483 Deja vu

Nick picked up the pieces and observed them but frowned as he couldn't identify it. At first glance it appeared to be bronze but it was far too sturdy to actually be it and there was no corrosion at all despite the enchantments on the metal being destroyed for over a thousand years. Using the system Nick analyzed the pieces and smiled at what it told him. The metal was called olympium and was an alloy created by Hephaestus that the forge god used for most of their intricate works. Even more surprisingly was that the pieces belonged to a magical drone created out of the metal.

This raised Nicks hopes greatly that this was indeed the location that Hephaestus was sealed but the possibility that it was just the tomb of a powerful wizard that found the alloy also existed. Knowing this Nick collected as much pieces as he could and continued on his way further into the crevice. The walls got smoother and wider the deeper he went while more and more pieces of drones showed up and Nick had even started to find some more whole constructs.-

The general body shape he could see for the majority of these drones was vaguely arachnid like except they had clamps on their front for manipulating things. Nick couldn't quite put his finger on it but something about their shape bothered him , like he should know what they were but at the same time he shouldn't as well. It was a weird sort of deja vu rather than anything actually paradoxical in nature and it was driving him crazy. In the end he could only continue collecting the drones as he went deeper into the stone structure underground.-

'What is this place? There is almost no magic at all besides these drones and even then most of them have long since lost all power or been destroyed. If anything this place seems almost entirely mechanical in nature.' Nick thought in confusion the more the stone started to look as if it had been carved long ago and inlaid with metal pipes and plating. Even stranger was that he could hear steam moving through the pipes to somewhere further in. There was plenty of traps along the way but again none were magical and most had even been disabled prior to his arrival.-

Nick pushed open a large set of metal doors that stood in his way further in and for the first time since entering this place found a working drone. This one was different then the others however as it looked almost humanoid if it wasn't for the strange rolling wheels it used to move about and weapon hands. The right hand was a mechanical blade while the left appeared to be a sort of crossbow without a string. Again Nick had a horrible sense that he should know what this was but couldn't for the life of him figure out why.-

The drone also spotted him and steam rose from the side of it's head and it turned violent and raised it's crossbow arm to fire a bolt at him. Nick waved his wand creating a shield that stopped the bolt before immediately pointing at the drone "Immobulus!" he spoke and the spell appeared in a flash of blue causing the drone to stiffen in place as it was magically paralyzed. Nick walked over to it at this point and began examining the enchantments on it carefully. They were horribly complex actually as there was a sort of primitive A.I that detected race and dictated the actions of the drone as a result as well as a set of tasks that it would need to perform in various scenarios.-

'These enchantments are some else entirely. It's like a form of mechanical life with that last step not being taken to truly make it alive. Even stranger is that it seems to be intentional as well.' Nick thought with a deep frown as once again a part of his being was screaming at him that he should know what this is and what made it. "Disrumpere!" Nick said with a flick of his wrist and the drone lost it's enchantment before falling to the ground in perfectly intact pieces that Nick collected to put together again later.-

Looking around the room Nick saw three other door that went in three different directions so he on a whim chose to take the one to his left. Behind that door was what appeared to be a bed room to his surprise and had a metal mechanically locked chest , a stone bed , a table with stone chairs and a bookshelf with what looked to be the remains of books on it. The books were sadly reduced to fragments and Nick felt like maybe the repair charm might hopefully fix them.