Khond starts backing up to make space for retreat, taking a shot as he goes.

Bow Attack: 10
Damage: 8
Sneak Attack: 4

Khond shoots an arrow, managing to line up a shot straight for the knight's head. The armor is revealed to be surprisingly weak, or perhaps merely aged, as the projectile pierces through the visor.

And then hits the back of the helmet, as it flies off. And what might be a moment of horror as people's first instinct is that Khond just decapitated the guy with an arrow shot, turns to confusion as the empty broken helmet hits the ground, and yet there's no face on top of that armor.

And then immediately snapped back to attention as it becomes obvious the animated armor is still moving.

(16) Asimi
(12) Khond
(9) Breldo <=
(5) Nuria
(4) Mystery Knight

Rick twists his ear in the direction of the fighting then turns to give Sylvia a look,

"Sylvia cares? Rick wouldn't have guessed that."

He will then take on a bit of a teacher voice,

"Rick will explain about Rick for Sylvia, so Sylvia better understands Rick's reasoning. Rick is not a fighter, or at least not a fair fighter. Rick doesn't want to get stabbed again, it really hurts, and Rick also doesn't have any way to help from a distance. Well, Rick supposes Rick call yell encouragingly."

Rick yells,

"Breldo and other Friends have got this! Keep it up!"

He then give Sylvia a 'are you satisfied ' look before continuing.

Breldo will continue dodging, in hopes that his companions can cut the strings and bring down this metal puppet, that is obviously being animated by something other than magic, since that isn't real.

Breldo keeps up the act of dodging, buying time for his friends to strike, while the clearly puppeted armor seems 

Attack: 15 Damage: 5

6

16

Attacks fly wild this time around, though Asimi soon tries another halberd strike.

Attack: 13 Damage: 8

But this time around she whiffs too. 

(16) Asimi
(12) Khond <=
(9) Breldo 
(5) Nuria
(4) Mystery Knight

---

Sylvia pouts, performing a little kick in air at frustration as her eyes dart between the sight of active battle, and Rick who seems entirely unmotivated to go check it out.

"So you're just scared? That's going to have to impress my lord to get you his boon?"

She huffs, bothered.

"One day you're gonna run off and something will happen, and you'll be left wondering if you could have changed something!"

With that little outburst, it seems she has nothing left to say on the matter and lets Rick continue, though stays hovering there rather than following.

(sorry for absence.)

Oren, listens and watches Rick's exchange with Sylvia, which delays him, but he still stays and listens.  "Rick, we would all, I think come to your aid, as Sylvia just said...Well, yeah, not sure how I feel now.  Let's go and help Breldo, Sylvia."  he motions for her to follow and he runs, late, to the fight.

(Give me an initiative roll for Oren)

Init:  14

(I'll let Oren go ahead with an attack if you like!)

"Rick scared, yes! Rick would be an idiot not to be."

Rick shrugs,

"Rick honestly doesn't understand what impresses Sylvia's Lord or most people. Sylvia can go help, Rick can only imagine it is getting tight in there."

To Oren, earnestly,

"Rick wishes Friend Oren luck! No one has helped Rick yet and Rick is still here, mostly."

Rick leaves them to it.

Oren purses his lips in thought, gives Rick a short nod, and hurries off to the fight. 

When Oren finally sees what is going on, he continues running in and right up to the armor and takes a big two handed swing at the thing.

Warhammer attack: 16

Damage: 14

"More magic!" he says happily when he sees the headless armor moving about.  His comment probably only watered down to that level of enthusiasm because the magic was attacking them.

Khond keeps shooting, pursing his lips as the corridor becomes progressively more crowded with friendly bodies that he has to not hit, "I can't help but notice we're not trying to get out of the thing's territory?"

Bow attack: 8
Bow damage: 5
Sneak attack: 4

As everyone gears up for another round of hefty combat, Oren finally rushes in to smash with his warhammer. His attack simply smashes the chestplate apart, and after a few moments, the suit of armor starting to stumble as if whatever force was holding it up is failing, it collapses to the ground in a set of broken, useless armor.

---

As the fighting finishes, the magical force known as "combat turns" that was holding Rick back from reaching the door dissipates, and he quickly arrives. Sylvia is begrudgingly following... Because, despite of her calling Rick scared, perhaps she is just deflecting on the fact she knows she isn't nearly strong enough to be any actual help herself.

Opening the door, "Lore" seems to be very simple. It's a rather small room compared to the others, only 20 feet wide and 30 feet long or so, with a mask that seems almost... Preachy? At the end of this room. The only thing that stands out beside all the usual decoration on the walls to sell the theater aesthetic, is more text written on the right wall as he enters, seeming to be in the same kind of language as the doors he doesn't understand. It's but a moment after stepping in that the "mask" seems to speak.

"I will ask of you five questions in turn."

"After your responses to these five questions each, you will be given your reward."

"State when you are ready."

As the armour falls, Khond moves toward the group, though he's mindful not to block the door.  "Are you okay?  That seemed truly dangerous.  Perhaps it would be best to approach the remaining doors with caution."

"Yeah, there are pressure plates in the floor, I must admit I was expecting poison darts or the like, so tried to probe it from a distance. I wasn't expecting an armor puppet to clank around the corner at me..."

Rick does a round around the room,he says to Sylvia,

"Sylvia is smart, yes? Help Rick answer, please."

He then climbs up on a wall 10 feet and calls,

"Rick is ready."

"Fiction seemed like a walk in the park with how the cat man handled it, and then reality immediately punches you in the face," Asimi observes, sounding more annoyed than anything. "Not exactly a subtle metaphor if you ask me."

---

Rick, after his inspection of the room revealing nothing he hasn't noticed before, climbs up, and states his readiness. Soon enough, the disembodied voice speaks once again, almost monotone.

"What is a soul?"