Mud walked to the edge of the runes, causing the Kobold guards to stand up from their position sitting against the wall and clutch their weapons. They quickly returned to their relaxed posture as Mud bounced off the invisible barrier onto its muddy rump.

After climbing back to its feet, Mud walked around the interior of the runic circle, examining the runework as well as testing the barrier with one arm. After completing a full lap, the golem was forced to conclude there was no means of escape available. Although Mud had not yet tested the strength of the floor or chamber roof, the runes indicated that the encased area should be cylindrical in shape. Baring some flaw in the design that both its creator and Mud overlooked, there was no way out. A suitable specialized skill or magic might be able to overwhelm the runes, however.

With that in mind, Mud sent a subtle auditory hallucination to both Novus and Cob who both sat in the center of the circle, hoping that it would not be detected by their captors. "Novus and Cob, do not verbally reply to my question. If you have any skills which will allow us to escape this prison, vibrate your hand at twenty vibrates per second. If not, vibrate your hand at thirty vibrations per second."

Novus scratched her head and looked back and forth between Mud and Cob, who merely giggled. "Um, Mud, that's not-"

"Novus, I specifically requested you to not communicate verbally."

The girl looked down at her hands and appeared to momentarily concentrate while shaking her hands, only to give up and flop onto her back.

Mud was unsure why the humans were not properly following its order. Based on the book of human biology, Mud was certain that humans were physically capable of such a task. Is it possible that human mastery over their own body was truly that limited? For the moment, Mud decided to take the lack of reply to mean they could not affect an escape.

Seeing no means of escape, Mud attempted to communicate with the guards. His efforts were thwarted by the barrier blocking its Mind mana. Instead, the golem sent its message to Cob. "Cob, establish communication with the Kobolds."

Cob shrugged, but stood. When he walked to the edge of the barrier, the Kobold guards once again stood at alert. When he reached the wall, Cob leaned forward, one arm against the invisible barrier. "Hey there."

The Kobolds didn't reply.

"Hey, you on the left, what's your name?" The heavily scarred human pointed towards the slightly shorter Kobold.

"Don't bother, prisoner. You can't talk your way out of this one. The Queen will decide your fate." A smug grin was visible on the reptilian snout that poked out from below the taller guard's metal helmet.

"Oh, I'm not trying to get out or anything. It's just..." Cob rubbed his free hand against the back of his neck and turned shyly. "I've never met such a beautiful woman before. I was wondering if I could get your name."

The taller guard snickered. "Did they set up the barrier wrong so that it holds in carbon dioxide? I think our prisoner is suffering from blurred vision and confusion."

The shorter guard punched the other in the arm, causing a dull clang as their armors struck. "Screw you, I'm totally beautiful. His vision is perfect." She returned to her guarding stance for a moment before turning back to the other guard to yell at him again. "And what even is corbon biozide?"

The second guard crossed his arms and raised his snout in his second display of smugness in the course of a minute. "It's pronounced Carbon Dioxide. It's that stuff that makes you die if you light a fire in the tunnels. One of the dragons told me."

"Was it Calmendax? He probably just made it up. He's always making stuff up.", the first guard replied dismissively. The second guard stomped his foot repeatedly and began loudly defending his 'good friend Dax'.

As the two guards started working up to an argument, Cob interrupted them. "Excuse me." Both guards stopped their shouting and turned their snouts back towards Cob. "Your name?"

"My name, given to me by the Queen, is Div. It means 'like a Goddess' in the ancient language," she replied haughtily.

"Dax told me Div means splitting something. In your case, because you look like a butt-" The second guard's comment was cut off as he was punched in the stomach, sending him crashing surprisingly far away into another wall.

Cob dramatically leaned his back on the barrier, a wrist against his head. "Like a Goddess! What a fitting title for someone as wonderful as you. My name is Cob." Div walked closer to the barrier and began conversing casually with Cob. After nearly half an hour of pointless banality and the occasional compliment being exchanged, Mud decided that the conversation was not worth listening to and decided to spend its focus on something more useful.

Returning to the center of the magic circle, Mud collapsed onto the floor and focused the majority of its mental energy to contemplating the Ideal of Home. A home was a place to repair, to keep out what is unwanted, a place of protection. Right now, Mud really wanted to return to its home. Would an Ideal Home be easier to return to? Perhaps its location mattered, but Mud's home could already move around. A spell that could teleport Mud back to the mansion would be really useful. Or, maybe a spell that could summon the mansion to Mud. Although, doing that underground would probably have catastrophic consequences.

Stolen novel; please report.

Mud felt like it was on the cusp of a breakthrough when a Dragon trudged into the prison room. When he entered, Div lept up from where she sat next to the barrier and sprinted back to her post on the far wall. The Green Dragon snorted derisively at her display, then lifted the other Kobold guard from the ground, where he had laid sprawled since being struck. After a few shakes, the Kobold awoke with much kicking and swearing. Once he noticed he was being held aloft by a Dragon, he instead decided to hang limply. When he was set back on the ground, the Kobold quickly scurried back to his own spot against the wall, standing at attention.

