While Emily’s group is looking for the sprites. Heathcliff, Esteban, Julia, Richard, Clara, Charlotte, Raine, Anemone, and Clover arrive at a village that shows no sign of other people. The buildings are empty and the roads are silent, save for the howls of the ululating wind.
Heathcliff’s group looks around the ghost town, but cannot find anyone within the buildings. The taverns, the hotels, and stores were all empty.
Heathcliff sighs. “Doesn't look like this place is a dungeon, chers,” he says.
Esteban, Richard, and Raine notice the murals on the buildings. Raine approaches one of them and sees the image of a frightened girl running. The image is distorted and superimposed on two walls in one of the stores. She sees the girl being chased by two adults, all with horrified expressions on their faces.
Esteban sees the image of a man with a sword, poised for combat, painted across the front of a building, including the apron and Traceries.
Instead, Richard sees a painting that is not on the buildings but on the ground. He turns to Heathcliff. “Is there a way to the roofs? I want a better view of something.”
“There’s a fire escape over there,” Heathcliff says while pointing to an alleyway
The two climb the metal stairwell and head to the roof. Richard sees that while the view is not perfect, it is enough for him to perceive what this mural depicts, a robotic battalion.
Anemone and Clover look at more images. The former feels a chill going down her spine as she looks at the terrified faces of the people in these murals.
“Those murals look pretty impressive, right?” the green-haired fawn says. “I wonder who painted them.”
Anemone sees the image of a boy superimposed on the pavement. The boy’s eyes pointed at the other side of the street. She crouches down and touches the mural. She feels the painting is warm as if it was recently created. She then turns to the boy’s expression…and learns he is now gazing at her.
The sight of the changed eyes freaks Anemone out and she lets out a yelp. Clover sees her friend’s panicked cry and asks her what happened.
“H-h-his eyes moved!” Anemone says.
Clover looks at the image and sees the boy staring at the other side of the street. “Huh?” Her head quizzically tilts. “Are you sure?”
Anenome looks at the image and sees it has returned to its previous state. She rubs her eyes and sees no changes. She touches the image again but sees no change. The murals give her the feeling that something had recently happened to this town.
Later, The sun sets. Heathcliff looks around and sees the place grow more eerie with each passing second. “Avaient quitté. Dungeon or no Dungeon this place is giving me the creeps.”
Everyone heads into their customized car and drives from the ghost town. Thirty minutes later, they make camp fifty miles away.
“Okay, chers, listen up,” Heathcliff says as he begins to explain what Elizabeth told him about her Sleepshell enchantment.
“So that’s why she asked to enchant the Cyberworks armors!” Richard says.
“Oui, according to her, she placed runes to knock us out with a Bardsong spell at ten o’clock if we are too far from any beds. Then a second spell will proc afterward to turn the armor into a spherical shell for us to protect us from the things that come bumping.”
Clover seemed the most enthused by the idea. “That sounds fun!”
Raine notices Anemone is lost in thought. “Something wrong?” the phoenixian girl says.
“Huh? Oh, no,” Anemone says. “It’s just something is off about these murals.”
“They seem pretty abstract. I wonder who could have painted them?”
“Who indeed?” Anenome’s mind flashes through several ideas. “Maybe it’s illusion magic?” she thinks.
Julia hands out some sandwiches for dinner. “Eat up everyone, no sense sleeping on an empty stomach!”
Everyone eats their food. Carla and Charlotte look up at the moonlit sky. “It’s so beautiful,” Charlotte says. Their previous home in Hamlin had the sky blocked by the canopy of the nearby forest. They rarely get to see the stars in full view.
“I hear that each of these stars is one of Astra’s children,” Clara says.
“Astra’s children?” Charlotte says.
“Yes,” the alraune mother says. “The Cosmos’ progeny, brothers and sisters, and fellow Administrators. Each said to be tasked to oversee their own worlds.”
“Wow!” Charlotte looks at the stars in awe, she sees several constellations in the sky. Each painting is a vast picture of a thriving world above Titiania. The indigo-haired alraune child looks at them and feels something within her that is drawn to the stars.
She asks her mother various questions about the night sky and the moon. Carla tries to answer to the best of her ability. Anemone eventually joins the conversation and gives her own answers about the stars.
The time is now 9:50. Heathcliff instructs everyone to distance themselves from each other. “Best to keep apart while sleeping, chers,” he says. “You don’t know that enchantment is gonna work if y’all are too close.”
