Drew surveyed the damage Sapphire's latest shot caused and saw only three or four stragglers in various states of disrepair trying to get to them through the slowly dissolving pile of bodies.

Drew lifted himself off of the ground and stood on his aching leg to finish the remaining beasts off.

Before he could act, Nurgle advanced on the zombies and cut them down with a ferocity he hadn’t seen from him in days. He eventually hobbled over to Sapphire for healing after he was sure Nurgle could handle the rest and the fighting finally ended.

+1575 xp for defeating Rotting Shamblers [Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place. 2325/6400 xp

“That is definitely up there for the most scared I have been in my life. I knew that shit was a trap and still fell for it. God, I am just so stupid when I see something shiny ahead.” Drew voiced his frustration and stood up once his skin had healed over.

They had received a large sum of experience, but traded a wound and shield as a result.

The door stayed closed behind them leaving only the statue to investigate.

The ground was slick and showed wear from the shamblers clawing their way along the ground. Fingernails gouged the surface material and a slurry of stone lubricated the surface.

As they got closer the full oddity of the statue showed itself. The weapons were all a strange silvery gold color and sent waves of iridescence sheen across their surface. The statue depicted a disgusting monster, more akin to a frankenstein creation of beast and humanoid features.

It had the skull of a large cat, torso of some scaled beast, one arm of a human, another of a tentacle, and the legs of an insect.

The weapons sat slightly cupped in each hand, almost like it was offering it to anyone who entered.

Drew looked down at his beaten and damaged ax. The wooden handle was cracked and nearly shattered in multiple places while the head was chipped along every inch after chopping into bone thousands of times.

He stored the ax into his fanny pack and reached for the sword. It easily came out of the statues hand and fit his grip immaculately. He watched the shimmer run across the blade when a light shock hit his system. The blade reacted to the shock with a low humming noise that took Drew’s attention to the edge.

He saw the grind marks of the last time it had been maintained and the nicks around the blade face that showed its use. The blade felt light in his hands, but powerful on the swing. It felt connected to him in a way the ax had not.

Almost like they became one in the same moment.

“Master, what about the scepter?” Sapphire looked up at the item and then to Drew. He hesitated to touch the item after the sword had so thoroughly molded to his hand.

“I don’t know if I want to take that thing too. The sword established some kinda connection when I touched it.” Drew stepped back from the statue and glanced at the golden rod.

Sapphire reached up and grasped the scepter with her trunk and flipped it around several times, jumping a little.

Before all of their eyes, the scepter molded to her trunk and wrapped itself around multiple times. It finally finished and took on the appearance of a tight golden spring shaped to the appendage.

“How do you feel? Anything weird?” Drew looked at it from all angles to inspect it closer.

“It feels connected to me like another limb or a piece of skin. Beyond the strange feeling and flexibility, nothing is too odd about it.” He was not so sure about the deduction, but held his tongue as he looked at the blade glued to his hand.

It just felt right to hold onto now, in a way the ax failed to replicate.

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Drew looked up to the statue's neck and saw the pendant hanging loosely but motionless. It was too high above them to reach unless they used the statues arms to give them distance.

“What do you think, Sapphire, climb the creepy statue or try to leave and find another exit?”

“Unless you feel an intense desire to climb the stone, I would forgo the last item.” Sapphire stood near Nurgle and glanced around the open space.

The trio turned around and took two steps from the statue when loud grinding sounds from behind stole their attention away. Drew whipped his head back to the statue and saw it had moved when they averted their eyes.

The previous position of offering the weapons had turned into a bow with the pendant hanging low to the ground.

“Okay then. So it wants us to take all of its stuff I guess” Drew cautiously approached the stone figure and lifted the golden necklace from the cat head. “You want this one Nurgle?”

He tossed it to the smaller creature who caught it in the air and inspected the large metal object. The pendant wrapped itself around the cyclops’s wrist and displayed itself on the back of its hand like a proud bundle of weird squiggles.

“Well thanks for the items statue thingy” Drew offered his appreciation and started to turn around when the statue began shrinking from the imposing ten foot figure to a more comparable six foot stature.

The gray stone tint to the skin rapidly morphed into colored flesh. A wave of color washed through its body and the statue came alive.

Drew backed up as he watched the shift creature change from fixture to feature.

“I think we have a fight on our hands.”

The monster's eyes lit up a deep burgundy glow as it finished coming to life. Stitches marked all the points of connection for the extremities and the various wounds seemed to be sewn shut.

The insectoid legs took one step forward and then another as it seemed to get its bearings.

Not one to give his enemies any favors, Drew advanced on the ambling creature to end its existence before it could get a foothold only for it to fully awaken prior to the strike's landing.

It bobbed out the strike's way and snarled at the provocation.

The tentacle arm reached forward and Drew pushed his shield arm out, expecting it to connect with the cold steel of his equipment. The suction cups grabbed ahold of the leather gauntlet and refused to let go.

The lapse in memory at the fate of the shield awarded him a new danger. The suction cups that grasped his hand were accompanied by large rotating hooks like those of a colossal squid.

They punctured deep into the leather, barely contacting skin but drew blood nonetheless.

He hissed through his teeth as the hooks started dragging him across the wet stone floor. He flicked his sword forward at the monster's arm and managed to cut into the soft flesh with relative ease.

Before he could completely sever the grasping appendage, it withdrew the limb to itself.

Nugle followed up behind his master and Sapphire fired shots at the frankenstein monster . The shot connected well but failed to do any heavy damage.

The beast scuttled forward to press the attack and threw a kick towards Nurgle. The attack connected hard with his blades but failed to damage the chitin that protected the legs.

It grabbed for Drew again but ignored the blow he sent to ward it off. The sword sunk into flesh but failed to make it flinch as it reached for him with both of its arms.

The tentacle grasped his shoulder and pulled him forward as the human hand slammed into his face with a heavy punch.

A flurry of blows rained down on him as the monster took control of the fight. With Drew blocking the line of sight that Sapphire had on the monster and Nurgle unable to damage the legs, he was left to fend mostly for himself.

In a ploy to stop the punches from concussing him further, he pushed into the monster's personal space and tried to bash its face in with pommel strikes. The cat head took the blow with grace and bit him back. The large fangs ripped leather apart and gored his forearm.

The struggle grew fiercer with every second. Drew controlled its arm but failed to do any meaningful damage to the monster.

He attempted a horrendous judo flip and succeeded in taking it off balance enough to slam it on the ground. The only issue was it landed on top of him.

His arm was on fire from the teeth still goring away at his arm but the lack of killing power let him endure the beating. Sapphire held her fire in fear of injuring her master while Nurgle climbed on the monster's back and hacked away.

Sickening squishing noises sounded off from the mess he was making. Each blow sent black blood flying in the air and pooling onto his frame. The tentacled arm snaked itself behind its back and tried to throw off the little cowboy from his ride only to be chopped to pieces under his relentless barrage.

Seconds ticked by as the brutal skirmish continued on. The puddle forming underneath them was expanding nonstop.

Nurgle had destroyed almost the entire torso when the lower half of the monster finally stopped kicking.

The arms and head still struggled with Drew for dominance in their wrestling match.

“Argh! Nurgle! Bash it’s head in!” Drew felt the teeth finally touch bone and shouted some instruction.

The two weapons in the cyclops’s hands came down in a wedge shape on the cat head, cutting skin and damaging bone. Five more chops caused the feline eyes to dim and loose all sense of life.