"That's...not the door," Mason said when he got to the far end of the hall.

Blake had apparently dug or cut a path through the stone wall, though there wasn't any trace of rubble. Or even dust.

A few long-shot weapons still pinged and knocked bits of rock next to the players, but Blake's constructs were murdering anything that advanced too far. Most of the goblins didn't look keen to get closer.

"Well, let's not get pedantic now," Blake grinned as he gestured at the open hole. "We got through, didn't we?" Then his eyes found Mason's main injury and his smile faded. "Is that...are you missing an arm?"

Mason glanced at himself and shrugged.

"More like a hand."

"More pedantry? Really? Are you even able to fight like that?"

Mason rolled his eyes and didn't dignify that with a response. He could hear things moving in the room ahead, and decided speed was likely wise. When in doubt in a battle, the answer was usually charge.

"Becky, with me. If we don't come running back out, the rest of you follow. Anything useful to tell us, Pliny?"

The goblin winced and eventually shrugged. "Big boss Engineer Toofik is very average. Terrible inventor, surrounded by incompetent, boot-licking, back-stabbing, useless, good for nothing..."

"Get to the helpful part, please."

Pliny sighed. "Toofik has best machines. Stolen, undeserved. Made by smartest goblins like me. And he has…vicious, animal cunning."

"Super. Ready, Becky?"

Streak pushed his way into Mason's back as if ready to go, and honestly Mason felt better with the wolf's presence. Becky nodded and held up her shield, and Mason took a breath as he gripped his longer Claw.

"Go."

* * *

Mason expected to be bombarded by bullets, or cannon balls, or electrified nets. Instead the second he crossed through the world vanished and filled with text.

[You are about to enter a difficult, group, mortal challenge, from which you will be unable to escape. Would you still like to proceed?]

Mason winced and looked for Becky and Streak, but saw nothing except empty darkness. Feeling he had little choice, and hoping that the others would do the same, he clicked accept.

A huge, spherical hall materialized with Mason on one side. In the center stood a massive robot, or 'construct' Mason supposed, with rounded features that made it look like a huge abominable snow man made out of metal.

With multiple arms. Covered in mystery weapons. Was that a gun-shield?

One by one the other players (and Streak) appeared magically beside Mason. As they did, the dark cavern lit with something like spot lights from multiple sides. Mason looked up to see what appeared to be booths high up in the cavern with dozens of bespectacled or goggled goblins watching like spectators. The final light lit the upper portion of the robot, which apparently had a pilot.

"Welcome! Welcome!" The creature leaned into some kind of megaphone, its shrill voice echoing around the sphere. "You see?" The goblin laughed with a kind of sick, desperate sound. "All your minions, your toys. Useless! Worthless. The whole lot of you. Only I, the great Toofik, Chief Engineer of all goblins, can stop the human invaders. I show you. Only me!"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"OK," said Blake. "I can see why you didn't like him."

The little half dead creature trembled as he stared, maybe with rage, maybe with terror. Chief Engineer Toofik looked down on the players and went on another tirade about being the greatest engineer ever to live in goblindom, then stopped suddenly and lifted up his goggles.

"Is that...can't be. No. How? That little worm! That slippery, treasonous fool!"

The insults continued, and Pliny showed his teeth, then turned to Blake and Mason.

"Take key, friend humans. Disables shield. My shield. Greatest invention. I run now. Must live...to see revenge. Good luck. Very much luck." The creature turned with a last angry glare, scampering back through the little 'doggy door' and disappearing.

"Treachery!" The chief engineer was shouting at the goblins in the booth. "Told me he was dead! Incompetent, useless! Cowards, everywhere I see! But now I show all. End all. Most brilliant. Mightiest. Genius Engineer Toofik!"

The robot started whirring to life, and Mason guessed the show was about to start. He activated Ranger's Mark and was practically overwhelmed with the sheer complexity of the thing he was staring at. It had plenty of weak spots, most of which looked like joints. But it was so damn big it wouldn't be easy to get at.

"Plan?" Blake whispered, and the players all turned to hear. Mason shrugged and shook his head.

"I'll need a minute. Job number one, don't get killed. The joints are weak for what it's worth. If you figure anything else out, call it. I'm going to try and break stuff."

"Break stuff," Blake repeated, a little sweat on his forehead as he stared up at the monstrous construct. "Got it. Navi, start identifying."

"Yes, Master."

"Look after the others!" Mason called to Rebecca as he started jogging around the left side of the sphere. Though if he was being honest, he was worried about himself, too.

* * *

Some kind of alarm blared as the construct creaked into movement. The white lights of the sphere flickered and turned red, and the many limbs of the construct started spiraling to life.

Mason still didn't have a fully functioning hand, exactly, though it was very nearly a kind of gross pincer. He used it to hold onto his bow enough to draw, and loosed a Power Shot straight into the 'clear steel' where the pilot sat.

It struck but fizzled as it vanished into some kind of purple shield, which Mason assumed was what Pliny was talking about. Still, the shot had the desired effect. It got the pilot's attention.

Most of the constructs arms turned towards Mason, and fired.

He activated Aspect of the Cheetah a moment before, running full speed across the outside of the sphere. Something like a cannon ball struck behind him, spraying rock as the wall broke. Bolts of arcane and elemental energy sizzled and hissed behind him, and what looked like a shooting hand attached to a cable, grabbed at nothing a few feet in front of Mason's chest.

Apparently the son of a bitch was a pretty good shot.

Mason summoned a Claw and sliced at the cable with Predator's Strike, severing half of it before grabbing the fist just as the pilot tried to pull it back. It screeched, and for a moment went taut, locked in Mason's grip as he growled and planted his feet. Then he went flying.

Duality of Strength rippled across his screen. It felt a little judgmental.

But since his stomach was doing flips and the wind was rushing into his eyes, he mostly just tried to hang on and not over think the move. Then he slammed shoulder first into the fist, clinging for dear life and climbing up the arm.

"Just need a second,” he muttered. “Don't you shoot it agaiiiiii..."

The fist launched, and Mason went with it. He overcame the instinct to hold on, dropping a good twenty feet to tumble backwards twice then flip to his feet on the hard ground and slide. He looked over at Streak watching him not far away.

"Well I don't see you doing any better!"

Blake had apparently decided to send in one of his blue constructs. The thing charged at its much larger opponent's...leg, swinging a pick and a spear and doing a little obvious damage before the pilot aimed a barrel straight at it and fired.

The stink of arcane energy erupted as a blue ray melted half of Blake's construct. Still the thing fought on, swinging a pick that looked like a noodle, flaring with its own light as it tried to grab the larger foe.

Mason went for his bow again, loosing arrows with his almost fully regenerated hand at any weak spots he could find. Annie was apparently giving it a try, slashing her new vicious looking weapon at the thing's lower extremities, then dodging away from the dangerous ends of the pointed barrels.

Another construct took a direct hit and half exploded.

The group was chipping away the their enemy's armor but it seemed like not nearly fast enough. Mason wasn't well built to protect others and bring down such an enemy quickly. All he could do was keep taking punishment until he got scary enough to overcome it.

But if he waited that long, the others might all be dead first. So it was time to try a Hail Mary.

"Give me that damn key!" Mason shouted, running straight for his brother.

Blake lifted it with Telekinesis and shot it over, and Mason snatched it out of the air. He could see the main power generator with Hunter's Mark, hidden just beneath a thick plate of metal. He would have to climb up and cut his way in.

With a deep breath, he pocketed the key to free his hands and activated Aspect of the Cheetah when it came back, then ran in and tried not to get blasted.