Everyone keeps their distance and says their good nights. Nine minutes later, the enchantments activate, everyone is lulled to sleep by the Bardsong spell and the armors transform into a metal sphere that protects them from predators.
✦✦✦
By the crack of dawn, the Cyberworks armors return to their normal forms and everyone wakes up refreshed and ready to take on the new day. They drive back to the mural-laden town in search of clues.
Esteban and Julia take a closer look at the murals. “This place has been abandoned for quite a while. Yet these paintings feel fresh.” Esteban touches the murals. He senses that it is dry but still warm.
Julia is more focused on the content of the superimposed images. Each shows people in fear as if they are running away from something. “What is these murals for?” she says. “A reminder of a terror that had passed?”
Richard approaches the two rouges and mentions his observations. “Many of these images were painted in warped perspectives,” the dwarf says. “That seems normal for some murals, to display the actual image only in certain angles, but the one outside the town seems the more perplexing.”
Richard leads the rouges to the rooftops and directs their attention to the images of a machine army painted on the meadows. They look like they are marching towards the town, yet these myriad soldiers were too numerous for such a small town to paint by themselves.
Esteban hears something beneath them. An unfair cry. They head into the building and see a stranger crying out in pain. Their foot is inside an empty barrel.
The person is topless and their face is a panicked expression. They look at the three people in front of them. “Ah sp— Wait you’re not them!” His eyes dart around as if looking for something. “Th-they aren’t still here, are they?”
“Who are this ‘they’?” Julia says
Richard leaves to gather the others. A while later, Heathcliff, Clara, Charlotte, Raine, Clover, and Anemone arrive at the person’s building. Esteban rummages around and gets them a shirt before they arrive.
“Mind explaining what happened here cher?” Heathcliff calmly says to the skittish person.
The person calms down. “Call me Sam,” they say. After a deep breath, Sam begins his tale. “There was a fight. Large machines marching towards here, intent on looking for the blasted Sprite dungeon. I tried to warn them, but they wouldn't listen. I hid in this here barrel for safety.”
“Sprite dungeon?” Richard says realizes that Emily’s group was looking for that as well.
Anemone looks at Sam. “What about the murals?”
“Murals?” Sam says. “We didn’t paint no murals.”
Raine is confused, she shows Sam the various images strewn around the town, images he recognizes were his fellow townspeople.
“Oh no,” Sam says. “The sprites must’ve done that!”
Anemone mulls on Sam’s claim and asks why would they come here.
“Hell if I know!” Sam says. “These capricious brats are always stirring up trouble here!”
Clover looks at these images. “Maybe they’re just trying to protect them from the machines?” she says.
Sam shoots the fawn a glower. “You haven’t seen the harm they did to Wellvale when they came to town. Kidnapped cattle, children turned into sprites, reality being pulled through the trenches by their foolish pranks. These brats are dangerous I tell you, dangerous!”
Sam rants about the dangers of the fey for several minutes.
“Thank you for your time,” Esteban says. “And your answers. We’ll be on our way.” The group leaves while Sam continues their rant.
✦✦✦
Heathcliff’s group boards the car and heads back to Thronwood. “Well that was a bust,” Heathcliff says. “Here’s hoping Emily and the others are more successful.”
The car drives back to Thornwood and sees Emily’s group is already there, along with a pair of sprites. “Welcome back!” Emily says. “How was the ghost town?”
“Well, cher, we managed to learn a few things.” The knight explains the meager information they learning, including that the sprites had apparently turned all but one of the town’s inhabitants into paintings on the walls and ground.
The two sprites were aghast at the realization they forgot to check in on Wellvale. Heathcliff notices that these two in particular were larger than average.
“We had a bit more success on our end,” Elizabeth says.
The group looks over the map. An x is marked over the forest and the ghost town. Emily explains that she had learned that the Engines might be responsible for some of the vanishing dungeons.
“Some?” Esteban says.
“We don’t know if that dungeon is responsible for the cases where the locations themselves vanished,” Emily says.
The Coloraturas talk amongst themselves about their own experiences. Anemone explains that Marcia had seen machines among the paintings and Rose explains that they had seen a giant one in the Feywood.
“So we have a lead at least,” Heathcliff says. “Seems like a tough nut to crack.”
“We could try a reconnaissance mission,” Elizabeth says. “See how strong these Engines really are?”
