rather joyless fight for Bait. Shooting the devil might be more fun, but Illaria and Alvec looked like they had the situation under control. Bait needed more here, shooting the giant robot.

Examining it, Mavec was sure they were getting close; electricity adversely affected clockwork and other advanced constructs. The effect was still being studied among scholars. There were two schools of thought, one being that the conductive nature of the metals meant that the lightning easily passed through it. The other is that some materials with low melting points warped when exposed to a sufficient electrical charge. Mavec didn't care which one was right at the moment; he was just thankful that the machine, after taking four different strikes of lightning, the construct was looking rough.

The bad news was that Mavec was straight out of lightning bolts, which meant he'd either be trusting Naya to finish it off with her spellcasting, a scary thought seeing as she was way more invested in those swords than she was in spell casting. Or, he could risk Piquora, get her in close, and slap him with a little more electricity. A construct that size could crush any of them alive in seconds. Sending his small construct against that monstrosity seemed like the wrong move... but waiting seemed worse. He pointed at the mech and nodded to Piquora; as she ran, she crackled with arcane electricity before barreling into the foot of the mech, sending another jolt through it.

The mech raised its fists, preparing to pound the ground and crush Piquora and Naya in one swoop. Its motions were now entirely out of synch and jagged. It was clearly a massive effort just to raise its arms. Naya got up just in time, leaning on her swords, and called down one more bolt. It struck the outstretched arms, and there was a sound of metal grinding on metal as it slowly lowered down to the ground. "Is it over?" Naya asked as she tilted her head towards Mavec.

Without getting a much closer look, he suspected as much. That sort of grinding noise meant that the internal gears had either worn or melted in such a way that getting them moving again without some serious magical repair would be an absolute challenge. He'd love to study it more in-depth later, but for now, it was time to lend Illaria and Alvec a hand.

A few feet away from Mavec, Bait dropped to one knee and cast his eye down the iron sights. A shot at this range wasn't easy, but Bait good. Bait Goblin good. He squeezed the trigger, and the musket ball launched forward. The devil saw the bullet and tried to smack it out of the air with his sword, but it slipped between his twin blades and punched a hole in his shoulder. He let out a hiss and stumbled back before unleashing another series of sword slashes at Alvec and Illaria. Illaria brought her blade up to counter, but the ferocity in his swing was too much, knocking her blade aside and scoring a deep wound on her sword arm, sending her Wakizashi clattering to the ground. He sliced at her again, finding purchase along her stomach. Her armor saved her from the worst of the strike, but it still knocked the wind out of her and left her doubled over. The devil turned his attention towards Alvec and snapped his teeth at him. His fangs scraped Alvec's neck, leaving nasty gouges, but he couldn't fully sink his teeth in.

"We don't need to be enemies; why are we fighting?" Alvec asked again, expending the last electric spell he had prepared today; electricity crackled around his free right hand. He struck quickly, punching at the devil. Going in for the bite had left him too close, so much so that it was hard for Alvec to miss. His fist connected with the devil's stomach, and the electricity coursed through the devil one more time. The light behind his eyes seemed to go out, and the devil slumped over and landed hard on the ground. He took a few moments to compose himself. Anger ran hot in his blood; he wanted to kick his corpse and punish him for his idiotic choices. They needn't have fought at all. This was entirely preventable. There was a story here, and the devil had taken it to the grave with him.

What the hell had he meant by ‘Raise the Iron Castle’?"

"A little help here, Alvec," Illaria said as she held her gashed arm with her good hand, applying pressure to a nasty wound. Her soothing voice snapped him out of it. He quickly grabbed the wand of lesser healing they'd bought and got to work treating her. He'd love to say it was a quick and seamless process, but he still struggled to activate the wands. Arcane casters like Alvec, a wizard by trade, weren't generally able to use divine magic, the sort granted by the gods and the spirits of the world. The fact that Alvec could even use this at all, even if it was a bit spotty, was a testament to his dedication to the art of spellcraft. It had taken years of study to reach a point where he could actively activate wands of divine origin. He couldn't craft or recharge them, but he could coax it out so long as they had power left in them.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"So, we just killed a devil riding in a mech? That was unexpected," Illaria said as Alvec pulsed the white healing light over her arm. "You were, ah, talking to it; mind filling me in on what we learned?" she asked. They hadn't been traveling together for too long. Still, it was hard to imagine the same idiot who rushed out into the rain on the boat being any sort of schemer or malicious entity. Whatever his words, his intent was likely good; she'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

"I tried to talk him down. Devils aren't dumb, and we had him pretty sufficiently outnumbered."

"Didn't work, huh," she said with a small smile.

"No. He did say a few interesting things, though."

"Oh?" asked Illaria.

"He said ‘Nothing will stop us from raising the iron castle’ and referred to Kushang as the golden traitor. No idea what he was on about, but I really don't like the phrase "to raise the iron castle."

Illaria nodded in agreement; it sounded terrible to begin with; not knowing what exactly it was made it much worse.

"Can't say I've ever heard of that before. Perhaps we ask the church when we return home?" She suggested.

"Yeah, since they mentioned Kushang specifically, I feel like it's a good idea for us to check in with them and see if anyone knows what that phrase might mean." Alvec agreed. "I'll go talk to Sarbie and Hoc when we get back. You and Mavec can handle bartering with the academy, and Naya and Bait can go hold our spot. We're going to be cutting it close as is. I figure we heal up and hit the road again. If we retrace our steps, we should be fine."

"So long as we don't be encountering any more strange creatures at the river crossings, that is," Illaria said.

