Runeguard 020

In the end, I found six golems.

But for the mud creatures, nothing else occupied the room. Like the first two, the other golems failed to detect my presence, even when I snuck to within a few feet.

But most worrying of all, I failed to find any exits leading away from the room.

“Are you sure there are no exits?” Jorge asked me for what felt like the tenth time.

“I am,” I exclaimed in exasperation. “I searched the room’s walls twice.” Me and the Paragons were huddled together in the corridor, discussing the results of my search. 

The group, it turned out, had no idea what a mud golem was either. And the administrators either didn’t know or wouldn’t say.

“Forget about the exits, Jorge,” Bayan said. “We can worry about that after we defeat the golems.”

I glanced at him. “You have a plan for dealing with them?”

“Not quite,” he admitted. “But our earlier plan still holds true.” He held my gaze. “Go in there and aggro them. Then draw them into the corridor.”

Huh. So, I am bait too. Why was I not surprised? But I didn’t gainsay Bayan’s plan. It made sense, after all. With my large health pool and armor, I was the one best suited to lure the golems.

Rising to my feet, I slipped back into the golem’s chamber, this time making no effort to discuss my presence.

✵ ✵ ✵

The golems refused to cooperate.

I boldly approached the first pair I had spotted with sword and shield in hand. When I got to within five feet, the golems’ eyes sprang open, revealing luminous purple eyes. 

They stepped forward. 

I sprang back. Then frowned. 

The golems were still taking their first step, their movements, ponderous and slow.

It took the pair nearly a full two seconds to complete their first step—I timed it—then another two for their next steps. “Bloody hell,” I muttered, retreating less cautiously now. “This is going to take forever.”

It took me a full five minutes to lure the golems to the chamber’s entrance. By this time, the rest of the party were bunched together just outside the door, watching the spectacle.

“By damn, Dace, can’t you get them to move any faster?” muttered Gavin. “We’re gonna be here all day at this rate.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” I asked, shooting the annoying youth an angry glare. Although I couldn’t really blame Gavin, I was nearly as frustrated as him with the golem’s slow pace.

But my task was almost done—or at least the initial part of it was. The first two golems were nearly at the door.

Then, as if to spite me, the pair turned back. Swinging around, the golems began retreating into the room. 

I frowned. And Bayan with me.

“Dace, you idiot!” Gavin cursed from the passage. “Stop them!”

I opened my mouth to retort, but before I could get a word out, Bayan took charge.

“No,” he ordered. “Dace get out of the way.” Bayan turned to the rest of his group and ordered them into the chamber. “Spread out along the wall and lay into the golems with your spells.”

The others, eager to get the battle started, hurried to comply.

Remaining near the door to make sure I was out of the mages’ lines of sight, I observed the unfolding battle with interest, curious to finally see the Paragons finally in action.

Four of the mages’ staffs glowed. Beth’s red, Lauren’s blue, Jorge’s white and Gavin’s green. Only Bayan’s appeared colorless.

With impressive synchronization the five Paragons lowered their staff’s as one, all squarely pointed at the two golems. Then in a garbled chorus of magical incantations, the five mages let fly their spells. 

Flame, ice, rock, lightning, and something indistinct and colorless from Bayan, streaked through the air and into the golems.

I blinked my eyes to clear it of the blurry after-vision left in the spells’ wake.

The two golems had turned around. But other than that, the pair showed no other reaction to the attack. Plodding forward with the same deliberate care, they advanced on the mages.

The Paragons frowned, perplexed by the failure of their attack. “Again,” Bayan said grimly.

Another volley of magical fire bit into the golems. Then a third and fourth. Narrowing my eyes, I studied the golems. They appeared none the worse for wear.

“Adi,” I asked, “could the golems be resistant to magic?”

“It is possible, Dace.”

Bayan cursed. “They’re immune to magic,” he said, reaching the same conclusion I had. “Retreat—”

His words cut off as the door leading into the chamber slammed shut.

✵ ✵ ✵

This isn’t good, I thought.

“We’re trapped!” Gavin shouted. 

I scowled at the idiot. Why had he bothered stating the obvious?

“What do we do now?” Beth asked. The golems were still moving forward, but given their slow pace, they were of no immediate threat.

“Kite them,” Bayan replied. His eyes drifted to me. “Dace, you’re going to have to—”

I raised my hand, cutting him off. A noise from my left had attracted my attention. Swinging around, I studied the darkness.

“Can anyone make it brighter in here?” I asked the others.

