by Andrew Novak
Health: Unlimited
Agro zone: 75
“How?” Sartorius shouted indignantly as Jack silently raised his sword. “How can it have unlimited health?”
Chapter Fifteen
Temple of the Wise Zaratos
THE GOLEM bent down slowly. It kept transforming as it went, as if it had been molded from raw clay. His short, powerful legs gradually lengthened, forming knees. Now the golem was no longer standing, but appeared to be squatting.
Then its newly-acquired lower limbs moved with lightning-fast speed as the sentry of the temple leapt, flying over the heads of the players standing on the road.
Jack and Sartorius jumped aside from under the crumbling mass. The golem slammed heavily onto the road between them, raising a cloud of dust.
Jack struck it with the sword. The blade passed through the viscous and supple body with habitual ease. Jack had barely felt any resistance under the blade.
The Golem thrust an unnaturally long arm forward, hammering Jack in the chest.
You receive damage!
You lose 15 hit points!
The blow came hard. Jack lost his footing and landed on his back. In front of him, Sartorius’ fire spells flashed, hitting the wide back of the golem. The long sword wound in its body closed before Jack’s very eyes. Exactly like a lump of moist clay which molds itself as it wants.
Sartorius screamed. Jack saw the mage fly backwards from the golem, drawing a smooth arc in the air. His black robe fluttered like a banner, the scarlet rays of sunset sparkling on his rings, bracelets and buckles. Fireballs continued to pour from his staff. Released from a distance, they weren’t as powerful as the first two but just as bright.
It looked impressive, Jack thought. He should have taken a couple of screenshots.
“Fire doesn’t affect you,” he muttered. “Should we try cold?”
He exchanged his sword for the wand of Veseloth and backed away because the golem was already turning in his direction, slowly rearranging its lower limbs which had once more become short and thick. Its fists rose again above its tiny head.
“Veseloth, help us!” Jack activated the icon of the ice rod.
The ice spiders jumped to meet the clay golem, entangling it with their transparent filaments. As the golem moved slowly, the spiders had time to weave a very dense web.
Jack retreated. The golem kept moving but its steps grew shorter and slower. It almost completely disappeared under the icy bonds. Only its fists still protruded from the mass of shiny cobwebs.
Jack watched as once again its fists came down, accelerating, and pounded the ground.
Jack crouched, anticipating the shock wave, but it didn’t help. When the earth trembled, he again rolled into the felled flowers.
He crawled away from the golem on his hands and knees, then looked back. How was Sartorius? The mage was already back on his feet. He too was backing away, gulping an elixir from a red bottle. The blow must have caused considerable damage if he had to restore his health. Jack doubted that he could withstand more than one blow from such an opponent. He got up and tried to steady himself on his feet, but his head was spinning. The fieldful of red and yellow tulips swirled before his eyes. He ran.
Once safely out of reach of the golem — who’d slowly broken free of the icy fetters — Jack pulled the box adorned with a goblin’s face out of his inventory.
“Hercules! Listen to my command! Distract this dummy. Do not approach it, attack from afar! When it stops, run after me! Sartorius, retreat! The Golem is tied to the temple, it won’t chase us!”
Their retreat was swift. The goblins squealed behind his back, kicking up dust… but Jack didn’t look back. He was busy running. Sartorius, in fluttering black robes, ran with them.
Your dark servant is dead. Revive in 1 hour.
Your dark servant is dead. Revive in 1 hour.
“What the hell? I said retreat!”
Your dark servant is dead. Revive in 1 hour.
However, if their master was not there, the goblins could not retreat, even if ordered. Brave little warriors! Jack understood this too late.
Your dark servant is dead. Revive in 1 hour.
Your dark servant is dead. Revive in 1 hour.
When they had finally left the meadow of flowers behind them, with fields stretching along the roadsides and the Achaean village lying ahead, the fugitives stopped. The golem, of course, didn’t pursue the trespassers. Its agro zone was limited to the area around the temple. There was no danger for the moment, but the temple remained out of reach.
