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Dexter

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My mind raced and my heart pounded as it took in the sight of the giant statue before us. Every detail of the room went flooding through my mind; the statues, the sunstone, the gauntlet, and more specifically its angle. “The gauntlet was pointed at the statue. It was doing something to the statue and we disrupted it. SHIT! How could I be so dumb? I said to err on the side of caution and that’s exactly the opposite of what we did. Stop, just focus on the issue at hand. Who knows, maybe he won’t see us as a threat.” The statue turned towards us and started marching in our direction, crushing another statue in the process. Thump Thump Thump “I just had to jinx us, didn't I?” I gestured about as I shouted. “Scatter! Maybe It’ll Target One Of Us First.” Brokil and Dumag dashed left, leaving me and Bruga to go right. Thump Thump Thump I was correct in my assumptions about targeting. The statue immediately turned to follow me and Bruga. “It must see me as a foreign entity.” I turned to Bruga as we ran, staying well out of the range of that hammer. “Break Off, I Think It’s Going For Me. I’ll Distract It While The Rest Of You Find A Way to Beat It.” Bruga nodded as she broke off and started looping back to the others. Meanwhile, I turned and started taunting the monstrous being. “Come And Fucking Get Me You Lawn Ornament. I’ve Seen Flamingos More Threatening Than You.” Thump Thump The taunts seemed to be working. The statue briefly turned to face me and I felt a twinge of apprehension, but my hopes of being a distraction were quickly dashed when the statue turned to Bruga’s nearby form and lifted his hammer. “Oh, Shit! Bruga! Watch Out!” The statue moved with blinding speed Crrrrrr to slam his hammer into Bruga.

Bruga turned just in time to see the hammer swing down and dodge the blunt weapon, the hammer slamming into the ground with a loud WHAM. The statue immediately followed the strike Crrrr with a side swing, causing boulders to fly in Bruga’s direction, the hammer swinging through the air with a loud Swish. Bruga barely had enough time to cast a barrier spell before the spray of rocks hit her and kicked up a cloud of dust, an echoing Bop-Bop-Bop-Bop signaling more and more dust to fill the area. I scrambled to the side as a few rocks were tossed in my direction, looking back only after the rumble of rocks and the pounding of my heart had slowed. The statue continued its assault as it lowered its hammer, the armor letting out a crrrr as the metal slid along itself.

I heard Dumag let out an enraged “NNOOOOO” as the statue crrrr raised its hammer again. A boulder suddenly came barreling in from the other side of the room and smashed into the arm of the statue with a loud thunk. The statue ignored the sudden assault and instead continued to attack Bruga, lifting its hammer with another crrrr and slamming it down onto another statue with a WHAM. I drew my sword with a shink in what was probably a fruitless effort of trying to look more intimidating, but it was mostly to calm my jazzed nerves. “Alright. Not going for me. Gives me some time to think, but puts her at risk instead. Need to find a way to stop this. They armed this thing pretty well. Everything has a weakness. Just need to find it.” The statue lifted the Warhammer with little effort crr and smashed the floor again, barely hitting Bruga as she dodged to the side. The statue started swinging wildly as it tried to his Bruga, playing a terrifying game of whack-a-mole as it swung; Wham, Boom, Whack. I rushed over to Brokil and Dumag as I quickly ran through everything I knew about the statues. “Can move; obviously. Weapons. Armed. Need to be activated. Likely limited in movement within normal ranges. Nothing exploitable.” The statue continued its assault, the sound of crumbling rock now a staple of our experience in the room; wham, whack, boom. I turned back to the statue as I finally joined Brokil and Dumag on the other side of the room. The statue kept recklessly battering the walls as Bruga ducked along it, causing large pockets to appear in the wall as the statue swung; thunk, thunk, thunk. Dumag was continually casting spell after spell, hurling boulder after boulder at the statue. The stone either missed entirely or banged harmlessly into the calf of the statue itself; whoof, clang, whoof. Meanwhile, Brokil was firing fireball after fireball, sailing high and sinking fruitlessly into the metal; whoo, whoo. I felt useless standing next to them, just trying to figure out something. The statue, on the other hand, never looked away from its target as it continued swinging.

Bruga was using a variety of barrier spell to either deflect or block the hammer at each strike. “AAH.” She suddenly cried out in pain as one of her barriers broke, the hammer barely missing her. She waved at us as she cast another shielding spell. “I Am Fine! Focus On Attacking It! I Will Survive For A While!” I gritted my teeth in frustration and racked my brain as I tried to come up with a way to beat this thing, outside of having to hit it really really hard.

