381 days until the Arkon Shield falls

0 days, 23 hours until Dungeon Purge

Log report: Analysis of anomalous communication completed. Results inconclusive. Flagged for further attention by administrators. —Trials Log Entry #232,129, 489,901.

Regna and I slept in shifts. Despite the wards on the door, neither of us was willing to risk a second ambush. The night passed without incident, though, and we both woke up hale and rested in the morning.

“How do you want to tackle today?” Regna asked after we finished breakfast. “Do you want to head straight to the final chamber or prepare our exit first?”

I sipped on the cup of water I was holding while I considered both options. I had told Regna about the moat and what lay within, and we’d come up with a tentative plan for dealing with the serpents. Securing our retreat first was likely the safer course, but I didn’t want to face the guardian-prime with half my mana lost fighting the water creatures.

“We go to the final chamber,” I said at last, “but only to scout. Depending on what we find there, we may have to delay our attack.”

The fighter frowned. “The need for scouting, I understand, but what difference will waiting make?”

I hesitated before answering. While Regna had spoken openly last night, I had kept many of my own secrets and hadn’t shared the details of my abilities. “I have a spirit Technique that is still recharging,” I admitted.

“Ah,” the dwarf replied. He didn’t pry further. Rising to his feet, he waited for me. I gestured him forward and followed on his heels as he led the way back to the ground floor.

✽✽✽

We decided to access the final chamber through the kitchen side door. According to Regna, it was more likely to provide a concealed entrance into the room than the gilded double doors in the central passage.

I set the key in the lock and twisted. It turned all the way and without protest. The effect wasn’t only physical, though. Reacting to the key’s presence, the spellform about the door vanished too.

Door ward deactivated.

I glanced at Regna standing nearby. “Go ahead,” he whispered.

I nodded and slid the door open a fraction. Soft light streamed out from within. I waited, but there was no other response. I prodded gently at the door again. It inched open a little further. Once more, I waited, ready to yank the door closed at a moment’s notice.

Still no reaction.

I licked my lips. Everything was going according to plan, but knowing that did nothing to calm my nerves. Anticipation and dread had me on edge. Get a move on, Jamie! The longer you stay paralyzed here, the greater the chance of detection. Setting aside my fear, I leaned forward and peeked through the narrow slit.

A faceless wall greeted me.

Huh? Did the side door not lead into the final chamber? Only one way to find out, I thought.

Before fresh doubts could set in, I nudged the door open further, revealing more empty wall. I kept pushing until the door was opened a full quarter turn, but I still couldn’t see anything of the room beyond. That clinches it. I have to go in.

Not stopping to think twice, I slipped through the door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Regna tense. This was not part of the plan. He made no move to stop me, though. Gently, I pushed the door closed behind me and took stock of my surroundings.

I was in an alcove.

There was a short stretch of wall to both my left and right, but ahead they fell away to reveal a hall. The room was enormous, by far the largest chamber I had yet seen in the Keep.

The floor was polished marble, and the walls were festooned with banners and tapestries. The ceiling arching overhead was painted in swirling shades of white and anchored at regular intervals by huge stone pillars. On the left side of the room sat a throne.

A gilded and vacant throne.

I frowned. In fact, the entire hall—or throne room, because that was what it surely was—seemed empty. Standing still inside the alcove, I ran my gaze over the chamber again, but once more, my scrutiny turned up nothing. I rubbed at my chin. Where is the boss? I wondered.

The last thing I expected to find was an empty room. My gaze flicked left and right, while I contemplated my next move. Did I scout deeper in the hall? The guardian has to—

A slip of movement near one of the pillars drew my eye.

I froze.

The movement—if that was what it was—had been no more than a distortion in the air. My gaze roved over the pillar in question but spotted nothing out of the ordinary. I frowned. Was it another wind elemental?

The motion repeated.

I tensed. This time the action was too distinct to be confused with anything else. Narrowing my eyes, I studied the moving shape.

It was a tentacle.

Mindworms. Mindworms were hiding in the hall. I cranked my head upwards, taking pains to ensure my movements were slow and deliberate, to study the ceiling overhead, but I couldn’t spy any murder holes. But that didn’t mean they weren’t any.

I hesitated, debating between retreating and exploring the room further. But mindworms or not, we still had to clear the hall, and more importantly, find the guardian prime.

I took a tentative step forward. Then another, scanning the other pillars as I went.

Nothing.

Your skill in sneaking has advanced to level 7.

