The journey to the vault was done in relative silence. Save for the hum of Roald’s chair. Roald Rak had finally introduced himself as he was getting changed. Well, he didn’t change himself. He had his robot ‘minions’ do it for him. Shaggy tried to insist that Roald should stay behind and give oversight from his computer. But with them being destroyed, Roald demanded to be brought along. The group eventually capitulated.
While the trip back to the foyer was short, they had a longer time of things in the basement. The route to the vault was understandably dizzying. Large brick walls twisted and turned in a maze of poorly lit hallways. They had even hit a few dead-ends. All intentionally, according to Roald. He had wanted to confirm they were there, apparently.
Shaggy’s crew followed the young man through the twisting dark hallways as Chromia and Ephemara studied the notes on Magical Wards that Roald had provided. Shaggy had looked at the hand-written notes as well, but they were so dizzyingly dull that he turned it over to the two women. Blobby and his two pack mates kept pace with Roald whirring chair and stayed on guard as they moved through the empty mansion and basement hallways. Sylus had remained upstairs to read his... culturally significant book.
“So, where is your brother? You never explained fully.” Shaggy asked as he looked around the grey brick hallway.
Roald snorted and glanced up at Shaggy. “I told you. He is off defending the city of Austin with his security team. You know? Protecting the little guy, making sure all the old ladies make it across the streets safely. Shooting cats out of trees. All that shit.”
“Ok, can you give me that again? Without the sarcasm, please?”
“He is out protecting his business holdings while probably trying to destroy his business rivals. Cog’s little revolution hit just as the Supes were kicking up a fuss about something. Combine that with a wave of magically enhanced ants and you got a perfect cover for any sort of criminal activity you can think of. Well, if you are willing to brave the streets right now.”
“What’s it like out there?” Rita asked from just behind Shaggy. The two members of his pack had taken to keeping close after he was shot upstairs. Which Shaggy thought was sweet, but pointless.
Roald shrugged. “I watched it through my screens. But it looked like it was going well for Cog. He had released a brand new type of robot that combined his own brand of science with a form of magic. Combining magic and science isn’t unheard of, but this seems like something different. It was like he gave his creations the ability to use magic. It was quite interesting.”
“So magic robots are wandering around the streets of Austin?” Shaggy asked.
“Kind of. The Supes are out doing their job, so things can get relatively peaceful. But then Cog releases a new variant on his robots and the whole thing starts over again. Not to mention the occasional giant robot that ports into the city.”
Chromia spoke up, curious. “The robots are teleporting into the city?”
Roald shrugged. “I don’t know. I figure that’s what has been happening, though. One second there’s no robot on the street and the next there is a fifteen-story robot trying to knock down a building.”
“Hehehe. Sounds like the Supes have their hands full.”
“They wouldn’t if they hadn’t had their own little revolution at the courthouse.” Roald told a chuckling Shaggy. “Something happened with this new batch of Supes that recently arrived in the city. Apparently they hate the way the HLO and the City do things. Too much oversight, they say.”
Shaggy glanced back at Ephemara. She met his gaze over Roald’s notebook. After a quick nod of confirmation, she went back to reading. Shaggy thought back to the courthouse and the crowd of screaming players. He also remembered the blue alien guy taking it upon himself to crush the HLO communicators of the angry mob. He wondered what happened to that guy and was that the spark that lit this particular fire? Also, the other thing Roald had mentioned was interesting.
“And the ants?”
Roald shrugged. “Angry gift from a magical Ex, apparently. But they didn’t know the ants they had magic’d up were the type to make multiple hives and have multiple queens. The HLO has been scrambling to get that under control for now. They even allowed private contractors into that one. They never do that.”
“Hmm.” Shaggy shook his head at all the problems the city was going through and briefly wondered if they were missing things below ground.
But he shook the thought from his head. Under-Town had its own problems dealing with the dregs of Cog’s army. Not to mention the massive upheaval that was going to occur once things settled back down again. They had to make sure their positions were secure, and they had to cement their place in Under-Town. All while also defending their allies and the citizens who lived nearby. Dead civilians don’t pay protection money.
