Ilyawraith pulled the frozen core of the maugrim reaver out of the compartment in its chest. She held the crystal orb encased in ice in both of her hands. It was the size of a large stone. As she studied the surface within, she could see runes of the maugrim language within the crystal exterior.

“A maugrim wonder,” Ilyawraith said. “Crafted out of a substance I do not recognize, but not unlike a monster core. Although the vigor component is contained inside the physical.”

She wondered if she could crack it open, and if so, would it be possible to absorb the vigor. Surely such an object would be noticeable progress on her long and sometimes painfully static journey to Gold Rank.

She had heard of such constructs, but the maugrim had been long gone even when she was born. The only remnants she had seen of their civilization were the mining tracks and trenches and quarries they had left in the earth. She knew the old maugrim city of Paleforge was in the Spineshards, but she had never been there. It was a ghost city.

She knew there had to be other wonders and marvels of their genius craftsmanship there. At one point, such constructs had been used in war. And going to war with the maugrim was always a mistake.

Until the Scar opened and brought with it doom to the maugrim and their city of Paleforge.

She spoke over her vigor Whispering Wind connection, “Is everyone okay? I have dealt with the maugrim reaver.”

There was silence for a moment and she worried that the group was probably preoccupied with another threat.

Then a voice spoke up. It was Nay, her pupil. Her voice was strained. “We’re okay, kind of. We fell into a harpy’s nest. They’ve been…taken care of. But I think I’ve been poisoned. Could really use Lain’s healing right about now.”

Then Lain, the Gloom Ranger healer spoke up. “I’m with Quincy, Nay. He’s okay. We found another cave entrance in the mountain. We think it all connects to the same passages.”

“Well, I can’t see you on my map yet,” Nay said. “But maybe try to find a way up and we’ll see if it’s connected.”

“Where are you?” Ilyawraith said. “And poisoned how?”

“If you can get back to the entrance, you’ll see,” Nay said. “The floor collapsed and we fell in. My guess is we’re a few levels down. One of the harpies got its claws and teeth into me. And I have a feeling their talons and teeth weren’t exactly sanitary.”

Ilyawraith knew what she meant. Harpies were notoriously unclean creatures and their droppings could be toxic. They had been known to coat their claws and talons in the droppings, making their natural weapons poisonous.

“Okay, don’t venture anywhere,” Ilyawraith said. “I’m on my way.”

She put the frozen reaver orb in her pack and she summoned her cloud, flying through the wind to return to her party and pupil.

#

Nay sat with her back against one of the walls, trembling from the pain. She could feel the onset of a fever. Her skin was clammy, yet she felt hot. Nay was queasy and her wounds stung. She grimaced at the throbbing on her back and neck. “I can’t believe I got poisoned with shit.”

Tuk-Tuk, in human form now, was treating her wounds with strips of bark. They still had green plant fiber on them. The green matter had a cooling balm effect on her wounds. “What is that exactly?” she said.

“Bark of the sanqita tree,” Tuk-Tuk said. “I also rubbed some crushed sage and coolbreath berries into the wounds. It will fight the poison for a time and should quell its effects until Lain can cleanse you.”

“It does give me an idea though,” Nay said. “And I don’t know why I haven’t thought of it before.”

“You want to coat your blades in some of my poison,” Nom said. He was by her side, surveying the carnage.

“You read my mind. Or at least have the option for it when we’re in super deadly situations.”

“It’s interesting you said this. I’ve been working on such a poison. And also the antidote for it.”

“An antidote?”

“I think it’s important to have an antidote, in case you accidentally cut yourself or you change your mind about poisoning someone. Plus it could be handy when we need to threaten and extract information out of people or monsters. Poison them. Tell them to give us what we want and in return we’ll give them the antidote. It could be a powerful bargaining tactic.”

Tuk-Tuk snorted and looked at Nom, shaking his head.

“What?” Nom said.

