Otherwise safely inside the right foot heel of the Iron Giant, the party healed their wounds from the attack. After seeing to his wounds, Thad opened the door to the rest of the foot, but due to the fact he did not disable the trap attached to the door (or at least find the bypass), everyone within the heel was struck with a Flame Strike. In addition, an Ogre Mage (head covered by a hood made of seemingly black mesh) was waiting for someone to come through, throwing a Bead of Force at Thad, and while this did not capture him it hurt even more members of the party.

Almost immediately, the Iron Giant began to move once more, tumbling almost everyone about the foot. The Ogre Mage was unaffected by the rocking of the foot, for it floated just above the floor via its magical flight. Sig grabbed hold of the interior of the Giant’s foot as he grasped for a potion of healing, while the warriors of the party rushed the Ogre, only to be stopped by prone humanoid skeletons it had made invisible (also unaffected by the rocking via being prone). While they struggled to get to the Ogre Mage and remain upright, Striker cast Air Walk upon himself to walk above the floor as well, going straight for the Ogre Mage.

The Ogre Mage was soon quickly taken down, and the party was able to observe the rest of the room. Near the toes was a blue orb atop a pedestal, which would turn red when it was turned “one click” in either direction. Thad was playing with this, and Striker discouraged him for fear of not knowing what they were doing to the giant. A hatch on the side of the foot opened to a “maintenance tunnel” where a small creature could easily climb through, medium find it difficult, and large ones impossible. Last, on the floor was what Sig identified as a levitation pad, of which a person could stand over the pad (or the space above it) and move as if under the effect of Levitate. However, it was only active while the foot of the Iron Giant rested, which was roughly six seconds at a time.

The party eventually decided to move up the leg via the opening used for the levitation pad, having Striker make use of his Air Walk, Zach carrying Sig as he climbed up, and Zaden and Thad climbing on their own. The shin of the right leg contained otherwise metal junk that had fallen down from above, yet contained enough mithral ore to make one weapon or armor. Sorting through this rubble was a worm like construct (a red gem attached to its person), believed to be for maintenance of the Iron Giant. Continuing up to the thigh, they discovered two large constructs built into the wall guarding the door leading to the hip, and the Planetar Striker summoned could see a much more imposing Ogre Mage floating in front of it (wielding a whip from a balor, a staff of some kind, wearing a cloak of the same material of the hood worn by the Ogre Mage below, and protected by a Shield). The party openly discussed what they were going to do in regards to the Ogre Mage till he got fed up, casting Repulsion from the staff he held, though it did not effect any of them. He introduced himself to be Ix Revon, head of security of the Iron Giant, and if they wanted to live they had best leave “his Giant” immediately. They obviously refused, and begun the attack.

Sig immediately cast fireball, yet Ix was unaffected due to his quick reflexes, and the Guardian Constructs activated to attack “Intruders”, beating Sig within an inch of his life. Zach climbed up to Ix, which drew the attacks of the Constructs away from the rest of the party, for they were programmed to attack “Intruders,” more specifically those that get past them. Meanwhile, the Ogre Mage from the foot had regenerated completely, and his upward flight toward them would have gone unnoticed by the party had the Planetar not saw him (others would have seen “something” moving as is it were invisible). Almost immediately, Ix Revon activated the staff he held and the Planetar disappeared back to her home plane via Dismissal.

Zaden and Thad climbed up the inside of the thigh to assist Zach, but were held back by the Guardian Constructs, and could not properly use their primary weapons because they required use of both their hands. Sig cast a Wall of Fire to stall the the Ogre Mage, but it rushed through to swipe at the wizard, thankfully not striking him. To quickly deal with the second Ogre Mage, Sig cast a Disintegrate upon it, turning it into a pile of ash. Ix Revon was quickly dispatched as well via flurry of blows from Zach, yet the moment he went into unconsciousness, the cloak he wore activated, teleporting him away. The Constructs were soon dismantled as well, Zaden finishing the last one off with his fists.

