"One leg in front of the other." Corvayne muttered to himself. They were most of the way across the huge array of buildings, their equal heights and mostly flat rooftops hiding a variety of challenges in navigating between them, even using the throwing method. Looking back, he could see about six buildings behind them the electric golem chasing the group dropped off another roof.

He stepped on a bridge across buildings and blast of wind like a hammer hit him from the side. He crouched, gravity power planting him to the sturdy stonework as the gust passed, then let the weight go and sprung forward, his own spear and Spear's in tandem glittering in the blue light of the dungeon as they punched through the 'blower' or 'flesh balloon' that had hidden behind what looked to be the access to the roof from the floor below.

Monster deflated, Spears liquid limbs pulled her weapon to his back, her slime form resuming it's backpack grip around him and giving him a small squeeze. Corvayne reached up and gave her one back, then felt her voice tickle at his ear, as she spoke softly from just over his shoulder. "What do you think? Were these things waiting years and years for someone to come through? Or did they move into position ahead of us?"

"A few of them could get into place without being seen. But I don't see things moving across the rooftops now. And there's a few that are just at our back and can't get to us."

He gestured with his spear back and over his left side, where perhaps ten buildings diagonally one of the windbags was fully inflated and sort of wandering at the edge of the roof, trying to get at them.

"The monsters are individually dumb, but someone or something semi intelligent placed them or directed them. It's not doing it at the moment." He suspected that whatever force it was that gave them directions, it had done so at the same date where everything else happened two months and a few weeks ago.

Spears vibrated in what he guessed was agreement. "We've been spoiled by dumb monsters."

Corvayne stepped over to the edge of the roof. A twenty five foot gap or so, glowing blue lava flooding the street under a few bridges lower down. Nyx floated next to them. "It's still chasing us. Persistent bastard."

Brines switched from endurance to healing as Corvayne turned to look at Lady Blood Claw. She turned green a little bit, not enjoying the prospect of being tossed again. "I swear I'm going to learn to cast a flying spell after this."

Glancing over his shoulder, he could see the monster climbing back up to the roof six buildings back. It seemed to prefer moving in a straight line for where it last saw them, rather than moving around to catch up at street level. Corvayne turned from the sparking blue monster to looking forward to where the compass power was urging him to go, they'd be back down to city streets soon. That would cut out the current climbing and dropping their pursuer was doing.

Even moving quickly to toss and jump over past two more gaps, Corvayne saw the monster was going to get close enough to start hurling lightning before they hit the way down.

"One more push, then we go low and fast to the exit."

He planted his feet, taking a moment to rub his calves. The extra weight he was putting on them made them hurt tremendously, even with the stamina and healing auras that Brines provided. Stay sharp.

As the monster clawed it's way up two buildings back, Corvayne pulled on the pact [[Growth]] and shifted from [[Vitality]] to [[Strength]], then let off another [Storm Thrust] at the golem as it hefted itself up. It was knocked a little upward but he only bought them a few rooftops of space, and he had to take a deep breath. His arms were burning after the attack, perhaps because of how hard he had to jab with his spear to create a hammer of wind. He wasn't sure what [[Growth]] did, but if it made him hit harder he'd use it.

Corvayne landed and had Lady Blood Claw help him to his feet, healing aura somewhat soothing his muscles but not entirely pushing away the pain. Bell looked impatient as Corvayne stepped to the front of the group and activated weight, but she took her spot in the middle without complaint. LBC, on the other hand, seemed to have been thinking the same thing that Corvayne had been coming around to.

"The placement of the monsters... they seem stupid. Someone set them up or told them where to sit to knock people into lava."

Brines added. "You mean, electric lava."

LBC turned and Corvayne saw the man clench his jaw shut. "Thank you, Jimmy. Yes, the glowing blue death patches. First area: Monsters in a mechanical trap. Here: Monster smart enough to ambush us, but if it fails they wander around like lost kids looking to get to us. The dungeon break might be planned. An outside force going in and flipping a switch, or something inside this place suddenly getting control. Move and talk."

