Act I
100
Read to everyone:
It is a warm, cloudless summer day in the Nora Sacred Land. You find it easier to walk through the short grass, as the heat pouring off the deep red and orange gravel of the road is palpable, becoming unbearable after only a short time. The sun on the waves of tall grass near the road produces a fibrous, humid smell. Insects buzz in an omnipresent drone which seems deafening until someone speaks, and you realize the air is so still as to amplify every little sound.
The Braves you met last night warned you against the exact thing you’re doing now — heading to the cauldron on the northwest edges of the Sacred Land. They warned of increased Bellowback activity in the area, a sure sign the cauldron was once again producing machines after it had briefly gone silent thanks to the efforts of the Seeker. Several Braves sported fresh wounds — burns and frostbite, of all things — from their encounters, and were on their way back to the Embrace to replenish their supplies.
The road to Cauldron SIGMA, due north of Mother’s Crown, is not particularly treacherous, especially if approaching from most of Nora lands to the south and east. If approaching from the west, you have a chance to run into a Shell-Walker Convoy. Beyond those, it’s mostly just Watchers, Grazers, and Striders, all of which are well clear of the road.
As the party nears the cauldron, they come across a strange sight: two Bellowbacks, fighting each other. One of the Bellowbacks, this one carrying Blaze and spraying fire, appears to be significantly older: its armor has visible wear and tear, and a leg has been damaged leading to a hitch as it tries to circle the other. The second Bellowback, this one with Chillwater in its tank but also shooting electricity from its snout, seems to be new — much cleaner, with just a few scorch marks, likely hits from the first Bellowback in this very fight.
The party can join the fight, at which point both Bellowbacks will shift their focus to the party, and will fight until defeated. If the party waits, the Freeze Bellowback will defeat the Fire Bellowback in short order, before walking back to the door of Cauldron SIGMA and disappearing inside. Investigation of the Fire Bellowback wreckage reveals nothing out of the ordinary, just a normal, destroyed Bellowback, along with a few older Watcher carcasses in the area.
Gaining entry to the cauldron requires a Corruptor Override Controller to get through the closed main door — there is no other entrance.
TODO: Cauldron SIGMA Map
The cauldron layout has not changed since its appearance in HZD, until the final chamber. Where the final confrontation with the Fire Bellowback had been, the defeated machine is still there, in pieces. It’s odd, because the surrounding chamber appears to have been completely repaired — almost as if the defeated Bellowback was left as a warning.
A new chamber is accessible to one side, leading to a room that is a mirror for the previous one. It is absolutely littered with the charred and exploded parts of what must be dozens of Bellowbacks. Some of the debris is dusty, implying those machines were destroyed weeks or months ago. Others still reek fire damage, recent enough to still have the sharp chemical smell of Blaze upon them.
TODO: SIGMA Arena 1 Map
Hearing doors on the opposite side of the room open, the party has three rounds to hide before a pair of Bellowbacks enter from different doors. One of them might be the mostly-new Freeze Bellowback you saw outside, while the other is something even newer. The tank on this Bellowback has been split down the middle — one side of the tank is the bright yellow-green of Blaze, while the other is the icy blue-white of Chillwater.
If the party chooses to hide, use your system adapter to resolve a group Stealth encounter against Moderate difficulty. Once again, the Bellowbacks will focus on the party if they are detected, but will otherwise fight until one is destroyed.
If the party waits for a single victor, it will be the newer Freeze/Fire Bellowback. It will have made quick work of the other, despite taking a few Shock hits which reduce it to 2/3 its normal health. If not engaged immediately, the Bellowback will then move to the center of the room and seem to go dormant. A pair of Watchers will enter, and will begin to take thorough scans of the damage to both the destroyed Bellowback and the victor. They will then begin clearing space in the room for what you presume to be the next battle, during which they will discover the party, alert the Bellowback, and attack.
If the party jumps the Bellowback, the Watchers will come in mid-fight anyway.
Defeating all the machines and searching the room will activate a control pylon familiar to players of HZD. Connecting one or more Override Controllers to this pylon will upgrade the Controllers with overrides to the same machines as in HZD: Grazer, Lancehorn, Sawtooth, Scrapper.
Additionally, the Datapoint gained from this is far more extensive than the one found by the Seeker. This datapoint is a log.