The evil, nasty-looking fabricant waddled right up to me, it's mechanical jaws snapping, as if to show me what it had in store for me if I lost.

Using my shield, I blocked it's attack easily, shoving it's sharp horn aside. The creature backed up, and readied itself for another charge. I countered with my broadsword, inflicting heavy damage on it's side.

The battle raged on for about a minute, the creature snapping at me, and my returning the attack with my broadsword. The creature, finally feeling the effects of too much damage, fell to the floor, dead.

I made my way up the ramp and finally out of the water. Just down the hallway, another Fabricant machine charged to attack. I gave the device a taste of what had done in its brother. In short order, yet another Fabricant fell dead on the floor.

After taking care of the second Fabricant, I looked around the chamber I now found myself in. There wasn't much to it - just a bunch of cogs turning, sounds of more things switching on and off, moving around, etc.

There were two doors, and since neither one was marked, I decided to give the closer one a try first.

I found the switch for the door and activated it. It lead to a corridor, and yet another Fabricant machine. Once that machine had been killed, I returned to the main chamber and gave the second door a try.

Behind the second door I found a set of four blades swinging back and forth across my path. Two Fabricant machines at the other end of the tunnel turned to attack me. Being the stupid machines they were, instantly fell victim to the huge blades.

Not wanting to fall victim to these blades, I looked ahead carefully. I saw that there was a clear space between the two sets of blades.

Timing the swings just right, I managed to run to the half-way point without so much as a nick in my good robes. A few seconds later, and I made it past the second set of blades.

After getting past the swinging blades, I found myself on a down-ramp, and right back into waste-deep water. I readied the broadsword and activated the next door.

I found myself in a new area. No water, but this hallway had sparks falling from the ceiling. A few more feet into the hallway and I heard the sound of a Fabricant coming in my direction.

On a hunch, I decided to give this new weapon, Trueflame, a try. It took care of the Fabricant in just three blows.

Pretty darn good weapon.

A short distance up the hallway and I arrived at a set of spikes shooting out of the floor. There were a number of them, each jumping up at different times. Based on the bloodstains on the floor, I figured I'd better find a safe way around this obstacle.

I managed to make my way up along the side of a ledge, and easily slipped past the deadly floor spikes.

Sotha Sil certainly made it difficult for people to come visit him.

In the next chamber, I came across yet another Fabricant, and once again, Trueflame was called upon to do the honors.

A second Fabricant came in to join the battle. I managed to hold one of them off with my shield while Trueflame did its work on the other machine.

I took some damage, to be sure, but still managed to destroy both machines before they killed me.

A health potion put me right, and I continued my exploration of the hallway.

A short walk up a flight of stairs lead to another doorway, and the Central Gearworks.

The moment the door closed behind me, I was attacked by three Fabricant machines, each from a different direction.

I swung Trueflame in every direction I could, pushing one away with my shield. It did little good, as the other two machines continued attacking, making vicious bites in my arms and legs. Using the enchanted boots, I jumped up high over them, and using those few seconds, used a health potion to heal myself. As I hit the ground, I jumped up again, and hit the creatures with the Ring of Leaches. That seemed to do the trick, and continuing to leap over them, I hit them over and over with the Leach rings until each of them fell dead on the floor.

My attention was then drawn to what appeared to be a broken door on an upper level. There was a spiral staircase leading up to a ledge, so I decided to give it a try.