The inside of a Ruin was completely different from what he had imagined.

Beck had expected weathered brickwork, moss, and stale air. What he found instead was a lively place, with furnaces burning along one wall and countless workstations scattered around. Just above his head, a second floor for residences and crosswalks had been constructed from salvaged parts. Beck was barely able to stand to his full height, while Mason and Kenna had to stoop to be able to fit inside, Kenna especially. The structure wrapped around a full quarter of the town, with only the top floor inhabited. It only grew thicker the further down it ran.

Gnomes milled about the place, some carrying loads, others crafting at the workstations, while still others walked above their heads. Cora walked through the crowd almost as if there was no one there. Thankfully, her cloud-hair made for a nice beacon in the crowd of normal gnomes, and so the three of them were able to keep track of her as they picked their way through the crowd. It was like trying to push your way through an army of children.

They had entered from the northern side of the east-facing structure, and by the time they reached their destination, they had almost gone halfway through. It just so happened that their destination was a very old gnomish man, with a bald head and a white beard as long as he was. He sat on a rocking chair atop a wide platform hanging from the roof, connected to the nearby crosswalks with rope bridges. His eyes were almost hidden behind big bushy eyebrows that rose as Cora swung herself up and onto the platform.

"Well, if it isn't our little troublemaker. Come to papaw to try an' smooth things over with the law again, Clink?"

The roll of her eyes was evident in her voice. "Not today, gramps. Sheriff stuck me with a wannabe. Says to let 'em try to clear the place."

The old gnome stroked his beard and gave a long 'hmm'. "Well, if big man sent 'em, they're sure to have a chance. Don't see why not. Go with 'em, make sure they know bout the elemimps."

Cora simply nodded before hopping down. She motioned for them to follow, and they did. As they walked, Beck did his best to stay as close to the woman as possible. "I'm sure the Eyes know what an 'elemimp' is, but I sure don't. Tell me about em."

The cloud covering her face made it hard to gauge her expression. "That's our name for em. Better than 'Minor Elemental Demonspawn'. They look like gangly, flying goblins made of different combinations of elements. The ones we tend to see are steam, ice, and mud. Steams like to come up through the pipes and burn people sometimes. Annoying little bastards."

"Sounds like it. Anything else we should know about?"

Cora stopped at on of the houses built on the crosswalks and pulled down a bec de corbin. The weapon was a bit taller than Kenna, making it twice as tall as the gnome herself. "There's these... things, down there. Look like a gnome or halfling in a full suit of plate mail. They aren't. Only thing thing keepin' em movin' is magic, and this place is full of the stuff. They aren't usually dangerous, but you should still watch em."

Beck could only nod at that. Their group took left, and came to a metal bulkhead set into the wall between two of the blazing furnaces and under a crosswalk. Cora opened the thing, then gestured for the rest of them to climb in. Kenna was barely able to fit, to the point that she had to scrunch up almost into a ball just to get through. Once everyone was inside, the little woman pulled the door closed and sealed it once more. They had exited into a long tunnel that sloped down on either side, a multitude of pipes and cables running along in the corners.

With the bulkhead sealed, Cora turned to rest of them with her hands on her hips. "Y'all ready?" All three nodded in unison. "Good. Let's get our asses movin' then."

Once more, their group set off, their direction chosen at random, with Mason at the head. Again, the Ruin defied Beck's expectations. There was a full ten minutes before there was any change in what they saw, besides the occasional leak of steam. With Cora's warning still fresh in their minds, those were regarded with a hefty amount of caution. Even still, nothing came of it. The first thing they saw was one of the armor suits, still gleaming copper and silver after all those years.

The thing was crouching at one of the lower steam pipes, sparks flying from where its hand made contact with the metal. Mason stopped a few dozen feet from it, his shield interposed between them and it, stopping the rest of them in turn. They stood still, waiting to see what the thing would do. Once it was finished with the pipe repairs, it simply stood and walked away. After a moment, Mason brought his shield back to his side, and they began to follow it.

It wasn't long before there was a change. The automaton veered left, into a hole in the wall. When they reached it, the metal gnome was completely out of sight. Through the gap, they could see the entirety of the inside of the facility. From top to bottom, the place was chock full of pipes and walkways, all surrounding what looked like four giant steel pots turned on their heads, with a giant pipe running from the reservoir wall and through each of them, ending at the outer wall of the dam.

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Despite the size of it, that wasn't the thing that stuck out the most. That distinction went to the automaton that was twice the size of the one they had just seen, standing on the bottom floor and gesticulating wildly at a bunch of what could only be the "elemimps". The imps themselves were as advertised: made up of steam, smoke, or molten earth and in the shape of a winged, malformed goblin. Even still, the automaton drew the most attention; its metal skin burned, its arms swung about wildly, and molten slag dripped from every joint and opening.

