Gwen triggered her wings and soared through the room, going for the core gem.
She never made it. The shadow troll appeared, caught her, and flung her onto another alcove chair. Shadowy straps lashed her down tight, even covering her mouth, so her screams came out muffled.
Cal didn’t move.
Helga sheathed her musket and pulled her crowbar. “Come and face me, you devil!”
“Not devil!” Inke’s voice filled the room. “Full Body Blackout! Ultimate tattoo. Took months of pain and ink to get it on me. But it ultimate weapon! You stupids are in trouble now. This is for the Vengeance.”
Dave’s voice came from above. “I remember that. The Vanilla Master’s plan had something to do with revenge. And saving the Tree of Souls. But it was all kind of murky. I don’t think it was very well thought out at all.”
“It very well thought out!” Inke’s shadow screamed.
Helga sped forward on Hurricane. “I have my own ideas about Vengeance. One very particular idea, actually. And I’m going to use my crowbar to pry it out of you!”
She let out her intimidating roar, which shook the room, causing dust to drip from the ceiling. She then blurred as she activated her Destructive Charge. Hurricane’s hoof beats were louder than her musket. She was going to crash right into the chair and shatter that gem.
Cal threw out his hands. “Helga, no! Inke is under the Vanilla Master’s spell!”
But it was too late. The rage had blinded the halfling barbarian, and she was going to crush Inke’s gem.
The Full Body Blackout smacked her off Hurricane, and Helga soared through the air. Straps like black tentacles snaked out of an alcove chair and slammed her down onto the red upholstery and binding her.
Hurricane also wound up on chair, helplessly bound.
Cal and Dave were the only ones left.
The elven accountant had a plan. He didn’t want to give away his position, so he sent a message to his boss.
Kronke managed to get an arm out, but the chair only sprouted more straps to restrain him.
Dave messaged,
The elven accountant then created the illusion of himself, but he had his telekinesis ready. He didn’t just add arms and legs, but he added a few tentacles. Sure. He sent out Octo-Cal because he needed to be ready for the Full Body Blackout to come charging out.
And it did. Cal immediately had his illusion throw his tentacles around the pedestal chair’s base, locking it down solid. Cal then wrapped tentacles around the Full Body Blackout. It all looked good, but the kicker was the telekinesis he added to the scenario. Though the Ruby Staff glowed in the darkness, Cal was betting that Inke’s shadow demon would be too focused on tying Cal to a bed.
But Cal kept his illusion rooted there, feeling like an actual body, with actual tentacles. Cal was surprised to find that it was taking buckets of Apothos to keep that illusion going along. He gritted his teeth and started in on the questions. “Inke! Are you serving the Vanilla Master under your own free will?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Inke not care about free will. Inke serve the Vanilla Master because his Vengeance is righteous! Now get in that chair, you! Take your inking! Take your inking!”
But Cal was never going to get a tattoo. It was expensive, time-consuming, and what if he changed his mind? He’d be stuck with something for the rest of his life. Given that he was an elf, that meant at least a thousand years of regret, so no inking for him.
Dave swooped down from the ceiling with a round container in his hands. What was he planning?
Cal watched as Dave swept Inke’s gem into the container. The Full Body Blackout whirled and extended a shadow arm, tipped with claws, that slashed through Dave’s web.
Dave hit the floor and rolled to a stop. The light above the pedestal winked off. Cal’s staff went out, and they were lost in darkness for several long moments.
Until Gwen ignited one of her parallelogram flashlights. It spilled a ghostly light across the place. The alcoves were gone, and they were in a cramped room, full of folding chairs. Like a huge number of folding chairs. In the middle was the pedestal, restored to its default state, a chunk of rock rising up out of the floor.
Dave lifted himself up onto his many legs and slipped an Omega Audit Crystal onto the pedestal. The crystal ignited, streaming light. For a second, Cal saw spectral spiderwebs connecting the OAC to Weavelord, tying them together. That had to be Dave’s Apothos Entanglement in action, combining his own core gem with the Omega Audit Crystal.
Light filled the room, allowing them to see a mural of Inke painted on one of the walls near the exit. Instead of having multiple tattoos covering his skin, every inch of Inke’s body was blackened with ink making his white eyes pop. That had to be where the Full Body Blackout had emerged from.
The round container that Dave was holding made a loud rattling sound. “I got Inke, but like I said, we are not going to be able to talk to him in at least forty-eight hours.”
Cal cast his Triple E spell and was surprised by the results.
<<<>>>
Triple E Scan Results – Exogenous Manifestation
Equipment Type: Dungeon Guardian Core Imprisonment Device
Equipment Name: Natty Geo’s Rock Tumbler & Polisher
Equipment History: Natty Geo was a dungeoneer who really thought he could suck out all the Apothos of a Celestial Node and then put back the dungeon core, which would re-ignite the Celestial Node, and everyone would be happy. Problem was, dungeoneers sucked out all the Apothos, the Node died, and when Natty Geo put the dungeon core back, but there wasn’t any Celestial Node there anymore.
Fun Fact: Natty Geo enjoyed geodes, gemstones, and very smooth rocks. He loved pretty rocks that he polished to a glow. Some guys just like rocks, bro. Don’t think about it too much.
Equipment Description: Do you like sand? Did you know that sand used to be rocks? But then time, that bad boy, came along and totally hammered on those rocks, and a millennia later, bam, sand. Do you know how driftwood is all soft and polished? Or what about some cool shiny rocks that somehow got polished by the forces of erosions? Well, Natty’s Geo Rock Tumbler & Polisher takes dungeon core gems, throws them into a mixture of rocks and sand, and then tumbles them for forty-eight hours. Until the gems glow and are so pretty! During that time, the dungeon guardians are completely dizzy and completely useless.
Note: There is a pretty good chance that dungeon guardians coming out of Natty Geo’s Rock Tumbler & Polisher will be driven completely and utterly insane. Imagine spending two days in a dryer, spinning around with rocks and sand scraping the crap out of you (and off you) with no way to escape? Yeah. Inke better find his happy place fast or he is in big trouble.
Apothos Type: Terra and Mallus
<<<>>>
Cal was relieved that Inke wasn’t dead, though he was worried that the troll would never be the same again. Extreme problems called for extreme solutions. The Full Body Blackout had been really tough.
Cal had any number of questions, but suddenly he felt a cold wind, and he smelled perfume. Gwen and Dave were sniping at each other, going back and forth, but their voices grew distant.
Helga was saying something about ascending while Kronke ate a cookie. The sound of his powerful jaws munching on the crispy dough soon was nothing but a whisper.
Call looked back and his entire team was frozen. Even the rattling container seemed to have been paused.
Cal saw a light flicking in the ABC room, the Antechamber of the Biker Club, and he smelled perfume in the air, fruity and sweet. He found himself drawn to both the light and scent. Barbara Starmyst wore citrusy perfume like that. Was she trying to use her aromatherapy to take control of him?
That was one possibility. Or was she reaching out for help? Or maybe it was Kelly Ryan in there, wanting to talk accounting.
Fingers crossed, Cal went in there to find out. Time seemed to have stopped anyway, so he figured no one would miss him. He just had to hope he could trust Barb, and strangely enough, he thought he could.
Or was just the smell of her sweet fragrance talking?