“So, how long do we think your brother will be out of the house?” Rita asked.
“I don’t know. He left a few days ago and last I saw on the monitors, he was defending his holdings in Cedar Park.”
“He has property out all the way up there?”
Roald waved her off. “Bah! That’s just a small housing community he is building up there for publicity. So, of course, he had to be seen defending it. Looks good for the cameras. He is probably going to use it as a place to bury a few bodies. Dad used to do it all the time.”
Shaggy raised an eyebrow, but anything he was going to say was cut off as they hit another dead-end. He heard Roald grunt in annoyance as he spun his chair around. Shaggy was getting annoyed at all these twists and turns as well.
“I thought you said you sent your bots down here to recon the vault? How do you keep getting lost? Shouldn’t you know the way?”
“Of course I do, but it’s all different now! It’s like my brother fucking remade the entire tunnel system while I wasn’t looking. It makes no damn sense!”
“It makes perfect sense.” Chromia said as she waved around Roald’s notebook. “We're trapped in a confusion ward.”
Ephemara nodded in agreement. “Yeah, which probably doesn’t affect the robots. So, for all we know, we’ve just been going around and around in circles.”
Shaggy glanced at the walls and tried to peer through them. If he was under some kind of spell, it was a damn good one. He couldn’t even tell the difference. Each grey brick wall looked like the last one anyway, which wasn’t really odd. He chewed his lip as he tried to think of a way out of this damn basement’s first trap. But Roald snorted.
“Bah! Well, that’s a simple fix. You fine ladies should’ve told me sooner. But I realize talking to an exceptional specimen such as myself can seem intimidating.”
They all stared at the clueless teen as he tapped away at a keypad on the side of his chair. Soon, a trio of robots came running down the hallway. The speed with which they showed up seemed to prove Ephemara and Chromia’s point that this was all an illusion. If they had really been going around in circles, then finding them was probably easy for the little automatons.
“Lead the way to the vault.” Roald order his bots imperiously.
The three bots gave vague approximations of salutes and started walking down the tunnels. Shaggy sighed and followed along. He saw Cekrass adjusted the straps on the bags he was holding and winced. Poor big lizard dude had been carrying those things for a while. But every time Shaggy offered to take a few, Cekrass said he was fine. Rita had spoken a few words to the big lug, but apparently let everything be for now. Shaggy hoped that whatever they could grab in the vault was easier to carry.
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After a few more quick twists and turns, they came across a large, square room. It was lit up by bright orange lamps and an old style metal vault door stood at the other end of the room. But the center of the room was awash with visible magic. Shaggy gaped as he looked at all the floating runes in the air. When he looked down, he could see even more of the things carved into the stone floor of the room. Besides the runes floating through the air of the room, there was also some kind of sparking blue transparent wall that kept appearing and disappearing.
“Well... shit.” Cekrass rumbled in his raspy voice.
“Yeah... that’s a lot.” Shaggy agreed.
Roald disagreed. “Bah! It will be fine. First step is you getting us through the trap wards. So hop to werewolf.”
Shaggy glared at the kid before he turned to Chromia and Ephemara. The two of them had spread out in the room as close as they could to the runes. Chromia was checking the runes in the air against Roald’s notes, while Ephemara was studying the floor. He heard his Number One tsk as Chromia sighed at the same time.
“He’s right, boss. These first few traps on the floor seem to be necrotic. I can almost feel the negative magic in the things.”
“Same with the ones in the air.” Chromia added.
“So I am going to step forward and what’s going to happen?”
Chromia and Ephemara shrugged. “Nothing good, boss.”
“If I am reading this right, then the ones on the floor are going to try to stop you while the ones in the air are going to hit your body and do… necrotic damage.”
Shaggy sighed. “So my body is going to decay while I am stuck in one place.”
“Yeah, but it seems the magic is only a onetime thing, so once it activates, it’s done. I can’t tell how long the ward on the floor will hold you, but with your healing, you… should be fine.”
“Not liking that pause there.” Shaggy grimaced.
