It had taken almost an hour to wake Simon up and get him to drink enough tea to be at least semi-coherent. During that time Gabe helped Drevock pack up their supplies. Soon enough the chamber was empty except for the pile of debris still pushed to the side and the four party members stood in the hallway a good 10 feet away from where the brick path started.
“Alright Simon, time to start carrying your weight in this party,” Gabe said with a smile. Simon, who currently had the pack with all their supplies on his back, gave Gabe a pointed look as he took a sip from his third mug of tea. A small rock shot from the ground and hit the back of Gabe’s head.
“Ow, alright guess I deserved that one,” he said as he rubbed his head. “Anyways, back to the deadly trapped-filled path. First, can you feel any of the traps with Earthsense?”
Gabe wasn’t too optimistic that the spell would work since the Dweller tunnels were warded pretty extensively, but he figured it was worth a shot. It would certainly make this next part of their journey a lot easier if Simon was able to detect the traps hidden within the stone.
Still drinking his tea, Simon took a few steps closer to the brick path. He was holding the mug with both hands, but the pinky on his right hand was extended and moving erratically through the air. Once he finished casting, Simon began tapping a slow steady beat on the ground with his foot. After about 15 seconds he turned to face the others.
“It’s odd. I can feel that there are things submerged into the stones, but it’s much less distinct than it should be. The only thing that I was able to get a good sense of was a large pit about 30 feet in. There are also small divots that run along the walls on both sides, but I couldn’t sense anything in them.”
This was about what Gabe expected. He had been hopeful that by using an indirect means to detect the traps they would be able to circumvent the wards, but it seemed that it wasn’t meant to be. Still, at least Simon had been able to confirm that the hall was indeed trapped.
“Alright, thanks for trying,” Gabe told him. “It was a long shot anyway. Now time for the real plan. You said you’re hoping to find a pattern for golemancy mana or something right?”
Simon quirked an eyebrow at Gabe. “If that was an indirect way to imply that you want me to conjure a golem to clear the traps for us, I’m sorry to disappoint. That kind of magic is still beyond me.”
“We don’t need a real golem, just something golem-like. The best way to deal with traps is to send something down there to set them off. All you have to do is make something heavy enough to activate the traps and durable enough to not break apart too quickly. There’s gotta be something in that book of yours that will let you do that.”
Gabe was really hopeful that there was because his backup plan was to layer as many buffs as they could on Drevock and have him take point. He could take the most damage out of all of them and with Gabe providing a constant source of healing, he would hopefully be okay. Still, that plan had a lot of risks and it would be much better if a magical stone construct was sent instead.
Simon was quiet for a few moments as he thought it over. Eventually, he took one last long gulp of his tea and then with a practiced motion set the now empty mug in a pouch on the side of the bag.
“Alright, I’ll give it a shot. Here goes nothing.”
With that, he extended his arms and began casting a spell. His movements were slow and controlled, a stark contrast to the frenetic way he usually cast. Gabe wasn’t sure if he was creating an entirely new spellform or just modifying one but he could tell that Simon was being much more deliberate with his motions. In front of him, a large 8ft column of stone rose out of the ground. His hands still flowing through the air, Simon started to walk around the column. The column rippled and morphed as sections of the stone flowed like water and a humanoid form began to take shape.
Simon finished his casting and put his hand on his chin as he inspected his work. The construct didn’t have any features or details, just a hunk of stone with two legs, two arms, and a blob for a head.
“It was hard to shape the stone, so it’s still a bit rough. Master, I was thinking of modifying Sense Share with Wevnioku’s Corporeal Seal and an additional strand of earth mana to strengthen the connection, but I’m worried about the stability of the spellform.”
Professor Alrik walked up to his apprentice as he chanted a short spell. Simon’s fingers began to glow purple and brown.
“Show me the spellform and we will work it out together.”
It took another 20 minutes of Professor Alrik and Simon drawing and editing spellforms in the air before they both agreed that they had something that should work. It was impressive to watch them work, and the spellform they created was bar far the most complex that Gabe had ever seen. It was a tier four spell with three strands of purple mental mana intermixed with a single thread of brown earth mana weaved throughout. If he squinted and turned his head to the side, it almost looked like an eye.
The spell was too much for Simon to cast on his own, but fortunately, they had practiced casting combined spells before. Professor Alrik kept the image of the spell form floating in the air so that they had a template they could use and the two of them started to cast, Simon using his hands and Professor Alrik chanting. Gabe had no idea how they stayed in synch with one another, but this was clearly something they’d done before as both looked at ease.
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The spell finished with a flash of purple light that solidified into a thick strand connecting Simon and his golem. Simon’s arms snapped to his side and he stood stock still, a perfect imitation of the stone golem. Slowly he raised his right arm, his jaw clenched and his lips pressed into a thin line in obvious effort. His face radiated a fierce intensity as the golem in front of him raised its arm in unison.
“We forgot to factor in how much heavier this thing is,” Simon grunted out between clenched teeth. “Without the strength boost from my soul, I don’t think I’d be able to move it at all.”