“That sounds doable,” Esteban says. “I’ll land my aid to that end.”
“Ditto,” Julia says.
“Wait,” Anemone says. “Did you by any chance get anything from your trip there?”
“I don’t think so?” Emily rummages through her items and sees among the foodstuffs the Mirage Staff. Sarah and Rose reveal their staves as well.
“We also heard from Flowena and Ulric that they were tasked to join us at the Black Box a swell among other sprites.”
“Swell,” Heathcliff says. “I better find those two, there is someone back there that didn’t seem too keen on them.”
“Maybe we can wait until tomorrow before heading out?” Emily says.
“Of course, cher. You get some rest.” Heathcliff says as he and Esteban take the car and drive off.
Throughout the rest of the day. They rent some rooms at the local Motel and then look around the humble town of Thronwood for a bit. Carla took Charlotte, Nina, and the Coloraturas to eh nearby theater to watch “The Girl and the Glass Slipper” and “La Libertad”. While Tim and Emily practice some of their abilities.
Emily uses her shapeshifting skills to turn into various people, monsters, and objects. As well as doing some impressions. Tim instead uses the opportunities to practice his bajiquan techniques.
Emily’s impishly decides to assume Tim’s form and mimics his movements.
“Knock it off,” Tim says.
“No!” Emily smiles while still in the form of Tim.
The two end up bantering and practice together. Emily playfully mocks him for a few minutes before returning to her normal shape.
Night falls and everyone heads to their motel rooms, preparing to scope out the Engines tomorrow.
✦✦✦
The next morning, the two vehicles arrive at a forest near their destination. The trees are a pinkish red, the same color as the sky as Stella ascends the horizon.
“This should be far enough for the place to not notice,” Heathcliff says. “We’re hoofing it from now on, chers.”
The group consists of Emily, Heathcliff, Elizabeth, Tim, Esteban, Julia, Sarah, Richard, and the eight Coloraturas. Clara decided to take Charlotte, Nina, Flowena, and Ulrich to the Black Box and keep an eye on their new sprite guests. To Nina’s chagrin.
They walk through the pink-leafed forest and discover a last landscape of factory buildings, attended to by steam-powered automata. The building spans the entire horizon.
“Well, I’m ready to blow off some steam,” Azalea quips.
“Is everyone ready?” Elizabeth says.
The others nod, as they approach the Engines. They see various railways carrying coal and ore across the land. Azalea looks at the black rocks with a look of disgust.
“Something wrong?” Rose says.
“Just a little steamed is all,” the mermaid cheerfully says.
Rose senses that Azalea is hiding her discontent with the smokestacks and the coal as she swims with the others.
Esteban cloaks them with his spells, ensuring the automata does not see them. They sneak around the dungeon and witness another adventuring party in the dungeon.
The other group includes a Lamia man with a bow, a cleric, and a slimonid clad in armor. The latter seems to be the trio’s tank. Emily’s group sees them locked in combat with an automaton. The steam-powered machine and slimonid clash but the gelatinous tank is soon splattered and captured by the automata. The Lamia archer and cleric follow suit.
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“This is a [Divine Dungeon],” Elizabeth says, knowing full well of the two-hour time limit. “What reason would they have for taking them?”
Emily remembered she had the D.E.M. on her and examined the device. She wonders if she would need to use its power soon as they further explored the Engines.
Richard sees a documents on the ground and appraises it. The top of the paper read, “RUMOR ANALYSIS: PROJECT STRONGHOLD.” He reads the document. “INQUIRY LAUNCHED INTO NOIRIAN SYNDICATE ACTIVITY IN CERBERUS. INTRUDERS ABSCONDED WITH CORES BEFORE [BARON ROBERTS] COULD REACH THEM. ANOMALOUS DISPLACEMENT OF MATERIAL OBSERVED AS SIDE EFFECT. MOB ACTIVITIES DEEM THREAT TO [BARON ROBERTS]. FURTHER OBSERVATION PENDING.”
“It seems like this dungeon has nothing to do with the Syndicates,” Richard says. He hands the document to Emily.
Esteban scouts ahead, eyeing the automata’s preprogrammed paths and finding the most optimal route to move beneath their notice. The others follow their lead. Strelitzia takes the Mirage Staff from Rose with an idea in mind.
“You think this thing will work?” the minotaur whispers.
“I’m not sure,” Anemone says to her. “Illusion magic intersects light and dark, and your preference with earth spells might mean this stuff is useless outside the sprite’s domains.”
