When the SAINTs come marching out

The next day Markos shows up as promised, together with Scurti and a bald and clean shaven dwarf with a blue and a brown eye, who looks to be in his thirties, if he was human. Tellmacher introduces him as 'the Specialist' and he has quite the story. Deep, deep underground there are tunnels that connect all important parts of the Midtal; Arks Ximmer, Bearstett Prison, Tallsite Citadel, Festull Base, etc.

And deep under the Five Centuries Monument there is large bay and ancillary rooms that contain ancient golems. The plan is for the party to go down there, activate them and send them out in the city. In the chaos this creates, it should be possible to get the document that Zayn is after.

The Specialist explains; there are five Panzerkampgolems II (PzKpfg II) down there, also known as SAINT; Superautomatische Infanterie, neue Technologie (Super Automaton Infantry, New Technology). Getting there via the tunnels is almost impossible; there are many patrols and all kinds of magical alarms and defenses. But there is an escape shaft that ends in an Military Police post right next to the Five Centuries Monument.

The MP post consists of a large room with desk, a table and chairs, and a small kitchenette. Next to that there are two cells, a toilet, a storeroom, an armory, and an office for the duty officer. In that office there is a trapdoor hidden under a filing cabinet. There's even a special knock code for anyone coming up the very tall shaft to announce there presence."There used to be drills, those are long gone, I don’t think anyone has ever used the ladder entrance for close to a century."

Markos interjects: "make sure the MP's won’t be able to raise an alarm when you access that ladder, I don’t care how."

The PKG Storage consists of a control room, this is where the crew are most of the time, outside of the cleaning and upkeep, there’s nothing to do but play cards. Markos: "our inside person should have taken care of the crew but be prepared to take them out should things not have gone to plan".

There’s a toilet off of the control room, there's also a door with multiple locks and no label or sign, "I’ve always wondered what’s behind it, I’ve asked around but no one knew, no one even knew who has the keys". From the control room there is a door to a corridor where the ladder ends, the corridor continues on a long way to the main tunnel network. A door to the right, directly after exiting the control room leads to the bay.

The bay is an enormous room that holds the golems. In the past more were planned but never produced, after that it held other golems and similar constructs but those were all removed over the years, leaving none but the five. They are at the back of the bay, near them is the shaft up to the city, the exit is hidden under one of the monument's statues, and on the opposite side of the shaft is a large reagents storage. The crew chief has a key to unlock it.

"Used to be they were started up every day, then every week, every month, now once a year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if soon it’s going to be once every however many years. Trust me, if the Council of Chiefs keep going like this then in a decade none of them will be in working condition. Anyway, this is what's needed to get them running, mind you this is per golem, not for all five". He hands over a list:

•    Abominable Salts; 10 kg.

•    Diamond dust; 100 grams.

•    Fillip of Effervescence; a dram.

•    Nevercold Brass Slivers; 10 kg.

•    Nodules of Fecund Amber; 20.

•    Oneiric Pearls; 5.

•    Ray-Drenched Cinder; 1.

"There’s a wheelbarrow in the reagents storage, you should be able to bring everything with one trip if you load it carefully. There's a problem though; apparently they still haven’t resupplied the stock of Nevercold Brass Slivers so they can’t even activate the automatons, can you believe that?" Markos: "you will need to source this somewhere and bring it along with you. How much do we need?" The Specialist: "10 kilos per, so 50 kilos, but I’d bring double that, just in case."

"So, there are receptacles at top of the left boot, they are marked clearly, but the lids can get stuck. Just use a crowbar, there should be plenty of them there. Then press the large, green button next to the lids, if it doesn’t work, kick it. That should start the boot sequence. Once it’s up and running it will say: 'aktiviert' (activated)".

"It should be in autonomous mode already. Read it the instructions as written on these pieces of vellum, word for word, don’t leave anything out. If you make a mistake, tell it: 'Zurücksetzen, Archon' (reset, archon), that should allow you to restart from the beginning. Once done it should respond with 'verstanden, Befehl akzeptiert' (understood, command accepted), then get out of the way as it will start to move."

He hands our friends five pieces of vellum with the instructions. They are numbered one through five and look identical except for two sets of numbers at the end of the instructions. Markos explains that the golems should be activated the next morning between eight and nine in the morning for maximum effect. He lets the Specialist answer any pertinent question and then they leave, letting our friends continue with their planning.

Both Boldrek and Kieran are skilled in Geography and they soon figure out that the numbers on the instructions are coordinates. It doesn't take too long to work out the locations given are for Tallsite Citadel, Bearstett Prison, the House Ditta offices, the Thal Sivale offices, and Helfrau Schwestern Bank (HSB). They have a problem with the last of the five targets and decide to change the last two digits of the number so the golem should no longer go to the main entrance of the bank but to a different part of the building.