Spears wiggled on his back. Probably making a head to speak with Lady Blood Claw. "So you think that the UFO wasn't trying to help us save Bell's daughter?"

Corvayne doubled down on his weight and started moving, trying to go fast and call rooms clear. He wished they had tracked if the golem could tell which direction they were going without seeing them on the rooftops.

Nyx responded to Spears, in a tone with a few bars of his usual arrogance removed. "It would have started pulling us south right from the get-go, wouldn't it? I think we can assume there's another goal it has for bringing us here."

Bell piped in. "Humf. How can you be sure it ISNT for me though? It lead Corvayne to where we met, the source. You know, the royal family has long been associated with light. The creature might be a reminant of the pact we made to protect the land."

Spears shifted on his back and was about to talk before Corvayne braced as he spotted another windbag coming around a corner. The bloated monster shot a burst of air and caused him to stagger into a wall, thankfully not coated in lava. Nyx this time was quick to the draw, snapping his whip and melting the monster into a hissing pile of brown and green goop.

Nyx dusted his hands and gave a polite bow in midair "How rude. Please continue Spears."

"I was saying... these ruins, more so than the source, look like they might be Watcher related. We had started making something like this under the village before I left."

Brines looked about. "So, what's the point of all this?"

Bearer chimed in from the back. "Isn't it obvious? You guys are cute."

Corvayne thought about it. "They were making weapons or energy sources."

Nyx laughed. "As the battery stunt we did on Argyle proved, my dear Corvayne. they are one and the same."

Corvayne saw that part of the wall was missing in the hallway he was walking down, and getting hit out of the hole would put him in patches of lava. So instead of just relying on weight he readied his spear and dove around the next corner. His instincts were correct, as the air blast actually went over his head. He jabbed upwards and the monster popped, still half inflated.

"Good Kill!" Spears cheered from next to his ear and gave him a little squeeze.

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Without the enviroment, the monsters were pretty weak. Inside the Tower, they tended to take more punishment. "Clear." He thought about what they had been discussing as he wiped his spear off on the leathery remains of the popped monster. "The golem is likely the weapon. Or is a manifestation of it."

Nyxion turned around. "So what your saying... is that if we take that thing down... Mosh could make a really sick weapon out of it?"

Lady Blood Claw sighed. "Cut it out. It's clearly a threat we can't take. You need to meet overwhelming power with overwhelming power."

Bearer raised a hand. "I can kill it. Just I'd have to stay away from you guys for a month or so."

Corvayne stopped midway through the room he was leading them through. "Adept stuff, right?"

Bell and LBC both piped up. "Keep going!"

Corvayne tried not to roll his eyes. He took a deep breath not to shout at them. Bearer was going to talk! Don't interrupt her when she's finally playing cards.

Some of his frustration clearly had gone through the clamp on [[Unity]] as he felt Spears sent back warmth and love through his back. He felt himself responding in kind with appreciation and trust. Even when he had thought she hated him, she had his back.

Bearer, thankfully, never let what other people thought stop her. "Imagine that your sitting down to play monopoly."

Bell commented. "I don't know that game."

Corvayne added. "Nor I."

"It's basically a predatory merchant's game designed to waste time and make you hate rich people." Bearer said. "It's more proof that Grunt and Wick like you guys. Okay, Corvayne you've played Risk right?"

Lady Blood Claw groaned. "Get to the point! You are slowing us down."

Corvayne at least had heard of it. "I was an outcast and while I know it's a board game I-"

"It's also a terrible game, but a terrible strategy game at least. Okay, all you need to imagine is that you are playing a GAME. This game has PEICES that represent money, or calvary units, or unicorns. It doesn't matter, what matters is that you are playing a game, with rules, then someone comes up with actual money or a real army, and ruins the game. When you sit down at the table, even if you actually do have a magical broadsword +5, you have to pretend you DON'T when playing a game, because it BREAKS the game when you ignore the rules. So imagine that I'm currently playing a GAME, a nice quaint one, where we take turns and move colorful little pieces around that represent say, a level 29 monk. Lets say my level 29 monk, completely arbitrary number, lands on a square and can't beat a level 35 hyper compressed lightning golem in game, but outside of the game could dismantle a real one almost instantly, like an adult could crush a plastic figurine or throw a metal one into the garbage disposal."