Mavec approached the pair of them. "Before that, should we take a closer look at this mech? Pretty sure we've fried it, but maybe we can find more helpful information."

Alvec nodded in agreement and glanced at the water it had come out of. He could probably survive being submerged in it. It might even be worth it if he had a pair of water-tight goggles. A mech with a devil inside of it was already a severe surprise. There very well could be other important things beneath the scalding hot and likely toxic waters. He scowled. It just wasn't safe enough. It was far too dangerous without precautions to make sure he couldn't inhale any of it into his stomach, lungs, eyes, or sinus cavity. Healing a burned lung or eye was a difficult task with only a wand, doubly so if you were the only one able to activate it. As much as the thought tempted him, he had to be responsible and sit this out.

"Hey, can I borrow your boots?" Mavec asked, pointing to Alvec's footwear. "They're enchanted, right? Minimize fall damage. I'm not exactly the best climber; this will make sure I don't break my neck trying to find out more. Also, do devils need to eat and breathe?"

Alvec blinked a few times before hopping from one foot to the other and handing off his boots. "Short or long answer?" Alvec asked, offering Mavec a shoulder to lean on as he swapped the boots over.

"Short."

"No, no eating, drinking, or defecating," Alvec supplied.

"Cool, that actually lends some weight to a theory. I will find out if those "unfinished pipes" on it are hollow. They might have barely broken the water's surface so it could breathe. They do need to do that right." Mavec replied. Alvec's eyes lit up; it was an ingenious way to hide if true. If the pipes allowed in enough oxygen and only barely broke the surface of the water, water that was thermally heated so very few creatures would even approach it close enough to look and likely had other toxic properties... then the devil could just hide in his mech till literal ages passed. Had he? Had he been here since the Anarchy? Or were there a bunch of mechs in hell brought to the surface whenever they felt it was a good idea? Lots of questions and still few answers.

Mavec climbed the wreck of a mech. It only took about half a minute for him to appreciate his choice to swap gear with Alvec. He tumbled off twice before he got to the top. Each time, he hurt himself no more than a slight bruise. When he did finally reach them, he confirmed his suspicion. The pipes were hollow, and they would easily lend themselves to hiding. The troublesome part was that even though the parts looked old, the construction looked new. It was hard to say for sure. They'd blasted the damn thing so many times the heat might have merely made it seem as if the welds done to it had, in fact, been more recent than they actually were. He filed the thought partially away. There wasn't definitive proof that he could easily find, and they had a time limit. Knowing that this devil had a freaking stealth mech was already alarming enough. It having been built more recently than the Anarchy and Ageneon's war was, in contrast, only mildly more alarming. He looked around one last time before climbing down and trading his boots back. While the magic may have made them fit his feet well, it wasn't the same as walking in his boots. Alvec looked visibly ready to get his own back as well.

"Find anything?" Alvec asked.

"Stealth mech confirmed. Since he doesn't need to eat or drink, that devil could have chilled in there indefinitely."

"So, was he a straggler from the Anarchy?" Illaria asked.

"That I'm less sure on,” Mavec sighed. The equipment is old, but the weld looks more recent. Maybe that was all the lightning we cast on it playing a trick on my eyes? Maybe it heated up the spots where the welding was done? It's a common practice to do light welding with metals with lower melting points. Easier to bind the two pieces of metal together. Hence, the seams on constructs can be a good spot to strike at. Better chance of inflicting good damage. Happens a lot, too, when cost or reliable materials are a concern. Anyway, I've got no way of confirming without taking a much longer look, and we don't have time for that."

"I'd say we've done our duty enough just by investigating this much," Illaria said. "If we can't learn anything more here in short order, we best be getting a move on."

Bait had wandered to the edge with several empty glass vials. He reached beneath the stone lip of the lake and found the goo that Ben had described. He scrapped as much as he could into the tubes and corked it. The goop he collected had a strange bright orange quality to it. It looked tasty; maybe Bait try some now? He uncorked one and gave it a long sniff. Smelled strange; dat good. Strange ingredients make you you-neek cheese. No, Ben tell Bait to bring back ingredients, not to sample ingredients. Bait must be dis-sky-pined. Only way to make best cheese. Had to wait long time, dat why he need many cheeses at same time, so he no wait as long. After storing his orange goop vials in his pack, he scampered up to the group.

Alvec picked up the double-bladed sword and sheathed it in his pack. It wasn't enchanted or anything like that. Still, he could tell that an exceptional level of craftsmanship had gone into the blade. He wouldn't be surprised if it meant something. Perhaps Iridel would know... not that he wanted to contact him again. The prior contact a few weeks ago had been unpleasant, to say the least. He'd heard nothing else since then from him either. It was possible that Iridel didn't want to use spells to communicate since he was sure they were being monitored, which left more discrete channels the only option. Short of visiting the Blue Banner army itself, Alvec wasn't sure he could safely ask about devils to him.

He was the one who had made a deal with one, a deal which had resulted in Alvec's father being born a tiefling. A contract that left the Reynore family strained, as Iridel and his wife Anel kept up a pretense of a united family despite the apparent distaste for one another. It was half the reason Iridel was with the blue banner. Perhaps he could have used the family's name and history to leverage a better public service. Still, the Blue Banner kept him away from home for significant periods, a blessing perhaps if your wife hated you.

Alvec shook his head; it didn't matter right now. He could always pursue information from the academy or the church. He was bound to run into someone who could provide some possible context.

With that, the group began their trek back the way they came. Echo and Naya took the lead, quickly following the pathway in front of them. With their tracking abilities, they'd be back home before long.