CYOA: The Orc and the Tower Pt. 21

The iron grating of the floor shivers underfoot as the granite strength of the statue gradually presses through it. You decide to press your slight advantage and aim to ensnare the statue with chains before it is completely free.

As you rush forward, the statue swings its only complete arm, crashing the stony limb into work tables, vessels of powder minerals and rare spices in an effort to reach you and your companions.

Dodging attacks, obstacles and coughing through clouds of fair and foul smelling powder, you add to the din with jangling chains as you dart around the room.

The goblin’s nimble strength carries her onto the back of the monstrosity, throwing down to you the iron links that you wrap around the ponderous, but dangerous body, as it struggles to catch you and lift its foot through the gap in the floor.

You see minute cracks shiver along the edge of the enormous limb and grab loose chains with the aim of subduing it. The massive leg heaves against the bonds you hold and shatters against a sharp rend in the iron floor.

Paier stares fixedly into her own chiseled visage from the front of the room, safely out of reach of its one questing hand.  The sound of the cracking rock reverberates oddly through the room as pieces fall through to the chamber below.

“That sssound… it’sss hollow!” she murmurs and then suddenly shouts with a fiery rasp, “I know what Carab meant! The statue is not like usss, there is sssomeone trapped inssside!"

Finally having lost its footing, the statue is hoisted by the chains. Momentarily swaying helplessly above the floor. The chains creak and groan, threatening to snap.

“Goblin! Take that Eye of Mesmera upon the wall and point it toward the head!”

The goblin takes a moment to look frantically about while balancing on the trapped but still struggling form, before sighting Mesmera’s distinctive emblem glimmering blackly on the hammered metal disc like an ugly flower growing from the wall on a metal stalk.

“It’ssss an instrument of enchantment, we may be able to reverssse-” but Paier’s explanation is cut short by the deadly jingle of a chain snapping before it whips at the air near your head.

“Jusssst hold it ssssteady!” 

You grab hold of a slackening chain and pull hard, rivulets of pebbles rain down upon you as the chains grate into the smooth marble surface.

Paier makes a series of arcane gestures before carefully bringing her fingers together in front of her face.

Sparks swirl and dance in a field around her and the hairs raise on the back of your neck. You can feel the magick crackling through the air. 

Crystals hanging from the ceiling illuminate brightly as white hot beams of light seem to connect them all momentarily before a flash emanates from the crooked point of enchantment tool the Goblin was steadying.

A crazed spider’s web of light and shadows is burned into your vision momentarily by the flash. 

As you try to blink it away, the smell of hot metal stings your nostrils, accompanied by a rumbling, double thud a moment later which shakes the walls and bows the floor.

The room immediately falls to silence except for the murmur of loose, rattling chains. 

The statue lies felled. The dome of its head neatly cut through as though by design, revealing an interior embedded with a kaleidoscope of strange colored metals bearing finely-etched cryptograms.

An ivory liquid spills sluggishly out onto the floor from within the draining cavity, gradually revealing the form of a body. Did you just see it move?

Paier lets out a hissing gasp and you sense from the look upon her face that the figure is…

Thank you everyone for patiently waiting for this update! I thought I could make it hornier than this but I just ended up making it kinda weird instead. 🖤 Winton