I turned to Brokil as an idea came to mind. “Can You Do That Pulse Thing Again? Maybe It Can Disrupt Whatever Is Powering This Thing.”

Brokil nodded as he began gesturing and charged forward. “It Is Worth A Shot.” I watched as he ran up behind the statue and prepared the pulse. Once the spell was ready, he raised his hand and cast, causing the pulse to emanate around the room, causing a fffwt t-hooo to fill the room as the pulse faded. The statue took no notice of the spell, merely swung its hammer at Bruga again, crumbling yet more statues beneath its blows; Wham, Boom, Whack. I muttered a curse to myself as wracked my brain for a plan. “Shit. Of course, it doesn’t affect it. Why would it? It’s not a measly spell. It probably has an entire book of spells maintaining its power.” I blinked and internally slapped myself. “Dumbass Dumbass Dumbass. This thing needs something to power it. Destroy whatever that is, you destroy the statue. The question is, what is it?”

I turned to Dumag to try and hash out a plan, but Dumag suddenly let out an angry bellow and charged forward, dropping his attempts to bludgeon the creature to death. “Fight Me, You Cowardice Piece Of Rock!” I felt like I should have tried to stop him, but admittedly I was happy to have a bit more of an excuse to stand back. “You’re a fucking coward. I can’t believe you managed to face down a full-blown troll, but you can’t handle this granite fuck. Not that simple. Trolls biological, a stone isn’t. Not to mention the armor this guy has. That’s got to be at least an inch thick and require more force than anything I could make right now. The best chance of helping is to find its weakness.” The statue suddenly swung his hammer with a loud wwwooo, striking the ground with a BAM, and shot a few stones my way. I dove to the side as the skidded along the floor with a loud clack clack clack, one of the stones nearly hitting me and my heart beginning to pound again. I lay there in the rubble as I berated myself. “Coward. You should attack. You’re being useless standing here right now. NOT MUCH I CAN DO AGAINST A FLYING BOULDER, DUMBASS. I just need to think. How do you stop a tank hellbent on your destruction without breaking through its armor? Slip into the tank and disable the engine or take out the pilots. Only, this isn’t a tank and I doubt this thing has pilots. This means that just leaves cutting the engine, or in this case the power source. We just need to find out what it is.” I growled as I moved to stand and at least attempt to draw the things attention. At least then, it wouldn’t be attacking Bruga. I stopped however as a faint glint suddenly made itself known in the pile of stone. I looked up slightly as I turned curiously to the out of place sight. I blinked slightly as I tried to make sense of it then quickly brushed some rubble out of the way. Within the rubble was a gemstone, rough and faded from the centuries of resting beneath the rock but still unmistakably a precious crystal. “The fuck? Where did this come from?” “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

I heard a bellow and I quickly grabbed the gem before looking towards the massive statue. Dumag, Brokil, and Bruga were still fighting it. Brokil pulled another stone from beneath with a spell and hurled it at the statue as it rang the metal with a loud Bang. Dumag directed his hand at the creature as he shouted quickly, casting a spell that shot a bead at the beast before exploding with a Boom, harmless against the seemingly impenetrable armor. The hammer let out a deep and massive Clang every time it hit Bruga’s shield. Brokil quickly changed to lobbing fireball after fireball, but he might as well have been throwing pencils at a door for all the notice the statue was paying him. Meanwhile, Dumag was shouting angrily at the statue, taunting him in his own way as he cast boulder after boulder in its direction, the stone striking the metal with a dull Thmp Thump Thmp. “I WILL REND IN TWAIN YOU OVERGROWN STONE! YOUR BONES WILL BE THE DUSK I WILL USE TO MAKE THE BRICKS FOR MY LATRINE! DO YOU HEAR ME? I WILL FEXT IN YOU, YOU EMPTY HEADED ROCK!” I slowly stood as I gripped the stone, wanting desperately to join them, but knowing I might as well have been trying to break a mountain with a ball-peen hammer for all the help I could provide. “That’s easy if you know where to hit. You just have to find out where.”