Brines gasped at this. "Is that why the sink was clogged a few days back?"

"Trust me, Brines, anyone else but you on the other end of that monopoly board and your shoe would have gone in an entirely different hole."

Nyx laughed aloud. Corvayne checked another room by a window. "Clear."

"Where was I? Oh yes. I have to follow RULES. Just like I'm sure the crime-boss lady does. If I break them, then I become a cheater and everyone at the table has an almost overwhelming urge to kill my level 29 monk for a long time."

Corvayne shot back. "And it interrupts your goal of following me around, right?"

"It would be extremely dangerous. For you.”

He didn't have anything to say to that, so after a pause Bearer continued. "Some day, when you wake up from the dream, we'll have a drink and I'll clear up what I'm about. Until then, I'm a level 29 monk, a little general on a horse, and the shoe in the garbage disposal."

Corvayne thought about it. "You want to keep your trump card for something we can't just avoid."

Lady Blood Claw nodded. "Don't let Nyx talk you into wasting turning into a giant steel shoe for more toys."

Bearer looked annoyed. "My true form is much cooler than a shoe. Wick would like it."

Nyx turned back to Brines. "My condolences. Your future wife is a cryptid."

Lady Blood Claw sighed. "Don't be stupid Nyx. She could also be a paleolithic ring of stones."

Corvayne stopped for a moment and turned back. "You two... first: I don't want to actually find out what it is unless we need to. Second, it can't be sillier than the guy who kicked all three of our asses who turned into a black helicopter."

LBC looked annoyed. "Let me have my fun."

Nyx folded his arms. "It absolutely could be stupider."

Corvayne looked to Bearer, who shrugged, and shrugged back, then lead them down to street level, out a door, back into a building, then across a bridge to the wall. Without the overwhelming blue light nor the threat of lightning stones, the tunnel felt warmer and safer. Corvayne didn't let that fool him.

"We are not safe as long as it's on our trail." He reminded the group, picking up pace as they reached another stairway around a large shaft, this one with only one other stairway across the gap from them.

Corvayne heard some jostling then Bell's voice close behind him. "Are we getting closer?"

Corvayne paused and pushed his attention to the compass as he reached a landing. "We are almost there." He paused, feeling something like overwhelming need from her through [[Unity]]. "Steel your heart Bell. We are close."

He then set a brisk pace down the steps. Above them, he could see something shedding flickering blue light as it wound down the stairs. The golem was following them.

Lady Blood Claw seemed to notice too. "How do we beat it?"

Corvayne thought about it. "We trigger the combo Rust-Storm and try to trap it inside maybe? I wish I had something that would..."

He paused, and dug around in his pack. There was a tool he had stolen months ago. He pulled out Argyle's heavy enchanted staff. [[Understanding]] kicked in, knocking dust off his mind. There was something about it that tickled at his thoughts. Perhaps the curse was blocking him from a memory?

Snapping back to the dimly lit dungeon, he could see Lady Blood Claw and Nyxion both looked terrified of the rod. Corvayne couldn't blame them, he too had been killed with this very tool in his.. possibly first life. The first he remembered. Moving to a tunnel away from the stairway, he hefted it and tossed it like a javelin, and true to form it flew back to his hands.

"I guess it recognizes me as it's master now..."

Brines was wringing his hands a little. "It's made of metal though..."

Bearer somehow slipped it from Corvayne's hands before he could grab it, and she tested it's balance. "It's some form of bastardized Mythril. Nearly indestructible with the enchantments on it. Won't hold a charge, but is conductive enough that your first swing at that thing will be your last. Or at least, I'll record you shocking yourself out of your shoes for posterity."

Corvayne handed the staff to Spears, who squished and locked it in place. "That thing won't ever get close to us again if I have my way."

