Chapter 29: Walkthrough: Gmon%
Gmon grabbed therge mass of stone with both of his hands, using his legs to lift it from below. It shifted upwards easier than he thought it would, and he tossed it into the mineshaft behind him. A few fragments of rock fell when the rock was removed, but there was an entrywayrge enough for him to enter. He had taken off all his weapons except for his Ebonice axe,pletely adhering to Argrave’s directions.
He crouched low, walking awkwardly forward. He did not need to do so for long. The small passage opened up into a vast room. Gmon stood. He could see everything clearly, and he acknowledged that Argrave had been right to send him; even with a torch or magicmp, this ce would be difficult to navigate. Gmon could not sense any blood nor sense any movements. Nothing in this ce was alive.
The room was very open, barring the pirs holding the mountain above up. The central walkway was a neatly polished gray stone and had many branching paths. Beside the walkways, lined up in perfect rows, were rectangr stairways that descended to an altar. Each of these altars, of which there must have been a hundred, were filled with various objects: weapons, gold, gems, and other such earthly treasures.
Nothing was alive, to be sure, but the creatures that Argrave had described filled the ce. The tomb guardians sat behind the altars, each in an identical cross-legged pose. They held a weapon across theirps, heads drooping over them as though bowing or sleeping. Their bodies were wholly metal and decidedly anthropomorphic but theycked any distinguishing features beyond that.
Briefly bewildered, Gmon took out his sk and held it to his lips. He drained the entire thing, and then put it back in its ce. He set off into a steady, certain walk, running Argrave’s directions through his head. He was careful to watch his step so that he did not kick anything. A rock might hit one of the altars if kicked, and the situation could quickly get out of hand. Above all, Gmon could not waste time dealing with one of the awakened guardians.
The path wound confusingly. Try as he might to remember where he came from, most of the ce looked the same, and that only deepened his reliance on Argrave’s directions. They included an escape route and everything. If the man had been lying to him, Gmon would be in dire straits. He hade to trust Argrave, though he was at times annoying.
Before long, Gmon stood at a set of stairs that led upwards. Pirs stretched for dozens of feet above, holding the great mass of ceiling at bay. Gmon took the stairs two steps at a time, and he arrived at a great open portion of room. A royal red carpet that had degraded over the passage of years led to a single massive altar. There was a king’s ransom in gold, jewels, and magic artifacts. Behind it was a metal guardianrger than most of what Gmon had seen.
He gave the glistening pile of wealth arge berth, walking until he stood in front of the tomb guardian. Argrave had said this man was a dead king; true to his word, a crown hung from the brow. Gmon took a deep breath, running through Argrave’s directions onest time. They seemed ridiculous, like a child’s game. But Argrave had assured that this strategy worked ‘two hundred percent of the time,’ whatever that meant.
Gmon identified every aspect of the n—scouted out everything Argrave had mentioned, and took mental note of the closest tomb guardians that had bows—and then he reached both of his hands out, hovering just beside the crown. He moved his hands quickly, touching his fingers to the circlet and yanking it off.
<em>“The crown’s a pretty good artifact. Bolsters your st—er, your physical abilities considerably. Leave your helmet outside, and just toss that baby on,” </em>Argrave’s voice rang through Gmon’s head.
He put the crown on and leapt back. Gmon leapt much further than he intended and crashed into the pile of gold—the physical enhancements were considerable indeed. The tomb guardian raised his head, standing and lifting the gargantuan sword off itsp. He heard metal nking behind him, as though a thousand cksmiths came to life.
<em>“Run behind the boss, and head for the left corner of the room. The pirs there are pretty close together, and the big guy won’t be able to fit.”</em>
Gmon sprinted forward and jumped off the altar, easily dodging a slow swing from the tomb’s king. He headed for the set of pirs, and then squeezed into them.
<em>“Once you’re there, the king’ll probablye and try to reach you, banging his sword against the pirs. They’re quite strong—they’ve been holding up a mountain for a thousand years, after all. All you need to do is wait. Eventually some of the little guys’lle near.”</em>
Hiding behind one of the pirs as instructed, Gmon watched as the king mmed the greatsword against the pirs. He watched for cracks, fearing they were not as sturdy as Argrave estimated, but there was not a one. He poked his head out, watching for the progress of the tomb guardians. A purple projectile soared through the air, and Gmon brought his head back in, inhaling sharply.
The projectile impaled into the wall, and Gmon recognized that it took the shape of an arrow. It sunk in very deep—nearly a foot—and then fragmented into purple shards before dissipating entirely. Gmon took another deep breath to calm himself. He waited as the big king mmed his sword against the pirs in unintelligent attempts to get at him.
