Reunited, we stood before the front gate of the Sanctum Beta as it slowly opened. Before us stood a veritable army of these clockwork soldiers, marching forward to meet us. A fierce battle ensued. They had numbers, and we were low on resources. I nearly fell in combat and my life flashed before my eyes for a brief moment... Was this fascinating place buried within the earth, so far from home, where I would meet my end? Cleis Frostclaw ravaged their numbers with his powerful magic. Eventually both sides seemed to retreat to lick their wounds, I could hear the clockwork creatures sealing the entrance and I feared we may not get another shot to breach. cutting and running we traveled for 5 minutes, Cleis laying down magical traps and tricks as we went, before the Captain used his divine power to conjure shelter once more in the rockface itself.
Licking our wounds, we discussed plans for breaching. And while I sometimes find myself frustrated with how paranoid and fearful this group can be, I'm slowly learning where it's come from--they've breached a facility like this in the past, after all. I mentioned to the Captain that he may want to be more reticent in what he asks of his handler. I don't know what he did but now the head of Operations is breathing down my neck again, and there's not much I can hide from them if they start to pry. With that we rested for the night, steeling ourselves for whatever this forsaken place would throw at us.
Returning, we were distraught to learn much of the damage had already been cleaned up and repaired. J'ack Rameur and Milu Soma planned to sneak forward to try and re-disable the alarm, and after a failed attempt when they were almost discovered by some clockwork hounds they decided to try again with me and Xael acting as bait. While things almost went south, Milu managed to disable the alarm as the hounds pulled him to the floor, and we found ourselves once again in a battle for our lives. Despite disabling the audible alarm, the watcher managed to send a message through a conduit and another platoon of these constructs marched forth to battle us. We pressed on, Me and Xael nearly dying as we punched through steel and clockwork, breaching shields and enduring flame. Finally we prevailed, standing inside the entryway, we have no idea what awaits us.
I'm going to have to send a report soon. I can't delay much longer.