“Let me have it!” Lily says quietly but exuberantly. “I can give it a shot.”
Lily takes the staff and Streltizia directs at to a nearby automata. The centaur points her staff at the automata and gently lifts it.
“ERROR! ERROR!” the machine cries out. “TACTILE CONNECTION TO FLOOR SEVERED! ASSISTANCE REQUESTED!”
Lily tries to shrink the machine by bringing it closer to her body, but it gets caught on nearby pipes and is unable to be moved closer. Lily is forced to let go and drop the automata to the ground. It lands with a thud.
“TELEKINETIC ANOMALY DETECTED, SEARCHING FOR SOURCE OF DARKNESS AND LIGHTNING MANA!”
Hydrangea and Azalea work to freeze the machine and cover for Lily’s blunder. Azalea condenses the Steam into water and uses it to drench the automata and Hydrangea freezes it in frost. Raine then immediately emits the ice to subject its workings to thermal shock. The three girls are left sitting from both eh stema in the air and the effort they exerted in trying to pull off this feat.
Raine chastises Lily and Streltizia for nearly bowling their cover. The centaur timidly apologizes.
Sarah soon finds another sheet of paper on top of a nearby file cabinet. It is titled “REPORT: MISSING SCOUTS.” She begins to read the document to the others. “ATTEMPTED INCURSIONS INTO [MIRAGE FEYWOOD] AND NEARBY DUNGEONS MET WITH RESISTANCE FROM SPRITES. SCOUTS AND BATTALIONS FAILED TO RETURN FROM THESE INCURSIONS. BATTALION EN ROUTE THROUGH WELLVALE INTERCEPTION AND RENDERED MISSING. RESEARCH INTO ILLUSION MAGIC PROMPTED.”
“Well that’s certainly gonna be a problem,” Sarah says. She hands Emily the document.
Emily looks ahead and sees another party, this time inclining a fawn as a tank with a shield, a bard with a panpipe, and an alraune trying to bind the adversary.
“Stupid heat!” the male alraune says. “These bindings can’t hold for long.” The machine cuts through the bindings with its chainsaw-bladed arms.
“Hang on,” the male fawn says. “I’ll keep this piece of escape on me.”
Emily notices the fawn knight’s shield.
“Is that a Diamondback?” Elizabeth whispers, seeing the shield in the fawn’s arm.
“A diamond-what?” Emily says.
“A very rare type of shield, say to repel most physical attacks.”
“It’s a rather pricey one at that,” Tim says.
“Whoever has a shield like that must’ve been very lucky, or very loaded,” Heathcliff says.
With the Diamondback, the fawn knight manages to fare better than the previous party's slimonid tank, but it is not enough to save them from the automata’s vicious assault. The fawn knight is disarmed and his arms severed. The other two panic. The bard tries to play a song to let the fawn regrow how arm, but it’s too late and the Fawn knight is subdued and the bard and alraune soon follow suit. The automata ties them all up and carries them away, picking up the diamondback from the severed arm as well.
Emily is disturbed by this sight.
Clover and Rose see a set of document sin a pile on the floor and look through them. Clover is looking for hints about her missing parents as well as what exactly the dungeon is capable of. They soon find a report entitled “SPHERE ACCUSATION PROGRESS 2/7/XXXX” rose hands the document for Emily to read. “AS OF THE SEVENTH OF SECUNDER, SPHERE COLLECTION REMAINS STAGNANT. PYRO AND AQUASPEHRES REMAIN ACCOUNTED FOR.”
Upon realizing that the Engines have the last of the basic Elementalsit’s Spheres she needs, Emily turns to Elizabeth. “Lizzie, is it possible to get it here?”
“You’d have to absorb the [Dungeon] to get Spheres that are already embedded into it,” Elizabeth says.
Streltizia sees another file. The header reads “CORE SEVERANCE PROTOCOLS PERFECTED”. She silently reads it. “THROUGH RIGOROUS TESTING, THE CORE SEVERANCE PROTOCOLS ARE PERFECTED, FOLLOWING TEXT ON [DRAGON’S PEAK], WE HAVE CONFIRMED IT IS POSSIBLE TO CONVERT AN AVATARA INTO A VECTOR THROUGH WHICH THE CORE CAN BE DIRECTLY EXTRACTED AND ABSORBED. SUBSEQUENT TESTING ON [RAINBOW FALLS] AVATARA PROVES THE MANA IS ABSORBED. SUBSEQUENT REPORTS REVEAL THAT MANA FROM THOSE PHYSICALLY AT ABSORBED LOCATIONS WERE ALSO ABSORBED. FURTHER EXPERIMENTS REVEAL PROTOCOLS INOPERABLE OUTSIDE PERIMETER OF [THE ENGINES].” She hands the file to Esteban who eyes widen in shock before regaining composure.