“Hey, what’s that?” asked Sartorius. “Is the village burning again?”
Evening had fallen and the sky had turned dark blue, so the pillar of fire that rose above the Achaean settlement looked particularly bright.
And then Jack realized that the pillar was moving. Raining handfuls of sparks, the whirlwind of fire and smoke moved to the outskirts of the village, burning and crushing fences and sheds in its path. He and Sartorius exchanged glances and made a dash for the village.
The fiery pillar reappeared from behind the barns on the outskirts and, leaving burning roofs in its wake, continued its rapid swirling down the road. Then, as if frightened of Jack and Sartorius, it swerved away and turned onto the new road that Elder Mackon had told them about.
The players rushed after it. The pillar faded as it distanced, shrinking, until it became clear that Jack and Sartorius were chasing the Lahitte named Broch — the one who had been captured during the skirmish and who Mackon believed to be a shaman.
The Lahitte shaman was actually a fire mage and, making use of his abilities, had escaped from his guardians. But Jack wasn’t going to let him go. On the contrary, if this was a local magician, it made him even more valuable. He could probably tell them something interesting, because this was the first NPC mage Jack had met on Gaerthon. Any information concerning the history of the Golem would be useful.
Even with his mana depleted, the NPC showed good speed, but the players kept pace. Soon they came across a body of water: most likely, the Dead Lake the elder had warned them about. The road skirted to the left, which the elder said was the new one. To the right, the area was overgrown with reeds. A forest rose along the lake’s far bank. And in the middle of the lake’s smooth mirrorlike surface, something sparkled with every possible color…
“Look, Jack,” Sartorius had also noticed the sparkling thing in the water.
“We’ll look later,” Jack said. “First we’ll catch up with this shaman.”
The Lahitte began to slow. He no longer ran but walked, swaying, like a drunk. The road ran right next to the soft, sandy shore of the lake. Here, the shaman Broch stopped, staggering. A blade glinted in his hand.
Jack paused, and then it was as if something pushed him.
You feel the breath of death!
You receive damage!
You lose 1 hit point!
“Oh!” said Sartorius. “What was that? I lost a health point.
Jack looked back at the lake, in the middle of which the Crystal Lily sparkled, then looked at the Lahitte… and he started to get an idea. The golem, it would seem, had an inexhaustible supply of health. That is, the damage done to it was replenished from a permanent source. It replenished constantly, continuously.
And the Lily, with its very presence, constantly and continuously drained life. The Golem’s life was constantly replenished, and Lily took life away. What if these two effects were combined? But how? The Lily was in the lake and The Golem was tied to the temple of Zaratos…
“Sartorius, you’re a necromancer, right? When I kill that NPC, can you raise him?”
“Do you think he can help us with the Golem? How?”
“I’ll explain later. Just raise him after he’s dead.”
“Just be careful,” advised the alpha. “This Lahitte is a fire mage. Come on, I’ll whip up some defense for you. When it comes to fire magic, I know my stuff.”
Brandishing his swo
rd, Jack moved towards the shaman. Sartorius muttered some incantations. A cocoon of iridescent specks formed around Jack.
Broch stopped and put his open hand out in front of him. Jack started running. A loose, untidy lump of fire tore from the Lahitte’s hands, struck the defenses created by the Alpha and…
You receive damage!
You lose 2 hit points!
You feel the breath of death!
You receive damage!
You lose 1 hit point!
Jack jumped at the shaman and, before he could create a new bolt of fire, slashed out at him. The savage was level thirty-five, it wasn’t difficult.
Sartorius had already grabbed a new weapon, a rod crowned with a silver skull. Judging by the concentrated expression on his face, it was evident that this task was more complicated for him than fireballs.
The rod lit up with a green glow which slid down from the silver knob in a thin stream and headed toward the Lahitte lying in a puddle of crimson textures. He stirred.
