The adventure

Ferro, as the smith turned out to be called, greeted them politely.
"I wondered when I would be seeing you," he started. When he saw their startled faces he continued, "Oh yes, I know about you. You've been the talk of Rapax Castle since your arrival in the Courtyard. Excuse my curiosity, but are you the interrogators the King requested? I am surprised that you have not yet become Templars. You would have less trouble with my brother and sister Rapax."
When their expressions changed from startled to confused, he continued more:
"But you haven't come here for conversation, have you? You must want my weapons and armour?"
They examined his offering but pressed him for information as delicately as they could. They found out that the Templars were typically Rapax, but not always; that they were devoted to Al-Sedexus. The Rapax King was away with the army, and had captured a T'Rang and an Umpani who wouldn't talk. He refused to talk about his brother, Antone, saying that he can speak for himself, and was not to be drawn further.
His selection of goods was impressive, and they spent a great deal of their money on some of his best items. They bought a golden breastplate for Karen, some platinum greaves that they gave to Vi, robes of rejuvenation and some snakeskin boots for Quentin, a cloak of many colours for RFS and, most prized of all, an Infinity Helm that they gave to Shu Ting. This precious item was imbued with potent regenerative magic, giving her a seemingly endless supply of energy, restoring her health and also capable of replenishing magic; the robes of rejuvenation were the next best buy, but did all these things on a much lesser scale.
They heard some footsteps, and Salva saw on his scanner a horde of Rapax approaching. They retreated further into the armoury stores. At the back of the armoury they found a heavy lift that could haul items up to a second floor built into the capacious space of the armoury. They used it to winch themselves up but the half-floor was hardly a decent retreat, and hiding in a corner seemed a bad way to impress Ferro.
They jumped down again and rushed past the closest entrance onto the corridor, and back to the room that served more as Ferro's display room than the smithy proper, which had its own entrance onto the corridor. According to Salva's scanner, some of the Rapax were coming down the short, L-shaped connecting corridor. They ambushed the leading Rapax in that connecting corridor, starting a battle with three Rapax warlocks, 6 samurai, 9 beserkers and a courtesan. In the corridor they were happily slicing the beserkers apart one by one, stepping over the bodies and getting closer to the crowd in the main corridor, but Salva noticed that two beserkers had run round to the other side, and they could hear them slicing into Ferro.
Ferro needed protecting, and they had to run back to use their healing magic on Ferro.
Quentin found a use for a spell that he had been practising, but had thought would not be very useful. He called it 'eye for an eye', and, following his principles of justice (much to Margreet's annoyance) it would reflect a spell back on the caster and allies, ensuring that everyone was affected by a spell. He used it a number of times over the battle, and it proved very effective, the warlocks and courtesan casting powerful immobilising spells repeatedly, which affected the friends little, thanks to their protective magic, but kept the hordes occupied so that only a trickle came at once.
The best effect of it was to freeze the two beserkers attacking Ferro, who formed a wall of flesh protecting him from others, who would charge the friends instead, and die very quickly.
The last ones to die were the courtesan and a warlock who had followed the two beserkers round the other entrance.

The friends, burdened by their loot from the courtyard, teleported back to Arnika, and sold it on to Antone and He'Li. Salva, whose ability to work magic into his gadgets was growing all the time, adjoined the giant bellows from Ferro's forge to a hose that they had found, with a small portal to the ocean. He left it there, still wondering how it might be used.
In Arnika, they found that the Savant had created an even better version of his android, called slashers. They packed quite a punch, but were sadly unable to land their punches, little RFS, a supposedly inferior version, showing that good repair and a learning environment were far more important by tearing a slasher apart himself.
Quentin teleported them back to the armoury, where the guard was still waiting.
Eventually he moved on, and they left quickly, to avoid entangling Ferro in any disagreements with the other inhabitants: if he could make another infinity helm and more snakeskin boots they would be must-buy items.
They passed through the main entrance hall, renewing their magical enchantments there, and came to another large chamber, surrounded by a balcony, to which there were two ramps, both opposite the entrance they were spying around the corner of, but opposite each other on the sides of the room. Between them was a great throne, by which stood three archers and three guards. The friends charged these archers, putting their backs to the wall by the throne and getting their blows in before any of the Rapax in the room could respond.
The fight was leasy. Without magical support the Rapax in the room were so much meat to be butchered; Shu Ting had learned quickly the weaknesses of the Rapax form, landing a number of finely-aimed critical strikes. Despite their magical equipment, the fight was tiring, and Quentin did need to use his magic to boost their flagging muscles, but they eventually stepped over the slippery piles of gore, collecting a few undamaged things the rapax had been carrying.
They continued to explore the castle, finding the kitchens with some unpleasant hanging meat, still in the shape of trynnie and Higardi, and a jar of pickled trynnie. They used Salva's scanner to hunt down more Rapax roaming the corridors of the ground floor, before talking to the impassive Rapax guarding the entrances on the balcony around the throne room.
These were temple guards, and when the friends agreed to be initiates to be Rapax Templars they allowed them in to the complex, where they met Al-Adryian, the initiate master. He set them to collect the three items of Al-Sedexus' Canezou from the temple, each of which was guarded by two elemental lords and a priestess, who asked them a riddle before unlocking the entrance to the next room.
The elemental lords were easy kills, and the riddles as untaxing:

'Although I am always with you, only one side do I show. Lest you see my other side where long red rivers flow. And though I feel all things, I have not a mind to know. Think well upon it now, my name, and knowing, tell me so.'

'Everything that I know, you know it, too. Yet I gain nothing lest it first comes through you. No paper walls confine me, yet a thousand stories I own. Tell me now, who am I that lives in a lonely cage of bone?'

'I have four rooms, but tables and chairs you'll not find. I am credited with feelings, yet they are not truly mine. I could be called a drummer, steady, strong, and true. And when I finish my work here, so, too, do you.'