I looked down as I noticed another glint within the rubble, this one from the spray of rocks that were thrown my way. One of the heads of the statues had been chucked in my direction and lost its helmet in the process, leaving only the orcish head and a very noticeable addition to its expression. Embedded into the forehead of the statue was a gemstone, lined in silvery metal and cut exactly like the gemstone in my hand. I looked back and forth between the two gemstones as the realization slowly dawned on me. “Cut the engine.” I quickly turned and dashed towards the group, waving the gem wildly as I did so. “Guys! I Know How To Beat It!” My moment of genius was ruined almost immediately afterward. The statue had lifted its hammer again to swing down and Bruga had prepared a shield for it. However, at the last second the statue suddenly moved at lightning speed and swung his hammer around with a loud rrrrrRRRRRRRRRR to hit her right side, causing a loud CRACK to emanate around the room and for Bruga to scream in pain as she went flying in my direction.

Dumag threw a particularly large fireball as he watched Bruga, someone he cared for, sail through the air. “NNNOOOOO!” Dumag roared. My eye grew wide and I instinctively cast Hop to catch Bruga as she flew my way. “This might have been a bad idea.” That was all I thought before her body slammed into me and we both went flying towards to opposite wall. A bolt of pain rocketed up my spine as we hit the stone, me acting as a living cushion for Bruga and feeling the pain for the both of us. We both fell to the ground and I felt another jolt of pain shoot up my shins as I tried to keep Bruga from hitting the floor too hard.

I ended up falling on my ass as the pain briefly overwhelmed me. “That was not a good idea.” I croaked as I held Bruga up slightly, both arms under her shoulders. I looked up in time to see Dumag use a similar Hop to latch himself onto the chest of the statue and begin palm striking it, the impacts making a bigger noise than I thought possible, making a loud Wham Wham Wham sound to echo about the room. Clank-Clank-Clank-Thump Clank-Clank-Clank-Thump Meanwhile, the statue was slowly marching our way, unperturbed by the orc grasping its chest, it’s legs lifting with a Clank-Clank-Clank before slamming into the ground with an echoing Thump. I muttered another curse under my breath as I watched the statue gravitate towards me and Bruga. “You have got to be shitting me. It’s Still Going For Her?” I looked down at Bruga as I lifted her a bit more. “Are you okay?” I panted, inspecting her carefully to see if she was hurt.

I saw the back of Bruga’s head give a nod as she replied. “I am alive.” She panted, answering the question in a way that didn’t particularly make me happy to hear.

“Can you stand?” I followed, pulling her up slightly.

This time, Bruga’s head shook. “I do not think so.” She panted. I looked over her shoulders and down her body. Her right arm was clutched to her side, her shawl near her forearm was misshapen in such a way where it was clear her arm was broken. She seemed to be holding it in that pained way where you know it hurts to hold it like that, but you’re too afraid to move it any other way. I looked down further at her legs and saw that her right leg was also broken at the shin, a jagged bolt-like pattern now being formed out of her skin. “You can heal her.” A brief image of the infirmary flashed through my mind, the time I was kicked in the stomach. “I need time. Something I don’t have. I can’t do it. Not under these conditions. What about the potion?” I reached into the pouch on my belt, expecting to grab the potion Brokil had made, but only heard the clink of glass and felt a sharp pain on my fingertip. I pulled back and saw a minute cut on my fingers as a drop of blood leaked from my skin. “Could things go right just once today?” Clank-Clank-Clank-Thump I looked up as I heard the statue take another step in our direction.

Dumag was still slamming his palm into the statue and shouting angrily, his strikes sending more Wham Wham Wham sounds throughout the room. “FIGHT ME YOU SARDING BASTARD!” This was immediately followed by one last strike at which point I realized Dumag was using a spell to hit the statue, pushing it back with a loud WHAM. The strike seemed to push the statue back slightly and causing it to stagger back and interrupt a step; Clan-Thmp Thump. Dumag then slumped against the statue, clearly exhausted, despite gripping the statue still. This was the only time the statue paid him any notice and it was only to reach up and grab him crrrrr before tossing him behind it as if he were a mere distraction; whoof. I growled as I watched the statue handle the mage so uncaringly.“We don’t have enough firepower for a head-on approach. We’ll need to sneak under the armor and attack it from there.” I gently lowered Bruga to the ground, propping her on the wall as I devised a plan of action. “ I hope this works.”