“Cool!” Jack exclaimed, almost sincerely.
He’d seen this magic before, performed by better mages. Lisa had used the Rod of Despair much more confidently, and Ruger wielded it effortlessly. But for Sartorius it was a great feat. He even shook his head angrily. Oh, don’t distract him. And now his efforts ended in a success. The dead man rose staggering in front of the necromancer.
“Tell him to go into the water, find the stalk of the Crystal Lily, tear it off, and bring the flower to us,” Jack said.
Sartorius repeated the order in a stern tone. The zombie moved with a wobbly gait to the shore. Without slowing down, as if there was no water, he sank… and disappeared.
You feel the breath of death!
You receive damage!
You lose 1 hit point!
Jack cast his eyes to his health bar — half empty. He still hadn’t recovered after the fight with the Golem, and being in close proximity to the lake was draining away his health points. And the Lily was still far away! He was going to have to pick it up.
Sartorius, of course, had also checked his health because he had the same messages about the breath of death. He pulled out two elixir bottles, handed one to Jack, the other he emptied himself in one gulp.
“Take it, I have plenty,” he offered. “I stocked up for this quest.”
Jack nodded. The mage had decent elixirs which healed you for 10 points of health. If he had, in fact, stocked up, he would have held out for a long time.
You feel the breath of death!
You receive damage!
You lose 1 hit point!
The flower in the lake water twitched, dipped into the water, then emerged and jerked unevenly to the shore.
The zombie’s head appeared from the water. He looked creepy — the hair on the top of its head had fallen off, his clothes had turned to rags. Its hands, covered with red sores, grasped the green stalk as the lily floated to the shore trailing behind the dead man.
The zombie walked toward Sartorius, shedding sand and tatters of clothing and trickling water on the shore with every step. It seemed that the Dead Lake was so saturated with the emanations of death that the water in it had become a poison… It corroded like acid.
You feel the breath of death!
You receive damage!
You lose 2 hit points!
Oh! With the approach of Lily, the breath of death grew twice as strong.
The zombie, disintegrating as it moved, trudged toward the necromancer, offering him the stem clasped in its fingers from which the flesh had already peeled off.
Sartorius backed away. Staggering, the dead Lahitte took another step after him… then collapsed in an untidy purple-gray heap. A bare skull capped the pile like some sort of skeletal undead guard.
That was the end of him. The poor creature had exhausted whatever meager resource of ill health was allocated to zombies.
You feel the breath of death!
You receive damage!
You lose 2 hit points!
Sartorius looked uncertainly at Jack. He was getting the same messages.
Jack reached into his inventory and pulled out the Flying Dagger.
He went over to the remains of Broch the Lahitte, grabbed the glassy, shining flower and wrapped its stem around the hilt.
You feel the breath of death!
You receive damage!
You lose 4 hit points!
Jack poked at the winged icon, activating the artifact’s levitation ability, then launched it the air in front of him.
The dagger jerked in his hands, as if testing the increased weight, and soared up from his palm. Jack stepped toward the road. The flying weapon floated in the air ahead of him.
Now to the temple, before the Lily killed both of them!
Sartorius caught up with his companion and held out one more elixir. They hurried on. From time to time, new messages floated before their eyes,
You feel the breath of death!
You receive damage!
You lose 2 hit points!
They continued in this order — the Dagger in the lead, Jack thirty paces behind it, and Sartorius in the rear. They passed the outskirts of the village where several NPC Achaeans were watching them, then continued along the old road.
It was almost dark when they reached the field of flowers. Which meant it was the dead of night in real life. Jack was so distracted by his excitement that he’d even forgotten all about his illness. Well, almost forgotten, because he still felt like crap, even here in the game, but he really wanted to see how his idea worked out.
You feel the breath of death!
You receive damage!
You lose 2 hit points!
The silvery light of Shadris outlined the barely swaying flower blossoms. At night, they lost their bright colors and became silvery-gray. The crude black lump of the Golem loomed amidst the flowers’ delicate silvery beauty.
