The clang of metal-on-metal chimed around the enclosed space. It was impossible to tell how injured the things were – the one Stathis was fighting was dented and smashed in places, a pauldron cracked into shards and beyond usability. It swung at her, an attack that was easy to block, and she countered, taking a chunk out of a leg, the thing not seeming to care. The mist made it impossible to see more than a step or two in any direction, and was muffling and distorting sound as well.

She backed off, the thing following her, moving with steady and implacable steps. It was like a zombie, but made of metal! How much damage could the damn thing take? Even with a magical sword, she was only chipping off bits of metal each time, destroying the thing would take forever. The mist swirled, another striding towards her and attacking, this one carrying a sword in each hand. She blocked one with her shield and parried the other, deflecting the force of the attacks – they were stronger than most people, but not superhumanly potent.

A loud clatter of metal echoed from somewhere – probably Vrintar destroying another one, or at least damaging it. Hopefully beyond moving! Stathis traded blows, using her shield to deflect more attacks, the thing not even bothering to protect itself, more sword-swings hitting against her own armour. This wasn’t achieving anything!

She moved in closer, feeling an impact run through her, settling her weight low and giving it a shove. It was lighter than she’d expected, but it was just a suit of armour without anything inside. It swayed, adjusting it’s balance as it attacked again, sword screeching along Stathis’ breastplate. She countered by shoving back against the centre of the thing’s balance, and it tottered, swaying backwards and landing on it’s back. Before it could stand up, she attacked, hammering blows along the shoulders, trying to sever the arms. Hearing the metal cracking and splintering was painful, but this would be easier than reducing the whole damn thing to splinters and scraps!

One arm fell off, before an attack slammed across her own shoulders, knocking her forward – she almost fell over onto the one she had downed, instead stepping on them to keep from tripping.

‘Would you just fucking die already? Or be destroyed or whatever?’

Neither of them responded, and she took the chance to attack the arm of the one of the ground again, trying to cripple it entirely. Without weapons, at least then the most it could do was be an annoyance!

The one still walking took another step towards her, before an axe swung out of the mist, screeching and gouging through the armour, collapsing the metal. It partially deflected another attack, axe sliding along the sword and crashing into the gauntlet, knocking out another large chunk of metal.

Vrintar stepped from the mist, her skin boiling with heat, fierce enough that it made the nearby mist roil and twist, creating an internal wind system. Her other axe crashed forward, slicing deep into metal and sending an arm crashing to the ground. The creature twisted towards Vrintar, flailing with the stump of an arm, Vrintar taking the hit across her chest and using the haft-spike of her axe to stick it into the chest and wrench. Metal screeched and whined, hurting Stathis’ ears as the armoured panel was penetrated and slowly opened up. Whatever magic was keeping it animated seemed to be fading, the creature moving more slowly now.

Stathis turned her attention back to the one on the ground, that was starting to get up. She smacked it on the helm with her shield, an attack that would have stunned any human, but didn’t do much against an animated object. Still, she was in a good position to stick her sword into a crack between the shoulder-piece and the breastplate, wrenching her sword from side-to-side and prying it further away from the body. She could feel a resisting force, whatever magic animated the thing still trying to hold it together as it swung at her, blade smacking against her legs.

A chilling hiss ran around the chamber, fabric flapping, a swirling shape of silk and lace dropping down, a rapier flashing toward her heart. Stathis flung herself aside, hearing it scratch over the breastplate, managing to roll to her feet, feeling her armour scrape against her skin, still not repaired yet. One of the vampires attacked her, another full-power thrust, powerful but direct, letting Stathis sidestep it, getting her shield back in line to protect herself.

‘Weak little foes, distracted and divURGH!’

Vrintar’s axe slammed forward, wreathed with a heat-haze, biting deep into vampiric skin. Their clothing singed, fine lace burning into ash, the attack cutting deep into their belly. The smell of burning flesh was strong and unpleasant, the vampire looking dazed from the attack. Stathis attacked as well, sunlight rippling along her sword. The vampire snarled and hissed, bending their waist at an impossible angle to evade the attack. Their blade flashed, puncturing Vrintar’s skin, her blood splashing out where she was skewered.

The vampire moved with ridiculous speed, sliding out from between the attacks of Vrintar and Stathis, weaving between their attacks.

‘When you are destroyed, then this shall be used to equip our armies!’