“You have a cunning mind and I wouldn’t want to be your enemy.”

“Enemies? Never! You’re my good time boy, Tuk-Tuk. Together we’re going to do wonderful things. We’ll strike fear into the hearts of our enemies. Imagine being the poor bastard staring down a polar bear mounted tentacle laser cannon.”

“And sometimes I don’t understand your babbling. But I like you, too. I am glad we are friends.”

Nay had received some blinking prompts on her interface. They were quest notifications.

---

[Quest Complete]

[Slay Celyne, the Ice Harpy Quest Completed!]

[You have been rewarded Vigor Points]

[Quest Complete]

---

[Defeat the Maugrium Reaver Completed!]

[You have been rewarded Vigor Points]

[You have been rewarded Loot]

---

The last one was interesting. Even though Ilyawraith had defeated the reaver, she still got credit for completing the quest. She wondered if it was because they were vigor linked to being in a party.

Her Inventory tab was blinking and a message said –

You have a new Item in your Inventory.

She opened her inventory and saw the new Loot was taking up one of the squares. The icon appeared to be an armored helmet. She read the description.

Fluxwell’s Portable Armor.

Crafted in the heart of Bronwyn’s Cairn by the artificer and master engineer, Fluxwell Gorheim, this vigor-infused helm unfolds into an entire suit of armor for its wearer. It’s perfect for those moments you need some quick protection.

Blocks 50 percent of incoming damage. Pay attention to the damage absorption meter though! When it reaches its limit, the suit will transform back into a helm. Recharge with vigor cores.

Nay took the helm out of her inventory and held it in both hands.

“Whoa, what is that?” Nom said.

“Loot from the maugrim reaver.”

She took a good look at it, turning it over in her hands. It was a battle helm made of steel and strangely, stone. Its look was designed to strike fear in the enemies of the wearer. It was an ominous puzzle of iron plates and stone, with open slots for the eyes and presumably for a massive maugrim beard to flow out of the bottom along the jawline.

Runes covered the thing and there were gemstones arranged on the center ridge running from the nose to the center of the back of the head. Nay used True Sight and saw vigama fluttering inside the multi-colored gemstones. It was a thing of beauty.

“You gonna put it on?” Nom said.

“Here, help me to my feet,” she said to Tuk-Tuk.

The tribesman gripped her hand and pulled her to her feet.

She slipped the helm over her head. She thought it would be stuffy, but it fit her with comfort. She felt a charge of energy and suddenly metal and stone starting unfolding down the helm, puzzle pieces shifting into place.

Forming an iron and stone breastplate. The material rippled across both arms until they were encased in brassards, cubitieres and gauntlets. Cuisses and greaves formed around her legs and feet.

Then it stopped.

Inside the helm, the eyesockets filled with vigor and she could see a meter that read, “Damage Absorption”. Right now it was at green. At red, it was marked with the words, “Uh-oh! Better get to safety as you’ll be without protection!”

“Woah, now that is some nice looking armor,” Nom said. “I’m not gonna lie. It’s pretty badass.”

Even Tuk-Tuk looked impressed.

Nay moved around a little, expecting the suit to be heavy and clumsy. She expected it to be cumbersome and hard to move in. But she was able to move just as easily. Somehow, the suit felt as light as her leather armor.

She did some practice jabs and swings with her fists.

Okay, it was a little heavier. But the weight wasn’t a detriment at all. It was indeed quite the mobile suit of maugrim armor.

She lifted her hands to the helm and lifted it from her head. In a blink, the metal and stone armor, etched in the runes of the maugrim, and powered by vigama, disappeared. Light flew into the helm and the suit was gone, save for the helm with the glittering gemstones.

“I want one,” Nom said.

#

Lain was using her hoop to light the way through the dark ice tunnel. Quincy followed close behind. There were two stone doors up ahead, massive and free of the ice. The surface was covered in infinitesimal cracks. Lain could make maugrim runes and symbols etched along the borders.

