With no other option, the five of them returned to the clearing and sat by the mausoleum’s entrance. Their only alternative at the moment would be to investigate the tomb in its entirety to find a way out.

“Since we need to proceed, let me crush that golem into pieces for us,” said Fang Chu.

“What are you going to do about your backlash then? I’d rather you saved your strength for an emergency. Let’s be calm, we just discovered this place. I’m sure we can figure an easy way through that golem. I still have a few ideas, even if we don’t have explosive arrows at our disposal,” replied Liza.

“Let me! I can crush it with one arm! I won’t suffer from a backlash!”

“Don’t trouble Liza, Eliot. We just want you to recover as soon as possible. You can’t go around fighting all the time for that to happen.”

“What are your ideas then? Do you need something from me? I still have some one-time use items and other knick-knacks in my ring.”

“What kind of tools do you have? Do you’ve at least an axe and a strong rope?” asked Liza.

“Yeah, I do. I’ve a one-handed axe and a double-edged one, which one do you want? For the rope I’ve this high-quality silk one, it can sustain a lot of weight without breaking or fraying. Is there anything else you need?”

“What?! You guys use silk to make ropes? Such a waste! How much did it even cost?”

“I don’t know, I just asked for the best rope they had and bought it together with a bunch of other stuff. Is it too strange?”

“Yes, it is! Silk is expensive! Here it’s only used to make clothes and they are so costly that only nobles can afford them!”

“Never mind that Liza, what is your idea?” asked Ben.

“Yeah, sorry, I was just too surprised. One of my ideas is kind of crazy and troublesome, so I won’t bother you with it. The other one is rather simple and I’m confident it will work. A golem without its master will only execute the last command it received, making them inflexible and unable to adapt to the circumstances. Just look at how it stopped chasing and returned to center of the room after Fang Chu reached the stairs. We’ll use that against it.”

“Oh! That gives me an idea!” exclaimed Eliot before rushing off.

“Eliot, wait! Where are you going?”

Footsteps resounded on the tomb as Eliot made his way down to the first chamber. Feeling the presence of an intruder, the golem awakened and rushed forward to attack. When it was about to reach the invader, Eliot took a step back and stood on the stairs. The golem stopped moving and scanned the surroundings once before returning to the center of the room.

It had barely deactivated again when Eliot stepped inside once more. The golem rushed forward yet again. Eliot retreated. He kept messing around with the automaton, laughing the entire time. Seeing the new game Eliot invented, Boro’s eyes sparkled. He joined in on the fun and they began taking turns. The others just watched as the duo entertained themselves at the cost of the tomb’s guardian.

“I’ve been thinking this for a while, but he’s really pure, isn’t he?” said Fang Chu.

“Yup. That’s Eliot,” replied Ben.

“Let’s return to the surface. As long as he doesn’t fight it, I’m ok with him messing around. This just reinforces what I was saying, its actions are limited. So, let’s crush him with a battering ram!”

“What? You want to build a battering ram?” asked Fang Chu.

“Not the whole thing. We don’t need the wheels, the protective housing and all that stuff. We only need a tree trunk suspended on a frame by ropes. Then we can lure the golem near the stairs by walking into the room and letting the battering ram do the job.”

“That could work! I think is better than what I’d in mind,” said Ben.

“Which was?”

“To build some sort of contraption to push the golem into the pitfall trap.”

“That could work too,” Liza nodded.

“Yeah, but it would be much more troublesome. Let’s go with yours.”

While they were discussing, screams and shouts kept coming from the underground. “Hahaha, you big dummy! Catch me if you can! Boro, fly high! Let’s see what it does!”

Hearing this, the others smiled. This was one of Eliot’s hidden qualities. He could turn a tense situation into a relaxed and leisurely one just by being himself. Liza and Ben each grabbed an axe and they began to search for a suitable tree. What followed were hours of intense physical labour. Whenever someone got tired, they would switch with Fang Chu or take a break. At some point, Eliot got bored of fooling around with the golem and joined them in felling the trees they needed.

When it started to turn dark, they returned to the clearing and made their arrangements for the night. Liza distributed a quarter portion of ration and looked at Eliot’s and Boro’s pleading face with some guilt.