Reaching the lip of the alcove, I stopped. I wasn’t willing to enter the hall proper just yet. For what felt like the umpteenth time, I scrutinized the room again but once more failed to spot any more enemies. My brows furrowed in confusion. Alright, maybe there is just the one.

My gaze swung back to the solitary creature I’d spotted. Now that I knew what to look for, I easily picked out the tentacles wafting through the air. There were four of them.

Four?

The regular mindworms we’d encountered had had only the two. Was this one different? Reaching out with my will, I analyzed the creature.

The target is a level 121 armored broodworm and the designated guardian-prime of the Primal Keep. It has exceptional Magic and Resilience, meager Might, and has no Craft.

Shock rippled through me. I had been expecting the guardian prime to be a behemoth of size with the previous creature champions I’d faced. Though I could see almost nothing of the broodworm, I was certain that was not the case. The pillar concealing it was only three feet across. The broodworm had to depend on attributes other than strength for its power then. I considered the Trials information again.

Exceptional Magic.

Exceptional Resilience.

Armored.

All three descriptors worried me. Not to mention that the guardian-prime was level one hundred and twenty-one.

I crept out of the room, one thought playing in my mind: just how are we going to defeat it?

✽✽✽

“A broodworm?” Regna asked, tugging at his beard. “What in hells is that?”

I shrugged. “That was what I was going to ask you.” The two of us were back in the central passage, and I had just finished telling my companion about what I’d found in the throne hall.

The fighter frowned. “Well, I have never encountered or heard of its like before.” He thought for a moment. “You say it has magic?”

I nodded.

“It’s armored too?”

I nodded again.

“Do you know how?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t see its body. It was concealed behind one of the stone pillars.”

Regna sighed. “I don’t know what to tell you, Jamie. I don’t have the least clue as to how we slay the thing.” He paused, stroking his beard. “Perhaps we should charge in and play it by ear.”

I stared at the fighter, wondering if he was joking. From his solemn expression, I suspected he wasn’t. I rolled my eyes. “No need for that just yet. I have an idea… or two.”

The fighter’s shoulders straightened. “You do? That’s great! Tell me.”

“They’re both risky,” I said reluctantly, “and I’m not sure which is better.”

“Go on, I’m listening,” the dwarf said, leaning forward in anticipation.

“Our first option is to wait for my spirit Technique to recharge. With it, the battle will be simpler, leaving less to chance.” I smiled. “It will be a straight-up fight. I charge in and whack at the guardian until it dies.”

Regna chuckled. “Uncomplicated, I like it.” His eyes narrowed a moment later. “You said you will charge in. What will I be doing?”

“You will have to sit out the battle, I’m afraid,” I said, holding the dwarf’s gaze. “My spirit Technique will protect me, but not you, from the broodworm’s mind control abilities.”

“You believe you can take down the guardian prime on your own?” Regna asked disbelievingly.

“I do,” I said, making no mention of my own doubts on the matter.

“Your Technique is that powerful?” he persisted, seeming to have difficulty wrapping his mind around the idea.

I nodded.

The fighter fell silent for a moment, thinking. “What’s the downside then?”

“We’ll have to wait at least twelve hours before I can make the attempt, and if it fails…”

“Go on,” Regna prompted.

“To use my spirit Technique in the manner I intend, I will have to close with the guardian and attack from melee range. Once I do that, there will be no retreating.” I shrugged. “It will be do or die.”

Regna snorted. “That’s true of every battle, Jamie, but I take your point. I don’t fancy waiting either or standing by idly while you do all the work, for that matter.” He looked up. “What’s your other idea?”

I didn’t answer immediately. Pursing my lips, I considered the dwarf. My second plan required Regna to shoulder the greater part of the danger. Given the dwarf’s sometimes cavalier attitude, I didn’t think he would disapprove, but I was uncomfortable with the notion myself. Still, I believed it to be the better plan, with the greater chance of success.

I hadn’t forgotten the unpredictability of magic. There was no telling what spells the broodworm could weave, and once I cast invincible, I would have little room to alter my strategy. My second plan, however, was more flexible, and at the same time, it would neatly take care of our other problem too.

“Just how fast can you run?” I asked at last.

✽✽✽

It took us some time to complete our preparations. As I’d expected, Regna did not object to the proposed plan. In fact, he embraced it with a degree of enthusiasm that was almost scary. It was all I could do to stop him from embellishing it further and consequently endangering himself more.