Later, Esteban notices a discarded robot arm at his side. He picks it up and sees it is much heavier than it appears. Julia meanwhile uses the cover of her invisibility to see if she can neutralize some of the patrolling automata. Her daggers and spells seem to have little effect on it. She knows the metal exterior is too hard for her blade to pierce, but she has an idea.
She sees Lily. “May I borrow that staff, dear?”
The centaur hands the Mirage staff to Julia. The two look at an approaching automata. “This thing works off perception huh?” Julia thinks. She lifts the automata in the air and immensely hurls it into the closest wall.
“ALERT! ALERT” the mech cries. “TACTILE C—“ is all it can say before it makes contact with the wall and becomes a stretched and distorted image on it.
“How did you do that?” Lily says.
“I got creative,” Julia says.
Azalea looks at the newly “painted” illusion of the mech. “That robot really hit the wall there.”
Lily takes the wall back from Julia and uses it and her light magic to remove the machines patrolling to path by superimposing them as flat images on the floor, walls, ceiling, and pipes. Emily looks at Lily’s feats with confusion before Julia explains what she has taught her.
Esteban refreshes the cloaking spell. “This is the last one, we should leave while we can.”
Emily is unsure if they should leave now. There is an hour and thirty minutes left on the timer before they are instantly repelled. She asks if they could press further, pointing out that the robots seem like no issue.
“There are other risks,” Esteban says, “The dungeon will eventually notice Lily’s little art projects and seek to investigate.”
“Esteban’s right, cher,” Heathcliff says. “But there is an out,” he refers to the D.E.M. “If something happens we can use that to get out lickity split.”
✦✦✦
Emily’s group soon find a room with an open door. Inside they could find several documents and files strewn about.
Lily finds a document on a desk. It is called “UPDATE, CORE SEVERANCE DRAWBACK” She reads it. “UPDATE: CORE SEVERANCE TEXT PLACE VITAL DRAWBACK, [BARON ROBERTS] IS NOW A WALKING CORE, AS WE HAD ABSORBED [DRAGON’S PEAK] AND [RAINBOW FALLS] SO TOO COULD A DUNGEON BE ABLE TO ABSORBS [THE ENGINES] THROUGH ABSORBING [BARON ROBERTS]. [BARON ROBERTS] IS ADVISED TO NOT MANIFEST AVATARA BEYOND SECURED PREMIERES.” She hands the document to Esteban, who hands them both to Heathcliff.
Clover continues looking for information on the parents but fails to find any clues. Esteban and Julia look through the documents and find documents from more recent dates, but they have the same results as the one Rose found.
Tim soon finds a peculiar document on a nearby desk. It is titled “MICRODUGNEON EXPERIMENTS PROGRESS 9/10/XXXX” He picks the file up and begins reading it. “AS OF THE TENTH OF NOVEMBER, FOLLOWING DEMONIC PACT, WE HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE ABILITY TO EXPLORE MICRODUGNEONS. MANA CAPACITY GREATLY INCREASED FOLLOWING INITIAL EXPERIMENTS. [BARON ROBERTS] IS NOW THE MOST POWERFUL DUNGEON IN CERBERUS REGION AND SURROUNDING AREAS.”
“Microdugneons?” Tim says. He had recalled hearing Atsuko mention them during the party at Gatsby Tower.
Anemone then finds one last file of note. Entitled “GEOLOCATION OF PEERS, 4/27/XXXX” then she softly reads the document. “AS OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH OF QUARTUMBER, LOCATIONS OF FELLOW DIVINE DUNGEONS ASCERTAINED. [MIRAGE FEYWOOD], [RAINBOW FALLS], [DRAGON’S PEAK]. FURTHERMORE, REPORTS OF A DIVINE DUNGEON IN THE ADJACENT NEW VIRGINIA REGION ARE CONFIRMED. [BLACK BOX]. GEO-LOCATION OF SAID DUNGEON IN PROGRESS.” Anemone stops reading as soon as she sees the words “Black Box” written on the paper, instead handing it to Heathcliff.