‘Do you even have an army? I don’t think those are your zombies, are they? They were just set digging.’ Their clothing continued to singe and burn, Vrintar’s aura getting fiercer. Stathis could feel her own armour heating up, her body starting to sweat. The vampire was trying to keep a wary distance, but Stathis used her own attacks to try and keep them hemmed in, even without being able to solidly connect. It was keeping a wary eye on Stathis’ sword, clearly more worried by that than by Vrintar’s burning axes. It was too slow to evade an axe strike, the gleaming metal embedding itself into skin, burning and scorching flesh, ivory bone appearing for a moment. It coughed up blood, raising a hand and making an arcane gesture.

Stathis heard the sound of an ethereal bell chime out, a chill energy striking at her soul, but it was barely more than a distraction as she attacked again, this time managing to land a hit. Sunlight flared and he blade cut into skin, a black-fringed burn that didn’t immediately start healing.

‘You’ve not got any support, there’s just you and us. And we’re not letting you escape!’

The rapier flickered around, stabbing Vrintar again, skewering her flesh again and then swiftly changing direction and stabbing at Stathis’ face. She deflected it with her shield, trying to land a solid strike herself. In the thick mist, she couldn’t see anything else, although could hear the sounds of fighting, metal objects getting knocked around.

The downed suit of armour was now fully up, although moving slowly – was it dazed? Or had it taken so much damage that it couldn’t move properly? Compared to the vampire, it was far slower, moving at more normal speeds. Vrintar swung at the vampire again, Stathis attacking at the same time, trying to hem it in with attacks, prevent it using its full speed. It managed to dodge Stathis’ attack, but couldn’t evade Vrintar’s as well, the axe swing biting deeply into an arm, cutting most of the way through their left arm. It dangled there, unable to move until it healed, dragging the vampire’s body at odd angles.

Before they could regenerate, Stathis went for them, sunlight erupting from her blade. They closed their eyes and hissed in pain, Stathis stabbing into their chest, her blade puncturing their chest and stabbing through their ribs. Their skin flaked away into ash, and she twisted the blade, cutting through them, as they tried to pull themselves away. Vrintar cleaved her axe into their skull, stopping their movement, as Stathis stabbed through where their heart was, then drew her heart back and thrust into their neck, twisting her blade to try and slice all the way through.

Their body melted into ash, their singed and sliced clothing falling to the floor, amidst the metal equipment. They were probably definitely dead, or at least not coming back anytime soon! With that dealt with, she turned towards the staggering suit of armour, slamming it with her shield to keep it off-balance, until Vrintar’s axe smashed and sliced through the armour, steadily crashing and destroying it until it was destroyed, or at least couldn’t move by itself.

The sounds of combat continued, metal-on-metal, and then a memory-warping incantation from Janaxia. Stathis couldn’t tell far they were, or even in which direction! But another of the armoured shapes stepped out of the mist, Vrintar barrelling towards it, both axes smashing into it, with enough force to shear off parts of the breastplate.

‘Find the others, I’ll hold these things off!’ The mist was roiling around her, the heat even stronger now, making Stathis’ face prickle and bead with sweat. Vrintar’s interruption gave Stathis the opening to step away, striding through the mist. An liquid-sounding word, probably something obscene in elvish – at least that showed that Parth was still alive. Were there more vampires in the mist? There were probably more of the armoured things as well – Janaxia would likely struggle with them, and they probably couldn’t be turned to stone either. A sword swung from the mist, Stathis evading it and swinging back, sword clattering of armour, and Stathis kept moving away, hoping to loose it in the mist.

A metal crash sounded out, Vrintar hopefully dealing with a suit of armour. Now she just needed to find Janaxia! There was another burst of a dissonant incantation, the mists swirling and parting for a second. Stathis caught a glimpse of Janaxia, her arms outstretched as she tried to cast a sell. Juliette was lunging for her, claws extended, a blood-red aura around her fingertips.

Her eyes met Stathis’, and she hissed something. Another vampire lunged from the mist, lightning-fast, Stathis reflexively taking a step back, the mist swallowing Janaxia up again. The vampire hissed at her, sharp claws raking towards Stathis. She blocked, her sword slicing between fingers and crunching against pain.

‘This would be a lot easier if you just let me kill you!’

‘You shall perish today, child of light!’ They pressed the attack, trying to force Stathis away, blade thrusting and stabbing with lightning speed. Stathis felt the sting of the impacts through her armour, more wounds, but nothing too serious yet.