I shook my head. My companion, I began to fear, didn’t quite grasp the concept of self-preservation, and at times I was starting to feel like an old woman chaperoning him.

Is this how Tara felt?

The thought slipped in unnoticed. With a scowl, I dismissed it. I had bigger things to worry about at the moment. “Ready?” I asked, turning to Regna. We were both standing outside the gilded double doors in the central passage.

The dwarf nodded. “I feel naked, though,” he grumbled, glancing down at his unarmored body.

I smiled. “Having second thoughts?”

He grunted but didn’t deign to reply. To run faster, the fighter had removed his plate mail, but he’d flatly refused to surrender his warhammer and clenched it tightly for comfort.

I handed him the key. “Remember, the broodworm is near one of the room’s central stone pillars. As soon as it sees you, run.” I stared at him sternly. “Don’t stall, and don’t deviate from the plan.”

“I won’t,” he promised.

I clapped him on the shoulder. “Good luck,” I said and limped down the passage to take up my own position.

Regna waited for me to reach the door at the end of the corridor. I slipped through the doorway and turning around, lowered my staff to the ground. I gave the fighter a thumbs up to signal my readiness, and with a nod of acknowledgment of his own, he set the key in the lock and turned it slowly.

A party member has deactivated a door ward.

The gilded double doors swung back as silently as the one in the kitchen had. But this time, the door’s opening did not go unnoticed.

A party member has triggered a detection ward. Hostiles alerted.

The guardian-prime reacted instantaneously, emerging from behind the pillar with startling quickness. No, not from behind—from around. The damnable creature had been coiled about the stone pillar the entire time I’d been watching it!

As the broodworm separated itself from the pillar, fresh color rippled along its armored segments, transforming them from granite grey to what I assumed was its natural black coloring. A camouflage Technique, I thought.

My gaze flitted anxiously to Regna. The fighter was still in the doorway, seemingly frozen in shock. Why the hell is he just standing there?

“Run!” I barked.

The dwarf jerked into motion. Spinning around, he raced towards me. My eyes darted back to the guardian prime, studying its undulating length.

The thing had to be nine yards long. Superficially, it resembled the mindworms, but where the segments of the smaller creatures had been thin and light, the broodworm’s carapace was noticeably thicker, leading me to suspect that even dragonfire would have trouble burning through. Unlike the mindworms, the guardian-prime wasn’t eyeless either. It had two purple orbs that seemed to shine with malevolence.

The guardian prime bobbed forward along the floor, the muscles of each of its segments expanding and contracting like a caterpillar’s to propel it into motion. Despite the creature’s armored bulk and awkward-seeming manner, it was fast.

Faster even than an unarmored dwarf.

Thankfully, I had prepared for such an eventuality and placed a wilting ward across the gilded double doors. Regna should still be able to stay ahead of his pursuer.

If the spell works.

Regna was less than halfway down the main corridor when the broodworm neared the throne room’s entrance. “Hurry!” I yelled. Waving frantically, I urged him onwards.

The fighter risked a glance over his shoulder. But only a moment later, Regna’s head whipped forwards again. The whites of his eyes were showing, and his breath had turned ragged. He looked scared, and I didn’t blame him. The broodworm was catching up quickly. Lowering his head, the dwarf exhorted himself to greater effort.

The broodworm reached the threshold. Anxiously I waited to see what happened. Unseeing—or uncaring—the creature crashed through the fine filaments of mana I had woven about the doorway.

The wilting ward triggered, and the trapped ground beneath came alive, sending weakening tendrils of energy coursing upwards. Between one moment and the next, the guardian prime’s movements slowed to a crawl.

I expelled a pent-up breath. I hadn’t been certain the guardian-prime wouldn’t resist the ward. Given the broodworm’s speed, that would have spelled disaster. But my casting had worked, and now I knew for sure I could slow the creature.

The gap between dwarf and worm opened up, and Regna shot through the door by which I waited with time to spare. The moment he passed, I touched my staff to the ground and released the spell weaves I held ready in my mind.

“Don’t let it lock eyes on you,” Regna gasped as he shuddered to a stop beside me. “It has a terrifying gaze of some sort,” he explained, dropping hands to knees and heaving in a deep lungful of air.

Ah, I thought absently while I cast. That explains Regna’s earlier fear.

Mana flowed out of me and into the area around the entrance, snapping a second wilting ward into place. Unfortunately, the spell’s nature was such that I could only have one active ward at a time. I spun around. “I’m done,” I said, tapping the dwarf on the shoulder.