I stood and took a few steps towards the approaching statue, holding up the crystal and tapping my forehead as I did so. “DUMAG!” I shouted, ignoring the statue as it took a few steps forward; Clank-Clank-Thump Clank-Clank-Thump. I saw Dumag slowly crawl to his feet as he saw me. I tapped my forehead again for emphasis. “GO FOR THE POWER SOURCE!” I shouted waving the crystal for him to see. Dumag nodded as he stood weakly and began limping behind the statue. The statue took two more steps forward as its visage locked on me and Bruga.; Clank-Clank-Thump Clank-Clank-Thump. I scowled as I realized he would never be able to catch up to it. I reached into the pouch strapped to my side and pulled out the bag of manastones, holding them up as I shouted again. “CATCH!” I then wound back and threw the bag in Dumag’s direction, the statue making two more steps in the process; Clank-Clank-Thump Clank-Clank-Thump. The small pouch sailed over the shoulder of the statue and Dumag caught it before continuing to limp, gesturing as he muttered under his breath. I stared at the statue approaching as I stepped back again and began shouting to Brokil, two more steps from the statue; Clank-Clank-Thump Clank-Clank-Thump. “SLOW IT DOWN. MAKE IT HARDER FOR IT TO MOVE.” I didn’t take my eyes off the statue, but I could see small walls of stone rise in front of the statue to stop it, its feet crashing through the rock, but making it more difficult to travel towards me and Bruga; Clank-Boom-Thump . . Clank-Boom-Thump. It pushed through them with a modicum of ease, but it still slowed it down. I crouched as I reached back and draped Burga’s left arm over my shoulder. “Grab On. I’m Sorry To Have To Do This, But I’m Using You As Bait.”

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I felt Bruga’s chin rub my shoulder in a nod as I pulled her onto my back and picked her up in a piggyback ride. “Anything for safety.” She said weakly.

I nodded as I stood and stared at the statue, being careful to avoid disturbing Bruga’s broken bones. “Not about to leave you behind,” I said, trying to encourage her a bit. “I doubt it’ll go for anyone else until you’re dead.” I then turned and dashed to the side, my legs straining under our collective weight as I ran past the statue. I heard the statue raise its hammer again, crrrrrrr, and I quickly bounced to the right, narrowing avoiding the hammer as it slammed into the floor with a WHAM. I continued to run, not looking back as I heard the hammer being lifted again; thnk thnk crack thump. The statue started following me around the room. Brokil continued throwing up stone walls as the creature casually kicked them over; Clank-Boom-Thump . . Clank-Boom-Thump. I panted as I continued running, past the few remaining statues and back to the other side of the room. “I just have to wait for Dumag to destroy its crystal. Shouldn’t be too long.” The statue continued moving, taking two more steps forward and kicking more stone about the room; Clank-Boom-Thump . . Clank-Boom-Thump. I glanced back, expecting to see Dumag on the statue's chest, but he wasn’t. Instead, I just saw the statue and Brokil behind it, making more walls to slow it down. I furrowed my brow angrily as I continued panting and running. “Where the fuck did Dumag go?” The statue took two more steps, seemingly eager to strike at its target again; Clank-Boom-Thump . . Clank-Boom-Thump. The sight was terrifying and I felt a twinge of panic as I felt the statue lock its attention on me. “No time, just run.” I turned back to running, coming almost face to face with another stone face. I jumped in surprise as I almost ran into one of the other statues. I stumbled as I sidestepped it and tripped on one of the many rocks surrounding it. The floor quickly rose to meet us as Bruga and I fell, causing Bruga to let out a cry of pain as we partially fell on her broken arm. “SHIT SHIT SHIT.” I struggled to push myself up as I heard the statue slowly approaching from behind; taking two more loud steps; Clank-Boom-Thump . . Clank-Boom-Thump. I gritted my teeth as I pushed up with all my might. “GET THE FUCK UP OR YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!”

I finally pulled myself to my feet and I started dashing to the side. I skidded to a halt as the hammer came down right in front of me with a tremendous WHAM. I backed up as the statue slowly pulled the hammer out of the ground again, scattering more rocks about; thnk thnk crack thump, and glared angrily at me. It kept me next to the wall and lifted its hammer to strike every time I tried to step away from it, slowly forcing me to the corner of the room, where we began. “Shit, It’s backing me into a corner. No way am I risking an under route either. They probably built some kind of protocol into it for that.” I turned to Bruga slightly, keeping my eyes on the statue as I did so. “You have any spells you can use with one hand?” I asked, a small panic trembling in my voice.

