image [https://i.imgur.com/OjDGiLe.jpg]
When the giant’s belly settled into something I could withstand, I ran up the stairs and pried the battered hatch from its stone setting. The Earthquake caused enough damage to grant me passage. The door’s frame fell with a metallic clang. Slipstream wasn’t available, but I climbed inside anyway. Judging by the shape of the rooms, I moved into upper chest areas, and I recognized it to be Flagboi’s workshop—or the remains of it.
Smashed glass, tools, and instruments rattled at every corner of the lab. Parchment littered the floor like confetti. Upended desks, shelves, and cages had piled against a wooden operating table, still anchored to the floor.
Strewn across the wreckage lay corpses and body parts. Cadavers hung inside gibbets fixed to supports or in hollows along the wall. Thankfully, none moaned or reached for me as I climbed a narrow spiral stairwell in the room’s center. By the time I reached another hatch at the top of the stairs, Mineral Mutation’s cooldown ended, so I put it to work.
The noise of the vibrating giant masked the faint hissing sounds of my turning iron into cotton. The door likely opened into the golem’s head. Traveling upward through its innards made me feel like an acute case of food poisoning. I’d seen no Waking Eyes, giving me hope for the element of surprise.
Distant impacts and the giant’s rhythm conjured images of a walking figure, though I couldn’t fathom where. Had Flagboi abandoned his climb and chased Fabulosa through the streets?
The higher I climbed, the less the giant’s movements threw me around. The tilting and sudden stops nearly caused me to fumble Mineral Mutation before it disabled the door’s mechanisms. Saving Slipstream would be necessary, for the shaking might intensify inside its head.
After my spell worked through the locks, the hatch fell, and I pushed through the opening to another spiral staircase illuminated by indirect sunlight. I’d made it inside the neck. Using Slipstream’s interface components, I froze time and previewed the platform.
The head reminded me of a pavilion with iron supports and a basalt roof. It opened to the sky, and the control room whistled with a bitter breeze. Happily, my ring acclimated me to the chill.
Outside, dust hung like smog over a city that pitched and reeled from the giant’s movement.
Flagboi sat in the center of an iron contraption that I could only describe as a cockpit.
I’d admired his personal equipment.
Item
Soles of Darkness
Rarity
Epic (orange)
Description
Level 39 feet slot item
15 armor
+5 agility
Item use—Once per hour, immunizes wearer from visual impairment and Blackens area around wearer in a 30-yard radius for 2 minutes.
It was encouraging to see magic items that weren’t explicitly geared to render me helpless. I recognized Blacken from my fight against the anomalocaris and readied myself to use Magnetize if he took away my sight.
I didn’t have any magical footwear. The boots’ impressive ability could make up for my loss of Creeper—my only source of infravision. And if Blackened prevented infravision, then I would definitely switch. I couldn’t use them without Blinding Fabulosa, but if we ever made it to the final two, that might not be so bad.
Flagboi wore rings. One augmented his engineering rank by 10. One granted +4 agility, another +3 strength, and a fourth increased his stamina by 5.
His leather armor set explained his ability to animate this giant necrotic statue.
Item
Deathday Suit
Rarity
Masterwork (green)
Description
Level 25 leather armor
95 armor
+5 stamina
+5 willpower
Item use—Wearer may Command undead below level 20 within 100-yard range.
Epic (orange) Core Bonus
Dungeon Boss Bonus 1 Assertive
Dungeon Boss Bonus 2 Corrupt
Aside from the impressive armor, it might stop an entire zombie horde in its tracks, for the suit required no visual contact in order to work. Level 20 was relatively high for undead creatures, and Flagboi could lead them out of dungeons like a ghoulish pied piper—and hold on to them indefinitely.
I already knew how I felt about Commanding undead, but situationally, it might bypass guardians of treasure or provide a valuable escape mechanic. Would I trade it for my Cassock of Rewind? Absolutely not.
Flagboi wore a black band around his forehead.
Item
Crown of Night
Rarity
Rare (yellow)
Description
Level 28 head slot item
25 armor
+10 Intelligence
Wearer casts non-combat dark magic spells at 20 ranks higher and casts light spells at 10 ranks lower.
Item use—Once per day, wearer becomes shadowy, giving them a 10 percent chance to avoid attacks for 1 minute.
Rare (yellow) Core Bonus
Boss Bonus 1 Fearless
The stats appealed to me, but I saw little use for its utility. The crown supplemented research of dark magic, a hobby Flagboi obviously embraced.
Even though its shadow ability gave combat bonuses, this wasn’t an upgrade over my Helm of Peripheral Vision.