“Go,” he panted. “I’ll guard the rear.” Not bothering to argue, I limped into the entry hall and towards the Keep’s main doors.

I was almost to the exit when Regna cried out in alarm.

I whirled about to see the dwarf backstepping towards me on trembling legs. At first, I didn’t realize the source of his distress. Had the broodworm magically terrified him again? From the tight quivering lines of Regna’s back, it certainly looked that way.

My gaze flew to the broodworm. But no, it couldn’t be that. The creature’s head hung low, with its eyes pointed towards the ground while it struggled to fight off the ward’s debilitating effects.

What then?

About to call out to the fighter, I finally glimpsed the cause of his concern. Luminous lines of violet were creeping across the floor from the broodworm’s lowered tentacles towards the dwarf.

Horrified understanding flashed through my mind. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the violet tendrils bore a striking resemblance to the purple lightning that had appeared just before a mindworm had enthralled Regna.

The broodworm’s own mind control spell was a ranged casting. I was sure of it.

The purple strands wriggling along the ground were about to latch onto Regna. I didn’t have time to ponder my options. Reacting instinctively, I pointed my staff at the distant broodworm and cast fire ray.

The thin spear of dragonfire shot over Regna’s shoulder and struck the creature’s head dead center. The broodworm hissed. Its muscles contracted, and the creature jerked back. So too did its probing violet tendrils.

I smiled in grim satisfaction. I had disrupted the guardian’s spell, if only partially. Still suffering under the effect of the wilting ward, the broodworm raised its head in slow motion, purple orbs searching for me. I ducked my head, avoiding its gaze.

The strands of wriggling violet—which I took to be a manifestation of the creature’s spellcasting— were still retracting, even if they hadn’t disappeared altogether. Keeping a wary eye on them, I retreated towards the Keep’s main doors. Distance alone, I realized, would afford us no protection from the broodworm.

I glanced at Regna. “Run ahead!” I ordered. “I’ll hold it back.”

Wordlessly, the fighter spun about and dashed past me. I kept backstepping. A handful of seconds later, the broodworm recovered from the ward. The creature zipped through the corridor, its body expanding and contracting violently to propel it forward. At the same time, the broodworm launched a second magical attack, sending violet strands racing towards me.

Lowering my staff, I countered with another fire ray. The guardian hissed, but this time it didn’t shirk from the attack, nor did it recall its spell. The magical weaves kept advancing. I growled in frustration and changed tactics.

Taking my staff in a two-handed grip, I held it out horizontally before me and flared. Dragonfire roared out to form a wall of flame. The onrushing violet weaves crashed into the barrier and recoiled.

My dragonfire was not done yet, though.

Seemingly not content to simply repel the broodworm’s assault, tongues of fire leaped from the flame wall to the purple strands of magic and began devouring through them.

The broodworm shrieked again, louder than before. Its violet tendrils retracted faster, but this only spurred the flames onward, causing them to burn through the creature’s magic even quicker. With another hiss—and this time, there was no mistaking the frustration in the guardian prime’s voice—the broodworm let its spellcasting dissipate.

My lips curved upwards in satisfaction as the violet strands vanished. The interplay between my dragonfire and the broodworm’s magic was wholly unexpected, but I wasn’t about to complain.

I ducked out the Keep’s main doors. The guardian-prime would hit the second wilting ward soon, and we didn’t have much time left to get into position.

Regna was waiting in the center of the bailey, ignoring the rain pelting down on him. “Go,” I shouted. “It will be here soon.”

Laying down his warhammer, the fighter spun about and, feet pounding against the cobblestones, raced for the portcullis. I hurried away too, sliding along the outside of the Keep’s wall to the right corner of the bailey and the pile of trash Regna and I had assembled there.

I slipped beneath the small opening we’d created and turned around. Surrounded by the trash—bits of tapestries, tables, and other furnishings looted from the keep—I was well concealed.

We’d come to the most dangerous part of the plan.

We were gambling that the broodworm wouldn’t detect me—not an unreasonable assumption given that it had failed to spot me in the alcove—and that it would focus fully on Regna, who was out in the open.

My gaze flew to the fighter. He was standing under the portcullis gate. Both the dwarf’s hands were raised above his head to grip the curtains we’d hung down from the ramparts earlier to serve as a makeshift rope. Assuming matters went according to plan, it would be the dwarf’s escape route.

Everything was in place, and we were ready. Now only to wait for the broodworm to make its entrance.