Bruga nodded as she used her left hand to gesture weakly. “A few, but I do not think I have the strength to use them.” I let out a sigh as I berated myself. “And I gave my crystals to Dumag. . . Fuck it.”

I shook my head as I took another step back and the thing crushed another statue, panting exhaustedly. “Fuck it. Use my energy, if that’s at all possible. I might die anyway. Might as well make it hard for him.” I felt Bruga nodded and placed her hand on my left shoulder. I felt my arm grow tired as she muttered briefly. She then reached up and gestured, causing a barrier to appear between us and it. The statue slowly raised its hammer as it finally backed us into a corner, preparing to deliver the final blow crrrr. One last thought played in my mind as I came to accept what would be my inevitable fate.“FUCK YOU, YOU GIANT GNOME!” I was tempted to have those be my last words but stopped as I realized they weren’t very dignified words. Instead, I used a free hand to present a towering middle finger to the statue as it prepared for the final strike.

My eyes grew wide as a hand suddenly appeared around the statue’s head and clamped itself over one of its eyes. An instant later, a second hand did the same for the other eye. Dumag’s enraged face suddenly appeared above the helmet and glared down at the statue below, planting his feet firmly in the statue’s shoulders. “IGNORE THIS YOU GLORIFIED FOUNTAIN PIECE!” He roared. His hands were suddenly ablaze with brief explosions, directed into the helmet of the statue; BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. The statue faltered and staggered back, its armor shifting with an audible crrr, dropping its hammer in the process. More explosions rocked the statue as smoke started to rise from the cracks in its helmet; BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. Flashes of white and orange dominated the helmet as Dumag sustained the onslaught of attacks; BOOM BOOM BOOM. The statue blindly reached up and grabbed at Dumag as explosions continued to spew from his fingers; BOOM BOOM BOOM. It finally managed to grab Dumag and pull him off, causing his last explosion to just splatter soot on its face with one last KaBAM! The statue pulled Dumag in front of it and started to squeeze, causing Dumag to let out a roar of pain. “Shit. Got to help him.” I gestured to cast Move Earth and maybe create a boulder dropping down from above but stopped as I noticed the statue hesitate, the struggle to move returning once more. Dumag panted as the statue stopped squeezing and continued to hesitate; rrrrrr. It suddenly moved with lightning speed again and reach for its hammer, the moving stone and metal letting out a loud RRRRRRRRRRRR in what must have been a last-ditch attempt at an attack. It drew the weapon up to finally strike a fatal blow and I instinctively raised my arms to block it; RRRRRRRRRR. The strike never came. Instead, the loud sound of the moving statue slowed and cracked; RRRRRRRRRCRCrrrcrrrcrrrr, fading away as a shadow slowly grew over my and Bruga. I slowly looked up as the realization dawned on me and I let out a massive sigh of relief. The statue was frozen, mid-swing, still clutching Dumag in the air, whatever it was using as power drained by Dumag’s flurry of blows.

Brokil let out a whooping bellow. “YES! Sard Yes. Ah. I Must Admit The Last Moments Of That Conflict Had My Heart Wrenching.”

I nodded as I felt my strength leaving my legs and they started to shake. “Yeah. Uh Brokil, could you help me out here? I think I’m near the end of my rope and I don’t want to just drop Bruga.” Brokil nodded as he rushed forward and past the statue. I felt myself sinking as Brokil made his way over. My legs finally gave out once Brokil pulled Bruga off of me and I started panting. “Shit that was stressful. I can hardly fucking believe we got out of that.” I looked at Dumag as I felt myself starting to smile. “Good Job With The Explosions, Dumag. You Really Fucked Up Its Power Supply With That.”

Dumag nodded as he panted and tried to pry one of the fingers away from him. “I fear that I may have depleted your supply of mana with that action.” He called, sweat pouring down his face. “My honor dictates I apologize for that.”

I waved dismissively as I looked at the soot-covered helm of the now immobile statue. “Don’t worry about it. I doubt I’d have been able to use the energy any better. Besides, I’d have given you hundreds of points of mana if it meant that thing was beaten.”

Dumag nodded as he let out a grunt of exertion. “In any regard, once Bruga has been tended to, could you assist in freeing me from this grip? It is rather painful.” I nodded as I turned to Brokil and Bruga. Brokil was muttering as he waved his hand over Bruga’s arm. Bruga had her undamaged arm covering her eyes, clearly in a great deal of pain, despite the spell being cast. “Note to self: learn some healing spells that work on the go. I don’t want to have to retreat every time I want to fix someone.”

