Time Remaining: 22:58

The party went toe-to-toe with the Sil’ess automatons, which came at them with crystal drills and electric pulse guns. After disabling the guns they finished them off in short order, Patch riding around on the back of one as it frantically tried to throw him off, and Ellis chucking another down the lift shaft.

With the immediate threat countered, the party scoured the warehouse, finding a wealth of guns, melee weapons, armour and esoteric artifacts (see Sil’ess Arms Warehouse Inventory). The vault was next on the agenda – North had it open in short order, and inside was a wealth of crystal energy clips, along with a fragment of some large metal structure, covered in Sil’ess writing. The plinth the fragment rested on also held an ornate treasure chest.

With Patch sensing supernatural energy emanating not just from the items, but from the floor itself, Ellis hurled Patch to the plinth to recover the chest. Attempting to pick the lock, Patch triggered some sort of mechanism leading to an EM spike – he leapt out of there with the chest, caught by Ellis before his feet touched the floor, but guards were quickly converging on the vault.

These were the guards that the party had encountered before at Riffkin’s Headquarters, wearing black full body armour and armed with laser pistols. Apparently able to see through Patch’s technowizard stealth system, a firefight ensued. It soon became evident that the suits were empty aside from a strange luminous mist that appeared to animate them.

With the supernatural guards taken out the party loaded up with loot, filling a container with guns and other items, and rode the lift down to the Sil’ess Arms Warehouse Lift Terminal. More guards were waiting in the darkened lower warehouse, but Patch sniffed them out and Ellis and North dispatched them with brutal efficiency, leaving the exit to the Hob clear…