had resolved to return to the caypt of Lady Methilde of Llorvast, in. part to retrie the remains of my old assistant Je but largely to seek revenge upon the Tomb Maiden who had slain him. I obtained the best weapon possible against such a mechanikal Graydon, a member of the Devil Dogs mercenary company, who arjacks. make their living hunti a foolish and suicidal While perhay profession, they come highly recommended and for the solemn task of avenging an old friend and retrieving his remains I wanted the best, expenses be damned Seeing the old tomb again chilled me. I could not banish the thought of that iron killer waiting juston the other side of those hu, doorsto finish what she started half ade: The inner chamber door, a complicated mechanikal hatchway like the vaults to the banks of Caspia, would completely stymie an intellectual like myself and time. Uriah, however, attacked it undaunted. With a few pulls of his flask, two wrenches, nd a string of profanities that would couse an Ordic sailor to blush the door screeched open slightly. A tight fit, and not useful during a rapid retreat, but wi od entrance within just a few minutes. We squeezed past the ruined gears and spri quite a for his bulky Tordoran frame and found nothing but darkness within. I lit my lantern, fully prepared to look upon a tableau of that long-gone day, but saw instead a more sinister surprise. Someone had ch everything. The lantern light showed about any crypt that seemed like ind [ wholeheartedly agreed No one else had entered here that I knew of, only the Maiden, and autonomous creations like her performed only one task; clockwork eres not evolve or learn, not like today's cortexes, and I said 0 to Uriah, He laughed, saying that 1 ‘don’t spend much time ‘round old while he loade: sized shot into hi the largest firearm I have ever seen without a cannons mount, and the confidence with which Uriah handled it reassured me more than I cared to admit. moved thelightacrose the room, and saw him. Jek’s body lay on a table like an offering and, to him. Uriah shouted but, by the ENDRAI WS P| e> walls cleared ofdust and repaired. The equipment we had dropped no longer lay about. Itseemed if the thousand Lady Methilde’s interment - from that moment to this - had never passed. Uriah had a bad feeling FA I the Maiden had appeared. That bloody Tomb Maiden had laid an ambush for us. She moved, a blur of rusty steel, and might have bisected me if not for the quick trigger of my companion. I fell back as his slug gun went off and 1 thought the crypt would collapse from the sound. The shot split the Maiden's and knocked her off her feet. I stood for a moment in the thundering silence, shocked faceplCould « construct like this really obsess and plan and wait all these years for my return? The Maiden twitched once ‘or twice while Uriah reloaded, but did not rise. We waited a full minute before deciding. she was “dead”, and Uriah grabbed his pick to start scrapping her Just as he reached her I heard the faint whine of tiny gears and she leapt to her feet. A backhand blow knocked Uriah aside and she came directly at me. She had played dead and caught Uriah fla killed him, but she wanted me. footed. She could have easily I parried two blows and my armor stopped a third, which nevertheless would bruise me for a week, but I could not hold out for long. I tripped and she lifted her halberd, but instead of striking there came only the sound of grinding gears and sparks from her shoulders. Uriah, blood dripping from a broken nose and split lip, had coiled a thick metal net around her legs and set to jamming a jackwrench into her neck smiling and singing some Ordic shanty the whole time, obviously enjoying himself. The Maiden lurched and popped, and I swear! heard it growl at me. It fought the heavy netting; strained against the mechanisms Uriah had jammed, and then let out a high-pitched whistle that I could only describe as a locomotive’s singing voice. She sank to her knee: said his work would not hold forever. I drove my trusty short sword through her split faceplate, receivin; turies-old a spray of ce muck that may have once been oil for my trouble, A few shudders and a sputtering whine and the Tomb Maiden lay stil. T remained at the ready for a full hour while Uriah took her apart piece by piece -he could keep whatever he wanted ~ but I half expected that thing to start moving again in his backpack. 1 remained on edge long after I had laid Jek to rest in Ceryl, and Uriah and | parted ways in Pointe Bourne. The idea that machines might actually learn and think boggles the mind I say. To tell you Morrow's truth, I have found myself jumping at the tick of my ‘own pocket watch. PENDRAKE Western Inimoren’s foremost authority on the fauna of the Iron Kingdoms, Professor Victor Pendrake teachers Zoology at Corvis University. and has penned the Monsternomicon, an excellent resource for GMs which describes creatures such as June’s Full-metal fantasy miniature release, the Tomb Maiden. Look for more tales of adventure from the professor in upcoming issues of No Quarter Magazine. QuickPLaTes— Detailed in the Monster- nomicon v3.5, quickplates make monsters more dynamic and challenging. The two below apply to constructs. You may place multiple quickplates on a single HMaywiRe This quickplate describes an intelligent construct that has suffered some form of damage to make it unpredictable, unstable, and extremely violent. It_may attack friend or foe, so haywire works best when appli solitary constructs wi toattack Weakness: A haywired construct suffers from a form of Scramble (IKCG p.364.) with the following differences: replace ‘all referencesof" easter” with “nearest creature” and the result “do nothing bur babblelincoherently” with “overrun nearest (ereature.” THE PENDRAKE EXCOMNTERSTHE PENDRAKE EXCOWNTERS The Scramble spell does not affect haywire constructs. Bonus Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Overrun. and Improved CHALLENGE RATING INCREASE BY 1_ Restricti May only be applied to constructs and mechanikal constructs (detailed in the Liber Mechanika, released in August) with intelligence, AWAKENED An awakened construct gains the ability to think, learn, and remember and is no long mindless and restricted to its original programming. awakened construct acts in: of reacts, quickly formulates its own plans and displays a keen sense of self. It may anticipate seek to an opponent's move intimidate them, or actively search for them if they hide Abilities: Gain an Intel- ligence of 3 and +1 Wisdom and Charisma, Skills: equal to 4 +1 per Hit Die and gain Intimidate, Listen, Sense Motive, Gain skill ranks and Spot as skills Bonus Feats: Improved Initiative. Alertness. CHALLENGE RATING INCREASE BY 1 __ Restrictions: May apply only to constructs without an intelligence score, but not animated objects with the animate object spell or A special ability, or one without a wisdom or charisma score, made from NEW FEAT JaM_GeaRs——____ Prerequisites: Base Attack 43, Disable Device 6 ranks, Demolish Benefit: You jam the gears of a mechanikal construct, slowing it, Instead of dealing additional with your demolish abil gears after a successful melee attack. A construct with jammed gears moves at half its movement (round down to the next 5-foot increment), and loses its Dexterity bonus to AG, if any, for a number of rounds equal to half your your current ranks in disable device up to a total of 5 rounds, Multiple jammed gear effects do not stack The weapon used to jam gears suffers 1 hit point of damage per Hit Die of the construct. Weapons not destroyed are caught in the gears and immediately disarmed from the attacker. You can use & disarm action to snatch the weapon back on a subsequent round. Special: Characters with the "Toss a hammer at it” abil jam gears once per day after a successful ranged attack within 50 feet with a thrown weapon. NEW MONSTER SUBTYPE __ MECHANIKAL CONSTRUCT ___ Described in the Liber Mechanika (released in August), Mechanikal Constructs include steamjacks, warjacks, and tomb maidens among other constructs found inthe Iron Kingdoms. Some spells and abilities only work against’ mechanikal constructs (uch as warjacks) but not the larger class of constructs (such as flesh golems).