Jace paused at the entrance to his stronghold and listened.
“What are you doing?” Draya asked.
“Trying to hear if Esther is throwing another pool party,” he said. She punched him in the arm and walked past him. Psycho snickered and did the same. Jace followed and found both of them standing inside the domed hall just passed the entrance. He wondered why they had stopped but then heard the raised voices from the far room and sighed. “It’s always something,” he muttered, moving quickly across the large entry hall.
“What did you expect?” Psycho said. “Those two will always be at each other’s throats.”
Once they got close enough to hear what was being shouted, Psycho hesitated, but Jace trudged on.
“I wasn’t going to sleep with him! I prefer my men to have a pulse.”
“Aye, I doubteth much sleeping would perchance befall thee, but it didn’t behold like thee hadst much say in the matter. I’d say that gent was casting the charm this time.”
“Oh, shut up. I had it all under control. What would you know about it? Don’t goblins lay eggs or something?”
Jace walked into the lab, but neither of the verbal combatants noticed him. Gromphy was at his workbench, putting the final touches on Draya’s new dress, while Esther stood at a distance wearing a formal evening gown Jace had never seen before.
“Eggs wouldst be better but avoideth not the point. If I hadst to bet, I’d sayeth thee knew him from before, and thou wert having second thoughts on decisions previously made. Maybe life wouldst have been better for thee if . . .”
“Don’t second guess my decisions. Jace put me in charge, and if you had used your golem as I asked, I wouldn’t have had to . . .”
“Adam tis’nt to be wasted for such drossy endeavors,” the goblin interrupted.
“Enough!” she shouted. “Just shut up and finish your work.” She stormed out of the lab and saw Jace for the first time.
“How did . . .” he started to ask but didn’t get a chance to finish.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “We got what you needed.”
She walked past him and nearly ran over Draya, who was coming in behind Jace. “Oh,” the young girl said. “I love your dress. It looks like you got a bit of blood on . . .”
“Thanks,” Esther said, stepping past her friend. “We got you a new one too. I need a bath.” She skipped past Psycho and raced to her room.
Jace rolled his eyes and walked up behind the goblin. “Anything I need to worry about?”
“Mayhaps. The vixen’s past might cometh back to bite thee. Not to worry about now. We secured the evil charm thou didst request.”
Jace nodded. He barely had time to deal with Draya’s past. The Celtigion was an escaped slave wanting retribution on her oppressors. Pretty basic. Esther’s history was a more complicated drama of a fallen angel turning into a vampire, becoming the realms’ most sought-after high-priced escort, all while learning to be a rogue assassin. He definitely didn’t have time for that. “Did you test it out?” Jace asked, referring to the dress. As he said it, he realized how dumb a question it was and stuttered to try and take it back.
“Actually,” Gromphy said, “we didst receive a volunteer. It seemed to work. I’m but now fashioning an antidote to the curse, else our dragoness might not ever remove it.”
“A volunteer?” Jace asked. “How did you get the dress off her?”
Gromphy threw Jace a morbid look. “The dead hath no need for a garment such as this.”
“Oh,” he said. “I see.”
Gromphy had made three small vials and then modified the dress so it could store the potions without the wearer having to go into her inventory. “Methinks tis ready.”
“Draya, come over here and see what our master crafter has made for you,” Jace called.
The young woman remembered the fabulous dress from before and came eagerly. Jace took the garment from the goblin and handed it across to Draya. She held it up and whistled. It looked mostly the same, with a few extra black gemstones sewn into it. Gromphy and Jace stood before her, and she looked over her shoulder at Psycho standing in the doorway behind. “Uh, guys, can you . . .”
“Right,” Jace said, and he turned around. Draya didn’t have the Quick-Change feat Esther had; she would have to take off her current outfit and store it in her inventory to put the dress on. The fastest the game would allow her to do that was one round. She didn’t have to take the whole six minutes, but it would take at least six seconds. The other two males also turned around and waited for her to give the all-clear.
“Okay, I guess it’s on.”
They turned around, and Jace and Psycho whistled. “Looks great,” the orc said.
Draya was blushing as her hands tried to cover the deep V and the high slit on her left leg. She was wearing undergarments, and they showed prominently through the cutouts. As her mind and mana became accustomed to the magical clothing, her hands fell by her side, and she seemed to ease into the dress more completely. “Wow,” she finally said. “It is so . . . rich. And surprisingly comfortable. How do I make it work?”
