Day 31

Things are bad. On one hand we have hostile rats and the other an unknown threat. Added to this I can't countermand the settings of the golem. Niala has as much control over it as I do. Worse she treats my attempts to talk her into giving up that control as a jealous outburst, she seems to think I'm trying to hog it for myself. I want to face-palm every time I think about how I blundered saying she was joint owner. It was a figure of speech and a token gesture, not a declaration!

Best I can hope for is to talk her into sharing it for part of the time. She loves it, treating it like a remote controlled toy of some kind.

Mother simply has no use for it, preferring to leave it behind.

In the mean time I'm forging as many weapons as I can. No telling how dangerous the other group of people is, but they're better armed, that's certain. I expect their scouts soon. They'll be searching for our settlement.

Up until now I can only assume rats have been treated as animal-like primitives with nothing to take or not posing the kind of threat that would justify the effort required to eradicate them. The golem registers heavily on both those scales. We are now very obviously wealthy and dangerous.

As a weapon it is probably something like a battleship (heavy armor and tremendous fire-power). As a treasure it is an equivalent to a walking national budget. It's dangerous, but there are sure to be ways to put it down, it can't be the first seen in this fantastic maze world, even if the flavor text claimed it was unique, that was probably referring to the specific kind of golem. I can expect that if they can capture it or put it down they won't hesitate to do so for tactical reasons. The golem is the only real threat we have and likely to fall if committed recklessly. They know it is there and if the enemy comes, they will be equipped to take it on in some way.

So I'll be improvising.

I wish I knew the finer details of mechanics, electronics or firearms. At best my skill gives me the knowledge to craft supernatural weapons and simple mechanical ones. I'd happily build artillery and explosives if I could. Magic doesn't necessarily translate to power. Just like how simple mechanisms can be deadly. Simple doesn't mean small.

Day 32

I'm scouting with golem backup.

I'm checking the river, the disused side-tunnel we discovered.

Niala's with Mother foraging, but at least they're armed with some new, specially designed weapons and aware we could have strangers approaching. Anything that tries to hurt them is going to be sorry: I gave them magical taser-like stilettos made from needles. The shock is only barely a lethal weapon, but combined with the sharp point it makes for an effective combo; stun and then stab.

I have my trusty fork, but really the golem is over-kill for anything ordinary.

Down here the labyrinth changes material and the tunnels narrow. Interesting. It's volcanic glass walls, obsidian. I have the golem test the give of the wall and the brute cracks it easily. Fragile.

The floor is marble, polished smooth and luxurious seeming. It would be even better if it weren't covered in an age's worth of dust.

I'm not prepared for what I meet on the path. The passage opens into a moderate room with multiple small buildings and stone markers.

A burial chamber.

With that I realize that if this fantastic world is similar to a game; there will be something down here. Treasure, secrets and enemies.

Spawning as I enter or already here.

As if on cue a shambling figure appears. Dust seems to be falling off the creature as it shuffles forward slowly, dressed in rags.

As I get a few yards away I can clearly see the skull poking out of dry skin and bandages. The dust is actually disintegrating dried flesh. Its a real mummy!

Well I'm pretty calm facing my first undead. Mostly because...

“Crush it, golem.” [Rick]

The golem pounds the mummified corpse into powder. Didn't they used to make a paint out of that stuff?

Well regardless, it is too clean and easy.

Either the mummies aren't up to snuff or the golem is just that overpowered.

I'll go with the latter. The golem can rip stone apart in it's fingers.

Anyway more corpses appear one after another and the golem relentlessly destroys them just as quickly. Golems... they're astonishingly good at Whack-a-mole.

As it does I investigate the crypts.

Lots of old, rusty junk. Dark-ages era weapons and the like. I take the better stuff.

I notice the golem sounds like it is starting to slow down. I pop my head out and notice it isn't fighting mummies. Larger skeletons armed with appropriate weapons are slowing the golem with numbers. They're using sledge-hammers and axes. I note the golem has lost a few durability points.

Well, enough of this.

“Destroy them all fast, golem.” [Rick]

The golem explodes into movement. Up until now it has only been swatting them. Now it bull-rushes them. It leaps and crashes into the group, smashing dozens into shattered bones. It cracks the stone floor too.

