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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1763030" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 224“I knew that he could not be trusted,” Morgan said, while Zenna cast a cantrip to scan the area around them for magical auras.  “Now that we got ‘im this far, ‘e’s takin’ the gold fer ‘imself,” Hodge said. “Gold?” Mole asked.“Yer knows what I mean.”“I’m detecting something,” Zenna said, drawing their attention toward the tunnel ahead.  A figure appeared, materializing from the darkness as he dismissed his invisibility.  It was the familiar figure of Kaurophon, and he regarded them with a calm expression upon his face, despite the intensity of the attention directed at him by his companions. “Where did you go?” Morgan demanded.  “I heard the noise, and went up to investigate,” the sorcerer replied.  “Without us?  Figured you’d take a quick look, see if you still needed us to help you pass the Test, eh?” Kaurophon shook his head.  “I am here,” he said.  “Still you doubt my sincerity?  I suppose I cannot blame you, you being what you are, and I being what I am.  But does not your own creed proclaim the worth of deeds?  Did you not overcome that dragon, the giant, and the rakshasa?  Or perhaps, in the intensity of the fray, you did not observe the flames engulfing the drake, or the magical enhancements slide off of the giant, or the rakshasa’s spells foiled, allowing you to ply your blade without interference.”“I value deeds,” Morgan said, “But I also know that what looks like sacrifice can in fact be self-serving.  I ‘observed’, for instance, the fact that you turn yourself invisible at the start of almost every battle, and when we are all bruised and bleeding, more often than not you are still fully intact.”“Ah, so it is my blood that you want, then?” he said.  He pulled back his robes from his legs, revealing gray limbs scarred with acid burns, healed now, but still bearing the marks of the dragon’s breath.  “I bled my blood, knight of Helm.  Or do you want more?  Shall I lay open my veins for you?  Will you trust me more, when I am lying dead at your feet?”“I do not think I shall trust you even then,” Morgan snarled.  “This is getting us nowhere,” Arun said, stepping in between them.  “In the future, leave the scouting to our scout,” the dwarf said firmly to the sorcerer.  “We will have more need of your magic ahead, I suspect.”  Kaurophon nodded, and stepped to the side of the tunnel.  “Well, since you did scout, what did you see up ahead?” Mole asked. “There is a chamber up ahead, at the top of the tunnel,” Kaurophon replied.  “A spacious hemisphere, with a large stone throne situated in the center.  There is a large creature in the room, apparently engaged in smashing the walls of the room.”“What manner o’ creature?” Hodge said, his eyes narrowing.“I could not identify it clearly, as the throne blocked my view of it, and I deemed it more practical to come back here and notify you, rather than risking engaging the thing upon my own.  But it had the shape of an elemental or golem, rather than a living being, and it seemed quite mindlessly set upon its task.” “Maybe we can get around it without a fight,” Mole suggested. “Bets?” Hodge asked.  “All right, let’s get going then,” Morgan said.  “Don’t wander off,” he added, with a glare at Kaurophon.  “Hold a moment, Arun,” Zenna said.  She cast a potent healing spell upon him, but even though the paladin nodded gratefully, she could see that he was still hurting.  For that matter, she herself didn’t feel all that steady on her own feet, although the pain from the blows she’d taken from the rakshasa had faded to a dull ache.  They’d only had one encounter in the skull thus far, and already her healing magic was nearly depleted. But both of them kept up as the company moved cautiously up the tunnel.  The pounding noise grew louder until they saw the corridor widen into a chamber up ahead.  “There it is,” Kaurophon breathed. They could all see it, a huge, hulking form, partly shielded by the massive stone throne in the center of the room.  It was mindlessly engrossed in delivering punishing blows to the far wall of the chamber, each one filling the place with an echoing noise that was still fading when the next one started.  Near it, Zenna marked a shadow that looked like it might be an exit, the only one evident in the room.  The floor of the chamber was covered in a ruin of broken pottery and some uneven lumps that could have been anything. “What is it?” Mole asked, hopping up to try to get a better view. “It’s a clay golem,” Morgan said.  “I have seen one, once before, in the Sanctum of Helm in Almraiven.”“The creation of a powerful cleric,” Kaurophon said, nodding.  “But this one has slipped beyond the control of whomever built it.”“Once they go berserk, there’s no way to stop them short of destroying them,” Morgan said. “Weaknesses?” Arun asked. The knight shook his head.  “Few.  Resistant to weapons, all but immune to magic, and furthermore, the wounds caused by them are very, very difficult to heal.”“Wonderful,” Arun said.  “Well, any ideas?”“I could try to distract it,” Mole began...But whatever strategy she’d been about to suggest was made moot, as Hodge, moving up to get a better look, stepped upon a stray shard of pottery, which crunched loudly under his boot. The golem instantly turned from the wall, and started lumbering toward them.</blockquote>

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