“A fire protection spell hath been built into it,” Gromphy said. “It shouldst require 250 mana to engage.”
The mage nodded and half closed her eyes. The rubies glowed as Draya inhaled sharply. “Oh, my! It is so . . . warm. Ah . . . I . . . I think . . . Oh, it feels really good.” Since the dress was trying to give her damage, Draya was now in combat mode, and the red gems on the dress pulsed every six seconds as her body absorbed 100 fire damage and turned it into mana. The 250 she spent to charge the dress was refilled after three rounds, and then she had a momentary 100-point overload. Jace guessed she could learn to spend it like Esther, only it would never get as high as the vampire could. But 100 was what she needed to keep her dragon abilities going. With the staff in her hand, she had permanent Dragon Strength, and now she could have permanent Dragon Spirit too. “Can I turn it off?” she asked.
Stolen story; please report.
“There art potions in the garment,” Gromphy instructed. “Imbibe one, and ‘twill remove the curse.”
Draya patted herself down, but there were no unnatural bulges in the slim-fitting gown. Still, she felt the magical pockets and pulled a small vial from the slit on her right hip. She hesitated a moment but ultimately trusted the goblin and drained the liquid.
The dress disappeared.
“Eeek!” Draya shrieked, dropping the vile and trying to cover herself as she stood before the men in her underwear. She danced about for a few seconds before racing past Psycho and out of the room.
The elf and orc stared at the mischievous goblin. He shrugged his shoulders. “The dress was cursed. I hadst to remove it. ‘Twas the only way.”
“The only way or the easiest way?” the shaman asked. Gromphy shrugged his shoulders again, and Jace shook his head, deciding not to pursue it. “What can you tell me about these?” He handed the crafter the rope bonds he had cut off Draya’s wrists during their trip over. “In our little adventure, a mage enchanted these to block Draya’s mana. Have you heard of anything like that?”
{I was going to ask about that too,} Gracie said. {I am unfamiliar with that spell. What he did was Grapple her mana into a Helpless condition without affecting her body. I’ve never seen that before.}
The goblin turned the pieces of rope over in his hand. “I’m not familiar with the hemp hath used to maketh these. Some type of tropical tree or vine. But it doth hast the ability to absorb mana in the form of a spell. I don’t knoweth about blocking an individual’s mana, however. Yond is a new one for me.”
Jace nodded and let the crafter keep the ropes and store them on his table. “And the rings I asked you for?”
Gromphy picked up four copper rings from his table and offered them to his leader.
“I asked you for five,” Jace said. “One for each of us.”
The goblin shook his head. “I’ll not wear one. I’ll taketh mine own chances.”
Jace flipped one at Psycho, and the nimble elf caught it easily. “What does it do?” he asked, turning the item over in his hand before putting it on.
“It is cursed,” Jace said. “Every time you fail a save roll, it will do five electrical damage to you.”
“Why would I ever want to wear this?” the archer asked.
“Esther and I got owned by pathetic players after I left your tower and before you came to rescue us because of a priest hold spell. Taking damage breaks you free from the spell. So if it happens again, this counters it.”
“Yes,” Psycho agreed, seeing the wisdom in it. “But it does five damage every time you fail a save, no matter what. And I imagine once you take damage once, you can’t ever remove it unless you drink one of Gromphy’s strip tease potions.”
Jace shrugged. “It’s only five.” He slid it on his finger. Psycho put it in his inventory. Jace kept the other two for the women. He turned back to the crafter. “And the handholds?”
“I still needeth thee to cast the spell,” Gromphy said, “I don’t have it memorized and couldn’t find a scroll possessing the specific design thee didst want.”
Jace nodded, walked up to the crafting table, and saw two curved brass objects that looked like seashells. Jace enchanted each one with a summon stone spell he had designed for this purpose, and Gromphy took the items right back and made them permanent. The goblin tested them by walking over to his smooth cavern wall and placing the shell’s open side against the stone surface. It only took five mana, and when he pulled it away, there was a 4-inch wide, 3-inch deep bump on the wall. The goblin tested his weight on it, his slender fingers finding the depression on the top that gave him a secure grip.
“You’re going to use those to climb the cliff,” Psycho said.
Jace shook his head. “No, you and the girls will use them to climb the cliff. I’m going in through the front door.”
“And how tall is this cliff?”