Beads of sweat were now glistening on Simon’s forehead as he took a step forward and the golem moved in tandem. Seeing the way he was struggling, Gabe decided to cast Aura of Vitality. As the green light spread out around him Simon visibly relaxed. Moving the golem was still taxing but the buff from the aura was able to offset some of the costs.
The line of mana connecting Simon to the golem was only 6ft long which meant the young earth mage would be much closer to the traps as they went off than Gabe felt comfortable with. He walked up behind Simon and cast Restorative Shield on him. The pale green shield materialzed in from of him and Simon’s pace increased slightly as the healing energy filled him. He still wouldn’t be winning a race anytime soon, but he was now able to walk somewhat smoothly instead of having to take it step by step.
Soon enough the golem was right at the edge of where the brick path started. An incantation from Professor Alrik caused several of the bricks to glow, the closest of which was only three rows away from where the golem stood.
“These are the stones that Clarity’s Gaze revealed to be potentially hazardous,” the professor said once he was finished. “While I would normally have great confidence in my spell, the warded nature of this tunnel compels me to take a more cautious approach. I believe it would be most prudent if we test both the construct and the fidelity of my spell in one go. This will help to inform the viability of our current plan.”
Without another word, Simon took three more steps bringing his golem to the first glowing brick. He had his foot hovering in the air and he slowly brought it to the ground. The golem copied the motion, its right leg lowering until it hit the brick. As Simon placed his foot firmly and the full weight of the golem fell on the brick, a click could be heard as the stone dropped an inch. All of a sudden there was a series of sharp clangs followed by a dull reverberation as a dozen arrows flew from the walls and impacted the golem.
Even though they were all expecting something to happen, the intensity of the noise and his proximity to it caused Simon to flinch. As he was still connected to the golem, it moved with him, its left foot stepping on the stone next to the glowing one. There was another click as that stone dropped down too and this time the hall was suddenly ablaze as tendrils of white hot flame shot out from walls and ceiling.
The flames were concentrated in the area around the golem, but they were in a tunnel so there were only so many places for the heat to go. A wave of heated compressed air passed over the group and Gabe was knocked back by it. He’d managed to cover his eyes but the rest of his exposed skin was hot and red. Belatedly he cast Resortative Shield on himself and let out a sigh of relief as his burnt skin began to repair itself.
Gabe turned around to check on the others, preemptively beginning to cast Restorative Shield again in case it was needed. He let the mana disperse when he saw Drevock standing in front of Professor Alrik, a wall of orange light extended from his hand. Drevock released the spell he was using and the orange shield blinked out of existence. Professor Alrik ran past Gabe to check on his apprentice.
Simon had been able to remain standing, a combination of his connection to the golem and having Restorative Shield take most of the damage, cracks visible in the translucent green shield. Despite the terrified expression on his face, he was standing stock still. Gabe guessed he was trying to avoid activating any more traps. Professor Alrik barked out an incantation, the tone more discordant than his usual melodic spells, and the line connecting Simon to the golem dissolved.
Now free to move, Simon slunk down to his knees and let out a long breath.
“Are you alright Simon?” Professor Alrik was looking him over with a worried expression in his eyes.
“I’m fine Master, Gabe’s shield took the brunt of it.” Looking over to Gabe he added, “Thanks for that by the way. I’d hate to see what would have happened without it. Even now most of the strain of moving that damned thing is fading.”
“It was no trouble at all. Besides, it was my idea that put you at risk. The least I could do was throw a shield on you. If you got hurt, I don’t know what I’d do.”
A curious expression crossed Simon’s face, one Gabe couldn’t quite decipher the meaning of. The expression quickly morphed into one of feigned annoyance when Gabe continued his thought.
“Without you, I’d have the carry the pack and I just don’t have the shoulders for it like you do.”
Simon gave Gabe an appraising look before nodding. “True, your shoulders are quite dainty and delicate. It’s alright, we can’t all be blessed with an impressive physique like I am.”
Now it was Gabe’s turn to feign outrage as he made a face at Simon.
“And I guess Drevock too,” continued Simon as if he couldn’t see that Gabe. “though it’s hard to tell under all that armor. Speaking of which, maybe next time we link the golem we’re using to deliberately set off traps to the big guy in plate armor instead of the dashingly good-looking apprentice.”
“That is a very sound idea Simon,” answered Professor Alrik. “We will need to make some refinements to the spell form to allow him to guide the construct, but it is certainly within the realm of possibility.”
They spent the next half hour going over their initial spellform, the image of which was still floating in the air, making minor adjustments and adding an extra strand of earth to the pattern. Once they had gone over it several times and were happy with the results, the Master and Apprentice weaved their magics together. As before the spell finished with a flash of light, but this time the thick stand of purple mana extended from Drevock towards the golem. They had modified it to extend the length of the connection to allow for more space between them and the golem. Just to be safe, Gabe cast Restorative Shield on the others, including a fresh one for Simon.
When everyone was ready, Drevock started forward. His movements weren’t hampered at all and the golem walked with much more grace than it had when Simon was controlling it. As it moved down the hall, a series of clicks reverberated off the walls.