One of the guardians drew near enough to swing at Gmon. He dodged, stepping back until his back was against the wall.
<em>“Once the tomb’s guardians get close enough, you’ll want to go to the opposite corner, keeping within the pirs. Just keep hugging the wall, and head for the stairs. It should be a tight pinch—you want them bunched up like that. If it’s too tight, just jump. The crown should let you, even with that heavy armor.”</em>n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Gmon sprinted for the opposite corner. Behind him, the archers shot the wall, leaving foot-deep stabs. Gmon drew his Ebonice, just in case; ording to Argrave, what they conjured was pure magic, and so unlike some elemental magics, it would dissipate immediately when touching Ebonice.
Practically flying down the stairs, Gmon kept close to the wall and took a sharp left when he came to the bottom. He kept behind the pirs as instructed. One projectile came close, but he swatted it aside with the axe, surprised by his own speed.
<em>“Just keep hugging the wall. Eventually, you’ll go off into another room, but it has two entrances back to the main hall. If you stay in the leftmost corner, you’ll give the tomb guardians enough time to shamble away from the mineshaft’s entry point. In other words, hide behind the pirs again, waiting for them to group together.”</em>
A crowd of the tomb guardians blocked the wall ahead, but Gmon could see the room Argrave described just beyond it. He hastened his run, and then jumped as hard as he could, soaring above them. After clearing them considerably, hended, his legs jolting from the impact. He started running again, and he did not stop until he reached the spot that Argrave had designated.
<em>“This second room is a long hallway, in essence. It breaks off from the main room and has two entryways; the one you’ll enter from, and the one that connects back near the entrance. It was constructed to amodate more bodies once the main room was filled, but their civilization died before they had the chance to use it. As such, empty.”</em>
“Hurry up and wait,” Gmon muttered to himself, keeping his eye on what was ahead. The great mass of tomb guardians slowly entered into the room, shambling towards his position. They moved about as fast as he walked, but they were devilishly strong and their bowmen caused problems. The king stood in the back, twice asrge as the rest but unable to proceed past the mob that had formed ahead of him.
<em>“You should probably wait until the king enters the room fully. That’s usually the proper cue for when to skedaddle.”</em>
Gmon watched and waited. The bulk of the archers were also behind the mob, meaning that they could not fire at him. He waited until a few seconds after the king had crossed the threshold, and then bolted. Innumerable projectiles flew at Gmon—too many to work out a path to dodge and dispel with Ebonice. He considered how to dodge them, but then he simply jumped. He cleared all of them handily, and one of the altars shattered into dust and pebbles when the arrows struck behind him.
After this, Gmon ran unimpeded for the opposite side of the hallway. The archers did fire more at him, but their attacks were too far away to have any considerable uracy. He found the exit to the room, walking back into the main hall. He saw the light shimmering in from the mineshaft and rushed towards it.
One of the guardians bearing a sword lunged at Gmon as he ran. He tried to parry the blow, but it stabbed him in the shoulder and he dropped the axe. He pulled his arm free, deliberating between the axe and the exit. Ultimately, he decided to move towards the exit. The wound had already stopped bleeding, and he felt his vampiric blood stir as the injury closed itself. He reached for his second sk, draining it of blood and sating himself before his instincts could consume him. He had none left after this, but the worst was over.
<em>I’ll be sure to make that beanpole reimburse me for that axe, </em>Gmon thought to himself, dodging a purple arrow that flew past. He came to the entrance, ducking into a graceful slide that delivered him right into the mineshaft. There, he grabbed his helmet and his weapons, stringing them to his person as quick as his fingers could manage.
He moved as fast as the close confines of the mineshaft would allow, moving towards where he sensed air wasing from. It was not long before he was outside. He took a deep breath and exhaled.
<em>“Once you’re out, just set off riding. They’ve got… magical tracking on the crown, you see. The big guy will get stuck at the entrance, seething, while our favorite frozen freaks will chase you towards Barden. There, I’ll either be dead, dying, or starting to form an ego after holding back a Veidimen raiding party.” </em>
<em>I lived. That felt wrong, somehow. Cheap,</em> Gmon mused. He walked to the horse, untying its reins from the rock he’d attached it to. He leapt on, spurring the horse forward. He took off the crown and threw his helmet on to hide his elven ears. He looked behind, scanning the cave’s entrance. It took some time, but the metal things started to emerge from the mine.
<em>Let’s see if I find a corpse or a hero. </em>