“A little over 700 feet,” Jace replied. “Should be no problem for you three.”
Psycho swallowed hard and nodded, questioning, not for the last time, what he had gotten himself into.
“If there is anything you need,” Jace said, “you should get it now. We will be leaving shortly. We only have a few minutes until the deadline.”
Psycho nodded and retreated from the lab, understanding when he was being dismissed. Jace waited for him to leave and then turned back to Gromphy. “All this is great, but I have one more question. What can you tell me about your golem?”
As Jace predicted, the goblin was a bit hesitant and looked around again to ensure they were alone. Gromphy had 340 HP, more than Draya, but the mage had more defensive measures than the goblin and was far more formidable in battle. Jace knew he could kill Gromphy with one swipe of his sword, and the crafter knew it too. The golem was his ace in the hole, and the fewer people who knew about it, the safer he was. The game would force him to tell Jace what it could do, but Gromphy wouldn’t like it.
“I don’t like to useth Adam unless necessary,” he started. “He is very powerful but tis vulnerable to those who knoweth his weakness.”
“I need to know his strengths and weaknesses,” Jace said. “I need to plan our attack effectively, and I can’t do that if I don’t know what I have at my disposal.”
“I am to accompany thee to Stormhold?” The quiver in his voice was unmistakable. “I am a crafter, not a warrior. Mine own refuge is within the fortifications, deep in a secret hold, hence from the action. I am not built for storming the castle walls liketh thee and t’others.”
“And I need to know that,” Jace explained, having already understood that much about his new companion. “I have no intention of putting you on the front line, but Adam is something – someone? – I know nothing about.”
The goblin nodded and was forced to trust his new leader. “Adam is an adamantium golem. He hast no level. I don’t recall crafting him, but I must have at some point, though I knoweth not how. Mine own arts hast increased since joining thy team, yet his power still seems beyond me.”
Jace understood the confusing backstory of having a module designer gift you things without telling you where they came from. Jace wondered if he pushed, would Gandhi be forced to invent a history for the goblin too? One thing at a time.
Gromphy went on to give him the golem’s basic stats. He attacked for 100 damage per strike with crushing damage. He had a static 100 to hit in Melee combat. Even Jace’s impressive parrying skills would not hinder him. Adam couldn’t do criticals in attack and was immune to critical effects from other attackers. He had a Damage Reduction of 50 against slashing and piercing and 25 against blunt and crushing. He only had the natural AC of ten, but since no one could get criticals against him, an attacker needed to do a lot of natural damage for it to get above the D/R. He had 500 HP.
“Sounds pretty invincible to me,” Jace said after the lengthy description. “What about magic?”
Gromphy explained that Adam automatically failed every saving throw as if each spell against him came from a party member, but he had 100 Damage Reduction against fire and acid and was immune to cold.
Gromphy paused in his explanation. “Electricity art his bane. Every two rounds he hath activity, he adds a critical misfortune against electrical damage with nary a limit. Even if be true the said caster is a level 8 mage; if Adam hath been active for 20 rounds, he shall suffer ten criticals against any electric attack and taketh 5x damage.”
Jace winced. It was like playing with a lightning rod, slowly building up a static charge while active. And, of course, if he took that attack, half that damage would jump to the nearest ally, which would almost assuredly be Gromphy.
“Thou art venturing to Stormhold,” the goblin said what Jace was thinking. “A country filled with lightning storms and shamans who doth wield them. Mine own ally shall not be able to aid thee. I shouldst not come.”
Jace wasn’t ready to rule him out yet. “How long can Adam stay active at a time?”
“Thirty rounds on a full charge,” Gromphy replied. “He naturally regenerates it after 12 hours of inactivity. I can also chargeth him manually with leftover crafting mana, but only if be true that I am touching him. He can also restoreth mana with access to a living creature’s mana core. This usually cometh at which time that he slays a foe, and he can absorb any mana they hath left in their pool. But there hast been other, unique instances whether to he hast depleted cores in another ways, but tis rare.”
Jace nodded, trying to work out possible scenarios that wouldn’t get his group killed in a massive lighting chain. “One other thing,” Jace asked. “How does your magical chest work? What exactly can you fit in there?”
Gromphy sighed and rolled his eyes. “Am I to possess no secrets then?” Jace shook his head, and the goblin told him everything he could think of, accurately fearing that he would be going on this mission whether he liked it or not.