“This is bad news,” Heathcliff says.
“They are looking for Emily?” Rose says.
Tim feels Esteban’s cloaking magic begin to fade. “We need to go, now!”
“Tim’s right,” Elizabeth says. “If the Dungeon knows you’re here, who knows what they would do to you?”
The group exits the room and heads to a nearby corridor. Julia, Tim, Lily, Anemone, and Heathcliff keep an eye out for patrollers as the cloaking magic fades.
Emily thinks about whether they should press on. Heathcliff looks at her. “I understand if you want to go ahead, but know what you are getting into, cher.”
She looks back at how effortlessly the automata had crushed the other two adventuring parties. As Esteban’s magic fades, she realizes that it is not safe to linger here. “Let’s go. Hurry.”
✦✦✦
The party rushes to the entrance they sued as quickly as possible before Esteban’s cloaking magic spells. They flicker into visibility for a few seconds as they run away from patrolling machines. Lily uses the Mirage Staff to clear the path from patrolling machines.
“ALERT! ALERT!” a voice is heard all around them. “UNUSUAL GRAFFITI DETECTED. ILLUSION MAGIC DETECTED, SEARCHING FOR LIGHT AND DARKNESS MANA. [SENTINEL: KYBERNETES X-89] DISPATCHED. PERPETRATORS MUST SURRENDER NOW AND ACCEPT FATE.”
“Like heck we are!” Heathcliff says.
The group sees a large aerial android flying overhead. Resembling a flying egg. It lands approximately close to looking for the superimposed robots.
Lily makes a face of shock, one that tells that she had no idea that the effects of the Mirage Staff would be used to locate them.
The Kybernetes examines the “graffiti” in the wake of Emily’s groups as they rush to flee. Rose notices a fork in the road and slithers into the panel. She finds a strange panel marked “x-y=9”
“Ugh, algebra?” Rose thinks. She recalls what she learned from the class and sees it is several blocks next to the panel. The numbers one, three, four, five, six, and eight are adorned on these six blocks. Rose places the one and eight blocks on them and opens a door to the right. She flickers into visibility as she replaces it with the three and six blocks. She finds a different door open, leading to a nearby ledge.
“What are you doing? “Heathcliff whispers.
“Solving a math problem,” Rose says. She smirks as she places the four and five blocks and sees a wall slam down in the room, separating the Sentinel from Emily and her group.
“Got it!” Rose says. The cloaking magic fades as Emily and her group move through one of the doors rose opened.
“MANA SPIKE DETECTED!” the Kybernetes turns to the wall behind it. “INTRUDERS DETECTED BEYOND WALL, ENGAGING BATTLE MODE”.
✦✦✦
Emily and her group arrive close to the entrance, now fully visible. A voice soon echoes to her. “Aha! So you’re the rats that turned my cells into decorations! I’ll get you yet you sprites!”
“He thinks we’re sprites?” Emily thinks. She uses her shapeshifting skill to take the form of an automaton to distract the patrollers while everyone else begins their escape.
The Kybernetes burst through the walls and greet the disguised Emily. “MODEL 006, ASSISTANCE REQUESTED IN LOCATING INTRUDERS.”
Emily tries to sound convincing to the Sentinel. “ROGER,” she says. “LOCATING INTRUDERS.” She looks in the opposite direction from her friends.
“VOICE RECOLONIZED AS ALTERED,” the Kybernetos says. “INQUIRY REQUESTED INTO STATE OF VOICE MODULE.”
“Shoot,” Emily thinks. “UM, AMBIENT WIND MANA FROM THE PREVIOUS EXCURSION HAS ALTERED THE VOICE MODULE.”
The Kybernetos’ glowing eyes state at her. Meanwhile from on high, a man in a trenchcoat looks on.
“Tch,” the black-coated man says. “Hey sir, it looks like we got a shapeshifter here.”
“Damned pixies!” the dungeon’s voice echoes to the man. “Carnegie! You know what to do!”
Carnegie leaps down to the ground.
“MODEL 006, ANOMALOUS BEHAVER DETECTED. INQUIRY REQUESTED INTO PROGRAMMING. PERMISSION TO TAKE YOU FOR REPAIRS.” The Kybernetes says.
“Save it!”
Carnegie lands on the ground and points his cane at Emily. The disguise is dispelled and the avatara returns to her normal form.
