"Do you see this Kettle?" asked Tad.

Tad had figured out how to send his active view back to Kettle. The companion bond wasn't always active, and Tad had to will it to do this, and it cost some mana to maintain it.

Kettle replied excitedly, "Yes, you have an update for the A Safe Place to Live Quest. It says solve The Mystery of Statues. There is a new twenty-four-layer symbol blinking gold on that line in the book. "

"Kettle, those things are larger than you think. We are way up here, and those things still look big. How am I supposed to solve that? " asked Tad

Lamruil spoke up, "I think some of those statues are tending that field. " The elf pointed at a field far to the south. Two figures were bending over and doing some labor there. Tad couldn't see it very well at that distance.

Tad looked around, paying more attention again, "We need to find a way down. "

The cliff's edge they were standing on was very high up, and it leaned in towards the lake below. Scaling that would be impossible. They had rope, but that was over a hundred feet to the bottom.

"It looks like some ramps or stairs over that way, " said Nico pointing north along the edge.

They found a series of ramps down carved in the cliffside. The ramps had wide platforms cut into the stone where they then turned and went down the other direction.

"Where should we go now? "asked Nico, looking around. The heat of the desert sands didn't feel oppressive here, and there was moisture in the air. A slight breeze at the cliff base was pulling the air along the edge to the south.

The group stood on a path that had been cobbled, but the stone now looked melted and deformed. Cobblestones only showed every few feet along the edge of the pathway running towards the city ruins in the distance.

"I think we should look at those creatures in the fields to the south there. If they are hostile, I'd like to know it before we get near those ruins," said Tad.

They followed the path, and it started to look like regular cobblestones again, though many spots of the small road are covered with sand or dirt. They came to a crossing and went left towards the fields they had seen from above.

Tad was trying to sense anything around them, but he had found nothing but small lizards and small scorpions.

There was vegetation in the valley. Medium-sized coniferous trees that grew in the dirt along the road were a type of semi-arid plant. Colorful cacti stood several feet tall, and smaller thick leafed ferns in different colors sprouted around the valley. Tad saw bugs flying around also of various types, and he hadn't seen any smaller bugs since coming to the cursed desert.

"Up ahead, there is one in that field on the left," said Lamruil.

The group approached a giant field with irrigation ditches along the sides that ran under small bridges under the roadway the four were on. One of the canals had a trickle of water that flowed, but it was obvious this large canal was meant to carry more water than this and was clogged with weeds and debris.

The creature in the field looked like a seven-foot-tall humanoid statue carved from red granite, the same material most of the cliffs contained nearby. The granite face had a nose, mouth, and ears cut into it, but no eyes were carved into the sockets. Those were blank flat stones. The rest of the body looked like a thick-bodied human. The arms ended in six-fingered hands, with a thumb on both sides of the palm. The creature was busy using them to pick small pink fruits from several plants that ran along the canal with the trickle of water. The rest of the field looked barren beyond those plants.

"Anyone know what that is? " asked Tad.

Nico responded, "Didn't the dwarves say there was an artificer school in this city at one time? That definitely looks like a moving stone statue."

Tad was looking at the statue with his magic sight and could see life magic running up and down on it. It felt familiar for some reason.

Zanna said, "Bubbles think's they are trapped free spirits. She is feeling agitated, Tad. "

Tad looked at the Bubbles, whose normal soft glow was hard to see in the sunlight. She was jerking around Zanna now. Tad walked over to Bubbles putting out a hand.

"Bubbles? What's going on? " asked Tad.

"They trapped them, Tad. This is evil. You must release them!" projected Bubbles back with a pleading tone.

"Oh? It contains a spirit?" asked Tad. He couldn't sense intelligence, but that is why the creature felt familiar now. He could feel the spirit inside. He couldn't make out what it was feeling, though, which is why he hadn't recognized it.

"Yes, they have enslaved it, " said Bubbles, who was now circling Zanna again, all though slower than usual.

"How do I free it? " said Tad.

"Magic. " responded Bubbles.