The cagelike cockpit wrapped around Flagboi like a ring of skinny pillars from the metal floor to the basalt ceiling. He sat in a chair with a high back but anchored to the floor. It looked more like a modern office chair than a throne. But the view outside gave him surprising visibility of the city below. The golem strode not through the streets but across the rooftops of the basalt skyscrapers.
Was it still chasing Fabulosa?
Apache Fab, can you see where he’s going? Is he still after you?
Fabulosa You told me to keep him busy. He’s getting better at wrangling the giant and still has a bead on me. Do you have any more mouse potions?
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Apache No. Just flip your hood if you need to make tracks. Don’t take chances.
Flagboi Flip her hood? That’s all she needs to do to become a ghost? If she can do that more than once a day, that power is so broken.
Sometimes, it felt good to be the bearer of bad news, and I followed it by announcing my presence in his inner sanctum.
I drew Gladius Cognitus and emerged from the stairwell. While the sword freed my channeling powers enough that mana wouldn’t be a problem. Gladius couldn’t reach Flagboi inside his cockpit, and perhaps that’s the cage’s point—but he certainly stood within the range of spells like Scorch and Shocking Reach.
Name
Flagboi
Level
36
Difficulty
Challenging (yellow)
Health
410/410
With only 410 health to burn through, I considered Slipstreaming into his cockpit and backstabbing him, but it wasn’t roomy enough for a longsword, and his high-backed chair complicated any such plan.
Jumping into a cage with a higher-level player wasn’t the safest course of action. Who knew what spells he employed? Besides, I wanted to save Slipstream for something important because I couldn’t reset my cooldowns.
What worried me most about Flagboi’s kit was its lack of a primary weapon. Someone wearing such epic gear would certainly have a formidable weapon, and I suspected he’d use a dagger—perfect for fighting a cage match.
Flagboi sat comfortably in his seat, unimpressed that I’d invaded his inner sanctum. Heavy ankle, waist, neck, and wristbands wrapped around his extremities, but they weren’t armor or fashion accessories. They obviously controlled the mech. Despite the jerking and jolting motion, he sat comfortably without the necessity of straps or a seatbelt.
He shouted over the wind whistling through the room. “Welcome aboard, Patch! Please do not stand while the vehicle is in motion! Our next stop will be on top of Fabulosa. Be a pal and clean her off when we get there. I hate it when it squishes between your toes, don’t you?”
Flagboi’s demeanor contrasted with Bircht’s. He was not a methodical combat surgeon. He acted cheerful to receive guests, quite different from the panic I’d hoped to see.
Having reached the soft, chewy inside of the golem, I expected things to get crazy. Flagboi didn’t disappoint. As he taunted me, the world around me Blackened, and a Blinded icon appeared in my interface.
But I had readied myself for this and activated Magnetism, using its little arrows to feel my way around. The best thing about it was it combo’ed with my Helm of Peripheral Vision, giving me a clear view of the three flesh golems moving toward me from behind. I hadn’t bothered to look at the floor when I scoped out Flagboi’s control room, and they emerged from golem-shaped sockets.
Name
Flesh Golem
Level
20
Difficulty
Deadly (red)
Health
2,400/2,400
The flesh golems looked very much like the pieced-together horrors that had attacked us in the arc weaver’s lair. Chains in the floor released, freeing the patchwork abominations.
An iron gate slid over the stairs, preventing anyone without Slipstream from escaping. I sidestepped away from them, using the caged cockpit as a buffer.
Had Magnetism not adequately countered my Blinded condition, the flesh golems would have easily knocked me about.
Flagboi swiveled the chair inside the cockpit assembly to face me. “Golems inside of golems! And you thought my giant was the trap. No, my friend—it was the lure! I wanted you in my golem’s head. Now—now you’re in the trap!”
Flagboi’s eagerness to explain his stratagem reminded me of gamers who painted miniatures. I knew a guy whose parents indulged his hobby, letting their son turn their basement into a museum. After untold hours of painstaking work, he eagerly showed me his trophy cases of painted sculptures. He babbled about every figurine’s details, proud of the techniques he’d mastered and the realism he’d achieved. He obviously didn’t get many guests interested in his work, so I happily expressed interest.
Flagboi showed just as much pride in his colossus. I suspected he enjoyed building it more than playing The Book of Dungeons, although who was I to say that the two weren’t very much the same? How much time and effort had Charitybelle and I invested in base-building, which arguably had nothing to do with The Great RPG Contest?
I’ve learned many things from Miros. The glee with which Flagboi explained his plans encapsulated one such nugget of truth—Villains loved their jobs. I’d found no craftsperson prouder than someone explaining how they would destroy me. It made sense. After laboring so long on something, who’d appreciate it more than a victim?
My attention on Flagboi gave the nearest golem time to attack from behind. Only my helm prevented it from being a critical hit.