In response an orb of yellow light—from Beth I thought—sailed into the air and lit up the chamber.

I heard someone gasp. The other four golems were in motion and closing down on us, too.

The Paragons swore, and I could almost sense the fear besetting them. Their magic had likely never failed them before. And now they were faced with the prospect of being trapped with six invulnerable enemies.

“Get it together, people,” Bayan growled. “Lauren, Beth, Gavin, search the perimeter of the room for any hidden exits. Jorge, see if you can’t get that door open.” He looked at the four golems approaching from deeper inside the room. “I’ll keep those four distracted. Dace—”

“I know,” I said, returning my attention to the closest golem pair. They were still a few feet away. “I’ll attack these two and see if they can’t be damaged physically.”

Bayan nodded. “Let’s be about it then,” he ordered.

The others scrambled to their own tasks, and I turned my gaze upon the approaching golems. Their sand-brown exterior was not in the least bit marred by the spells that had been directed towards them. I hoped my own weapons could make more of an impact.

Otherwise, we were all assuredly going to die.

Enough with the gloomy thoughts, Dace. Let’s get to it.

Darting forward, I slashed down into one of the golems. To my relief, my sword cut through the creature’s skin almost as easily as through butter, exposing the golem’s muddy brown insides.

But a moment later, my elation evaporated as the mud dried, leaving the surface of the golem’s skin unbroken. Aargh. 

Moving its arm only marginally faster than its legs, the golem raised one fist and struck down at me. I raised my shield and blocked the blow.

And was almost felled by the impact.

Staggering backwards, I kept my legs under me. I didn’t stop retreating until I was safely out of the reach of both golems. Bewildered, I glanced at my shield. It was dented. Goddamn, that thing hits hard.

A flash of movement to my left attracted my attention. It was Bayan, materializing next to me. 

He is a teleporter.

Behind Bayan, the other four golems formed a slow tail of pursuit. “Any luck?” he asked, panting only slightly.

My lips turned down. “Swords are no good either,” I said, sheathing the blade and returning my shield to my back. “And trying to block their attacks is a losing proposition.” I bent down to pick up the battlehammer I had willed out of my inventory. “But I still have one more thing to try.”

Bayan eyed the massive weapon in my hands and only grunted in response. “I’ll keep the others off your back while you work,” he said. 

Then he was gone.

A moment later, he materialized near the trailing four golems and drew them away from me again. That was a damn impressive spell, he had. 

I wonder what magic school it belongs to. 

I would have to make sure to find out later. If there is a later.

Turning back to the closest golem, I strode forward, determined to beat it into a pulp if I had to. 

✵ ✵ ✵

The battlehammer worked.

But it was slow and hard going. Bit by bit, I pounded off whole globes of mud from the golem. While the remaining stone, clay, sand—and whatever else the golem was made of—dried up to seal over the wounds I inflicted, the absence of the missing mud was noticeable.

Ever so slowly, the golem shrunk, losing mass and limbs as my battlehammer dug into it time and again. Dodging the golem’s own blows was laughably easy. At least it was with the Paragons keeping the other five tied up.

Once Bayan realized my hammer strikes were effective, he set Jorge—who had failed to open the door—to kiting the fifth golem.

It took me ten minutes, but by the end of it, I had reduced the first golem to flaking sand and drying mud.

Leaning on my battlehammer for a moment’s respite, I took in the rest of the chamber. Jorge and Bayan were doing a good job keeping the other five golems distracted. 

The other three paragons were standing behind me. They looked more relaxed now. Probably because they’ve realized we aren’t going to die, after all, I thought wryly.

“You guys find anything?” I asked Beth.

She shook her head. “There’s no hidden entrances in the walls as far as we can ascertain.” She shrugged. “But the exit may be disguised in the floor itself or in the ceiling. We’ll have to wait for you to be done before we can search those areas, though.”

“Nice work, by the way,” Lauren said.

“Yeah man, good job,” Gavin said. I nearly fell over in amazement, surprised by the youth’s gratitude. But then true to form, Gavin added, “Who knew a hulking brute like you could ever turn out to be useful.”

I just snorted in disbelief.

Beth wasn’t so forgiving and slapped the young man behind the head.

“Ow,” cried Gavin. “What was that for?” he whined.

She rolled her eyes. “Figure it out for yourself, buckaroo.”

I chuckled at the youth’s bewildered expression before turning my attention back to the golems. Rest time’s over, Dace. 

Picking up my battlehammer, I got back to work.