Kettle projected, "You have a new quest, Tad. Release the spirits. It is blue."

"Kettle, what do you think about these statues? Are they a golem?" asked Tad.

"Golems are Life creatures, Tad. They form naturally when mana lines cross or touch for long periods of time. These are something else. These spirits are being forced into the statues. It is not a natural thing at all. Those spirits did not choose this. " said Kettle.

"So, how can I fix it? " asked Tad.

"You would have to find how it was done and work from there. I do not think just breaking them or destroying them will release it," said Kettle.

Tad thought about that, and seeing piles of rubble housing free spirits didn't sound appealing. What if his Paladin class thought that was some form of torture?

The statue carrying several fruits turned and crossed back onto the road near the four. It turned its head and regarded Tad and his friends for a few moments. Then went left and walked towards the ruined city carrying the fruits.

"Ok, we need to find out what these things are. Bubbles wants us to release the spirits," said Tad as he followed the statue walking down the cobbled road.

Tad didn't see or sense any life ahead of them until they approached a large building that looked like it was once used for horses or other creatures.

The statue moved to the open courtyard that once had wooden doors on the entrance and proceeded to the back. There a small building sat with stone stalls going to the right and left away from the building forming walls. The statue walked up to the room, went to the room's doorway, tossed the fruit into the room, turned, and then walked out of the courtyard the same way it had come in. Tad and his friends stood in the yard watching it. There was a slate roof over the top of the building, but any door that existed there was rotted or lost long ago.

Tad sensed movement in the building now. It was an animal of some sort he had not encountered before. He nodded to Lamruil, who walked forward to peer inside.

"A giant rodent just grabbed the fruit and went into that pile of trash. " said the elf.

Nico whispered as he moved up to look also, "How big? "

"Five feet long easily. It had white fur, and it scooped up all the fruit in clawed hands, " said Lamruil.

Tad could sense the creature who was now going down a hole or tunnel inside the building.

"I think it is gone. Is there a stair or pathway down in there? " asked Tad.

Lamruil went inside then came back out, "No, just a large hole going down into the floor, and this pile appears to be rotted fruits and grains. "

"The statue is farming and harvesting then? " asked Tad looking at his friends.

"The statue didn't seem to be hostile, " said Nico.

"Ok, let's continue to the city. We should find this artificer school the dwarves mentioned or some other place that might have the answers we seek, " said Tad. He had seen several large buildings in the middle of the ruined city.

They made their way along the roads into the ruins of the city. On both sides of the road are many broken down and destroyed buildings. They were all made of stone from the local cliffs, and none of the buildings they passed had roofs. The whole city had a light coating of brown sand across it. Not deep, but the sand hadn't been disturbed in a very long time. In the center of the street, the sand was brushed out of the way as a cleared path of cobble could be seen leading towards the center of the medium-sized city center.

Tad had seen from the cliff earlier that the main city streets ran like wheel spokes. The street they were following led to the center.

As the group got closer to what Tad thought of as the center, a large ruined tower could be seen. It had once been a very tall structure several floors high. Now, most of those floors had collapsed down to the second floor, where the ruble was piled high. The Tall walls remained standing. The main floor looked like it might have survived most of the damage of the collapse. The front entrance sat doorless, and the remains of metal hinges could be seen on one side where a wooden door might have been attached.

Nico looked up and around, suddenly tense, "Tad, do you feel that? "

"No, " said Tad.

"I hear something coming from the street to the right," said Lamruil pointing at one of the streets coming into the center between two multi-floor buildings, which obscured the view from where Tad's group stood.

There were five streets, each leading into the center of town evenly spaced around the center of what was the remains of a large fountain with the lower legs of a statue in the now-empty bottom. The side where a sixth road should have entered, the large tower ruins extended back dozens of yards across from them.

Tad could see a giant statue coming into the city center to the right. This statue had a large stone sword in its right hand and a tear-shaped stone shield in its left. Its stone body was carved to resemble plate mail with a fancy helm. Tad noted it only had five fingers and again no eyes, just a slit of a helmet. It was twice as tall as the farming statue.