‘Would you just stop dodging!’ It was like trying to hit Semari, although at least they weren’t quite that fast, the vampire flowing around and evading her attacks. The injured arm wasn’t healing, as a small grace, the fingers mangled beyond use, bone visible beneath seared flesh.

Stathis tried to simply batter them out of the way with her shield, but they evaded those strikes as well, simply stepping out of range and then lunging in again, putting their full weight behind more lightning-fast sword thrusts. She glanced around, hoping to see something that she could use as a distraction or to limit their movement, but the mist obscured everything more than a few paces away!

Without there being anything useful, she threw defence to the wind, going all-in and attack offensively, cutting and thrusting with her sword. They evaded, but couldn’t find an opening to steady themselves and counterattack. Bloodstained eyes stared at her, the face contorted into a hiss of rage and hate.

‘Just give up already! Everything you want is just going to cause other people suffering, so fuck off and die! You’re just a miserable fuckup that wants to make everyone else miserable, dead or your slave!’ She attacked again, keeping them off-balance, but couldn’t land an attack, as they moved towards the edge of the room and the heaps of weapons and armour. Another step forward, and then another, and they were on top of it. Stathis twisted around, hooking her foot onto a curve of metal and sliding it forward before rebalancing herself. The vampires foot came down, on top of the piece of armour, and they skidded.

Stathis took advantage of their slip, slicing a blow along the collarbone, stabbing into their neck. They managed to throw themselves backwards just in time to avoid being decapitated, but were still swaying and off-balance, unable to counterattack still. They swayed and teetered, a swift shield-strike keeping them wobbling still, and Stathis attacked again, her attack this time skewering through their neck. Their eyes bulged, body sagging, and then melting away into ash.

Before they had fully melted away, Stathis moved on, trying to find anyone else. A long scream of pain echoed around, coming from what sounded close by, the sound getting more and more pained. Stathis followed a wall along, wailing echoes still resonating around the place. She felt an eddy in the air and ran into another chamber, vague shapes somewhere ahead.

Another step and she could see them more clearly – a figure, clawed hands outstretched, but made of smooth stone. Another petrified vampire was on the ground, having fallen over mid-attack. She caught a glimpse of writhing hair-snakes, feeling a sudden chill come over her limbs, but she managed to shake it off, Ophalissia raising her hood up.

Janaxia stepped out of the mist, pointing a hand at the figure. Dark energy crackled around her arm and then shot out in a beam, hitting the statue and cracking it. A few more shots and the stone started to break apart, the head falling off the fragmented body. When that one was broken, she turned to the petrified Juliette, the darkness intensifying.

‘It would be more satisfying if you were still conscious, but I suppose this will have to have suffice. You always were overproud, and it seems that you lacked the ability to live up to it.’ A blast shot out and cracked Juliette’s arm, chips of stone bursting out, another shot severing the limb. ‘Perhaps if you had been a better friend, then we wouldn’t be in this scenario?’ Her hair-lash burned brightly, the light soaking into the mist as a trio of blasts chipped away through Juliette’s face, the solid stone exploding into shrapnel, until there was just a ragged neck-stump left.

Janaxia made a relived sigh. ‘Well, that was rather pleasing. Thank you, Ophalissia, for your assistance. They should have been more careful.’ She used a few more blasts to destroy more of the statue before turning to Stathis. ‘I would imagine there are more helmed horrors? I would appreciate your aid with them, as they are annoyingly resistant to both my own powers, and those of Ophalissia. I would presume that Kinnevar left them to stop other wizards that found this place?’

As if on cue, one of the creatures stepped into view, all of them pivoting towards it.

‘Is there any way to turn them off?’ Stathis easily blocked an attack, but her counter did little to affect the metal shell. Ophalissia nocked and released an arrow, the thing just bouncing off without any effect.

There must be some centre or nexus – kindly protect me and I will try and seek it out.

From the sounds Stathis could hear, there were still more of the things wandering around, Vrintar smashing through what she was fighting – how many would she be able to take down before tiring? Janaxia closed her eyes, the green light winking out for a moment as she focused, letting out a slow breath. This way!

Stathis blocked another attack and then bashed the creature away, disengaging before it could follow up, trying to stay close to Janaxia. The mist made moving hard, the three of them having to stay closely bundled together, with walls appearing suddenly from nothing, Janaxia almost walking into them a few times.