The Kybernetes glares at Emily who could only only rube the back of her head. “Ehe.”
“INTRUDER DETECTED, DUNGEON AVATARA DETECTED, REQUESTING INITIATION LOCKDOWN PROTOCOLS!” the Kybernetes says.
“Approved,” the Engines says to the robot. “Activating Core severance procedures.”
“Core severance procedures?” Emily says.
The others look back and see Emily is caught, but before they can intervene, they feel the ground shaking and walls beginning to emerge from below. Esteban and Julia are separated from the others who are in turn trapped alongside Emily with the Kybernetes and Carnegie.
The Kybernetes begin to fight Emily, She tries to fight it but is knocked to eh ground by a single punch. The machine attempts another blow, but she does and senses an indication.
“Oh fertile soil, enchanted the blade’s toil.” Emily’s bardsong enchants her blades and allows Anesidora’s boom to take effect. Her strikes allow her to recover from the attacks. She tries to attack the machine, but the areal mech does by flying to the sky. She leaps toward the machine and throws her combined blades at it, landing two hits on it before returning into her hands.
Carnegie leaves to find a more suitable vantage point.
Emily’s attacks allow some of her bruises to heal quicker. She lands on eh ground as it becomes enveloped in fog.
“FOG DETECTED, FIRING HEAT SEEKERS!” The Kybernetes fires a missile from its wings that locks onto Emily’s heat signature and draws near it. Emily tries to evade but they draw closer and closer to her.
One of the missiles explodes near her as she uses ice magic to lower her heat signature. Time meanwhile rushes into the fray and diverts the second missile with his heat. She stands firm awaiting the missile as it draws closer and closer. Before it could hit him, he propels himself into the air. The missiles misses as he lands behind Emily.
“What were you thinking?” Tim says.
“Maybe stall him until the timer runs out?” Emily says.
Tim sighs. “Whatever, that thing, do you know how to activate it?”
Emily knows what Tim is talking about and takes out the yellow device. She tries to figure out how to activate the magic item.
The Kybernetes try to fire another salvo, but Azalea drenches the machine in water from the steam and fog, and Rose and Elizabeth use lightning spells to zap the Sentinel.
“ERROR! SYSTEM SHOCK! MISSILE MODULE FRIED!” the Kybernetes plummets not eh ground and crashes in front of Tim and Emily. Everyone tries to find some weakness in the machine But their attacks only do minimal damage to its core.
“What in Titania is this thing made of!” Heathcliff shouts.
“This [Sentinel] must be warded by something.” She darts around and sees Carnegie charging to the machine. She tries to strike the dungeon master with lightning, but the ebony-coated man simply dodges the strike of lightning.
“You’re gonna need to try harder than that!” Carnegie boasts.
“SELF-REPAIRS COMPLETE, ENGAGING!” The Kybernetes stands back up and turns his wings into two swords. “ANALYSIS OF MANA IN PROGRESS, IDENTIFYING. IDENTIFYING.”
“Identify this!” Strelitzia says as she swings her labrys at one of the joints. One of the swords is knocked back a few feet, but the robot remains armed. Clover tries to slice at it with met metal fan while Lily uses her spear to try to pry open the mech’s chassis, to little avail.
Emily tries to find a way to operate the D.E.M. as she dances evasively to avoid the Kybernetes’ sword swings. Rose, Hydrangea, and Azalea try to immobilize the robot, but it breaks free of the frost aided by the heat of the ambient humid air. Raine instead tries to melt it, but no matter how the fire is, the chassis remains immaculate.
Elizabeth, Flies Richard and Sarah to Carnegie, aided by wind magic. The three try to fight Carnegie or at least break the Dungeon Master’s focus on the ward so that the Kybernetos can be defeated, but the more experienced fighter dodges Elizabeth’s spells, Richard’s stunner shots, and Sarah’s hammer with ease.
✦✦✦
The fight rages on and Emily and her party are running low on energy. The Colortura’s core barely lifts their weapons. There are only forty-five minutes left on the timer.
Carnigie repels Elizabeth and sends her falling onto the floor. The Fairy lands next to Emily, who is blocking the Kybernete’s swords with her own.
“Lizzie!” Emily says. “The D.E.M.!”
The fairy takes the yellow device and tries to activate it.