Searching the destroyed constructs, they found they were powered by gems (these ones green) with thousands, yet also contained creatures within them, akin to the method Grigori was trapped. They also found that the door to the hip could only be opened via actions of the constructs, requiring another method to proceed. In the end, all the party that could traveled through the maintanence tunnel while Sig teleported Zach to the other side. Before doing this, they made sure the Ogre Mage was completly dead this time and took his possessions (similar to another Ogre Mage the party fought before)

Within the hip, a door led into a larger room, as did a ventilation tunnel across the roof. Sig explored it for them, and he could see through a metallic mesh that a group of vampires lay in wait for them below, waiting for them to open the door. Rods across the ceiling were pointed toward the door, and Vampire Spawn could be seen poised to activate them via levers. Hoping to trick them, Sig jimmied one of the rods towards the vampires, and while moving to the next one found that a Vampire Spawn was waiting for him, with another one coming into the vent via gaseous form. Sig rushed away from the Vampire Spawn, and they were slain by Thad. Outside of the vent, Sig noted that one of the vampires within wore a hood similar to the one they found on the Ogre Mage they had slain, and thought it may have magical capabilities to it. Zach placed it over his head, and after a few moments an emotionless voice sounded in his head asking for the status of the Ogre Mage at the right foot. Realizing it was speaking with telepathy, Zach attempted to fool the voice as if he were the Ogre Mage to possibly gain info and have the vampires stand down. The voice (which called itself the Encompassing Mind) instantly called him a liar.

Meanwhile, Sig and Thad crawled through the vents, believing they could still maneuver the rods and trick the Spawn below into harming themselves. However, the Vampires and Spawn were aware of their presence and began too look into their eyes in an attempt to have them fight against their party. Knowing they needed to stop this before either Thad or Sig attempted to kill each other, the rest of the party rushed into the trapped room, dodging force bombs, freeze rays, and the electrified floor (the rods on the ceiling didn’t activate, and were in truth a ruse to draw others within). Zach effortlessly dodged all the traps to get at the vampires, while Zaden rushed through them without fear towards other adversaries. Striker made use of the positive energy with flowed through him and destroyed the Vampires and Spawn around him, making the lot around him draw all their attacks to the cleric.

Soon it was just the long Vampire Elite, and try as she might with her gaze, Zaden would not fight against his party. With her defeat and the rest, their gaseous forms traveled further up the Iron Giant through a pink field that could possibly disintegrate all creatures and objects that pass through it. More so, when they began to destroy the area around the the ladder opening, the pink field expanded further than the opening, theoretically encompassing the whole ceiling, requiring the party to find a means to dismantle the field another way. Their destruction triggered the actions of Maintenance constructs, which exited out of a crafting room which contained a box of some kind which rebuilt constructs (this one currently building a maintenance construct). The constructs restored the ceiling and the other destruction the party caused, the party making sure to leave them alone so that when they once the Iron Giant, the constructs would serve them well.

Thad recalled the orb pedestal in the foot, and after destroying the door at the hip to get to it, turning the orb red made the pink field flicker, as if half the power which fueled it was gone. With this knowledge, Zach had the rest of the party stay behind as he went down the left leg on his own. The left thigh’s entrance was actually destroyed as was a lot of the inside of the though, which was strange given the fact that Maintenance Constructs already fixed the destruction they caused. This was probably so it could still house two residents of the Iron Giant before Farmonia gained control, namely two sorcerous Chokers who attempted to harm Zach with their magic, yet failed to bypass his magical resistance. At the foot Zach fought another one of the Ogre Mage guards on his own, scorching the body to cinders before operating the orb found there as well. With both orbs in the feet turned red, the pink field disappeared, and the party was able to advance.