I climbed back to my feet as I let out another sigh of relief. “Brokil, you good with taking care of Bruga?”

Brokil nodded as Bruga continued to pant in pain. “She will be fine. Free Dumag if you can.”

I nodded as I stood and started walking towards Dumag. I looked up at him as I assessed the situation. “You doing okay up there?” I asked.

Dumag nodded but kept his eyes fixated on Bruga and Brokil. “Will she be alright?” He asked, no longer clawing at the fist surrounding him.

I nodded as I picked up a fallen battleaxe and swung it experimentally. It should do well enough. “She’ll be just fine. I’m pretty sure Brokil knows what he’s doing. He wouldn’t be healing her otherwise.”

I lined up to strike the outstretched arm as Dumag slammed his fist into the hand that was gripping him. “I curse myself for not bothering to explore the art. What good is a warrior if he cannot take in his surroundings?”

I waved off his concerns with the axe as I prepared to strike the arm. “Don’t sweat it. Besides, I doubt we’d have been able to beat this without those explosive spells of yours.”

Dumag nodded as I wound back to strike. “I have found that quick succession Fireballs will do more damage to hardened objects, stone in particular, than many other spells.”

I nodded as I took a deep breath. “You’ll have to teach that one to me some time. Until then, sit tight. I’ll have you out in a minute.” Dumag nodded as I did one more mock swing. I then drew the axe back and brought it slamming down on the armor. The stone axe I was holding immediately shattered into a thousand pieces and I was left holding a heavy stone handle. “Guess that didn’t work,” I remarked disappointedly. I then discarded the handle and walked over to the hand as I rubbed my own together. “Time for a more direct approach.” I gestured as I prepared to cast Move Earth again, this time trying to open the hand of the statue. I directed my hands towards the fingers as I tried to force them apart and release Dumag. The statue let out a slow crrrrrr sound then the body appeared to explode and crumble in a loud CRACK of dust, leaving the armor and the head to hit the ground with a massive thunk and a clatter. Dumag, on the other hand, let out a grunt as he hit the ground, still wrapped in the gauntlet that once held a hand. “I . . . I guess that works.” I said as Dumag pulled himself out from under the now empty fingers, the empty digits heavy despite their lack of contents.

Dumag nodded as he climbed to his feet and started limping towards Bruga and Brokil. “I advise you to search the room for other power sources. I would rather not have another statue come to life and attack us, no matter how weak they would me. Besides, the Institute may be able to use them to learn of the proper spells to create stone guards of our own.” I nodded as I glanced around at the now very few statues left and the massive pile of armor in the center of the room. “Right. I wouldn’t want to just leave them. They could prove invaluable when it comes to understanding how different their spell structuring was.” I started gathering the few gemstones that might still be scattered about the room, starting with the most obvious one. I walked over to where the head had fallen and pulled off the soot-covered helmet still covering the gemstone. A pile of rocks fell out as I lifted the metal cover, the head little more than a mouth with a pile of rubble on top of it. I shifted the rocks still left and uncovered what used to be the power source, a murky crystal split into many pieces. “I guess you can’t expect it to survive an attack like that. Still, it might be useful as smaller crystals.” I collected six pieces in total, filling up my hand with them. I then stood and glanced back at the others. Dumag was kneeling next to Bruga as Brokil worked on her broken leg. I turned to the far doorway as I let out another sigh. “If we encounter another room like this, we might have to just head back with what we have. I doubt we’d be able to replicate what we did here.” I then turned and started walking around the room, scanning the ground for any more crystals as I visited each of the other statues scattered about the room. “For now, the crystals.”

I gathered another dozen intact gems in total. I used both hands to carry them back over to the others as Bruga was finally pulled to her feet. Brokil was resting his hand on her shoulder as he helped her stand. “How are you feeling? Does anything else hurt?”

Bruga shook her head as she rubbed her right side. “No nothing hurts,” She admitted, “but I cannot shake this disturbing feeling in the pit of my stomach.”

I gestured towards her as best I could with the handfuls of crystals. “You’re probably still in shock. You did get sent flying by a moving statue. We can rest a bit if you want.”