Chromia shrugged as Ephemara looked apologetic. Roald, however, was getting impatient.
“Just hurry and get my stuff, damn it! You’ll be fine if the videos I’ve seen of your healing are anything to go by.”
Shaggy grunted. “Ephe, if I don’t make it. Slit the kid’s throat.”
Ephemara smiled as Rita spoke up from behind him. “Don’t worry about that, Shags. We’ll take care of him.”
Shaggy smiled as Cekrass gave a grunt of agreement and he heard Roald gulp. He took a few seconds to psych himself up before he grit his teeth and walked forward. He made it three steps before a shooting pain in his legs locked them both up. Suddenly, all the little swirling runes in the air dive-bombed for his head and body. Shaggy had just enough time to get his hands up to protect his head before the first few runes hit him. Pain, like Shaggy had never experienced, screamed through his body. He couldn’t even get into his menus to turn it down.
Shaggy felt his arms slacken and could see his skin turn grey and the hairs on his arm turn white. He grew weak as the runes hit him and then dispersed into nothingness. His head seemed to deform as more and more hit the back of his head. Shaggy thought he heard someone cry out as he felt his legs finally go. He could feel his healing trying to keep up with all the damage his HP bar was in a constant battle, moving up and down. He let out a final howl of pain as he thudded into the ground, numb to everything.
He opened his eyes and stared at an unfamiliar ceiling. Shaggy didn’t know how long had passed, but judging by the grey ceiling, he was probably still near the vault. He could feel his body healing itself as he lay on the ground. He didn’t know if he was numb to the pain or if it had all actually stopped. A low mumble keep echoing in his ears as he groaned on the ground. Soon the mumble started to make sense, and he realized his ears were healing back into their correct shape. They had apparently curled and gnarled under the necrotic attack.
“BOSS!!” Ephemara shouted.
Shaggy tried to show that he was okay, but all he could manage was a short wiggle of his arms and legs. That seemed to be enough, as Roald’s voice spoke up excitedly.
“There! See! He’s alive! Now get that sword out of my face, grandma.”
“Grandma!”
“Keep a hold of him, Rita. I’m going to check on the boss. Are we clear Chromia?” Ephemara ordered.
“I think so. The rune on the floor has receded and all the nearby floaters are gone, too. The rest shouldn’t bother you. But we won’t know for sure until we try.”
Shaggy tried to sit up and tell Ephemara to stay back, but he was too late as a warm hand grabbed his freezing arm. He could feel how skinny and withered his arms and legs were as Ephemara gripped him. His healing was slowing down, but still trying to do its job. He could feel his tongue re-inflate and he gagged as he tried to speak. He wasn’t making saliva fast enough. Ephemara shifted his body and a surge of pain flared in his body and he grunted.
“Ow!” Shaggy muttered simply.
“Ha! Really boss? You become a damn mummy in front of our eyes, and that’s the first thing you say?”
“Well... cough… I wanted to say ‘food’, but some crazy woman manhandled me.”
“Oh please. You’d be so lucky. I’m just trying to get you near the door.”
“Ephe!” Rita’s voice shouted.
Shaggy tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt way too weak. But he could hear something whizzing through the air, followed by a crinkly sound of a bag. Roald’s whining pervaded his ears again.
“Hey! That was my special bag of flaming hot chips. I was saving them for the right time. Hey! Stop! Get out of my snack box! Help! I’m being robbed!”
Shaggy tried not to laugh as Rita robbed the poor boy of all his snacks and tossed them to Ephemara. The pale woman shifted Shaggy around and he could hear her opening a bag. He finally got enough strength in his eyes and he opened them in time to see the dark-hair woman pushing a chip into his face. He weakly waved her off and grabbed for the chip.
“Ephemara, my wife would have a field day if I let you feed me.”
Ephemara snorted and jammed the chip unceremoniously into his mouth. “Shut up, boss. I’ll apologize to her the next time I see her. But for now, eat your damn food and heal up.”