“ANALYSIS COMPLETE, AVATARA IDENTIFIED. [BLACK BOX] CONFIRMED SOURCE OF AVATARA.” The Kybernetes says
The Engines roar in laughter. “Excellent, another rising star.” His voice echoes throughout the sprawl of smokestacks and factories. “But a lesser star, all the same, I will absorb your mana, Black Box!”
Emily is left confused by the Engines’ statement. “How is that possible!”
Emily manages to push the Kybernetes’ blades back and work with Tim to send the mechanical sentinel tumbling down. Heathcliff tries to wreck the machine but sees it as near invulnerable.
Elizabeth manages to activate the yellow device. “Denizen Extraction Mechanism, activate!” the fairy calls. The device whirls as Emily and her party glows.
“Deux Ex protocols activated,” the smaller machine says. “Analyzing method of extraction.”
“What, a Denizen Extraction Mechanism!” The Baron Roberts fumes.
“Proper method selected, ‘Dungeon Timeout!’ process beginning now.”
The timer that determines how long challengers can stay in a dungeon suddenly zeros out. Emily and her party are immediately teleported away from the Engines, back to the edge of the dungeon.
Carnigie smirks at the dungeon’s petulant rage. “Sire, if I may interrupt, the Kybernetos has analyzed the mana of the Black Box’s avatara. We can use this to finally find the location.”
A being suddenly leaps from the smokestack at the center of the complex and lands in front of the dungeon master. The figure is an elderly man, clad in bulky steam-powered mechanical armor. The armor hisses as the figure raises his head. The upper right part of his face is covered in brass. The right eye was replaced by a red screen.
The hulking armored man glares at Carnegie. “Are you certain?”
“CARNEGIE’S STATEMENT VERIFIED. [BLACK BOX] GEO-LOCATION IN PROGRESS,” the Kybernetos says.
The Baron Roberts looks at the mechanical Sentinel. “Very well, and the sprites.”
“SEARCHING, SEARCHING. [MIRAGE FEYWOOD] LOCATED THROUGH EXAMINATION OF CONTEXTUAL FOREST. MISSING SCOUT’S LAST TRANSMISSION AND PRESENCE OF ILLUSION MAGIC.”
“Finally!” The Baron says. “We shall take that accused Feywood by storm and then we will marshal our forces and deal with that upstart!”
“An excellent plan, sire,” Carnegie says.
The Baron Roberts lets out a boisterous laugh as they prepare their upcoming siege.
✦✦✦
Emily and her friends make it to the cars. Esteban and Julia were already there, having known that Emily would use the D.E.M. to escape.
“Get in!” Esteban says.
Everyone boards the two vehicles and then they draw as far away from the Engines at top speed.
Everyone breathes heavily as Esteban and Julia drive them around the Cerberus area before driving back to Thornwood. The road trip took several hours. From they, they spent the next hour driving back to near Rosenkruz and returned home to the Black Box.
That night, at the Black Box. Emily mulls on what had just happened today. Her avatara is deactivated and her consciousness is returned to the dungeon body. She takes a look at various rooms. He sees Heathcliff meeting with Ulrick and Flowena, talking about ways to use the Mirage Staff’s illusory powers to bolster Emily’s defenses. She then turns her attention to another room. Where Esteban and Julia looked over the documents they had found in the Engines. She then sees Lydia preparing the children for sleep and then Tim meditating on the encounter with the Kybernetes. She then looks at Minerva asking Carla for her opinion on the “Fairy Princess” films.
She finally looks at her core room, and she sees a gap between the Umbrasphere and the Cryosphere. She also sees Elizabeth getting ready for bed. “Hey Lizzie?” her voice echoes to the fairy.
“Yes?”
“Do you think they will come here?” Emily says.
“I think so,” Elizabeth says. “Normally, a dungeon has to personally visit another one and find its core to absorb it. The denouement of this so-called ‘Core Severance’ Protocol makes it so that visiting Dungeons is at huge risk when undertaking this. At the very least, any guilds affiliated with him would revoke his status among them upon learning of this.”
A sigh breaths through the entrance to the core room
“We will need to be prepared,” Elizabeth says. “We have a few months at least before any of the Engines’ forces arrive. I hope Atsuko returns soon, she’ll at least need to know about this.” Elizabeth’s head spins as she wonders what these microdugneons are, and more importantly, how come she didn’t already know about them.
“Goodnight, Lizzie,” Emily says.
Elizabeth tucks herself in. “Night, Emmy.” They are unsure of if turmoil will arrive in the coming days.