Stathis’ head was spinning, her sense of direction utterly gone as Janaxia led the way – where they going in a circle? It was too fast to even get a sense of where they were, but she could hear metallic movement coming from all around.

Janaxia stopped, Stathis walking into her from behind, drawing out an annoyed hiss and get a green-tinted glare, almost taking her eye out on a horn. Then she raised a hand out and pressed it against the bare stone wall, the red mist rushing in, sliding around her arm. Part of the wall suddenly vanished, revealing a hidden passage, Janaxia striding in without hesitation. Stathis didn’t hesitate, following her inside.

The air here was clear, the red mist not following them inside. Rather than piles and piles of equipment, things were a lot tidier. A draconic skull was staring at Stathis, and she moved to protect Janaxia, before realising that it wasn’t moving, and didn’t seem to be attached to a body. Janaxia pushed her out of the way with a snort, ducking between the jaws. There was a black marble podium there, with a leather-bound journal there. When Janaxia touched it, a blood-red rune appeared for a moment and then vanished, letting her take it.

On the walls were hung clothes – preserved by magic through the ages, smart black silks sized for a large man, silver thread formed into magical glyphs. A two-handed sword was set into a stone bracket, black metal set with gems. Stathis gave it a careful prod, but the metal felt normal, not trying to drain away her vital energies on a touch.

Don’t worry, that is a replica. Janaxia was looking through the book. ‘Another journal of Kinnevar’s. I shall have to read it and then disseminate the information. Although it does seem as though he had quite some amount of entertainment here, before quelling the storm and slaying the dragons.’ She flicked through it quickly, finger skimming over the page. ‘Ah, yes – the equipment here is mostly from Kinnevar’s armies, and his travels. Although he doesn’t record quite how he managed to get it all here, although I suppose that was probably rather dull. But it should be functional.’

‘It’s worth more than most kingdoms!’

‘Hmmm. Times being what they are, I imagine finding buyers might be complex. But it does seem rather fortuitous, does it not? This should certainly make your forces significantly more potent.’

‘I’d really rather prefer you not call them “my” forces.’

Janaxia turned to look at her, rolling her eyes. ‘Your refusal to command is getting a little tiresome, is it not? You are in charge; it seems easier simply to accept it. And it would be a lot better for all involved if you were to behave like it. You have followers, and now you have everything you need to equip them. This gear should magnify their power significantly, I would imagine?’

Stathis sighed.

‘Don’t be churlish – it is most ill-mannered! Considering the parlous state of affairs, then hiding out in the wilderness does little to benefit anybody.’

‘Is there anything else here?’

Oh yes, the protectors. I think this should deal with them. Janaxia reached up and ran her hand along the inside of the dragon’s mouth, more runes sparking to life, ashen marks burning themselves into bone, magic fading away. ‘It seems that the draconic essence was used to empower the guardians. Which is likely why they have such resistance to my powers – a mark of how they died. A shame they cannot be commanded further, but so it goes.’

‘So now what? Can we take this stuff?’

‘I have dispelled the mists and the guardians are destroying themselves, so yes. I believe it would be best to equip your army hastily, before any more troublesome creatures appear?’

Stathis sighed again, Janaxia’s eyes staring at her. ‘Fine, let’s head back and let people know. There’s probably going to be a lot of items here other than weapons and armour that need identifying, and Hakara’s busy enough already. And then I suppose I need to decide what to do next?’

You are in command, after all. Strangely loathe though you are to admit it. ‘Considering the circumstances, quibbling about the risks of command seems a little… cowardly. After all, there is no-one better, is there? While you may err, it is likely that you will err less than anyone else.’

It was annoying when Janaxia was right! Although where could they go next? Armed with magical equipment, even the small numbers in the town would be more potent, and a trained force would be massively more powerful! If there were any utility items scattered amongst the weapons, then the group would be even more powerful!

‘You sure that those vampires are all dead? Properly dead?’

‘I may return to further fragment the statues, as that is rather satisfying, but it is unlikely anyone would take the time to restore them. So yes, it is fair to assume that they are gone. And my brother appears to have retreated, but I imagine we will face him down sooner or later. Now, rather than dally here, perhaps we should find Vrintar and you can heal her? As she has likely borne the brunt of the fighting.’

They left the chamber, Janaxia still flicking through the journal, Stathis still wary of attackers.