Shaggy felt his tongue burn as the chip dust hit his newly revived tongue. His eyes watered as the flavor seeped into his mouth. He had to admit, the snobby kid had good taste. He quickly chewed and swallowed before grunting.
“I don’t look forward to doing that again.”
“It won’t be so bad.” Chromia answered. “You pulled most of the floating runes that were in the room. We didn’t expect that. You literally decayed in front of us, almost down to the bone. I am honestly surprised you survived.”
Shaggy grunted around another chip. “Ha! Those who doubt me are doomed to be eternally surprised.”
“Yeah, I am starting to see that.”
Shaggy squinted as he tried to parse Chromia’s strange tone. If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve mistaken it for respect. He was about to make some snarky comment about it, but Ephemara jammed another chip into his face. He shot her an angry look, but she returned his glare with an added look of a schoolteacher. Behave. The look seemed to say. Shaggy grunted but gave a slight nod.
He finally got enough strength in him to sit up. So Shaggy pulled himself into a seated position and took the bag of chips from Ephemara. He also noticed several other bags of candy and chips laying on the stone floor around him. Grinning, he ate with gusto. He thought he heard someone whining, but he ignored it and continued eating until he felt like he could stand again.
Ephemara and Chromia had moved to study the next set of runes and wards. Rita and Cekrass were standing near Roald’s chair. Cekrass had his massive clawed hands on the boy’s shoulders as Rita pressed the point of her silver sword into the boy’s chest. Roald was pink faced and looked like he didn’t know whether to cry or scream. Shaggy waved them both off and looked at Blobby. The amorphous mass was slouched comfortably against a wall. Blobby was no longer in its humanoid shape, it was just laying in a wide blue mound on the wall. Shaggy raised a questioning eyebrow, but Blobby just extended and waved a tentacle.
“~I’m good boss, just relieved you’re okay~”
Shaggy nodded, but kept looking at the mass. Blobby truly was completely ‘alien’ to Shaggy. He couldn’t get a read on it. That Blobby didn’t have a face didn’t help matters at all, and Shaggy wondered why the race hadn’t taken to making facial facsimiles to more easily blend in. But again, he shook off the thought. He had more necrotic runes to willingly step into.
“Gimme back the rest of my snacks now!” Roald whine as he moved his chair closer to Shaggy.
Shaggy noticed the boys’ robots wandering around, picking up the bags of food Shaggy hadn’t eaten yet. A sudden and aggravating thought occurred to him and he whirled on the boy. Hands shifting into claws.
“Wait a fucking minute! Why the hell didn’t you just send a bot into the storm of shit? Let it get decayed to hell and then send in another one! I swear you piggy little fuck. If I just did all that so you could save a robot, I’m going to rip your arms off and feed them to you.”
Roald’s face went from terrified at Shaggy’s outburst to angry. But before he could yell at Shaggy, Ephemara spoke up.
“Wouldn’t have worked, boss. According to the book, necrotic spells are only attracted to the living. Robots aren’t technically alive. At least as the spells see them. They can walk all around here and not trip anything but the alarm ward.”
Shaggy huffed. “Well, why does that see them?!”
Ephemara shrugged. “It works like a trip laser. You break the connection and the alarm goes off. So since the robots have a physical presence, they can ‘trip’ the wire. So to speak.”
Shaggy sighed and shifted his claws back to hands. He heard and saw Roald gulp and watched his transforming hands. Shaggy grinned at the kid before he reached down and grabbed another bag of chips from the floor. He opened them up and started chewing as he moved next to Chromia and Ephemara. Chromia was right. There were way less of the floating rune-things roaming around in the second half of the room. So at least this next one was going to be easier.
“Looks like this is the last set of trap wards, boss.”
“Well, that’s good at least, but we still have to deal with the alarm and the golems.”
Chromia nodded at a set of runes in front of the large vault door. “Well, those are the alarm runes, but we still haven’t seen any summoning runes. Also, we don’t know if they summon golems at all.”
“Fair.” Shaggy said. “Well, we ready for this next one?”
“Are you?” Ephemara asked.
“Just have the food ready.” With that said, Shaggy stepped forward and screamed in pain again.