After finishing with the guards, the Dragon approached the barrier. He quickly scanned the three prisoners, his eyes finally coming to a rest on Mud. A low, rumbling voice, like trees falling, came from his enormous mouth lined with daggerlike teeth. "You will have an audience with the Queen. Come with me. Do not foolishly attempt to escape." The Dragon then dragged one long black claw against the edge of the runic circle, ripping a visible gash into the air. Not wanting to upset the powerful magical beast, Mud quickly crawled through the opening.

As Cob attempted to follow, the Green Dragon brushed him back and resealed the prison. "You are not needed. You may continue to socialize with Div." At that comment, the Kobold guard smiled uncertainly at the Dragon, seemingly torn between the horror that her superior called her out for slacking and relief that he didn't seem upset.

When the Green Dragon turned and began to leave, Mud did as it was told and followed. As the Dragon had said, trying to flee would be foolish. Their first battle had proven to Mud that this opponent was well beyond the golem's ability to defeat. This made Mud curious exactly how powerful this Dragon was.

Of course, it didn't hurt to be polite before fishing for information. "Green Dragon, I demand to know your name. My name is Mud Golem."

"You're as bossy as I was told. Hmm, well, you introduced yourself, so I'm honor-bound to return the gesture. I am Utillignum." The arched granite tunnels the dragon led Mud through were clearly designed with a being of Utilignum's size in mind, granting plenty of clearance even should the dragon choose to walk on its hind legs, although there wasn't quite enough room for him to spread his wings. The slightly uneven surface of the walls and occasional tool marks implied that the tunnels had been carved manually rather than crafted with Earth magic.

"What is your race and class level?"

Utillignum shook his head. "That I will not say, but I will tell you that I am tier six. I am still a young dragon, and have not yet reached my potential." One of the dragon's catlike eyes turned towards Mud.

Taking it as a request for compensation, Mud decided to reply in kind. "I am tier three." After that reply, the dragon's gaze returned to the front, and the two continued in silence for a short time.

"What is the tier of Queen Lutumocus?"

Utillignum laughed like a forest falling. "Perhaps you should ask her yourself? Although you probably won't get a straight answer. She's prone to flights of fancy. That personality of hers is probably why she keeps Kobolds."

"Should I be concerned for my safety?"

The Green Dragon stopped in front of a pair of large metal double doors. "Well, looks like we're here. Head on in, you can't miss her. She's the one that looks like a Dragon." Utillignum placed a clawed hand on Mud's back and pushed the golem through before it could object, then slammed the doors shut.

Mud found himself in a spacious cave. Every direction Mud looked, the golem saw finely crafted, but apparently useless, artificial objects. The purpose of collecting such objects was unclear Mud. While the painting on the nearby wall, depicting the silhouette of a man walking down a flight of stairs, would have certainly required great skill and care to produce, it served no apparent function. The painting was too dark to make out any details of the location, making it useless as a map. A shadow covered most of the man's body, making it useless as a method of identification. Despite Mud's careful examination, there didn't seem to be any runes hidden in the artwork. It was simply a drawing of a man on stairs. Useless.

Other objects presented similar mysteries. Why would anyone use so much effort and skill to modify a rock into the shape of a human throwing a disc? For what purpose was this fountain crafted in the shape of a cherub? Why weren't any of these finely painted vases and pots being used to store things? The only conclusion that Mud could make was that the owner of this collection had an unusual prime directive that was completely alien to Muds understanding of the world. Perhaps a directive like 'collect objects whose production required resources disproportionate to their functionality'. Such a directive would certainly explain the hundreds of small jade carvings of birds resting on a glass shelf.

As Mud slowly explored the collection of fine art, the golem finally happened upon a huge lump of brown scales, slowly expanding and contracting. Mud sent a greeting. "I am Mud Golem. Are you Queen Lutumocus?"

The expansion of the dragon's chest stopped abruptly, and the lump began to slowly shift. Lutumocus lifted her head from below her tail and turned her angular head towards Mud, her pupils retracting into thin slits as she examined the new arrival. Her voice was like tumbling gravel. "Fine craftsmanship, but the artist skimped out on the details, didn't he? Or did he get bored halfway through? Just looking at it is annoying, like seeing a single misaligned tile in the middle of a room... hold still for a moment."

Lutumocus lifted a large brown claw. The claw resembled split flint, extending straight from her forefinger before turning sharply downward near the end, forming a sharp hook. Even as the jagged talon approached, Mud dared not move. When the claw finally entered Mud's chest, a strange sensation flooded the golem's body. A feeling of control it had never known before. Looking down at its own muddy arm, Mud lifted it without using Amorphous Form.

[Articulation Runes added]

"There, much better." Lutumocus removed her claw from Mud's body and pointed it towards a circular stone platform near where she rested. "Now stand on that platform over there, triclops, and let's have a chat."