The room opened to a make shift room of pray, were a large platinum symbol of Hextor hung in front an inoperative levitation pad, the door above it closed as well. Two doors exited into other rooms, the one on their left bearing a sign saying, “Danger.” The Hextor holy symbol was immediatelly taken down by Thad, while Striker went to explore the room to their right, immediately getting attacked by a Shadow guarding the coffins of the vampires they defeated below. The Shadow was quickly dispatched, and the vampires soon after, stakes fashioned from the coffins that held them. A door within lead to another workshop as below, though this one contained an ancient and menacing looking construct capable of slaying all of them. It was rusted and broken, however, and appeared to be missing two gems in slots that were within its head.

Leaving the ancient construct behind, the room behind the “Danger” sign was opened, which was revealed to be covered in green slime via the long time residence of a gray ooze which attacked the party. Zach took the lead once more and used his Orb of Fire to not only deal with the ooze but the rest of the slime. With the slime out of the way, the party was able to find not only another gem from a destroyed construct, but a door which lead to a library. Within were three slender stick-like constructs writing up scrolls, which detailed the history of the Iron Giant as seen through the eyes of the Iron Giant. As such, a lot of the scrolls simply said, “Darkness,” in a very archaic common, while the newer scrolls detailed the Iron Giant’s finding and it’s activation by Farmonia. Also in the room was a Guardian Construct, which told them to, “DO NOT DISTURB,” while they read through the work the stick-like constructs made. Seeing no reason to start a fight, the party went back to the levitation pad, and not knowing how to activate it instead broke through the door and climbed their way up to another door, which they also broke through.

They were now within a dark enclosed room, whose walls on the side looked as if they could come down via the long unused gears along it. A solid adamantine plate along the floor, right under a trap door. When the part was about to explore the walls, a large assortment of gears near the plate started to spin, and a glass eye filled with light looked upon them, asking them who they were and what their purpose in the Giant was. The voice was of the Encompassing Mind, a function of the Iron Giant which sustained the construct, and this was its level. The party began to ask questions, such as what was the construct in the control room (an Anaxim, a construct forged by the gods), and who was in charge of the Iron Giant (currently a Farmonia captain, under the command of vampire lord Loard Kat).

Through the course of the conversation, the Encompassing Mind wanted to be clear they were going to attack those who currently controlled the Iron Giant, and thus were a threat to the Iron Giant. Even when the party pointed they would become the controllers after defeating Loard Kat, it was irrelevant, for in the now they were a danger to the Iron Giant, and it needed to follow programming, opening a volley of energy ray from around the room. The Encompassing Mind claimed to have been watching them throughout their venture in the Iron Giant, and thus turned his energy output into sonic, knowing they had no resistance to it. Soon after, the walls came down, revealing four flying Sentry Drones whose blades conducted electricity which damaged their nerves.

They quickly destroyed the Drones as the Encompassing Mind continued to fire upon them, switching to cold energy when Zach was given proper resistance to sonic. Thad attempted to come at the Encompassing Mind’s gears, only to find it was blocked with a Wall of Force. The party noted two doors leading to other rooms on the newly revealed walls, which Zach explored. One room had a series of electricity traps leading to a green gem set into the wall, which the Encompassing Mind told him to keep away from. When asked why, it told them it’s what kept him alive, and was thus dangerous to remove. Realizing they needed to shut down the Encompassing Mind, Striker cast Protection from Energy upon Zach, who then rushed through the traps which would have otherwise slain him, removing the green gem.

On the way to the other room, more protection from the rays of the Encompassing Mind was given, who then switched to force, which they otherwise had no protection against. In the other room, Zach was faced with a mob of zombies which were all otherwise exact copies of the party, right down to the damage they had taken. Hoping to be rid of the zombies and get to the green gem behind them, he cast Flame Strike, only to have the zombies still stand and have the whole party take damage as if they were the ones who were scorched by the Flame Strike. Unsure of what just happened but hoping to bypass the zombies, Zach climbed the walls past the zombies and to the green gem. The Encompassing Mind pleaded that it did not want to die, but Zach pulled the green gem all the same, and the Encompassing Mind was shut down.