/Flesh Golem hits you for 50 damage (14 resisted).
/You hit Flesh Golem with Charge for 166 damage (60 resisted).
/Flesh Golem hits you for 49 damage (14 resisted).
/You resist Flagboi’s Sleep.
/You miss Flesh Golem.
Even with Aggression, doing double damage to monsters with this much health was a futile fight.
While dodging my attackers, I made a probing attack to see if Flagboi had hidden defenses. I roasted him with an 80-point Scorch and a quick Shocking Reach for 48. I landed Moonburn for over 200 damage. His high willpower shaved off about 20 percent of the damage from all of my spells, but the high numbers show Aggression bonuses kicking in. By the time Moonburn’s Stun wore off, I plinked him with another Scorch. My opening salvo brought him down to under 100 health, and I Counterspelled his Rejuvenate for good measure.
I used meager spells, but my 25 ranks in primal magic measured up to whatever exotic magic other players used.
A second golem circled the cockpit while Flagboi cast a 60-point Restore on himself.
While I could escape by jumping and Slipstreaming to safety, it wouldn’t do me any good in the long run. Flagboi had gotten the hang of controlling his battle mech and could undoubtedly hunt me down with his Lock On power. Evading him would cause incalculable mayhem to the city.
My opponent broke my thought process as neatly as he stifled any thoughts of jumping.
Debuff
Frozen Blood
-26 Agility
Duration
29 seconds
It lowered me to 14 agility, but the sudden loss of locomotion prevented me from dodging a nasty punch that critically hit me for 130 damage and Stunned me for 5 seconds. Another flesh golem landed a critical hit with similar results, renewing my Stunned condition.
Gamers used the term stunlock to describe being unable to respond to a succession of Stuns. It usually spelled out a player’s doom.
Activating Mana Shield, I poured 300 mana into it and considered my options while I waited for the Stun to wear off.
The golems hadn’t just emerged from the floor—I’d heard the jingle of chains freeing them. If they were Flagboi’s servants, why chain them down? His Deathday Suit controlled undead under level 20. When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, some believed the practice of galvanism could animate dead flesh—electricity, not dark magic, animated flesh golems.
RPG designers respected the story that invented science fiction.
While flesh golems looked abhorrent, they weren’t undead. Flagboi had no control over them, hence the cage.
A new debuff appeared on my interface, Withered, which reduced my strength by 26.
Before Flagboi could hit me with another spell, I focused on him. His only buffs were Heavenly Favor and Rejuvenate.
The flesh golems mindlessly pounded away at my mana shield. Since it offered resistance, they didn’t deliver critical hits, buying me precious seconds.
The Stuns wore off long enough for me to throw myself at the bars of the cockpit. My lowered agility made the move sluggish, but I reached the range to cast Transpose.
The flesh golems lunging after me switched to their new target while the giant powered down. Inside the cockpit, banks of levers, body parts, and runes awaited my command. Activating Read Magic helped me understand how to trigger the levers, but it didn’t explain what they controlled.
Outside my protective cage, Flagboi enjoyed a dose of stunlock while the flesh golems did what he designed them to do.
My stomach heaved while the cockpit experienced a freefall, and the view of Heaven’s Falls turned skyward. Dread overcame me when I realized the giant was falling from its perch. I fiddled with the controls, but if the toppling colossus responded, I couldn’t tell.
For a moment, myself, Flagboi, and three flesh golems flailed about in zero gravity. Fabulosa had been so confident that facing Flagboi alone in Heaven’s Falls would be a straightforward knockout.
After casting a quick Rejuvenate, I flipped on my Slipstream’s interface to slow down time and pinpoint the moment before this airplane crashed. Fortunately, the control room offered excellent visibility, letting me Slipstream outside the giant’s head the instant it cratered into the streets. Resetting my momentum was just as crucial as exiting the basalt meteorite that had once been a tower golem.
My landing wasn’t graceful, but the 125 falling damage paled compared to the damage I’d avoided.
With a deafening crash, the giant landed at an angle, collapsing nearly headfirst into a roundabout, shattering its upper form into boulders and flipping its legs into a bank of skyscrapers. Dark clouds of dust blanketed the sky.
When I rolled to a stop, I ignored the pain in my limbs and ducked for cover inside a building across the street. Seconds later, the loose debris from collateral wreckage ceased to rain down on the fair city of Heaven’s Falls.
The upper torso disintegrated into a hill of boulders and rubble on impact, capped by plumes of dust so dark it looked like smoke. The legs jackknifed into the side of a building, looking like a discarded marionette.
The contest’s interface registered six contestants when the game dropped me out of combat state. Flagboi and his golems were no more.