The statue stopped once it exited the street standing in the cobbled city center, and Tad now thought he knew why the road he traveled looked cleaned. The statue's head turned toward them with the sound of grating stone. Then it turned its body on one heel and started towards them, going from a walk to a trot. Tad could feel the tremors of the statue's weight hitting the cobbles.

"Tad, that one doesn't look like it's ignoring us, " yelled Nico.

"Let's keep ahead of it," said Tad as he moved to the left, breaking into a run. The creature changed its course to follow around the large fountain, and Tad thought that they could easily outrun it at its current speed.

"Do you think it's a city guard of some sort? " asked Zanna as they jogged around the fountain. The statue didn't appear to want to cross the fountain. The four of them were moving around, keeping it between them and the figure that had to be at least a dozen feet tall.

"Do you want to destroy it? " asked Lamruil.

"I do not know what that will do to the other statues. Right now, it is just this one. It is not really intelligent, and I can't sense anything from it. Do you think its instructions are not to damage the city? " asked Tad. They had circled the twenty-foot square fountain three times, each time the statue following them would move away from the edges trying not to hit the remains of the empty fountain. They could probably even move into the fountain, thought Tad.

"Tad, another one is coming!" shouted Nico, who had seen another giant statue, this one carrying a stone spear and a tear-shaped shield coming into the plaza from the side behind them.

"Let's go into that tower. The door is low, and I don't think they can follow, and I think these things are not allowed to destroy the city to get to us," said Tad as he took off for the doorway, which was off to their left now.

"We could just destroy them, " said Zanna as they ran forward.

The Tad's party made it into the doorway as the two giant statues moved up behind then stopped a few feet from the open entrance. The statues were much too large to get into that smaller human-sized doorway. The statues turned then and ran off to the right.

Tad took a deep breath and looked around the large lower floor of the square tower. The four friends had kicked up dust on entering, but the light from the doorway lit the room. The walls had engraved carvings of magicians performing magic on large guard statues laying on tables. Across the room was a partition of stone with a broken counter laying in front of it. Some stone shelves contained broken pottery and what might have been broken art pieces laying on or below on the floor. On the left wall were stairs up that were blocked. The four of them moved deeper into the room.

"Tad, I think those statues are looking for a way in," said Lamruil pausing to listen.

Tad had moved off to the right to examine another stone mural that showed men in strange-looking hats holding magic rods over a statue and what Tad thought might be a star-shaped wisp of a free spirit being magically grafted into the statue's chest. The dust-obscured some of the mural details.

"There is a stair down over here, " said Zanna from farther in behind the room partition on the right.

There was a crash over to the left, Tad couldn't see what it was, but apparently, the statues had found a way into the building.

"Ok, let's get back outside, " said Tad. He looked towards the door they had entered to see that two more statues were walking around the central plaza fountain.

"Wait, there are more outside. Zanna, how large are those stairs? " said Tad led the way behind the stone room partition to the right. There was another partition behind that divided the other half of the tower. There were stairs covered in dust and some bits of rubble from the ceiling above. Behind the main room, Tad could hear the statues. He hurried to the stairs casting a light that shot ahead of them. The stairs ceiling was not tall, which was a relief to Tad.

Lamruil spoke as he reached the next floor down where a small room had a corridor leading off into the darkness, "Tad, we should consider destroying the statues. "

Tad thought about that. He didn't like being herded either. They could always go back up and fight. But what then, if they caused every other statue in the valley to be hostile or come running. Do they have to fight a hundred then? Kettle had said the Quest was called Release the Spirits. What happens if you release hostile spirits?

"Let's see if we can find another way first. If we destroy them? Then what? We will still be going down here to investigate. If they manage to make it down here, then we will destroy those that come for us," said Tad. He didn't add that they would be destroying them anyway if the group didn't find another way out.

Tad took his staff from his back as he walked through the landing entrance into the corridor beyond.

***