“Sorry, we have to be careful with our food. We don’t know how long we’re going to be stuck here and it seems that there are no animals or fruits inside this dome from what we’ve seen.”

“But this is too little…” Eliot complained.

“Here, Eliot. Eat up! I’ve plenty of food,” said Fang Chu as she tossed a bundle of ham to him.

“Hurray! Thanks!”

“Really? How much food do you have?” asked a surprised Liza.

“I’ve a mixture of fresh food, rations and a bunch of traveling potions. It’s a special liquid my sect makes that can keep you going without drinking or eating for a day. All in all, I think it should keep us fed for three months.”

“Wow, that’s a relief! We only brought food for a week or so. If we ate sparingly, we could drag it out for about fifteen to twenty days, but I was at a loss of what to do about water. Still, we better ration your supplies too and make them last longer. Let’s eat half as much and double your estimation to six months. If we can’t find a way out of here after that long…”

Nothing more needed to be said, it was all too easy to imply. Half a year was a long period of time and if they couldn’t find a solution by then they would surely end up dead. A period of silence settled in, broken only by the crackling of the bonfire and the hooting of owls.

“Your sect sure is capable though, to be able to develop a potion like that,” Liza continued after sighing. “I’m knowledgeable about herbs and know bits and pieces about alchemy, but I’ve never heard of an elixir like that. How does your sect work? When you invited Ben earlier, you said you would teach him how to defend himself, so I thought you were a military or combat focused organization. Yet now you talk about a potion your sect developed. That’s clearly something only alchemists can do. I’m confused.”

“The Heaven Reaching Sect is a large organization, we’ve all kinds of skilled people in our ranks. Fighters, blacksmiths, herbalists, alchemists, you name it.”

“That’s strange. Here almost all professions have their own guild. Only like this can they fight for their interests. If you gather them all together like that in one place, won’t they struggle against each other all the time?”

“Sure, there is a bit of competition, but nothing like you’re imagining. We’ve many rules in place. The amount of benefits you’ll receive depends on the contributions you bring to the sect or, in some cases, what future advantages you’ll be able to bring forth. To the sect, a promising member is sometimes as good as a full-fledged one.”

[Interesting, they operate similarly to a modern company, but instead of salary they pay their members in shares. This way everyone will work hard to make the sect grow, making the yields they’ll receive increase in turn. Also, since the members usually join up when they’re young, they develop a sense of belonging to the sect. It’s clever system,] thought Ben.

“I see. I don’t think that system would ever work over here though,” said Liza.

-

The next morning, they were at it again. After some time, they’d cut down all the trees they would need. The next step was to clean them up the best they could, trimming any branches that were on the way. To finish it off, they needed to make wood joints by carving, so they could assemble all the pieces together and keep them in place. This was done mostly by Ben, who was the most skilled among them. It took them a few days, but they finally had everything ready to go.

“All right, let’s set it up at the entrance of the room. Eliot help me carry it at the front. Fang Chu, you help Ben at the back. One, two, three, up!”

The golem watched as the group busied themselves at the entrance of the chamber, setting up their contraption. It didn’t have any thoughts of its own, it just did as his master instructed and attacked anyone that entered the room. It never understood the terrible fate that was going to befall him.

The group positioned themselves around the mounted battering ram. Fang Chu pulled the log from the back, while Liza and Ben helped from both sides. They held the log back as far as it would go to maximize the damage it would inflict.

“Step inside now Eliot. Remember to duck really low when we shout!”

“I know, I know!” exclaimed Eliot as he stepped inside the chamber. “Hahaha, I’m back! Come and get me, dummy!”

As it was expected, the golem rushed forward. The trio at the stairs let go of the heavy log and even gave it a push from behind. Before Liza had to warn him, Eliot ducked and the battering ram passed over his head, striking the incoming automaton in full force. Bam. The resounding clash pushed the construct a few steps back, revealing its chest that was now covered in small cracks.

“We still need to hit him a few more times. Come back Eliot, let it return to the center of the room before we go again.”

“Okay!”

“This took a while to set up, but it’s quite safe and effective,” Fang Chu commented.

“Safety is the keyword when exploring dungeons. One slipup and you’re done for,” replied Ben.

“Right you are, Ben! Let’s do it again!”