The surrounding environment was nothing but a stone forest and barren soil. Apparently, I had arrived at a section of the barren forest, a land kissed by death, and arguably one of the best places to reliably contain a flesh sentry’s heart. After all, you can’t get organic material if there is none. I looked down at the semi-paralyzed Buckferd and brought him up to eye level, he was struggling like crazy, but he could never break my grip. Once at eye level, he tried to avert his eyes but with a few mental tugs, he could no longer resist and stared into my eye. He started to seize as I scoured his soul, his eyes rolled back and his body started to flail. I ventured deep within his very being to find the information I wanted, and let’s just say I wasn’t gentle about it.

Finally, I found what I wanted, the true purpose of the organization called the ten human-headed hydra, and what I found was... disappointing. I could only find information about his branch and surface-level about the nine others. Apparently, these people are as secretive as the three-eyed bookkeepers, they don’t even tell branch leaders what their goal even is. I sighed and tossed the suited man aside, and when he landed he started to violently shake and mumble random words. I stretched and began stroking my lower jaw. Whatever this organization is it is very secretive but from what I’ve found I had a good idea about what Buckferd’s branch does. He was a recruiter for powerful people creatures that would either be siphoned off to the other branches or stationed at his branch. Of course, they didn’t just recruit people the normal way, they force them into a contract using a special item that they call, the word of demons. Apparently, it makes any deal sound so convincing that it can make the target sign their life away.

The word of demons couldn’t be moved out of the large stone building in front of me, supposedly. So Buckferd needed to lure people in to force a life oath out of them, which he did by throwing a welcoming party to lower their guard and then invite them through the rift, a simple but effective plan. I looked back down at Buckferd before walking over and stomping on his neck, crushing the vertebrae in it into dust. His body twitched a bit more due to the misfiring of nerves, a normally fatal injury but not for some creatures. I reached down to the frantically twitching head and easily ripped it off.

I grabbed a bit of the grass rope I made before and wrapped it around the head before fastening it to my belt, I wasn’t quite done with him yet. I ventured to the stone building in front of me while being careful of any unexpected traps or people, and the Murolok followed closely behind. I passed up well-maintained stairs and towering columns before arriving at a large double door that was beautifully decorated with cascading black lines that resembled the ripples in a gentle stream. In the center of the two doors sat a large circle with a jagged dagger carved into it.

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From Buckferd’s memories, I knew that the door required a series of chants and gestures, but I didn’t want to do the stupid gestures that included kissing and humping the door so I just slipped some magic through and opened it with the lever on the other side. Whoever made the door requirements had to be a sadistic son of a bastard. The circle swiveled and the door glided open inwards. The inside of the building was the same stone color as the outside, and I was greeted with two paths leading left and right respectively.

From what I gathered from Buckferd, the right led to the flesh sentry’s containment room and the left led to the word of demons. I was curious about the word of demons but the flesh sentry was a more pressing matter. I signaled the Murolok to stand guard and watch for anyone around the area, I don’t believe for one second that Buckferd would perform that door opening ritual in front of anyone, but all I could gather from his memories was that the door just opened by itself when he was performing the recruitment.

I walked down the right path and after a hard left turn I ran into three rooms on a dead-end hall. One door at the end and two neighboring it, and the room I needed were the one at the end. I approached the door and just kicked it open, this one also had the same stupid requirements and I wouldn’t be caught dead doing it. The door flew off its hinges and landed on the floor in pieces. In the center of the room sat a large metallic cube, about five foot by five foot, that was emitting a loud grinding noise, the flesh sentry’s heart. Near the middle of the side facing me sat a large sword encased in rust, a sharp contrast from the heart’s shiny metallic luster.

I see why they put broken into the name, and now I realized why the heart was letting precious organic material pass by it. The sword was as large as two men and about as wide as an arm. I could see that it had pierced deep into the heart and pierced a few of the components that were needed to navigate its environment. The grinding noise was a symptom of the sword still impaling it, preventing several gears from turning and piercing some hoses that were used to transport magic. It was a well-placed strike for sure but it missed the most important component, the cursed jewel.