He pulled out a bag of rocks. Everyone looked confused save Bearer, who snorted with a little laugh. At him or with him? Spears was wiggling, clearly getting what he was going to do. He heard her whisper "Fathoms-In-Shallows?"

Corvayne ruffled what he hoped was her liquid head, and nodded.

Two hours further into the dungeon, Corvayne had killed dozens of monsters by just braining them with well thrown rocks. They had been descending a long hill with dead gardens and what looked like particle accelerators curving from under the hill to forming rings over the little fake neighborhood. There was no shortage of rubble from stone villas or the road itself to brain fanged monsters that charged them or the acid spitting monsters that seemed to always pop up if they lingered too long. Behind them, up the hill, a blue light stood out from the dim dungeon. A sort of inevitable force pushing them deeper. Corvayne tried to ignore it, once again using [[Growth]] and [[Agility]] as he pitched a rock that went right through the acid monsters skull.

He stopped, and hefted the staff again. Fathoms-In-Shallows had once done a 'party trick' that turned a javelin into a cruise missile. The man barely spoke, though when he bothered to the giant was always thoughtful or thought provoking. More importantly to the point, he could turn a stick with a spearhead into something like a missile.

Argyle's staff might have a boatload of enchantments to make it return, but more importantly it was heavy and could survive being used as a club by someone with Argyles unfathomable raw strength.

Corvayne adjusted his grip. He switched to [Strength] and started powering gravity into the staff, turning it into an incredibly heavy bar. He couldn't help but grunt as he started to run uphill, straining as he pushed the concept of weight into the throw, his empowered arms tearing a muscle as he launched it and the ability instantly pulling the rug from under him, every muscle instantly going slack as he hit the ground. He was awake enough to see the result.

[Mass Driver] caused the staff to gain speed as it moved upwards, aimed at the little blue dot like a train building speed. He could feel it getting heavier even as it left his gravity's range, and something like the personality of the weapon as it went gleefully at it's target.

There was a crack like the universes biggest egg opening, knocking most of the team down and requiring Corvayne to limply catch Bell before she rolled down to further monster infested plaza and streets. His ears were ringing and he felt like someone had splashed hot water over them, and he felt dizzy. Brines healing kicked in, and he felt pain and realized [[Unity]] had done something to the team and his shields, as everyone besides Bearer slumped and had to roll themselves against walls and was radiating confusion or nausea. He felt his shield weaken letting in panic from everyone and a faint thread of amusement and someone who was horny while also extremely ill, and he didn't want to guess at that, and of course a single thread of clear awe coming from Nyxion, who was shielded and floating and seemed to have got a good look at whatever [Mass Driver] did.

There was a minute or two before Brines started pumping energy back into them. Good guy, Corvayne could feel he was scared but determined to help Bell save her girl. Well, more like terrified out of his mind of the golem.

Corvayne turned back and squinted. Someone had turned a spotlight on pointing down into the slope they were on. A little later the light vanished, and Corvayne saw there was still a glowing blue spot, now fatter than before. Had he somehow healed the monster?

He took a deep breath and pushed unity down again, lest he throw up and start giggling, as Bearer was feeling some sort of euphoric triumph that was making her laugh, even though she was too tired to do more than roll around and was on the verge of throwing up herself. "You son of a bitch. Literally. Oh, I knew it! My mom's going to eat her suit."

He looked again, and his brain, which seemed to have strained itself with something he did, got it's ducks in a row and helped him notice what he was seeing was not, in fact, an engorged golem. He held his hand up and the staff flew back into it, hot enough to burn his hand. He dropped it and hissed, switching to [[Vitality]] to mute the pain. He pulled his canteen and poured it onto the staff, the metal steaming and somehow feeling... satisfied through [[Unity]].

He looked up again. They were miles down, having gone down stairs for the better part of a day. No golem, no lights. He watched a distant cloud drift past the hole, darkening it for a moment.

Lady Blood Claw broke the silence. “I need a bigger sword.”