As they watched, one of the elemimps seemed to protest whatever order it was given. It made a motion like a cat coughing up a hairball, then spat a big glob of molten stone into its hand and whipped it into the armored thing's face. The frantic movements ceased, and the burning automaton slowly turned to its assailant. A shrieking laugh issued from the imp's throat, only to be cut short by the suit's hand clamping onto the top of its skull.

The laugh quickly turned into a shrill scream. The four of them watched as the automaton absorbed the imp into itself, shoving it face-first through the visor-grate on its helmet. It was a slow process, like pushing dirt through a sieve, but when it was over, the glow issuing from the thing had redoubled. It quickly returned to its gesticulations at the remaining imps, who rushed to follow its instructions.

Their group moved away from the porthole, a considering look passing between them all. Cora was the first to speak. "Never heard of that before."

Beck leaned against the wall near their rear, keeping an eye on the way they planned to go. He ran a finger along the handle of his focus gun. "Still, we said we'd clear the place out. Doesn't matter what these things can do."

Kenna and Mason both nodded. He would have to thank them later. Cora just shrugged. "Fine by me."

Beck pushed off the wall, then motioned to Mason. "Lead the way, brother."

At that, Mason hefted his shield and they continued their descent into the heart of the beast. Every minute or so of walking, they passed another porthole set into the wall, which kept them mostly informed on what was happening below: those imps that were made of smoke and steam disappeared and emerged from pipes all over, while the ones formed from magma flew off to different areas of the facility and back, occasionally carrying random pieces of scrap metal and dumping them into a pit.

Beck had drawn his focus gun shortly after they had begun to move again, practicing [Mana Manipulation] with it as they went. When he held it, it took his mana as if it was an extension of his own body. His first attempt at spellcraft was no more than simply stuffing the thing full of mana and trying to push that out. It resulted in a puny stream of water, only as forceful as what he could have done with his mouth. Checking his tracker, he found that his reserves had fallen by a single point.

That explained why Kenna couldn't cast spells, at least. Spells need constructs. The only question was how to build one. He tried making shapes inside the focus, freezing it, but none of it worked. His gaze drifted to Cora. "Say, Clink, you're a priestess, right? That means you can use magic, yeah?"

The gnome turned her head toward him, which caused the clouds on her head to shake. "I can, but you're looking for a teacher, you're shit out of luck. The Archangels give us perfect constructs, we just have to supply the mana. There's a reason we put so much into Wisdom."

Mason turned back towards them. "Wait, that's what Wisdom does? I always thought it actually made you wiser."

Cora's lips trilled in response. She shook her head as she spoke, "Nah, system can't change if you're stupid or not. Wisdom is Mana and the senses. While I'm at it, Intelligence covers how fast you think and, by extension, your ability to construct spells. Still no idea what Charisma does."

Beck and Mason let out a "huh" at the same time. "So that's why [Shape Water] ups Wisdom. You sure you can't at least show me what one looks like, though?"

"You'll probably see when we get in a fight. There's a few spells the Archangels share. Not doin' it now, though. Like I said, their constructs take a whole lot of mana."

"You didn't say that. Just that you had to supply it."

"Same thing. Anyway," she snapped her fingers and pointed forward, "watch where we're goin'."

Her instructions came just in time. The tunnel that they were in ended just a few yards ahead of them, splitting into a Y capped with bulkheads. The four of them shared a look, at which Beck shrugged, then motioned to Mason and Kenna. Each of them took a door, unsealed it, and pulled it open. The one on the right led to a room twice as long as it was wide, while the one on the left opened into another, shorter hallway lined with a single long window, as opposed to any portholes.

They went into the shelf room, obviously. If the imps hadn't stripped the place clean, anything they found would more than likely be worth its weight in gold. The room was near empty, with only one thing remaining. Hanging from a peg, in a corner near the back wall, Kenna found a bandolier. A holster hung from the right side, holding a Spellgun.

She called him over as soon as she found it. "Do you think you can use it?"

As soon as he touched the handle, he knew none of his skills would apply to using it. He shook his head, "Nah. [Longarms]'s the only skill I've got for these kind of weapons. Don't know what works with it, but this one don't." He considered for a minute, then called out, "Hey, Clink, come look at this!"

When she saw the pistol in his hand, she let out an "ooo". "Quad barrels, break action, nice wood handle. What did you want?"

"That was about it, actually. Thanks."