The dark shadow began to rise from the flowers. Just as before, it was formless and wide. Jack aimed the crosshairs at him and adjusted the direction of his weapon’s flight.
The temple sentry hobbled to the road. The players stopped. The Dagger with Crystal Lily hanging from it had also stopped, swaying, a few feet above the ground. At night, the deadly flower resembled a cluster of light. Its petals reflected Shadris’ glow, glittering with iridescent sparks, and cast little flecks of light onto the road. It would have looked beautiful if you didn’t know how lethal this beauty was.
Jack carefully moved the joystick, nudging the flying dagger into an attack. The Golem walked toward him. It did not seem to pay any attention to the Dagger. Jack noticed that the interface of the weapon faded as the distance between it and himself increased, so he had to walk behind the dagger, not letting it go too far.
The Golem raised its fists above its tiny head… The dagger, barely perceptible in the dark, flashed over the golem, circling it, then dropped lower. Jack pressed the button which accelerated the dagger’s speed directing the blow.
Got it. The dagger pierced the golem’s clay side. Its heavy arms dropped slowly back to its sides.
Jack backed away. He had no intention of engaging in a new fight. His health had risen to about two-thirds of the total reserve since there’d been no time to recover. Sartorius stayed back behind Jack.
So, retreating, they left the Golem’s agro zone. The dark, shapeless lump of clay froze at the edge of the road among the swaying tulips.
How long should they wait? Jack took a few cautious steps toward the sentry. It stirred. Jack retreated. The players tried to go past the Golem, bypassing it at a decent distance, but the monster moved after them. It could not move away from the temple and the boundaries of the protected territory were clearly defined.
“In my opinion, it’s slowed down,” Sartorius said. “The Crystal Lily must have worked.”
“Should we try to attack it? Or go around?”
“I would wait,” said the mage, careful as usual.
Jack d
ecided this time to obey the alpha. He still felt he wasn’t in fighting condition. His health must have almost stopped restoring because from time to time he kept receiving messages that the breath of death was still active.
And then there was the radiation sickness. It had crept into the game even if it wasn’t obvious.
Golem froze among the tulips. Jack and Sartorius waited another five minutes, then carefully moved around. The Sentry of Zaratos swung toward them but stayed put. It simply acknowledged the movement, but did not hobble after them as it had done before.
“Look, it’s not moving!” Sartorius said. “But we are in its agro zone, for sure. Its program should be written so that the entrance to the temple is always in its agro zone.”
“Let’s go to the entrance, then,” Jack suggested. “Then we’ll know for sure.”
Without taking their eyes off the frozen Golem, the two players slowly walked across the tulip field toward the temple. The Golem stayed where it was. Finally, the messages about the breath of death and the lost health ceased to appear.
They faced the temple — a wide, massive structure with a flat roof and figures of paunchy bearded men on either side of the entrance. The statues depicted Zaratos the Wise: stocky, pot-bellied, holding a large sack in his hands and with a sly smile on his thick lips.
Like in all the other temples, a specter appeared on the steps as the players approached the building.
Attention! You have completed the quest “Defeat the Monster”.
You can claim your reward from Elder Mackon.
You receive 1 XP.
You have 55XP. Earn 5 XP to unlock new skills.
“I got XP for the victory,” Jack said. “So, does that mean the Golem was neutralized? We should stay on our toes, anyway. There must be a guard inside the temple.”
* * *
Jack was going to go into the temple immediately but Sartorius paused. He wanted to hear what the shadow of Zaratos had to say.
Silent, the ghost gazed over the travelers’ heads as if he were interested by something in the sky.
At last he spoke,
“Isn’t it beautiful? Look, O traveler, at these flowers. Are they not beautiful? Sit here on the steps and admire them. Abandon your questions for a while. You have come to where there is an answer to everything. Now you may take your time here. Sit down!”