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With wide arm sweeps it mows the attackers down, several at a time with each swing.

I lean against a crypt and watch as it annihilates them in moments. That kind of mass, strength and size combine into a truly fearsome opponent. Add on the solid metal instead of muscle and bone and you can understand. It is an almost-living siege-weapon and castle combined. It'd be able to wipe out a division of soldiers with minimal damage. It practically just did with the undead.

As the mausoleum room grows quiet I get the feeling that that wasn't the end of the enemies.

Oh. There's a boss, isn't there?

What could it be? What could it be? I'm excited.

What is my golem to be pitted against this time?

Hopefully Liches, Vampires and other supernatural monsters aren't real in this world, but with golems and undead corpses around who can say...

I can hear footsteps clattering on marble.

…

No way!

That's... just unfair.

It's a real giant skeleton!

I never realized before just how big these people were!

It's as tall as a telephone pole!

The golem is only half as tall. To put it in scale the golem is more than twice my height and very broad. I only reach the shin of the giant.

Worse the giant has an equally large weapon: a cleaver-like sword.

This could go badly...

I can't really see the golem losing the battle, but I can't see it surviving without considerable damage either. I don't have a way to repair it.

I have the golem retreat with me to the entrance.

What I do from here on depends on one factor: will it leave the mausoleum and chase us?

It does. Damn. Mother did say monsters travel to repopulate areas... I suppose they can travel to kill prey as well, like the amphibian.

I have the golem smash the obsidian walls as it retreats, collapsing the walls on the giant. It is a close thing as we are nearly swallowed in the cave-in, splashing down in the river a step ahead of the fractures.

Hmm.

A wicked idea hits me.

The attackers will check the river route first, as it is where the golem was seen.

As the collapse slows I come close and convert the buried undead monster into the core of a trap...

I set the trigger at the mouth of the tunnel, a tiny spiderweb trip-wire, spread across the mouth of the cave once I am outside.

At the far end, the giant stands, bound in manacles of obsidian waiting for release. A simple catch holding the shackles closed. Anyone that sets foot in this tunnel without care lets the giant out. Lets hope they're moving as a group.

It's only got one direction to go: toward the river and the one that freed it. They may come equipped for a golem; no one expects the Spanish Inquisition! No, wait... I mean no one can expect a giant, angry undead boss-monster on a rampage! Same effect really.

Day 33-35

I spend my time alternating between building simple defensive weapons and complicated traps.

The river access has a similar sectioning off system as the main gate. The difference is that I designed the thing to stand up to the golem's strength with reinforcement, so the giant skeleton isn't going to pay a visit if it gets loose. I added on a bridge system that can be raised and dropped in sections for quick escape and as a trap. After all anything that falls into the water is going to become fish food in moments.

Secret escape route: complete

Worst comes to worst, I might be forced to construct a vessel and sail us away on the river. It is a risky idea, not least of all because we don't know where the river goes.

I'm already envisaging the vessel, sturdy pine with a ram and oars, should we need to reverse or slow on the current. The ram exists because the river may contain blockages of fallen trees or monsters. No mast, the river tunnel is narrower than normal.

Niala is amusing herself with the golem again, while I'm busy.

It has become an amusement park ride for all the young rats in town. Seriously, she has a lot of charisma to have close to half the total population eating out of her hand. The Elder rat now considers himself my nemesis. Yeah, you keep thinking that, small fry. He's a blow-hard without any real power, beyond what he dreams he has. My sister has more influence, simply by having so many owe her a favor. I'm more concerned that in the long run he'll try to sell me out to avert danger. It won't work, obviously, but he's too pig-headed to realize.

However, I have a contingency in place.

I've got a big surprise in the wings for my enemies, whoever they are. Heh heh.

Yes, let them come. I'm almost ready.

Muahahahahaha...

Golem covered in children runs past, their squeals drowning out my evil laughter...

...hahahaha!

What we learned today:

Don't piss off a mad rat inventor!

Golems are like roller-coaster rides...

Coming soon to a passageway near you... death!