You Have An Army? We Have An Ooze.
Last week, the party decided to take the fight directly to the cultists of Zedar. Along the way, they talked with Uther and Oozymandias1, and Krunch pledged his devotion to the One True Ooze. He sacrificed the horn of the dragon the party had slain as an offering, and in return, received a boon. However, he put aside any selfish desires to do things like shoot giant acid bolts from his hands. Instead, he asked merely for help avenging his friend, Talbot. Incensed by the death of his would-be acolyte, Oozymandias agreed to lead the party into battle against the cultists2.
With the One True Turret firing heavy oordnance at will, the party made swift work of the hapless cultists guarding the portcullis, as well as the portcullis itself. A squad of clay golems ran out to meet the party, and were marginally effective until being engulfed by Oozymandias.
However, victory against the cultists would not come that easily. Makor, the massive iron golem imbued with the Spark3, arrived to support his golem minions. As he smashed apart the stone tunnels merely by walking through them, a cloaked figure could be seen behind him - Zedar, bent on revenge after freeing himself from his extradimensional prison4.
Oozymandias and Makor traded blows, and Oozymandias was forced to retreat under Makor's powerful onslaught. The ooze's bolts of acid were powerful, and were wearing Makor down, so the party stepped up to try to distract Makor so Oozymandias could keep firing. Clockwork was next to fall, as Makor nearly separated his head from his torso in a brutal series of punches. As Sir Patty Cakes, Uther, and Garruk tried to keep Clockwork alive, Krunch tried to climb inside Makor to access the Spark, but was brutally pummeled and nearly knocked unconscious for his trouble. Krunch's distraction was effective, however, and Oozymandias - guided by Clockwork's dying spirit5 - disintegrated Makor with a massive acid bolt. Before Zedar could escape, Silk appeared out of nowhere behind him again, binding him with the Dimensional Shackles. With the threat ended, the party then dumped almost every healing potion they had down Clockwork’s throat to keep him from dying, and narrowly managed to save him. Show up this week to figure out what to do with Zedar!
1 Okay, fine, it's his actual name. 2 At this point, the party composition was over 50% NPCs (and about 99.9% NPC by weight). 3 Makor conducted static electricity well. Many cultists were treated to a light shock upon touching him, which they ascribed to his imbuement with divine power from Zedar. Also, he had an artifact that allowed him to animate golems with a touch. 4 "His extradimensional prison" sounds much better than "the bag we put stuff in". 5 And Clockwork's natural 20.