Monster Profile: Clockwork Knight

An excerpt from the writings of the veteran Dungeon-delver Janise Cher

A monster found in the now-defunct orbital Dungeon known as the Celestial Palace (also referred to as the Titan of Steel), Clockwork Knights are quite formidable opponents for any adventurer who should be faced with one, seeing as they have incredibly high base capabilities along with extremely lethal weaponry.

First are the basic capabilities; Clockwork Knights have quite bluntly excessive amounts of physical strength, decently good speed, and an extreme amount of physical durability for a monster their size. In my fights with them, I had to sink significant chunks of my mana reserve into each hit just to dent their armor, and whenever they managed to get a hit in, my protection field nearly collapsed. If I hadn't thought to bring along a few Mana Beads to recharge myself, I would not have survived my third encounter with these constructs.

As for weaponry aside from sheer physical performance, Clockwork Knights have a mixture of integrated weapons and handheld items. In the integrated category, they first have a pair of rapid-fire guns mounted to their arms; these are pretty standard for a Clockwork Dungeon, but have a higher muzzle velocity than normal. The other major integrated weapon they have is that turbine in their chest, through which they can fire a massive explosive blast. Said blast also delivers a nasty damage-over-time effect that can stick to its victims, the general nearby area, and the Clockwork Knight itself for nearly a week; I was dependent on mana beads for a significant time afterwards to keep my Protection Field up, or I would have surely died.

Carried weapons fit into the general categories of sword, shield, and rifle. The sword is long, heavy, and has a much broader blade and thicker handle than many swords; it is just as excessively durable as the Clockwork Knight itself, but that isn't its only nasty trick; when activated, the sword is capable of sheathing itself in Dragonfire, and I mean the real stuff that can melt cities into slag if enough is used at once. There is no visible activation switch, but after prodding the sword with my mana for a few hours I was able to get it to turn on.

WARNING: Just because Dragonfire isn't touching you doesn't mean it can't hurt you! It also emits an invisible light that can lethally poison you with minimal exposure; fortunately, regenerative magic can save you if applied in time.

The rifle is another Dragonfire weapon, firing either bolts or continuous streams of Dragonfire at extreme velocity, depending on the setting. These shots are more than capable of penetrating almost any defense an Adventurer can carry, short of temporarily boosting their durability with the mana contents of an entire Blue Bead at minimum. Getting it to work was much the same as the sword; the internal mechanisms have to be prodded with mana just right in order for the weapon to activate.

Compared to this, the shield is almost boring, for the most part just being a single massive slab of whatever absurdly durable materials the Clockwork Knight is made from. All but the strongest adventurers will find it too heavy to wield properly, but if you can you will find few shields superior to it. It also has the additional feature of self-repairing when supplied with Mana, but the levels of mana required are so absurdly massive that a normal adventurer would be hard-pressed to fix a significant gash in the shield with even a week's worth of exertion.

Monster parts that can be harvested from a Clockwork Knight are fairly typical for Clockworks, being large quantities of refined metal, several dozen motors and other mechanical components that Tinkers tend to find useful. That said, the Clockworks from the Celestial Palace have two fairly notable properties that stand out. First, the material they are made from is absurdly durable and nearly impossible to work; it was quite clearly conjured in place, since there wouldn't be many practical ways to forge it. If you can get the parts out, they are therefore likely to last in projects for an extremely long time without replacement.

Second are the parts my party started referring to as the 'Dragonfire Cores', for lack of a better name. These parts are near-perpetual mana generators that make use of conjured Dragonfire to violate the Perpetual Mana Prevention Principle. As such, they can provide easy re-charging for any adventuring party that acquires them, and a near-perpetual power source for Tinker projects. A Clockwork Knight contains two Dragonfire Cores, and seems able to operate at full capacity with only one core functioning.

Thus, Clockwork Knights (if you can find them) will prove an extremely hazardous challenge for all but the most experienced adventuring parties, but taking them down is extremely rewarding.