Bruga shook her head as she glanced at Dumag, her eyes full of pain, but determination. Bruga finally shook her head as she straightened, still clutching her arm. “I am fine to continue if you wish.” She replied. Brokil and Dumag slowly let go of her, leaving her to stand on her own as they both gave her looks of concern

I let out my own sigh of relief as I nodded. “Glad to hear you’re doing okay,” I said, trying not to drop the crystal. I then held the stones out to Dumag. “I got as many as I could find. There are probably a lot more in the rubble, but I don’t want to sift through that right now. No fear of any of the others copying Gigantor over there though. I got the ones out of the few statues still standing plus the one you broke to defeat that big one.”

Dumag nodded as he reached into his satchel and pulled out an empty pouch. “Put them in here. It is unwise to carry them as such.” I nodded as I dumped the crystals into the bag, glad to not be carrying them anymore. The crystals appeared to disappear as they were dropped in as if the bag itself just swallowed the stones. Dumag then tied the bag back up and tossed it into his satchel. He then turned to the still darkened doorway. “How much farther do you suppose this tunnel goes?”

I shrugged as I followed his gaze. “This could be the end or we might just be starting. We won’t know until we start walking. In any case, I doubt we’ll be able to do that again. If we encounter another chamber, we might just have to turn back. I don’t think we want to risk activating another big statue like that.”

Bruga let out a defeated sigh. “Do you think another one of those statues could exist?”

I shrugged as I gestured at the door. “Err on the side of caution. We’ll just have to respond appropriately based on what’s behind that doorway.”

Bruga nodded as she rubbed her side again and looked towards the darkened doorway. Her expression was one of tension and unease. I wanted to try and comfort her a bit, but it didn’t feel like the right time. Bruga finally let out a sigh as she dropped her arm and forced herself to stop cradling her injury. “I suppose we should press on then. No point in waiting for me to feel comfortable.”

Dumag gave Bruga a concerned expression while I nodded and looked towards the doorway. “We don’t have to commit to walking just yet. Let’s just see what’s beyond this veil of darkness first. Brokil, could you do that pulse again?” Brokil nodded as he stepped beside the doorway and cast, this time close to the door. The veil was suddenly blown aside by an invisible wind and revealed the room beyond. From where I stood, I could see a large well lit chamber and even a bed. I gestured towards it as I let out a grin. “See? Dead end. No more of those big statues. The key must be in there.” Bruga nodded as I stepped forward to start exploring the mysterious chamber. My grin faded as I saw what was beyond the door. It was undoubtedly a bedroom, likely the bedroom used by the chief or whatever person ran the city, but it was absolutely trashed. Wardrobes were overturned, furniture was smashed, various weapons were bent or outright broken and scattered about the room. I crouched as I noticed some kind of soft material on the floor and picked up a flake. I had just enough time to see the remnants of a word before the piece disintegrated and turned to dust. “Fuck. Someone really didn’t want this place to survive.”

The others followed me in as I stood and they looked around in shock. “What happened here?” Brokil asked, a mix of shock and horror on his face.

I shrugged as I kicked a patch of destroyed pages, useless at rebuilding the destroyed info. “Beats me. Unfortunately, one thing’s for sure. Anything useful was destroyed or stolen long before we got here. Fucking damn it. And after all of that, nothing.” Dumag stepped up to one of the overturned wardrobes and crouched to grab something.

He pulled out a nearly disintegrated skin and dropped it back down as another piece fell away from it. “If the attackers managed to enter here, they likely found the keys we seek. If that happened, then perhaps the Archive is already empty. I doubt those able to pull off an assault such as this would leave so many valuables behind.”

I growled angrily as I looked around the destroyed room, stifling my desire to punch something and forcing myself to be pragmatic. “Then we’ll just have to find another way to learn about spellstones.” I sighed. “We did find two gauntlets. We could probably study them. Not to mention the gemstones we found, assuming they have at least a similar construction to the stones.”

Dumag nodded as he tapped his satchel. “I suppose we should go back and inform the others. Perhaps they managed to find their own way in. With any luck, the attackers left behind something for us to use.”

I nodded and felt a glimmer of hope as I turned and saw the destroyed staircase. “One way to find out. Let’s just start heading back. After a day like this, I want to go to bed. “ The others nodded defeatedly as we left the destroyed room and started walking back to the Archive. “I’d kick a wall, but I’m too fucking tired right now. I just hope this day gets better from here.”