“Maugrim craftsmanship,” Quincy said, running a hand along the stone. “Looks like an entrance to their settlement or base here in the cairn.”

“Maybe we should turn around,” Lain said. “Have Ilyawraith come get us and take us back to the lair above us.”

Instead of answering, Quincy pushed on one of the stone doors. Stone ground against stone and the door started to move inwards with a rumble.

Curious, Lain moved forward and looked what lied beyond. It was definitely an entrance to a maugrim base of some kind. She could see compartments and fortifications carved out of the rock in the large cavern beyond.

“If we can find stairways leading up,” Quincy said, “then there must be some connection to the passages the harpy has been using. And we can find Nay and the others.”

He entered and Lain followed.

After a few minutes, they didn’t find stairs but a stone lift connected to chains and pulleys. They stepped on it and Quincy pulled a lever. The lift jerked and resounded underneath their feet. Then with clicks, the chain started to wind around the pulleys, and the lift ascended.

Lain took the opportunity to view the base. It wasn’t exactly a city, more like the ruins of a fort inside the mountain.

On the next level, they spotted a spiral staircase that disappeared into the rock. As they headed for it, Quincy stopped, studying another stone door. The runes here were more baroque and stylized. They caught the eye.

Again, Quincy pushed the door opened and Lain was taken with the contents within. It seemed to be some kind of maugrim workshop.

“Can we explore this briefly?” Lain said. “Maybe there’s treasure or something useful in here. A maugrim workshop must have something of value.”

But she didn’t have to convince the former adventurer. He was already entering the workshop.

There were suits of armor with weapon attachments. Cogs and wires and strange crystals on stone worktables. Parts of things she didn’t have names for. And most curious of all, Lain found scrolls. Not only were their racks full of them, but there was another table that had a scroll rolled out on it.

As she inspected it, it looked like the design for some war hammer that had vigor enhancements on it. She couldn’t read maugrim, but the sketch communicated it all.

These racks must be full of inventions.

“The maugrim knew how to transform stone and ore into wonders,” Quincy said. “It’s too bad we’re left with so little of their invention.”

“It is said that gnomish tinkerers got much of their knowledge from the maugrim,” Lain said.

Quincy tripped over something and one of the walls began to tremble. There was the sound of stone and metal groaning, and suddenly the wall disappeared into the floor, revealing a compartment where a stone coffin sat.

They both looked at each other and then went to inspect it. Except they discovered the lid wasn’t stone, but glass.

There was an old maugrim corpse inside, but somehow miraculously well-preserved.

Gloom and doom, it’s the body of a maugrim!

There was still skin on those bones. He was short and wide. Sturdy, just as Lain knew a maugrim should be. And the beard was massive and fluffy, covering up its whole chest.

The maugrim corpse suddenly coughed, making Lain and Quincy jump. It sat up, shattering the glass. It shook the gray and yellow dust out of its braided hair, revealing silver locks. The maugrim began pulling cobwebs out of his beard and clearing his throat. He fell out of the cracked stone coffin and landed on his hands and knees on the floor, hacking up phlegm.

He opened his eyes, revealing two different colored eyes. One was green, the other was blue. His legs seemed to be atrophied and he propped himself up on both hands and looked down at his body.

He said something in the maugrim tongue. It was a language that hadn’t been spoken in who knew how long. And as such, Lain did not understand it.

His voice was a low baritone and cracked. He rolled over onto his back, lying down. He held the palms of his hands out in front of him and counted the lines.

Then he finally noticed he wasn’t alone. He looked up at Lain and Quincy, surprise on his face.

“What is your name?” Quincy said. “Do you speak common?”

“Is this not a dream?” the maugrim said in common.

Quincy shook his head. “This is waking life.”

“My name?” the maugrim said, confused. But then he seemed to remember. “Flux…Fluxwell. Fluxwell Voreheim.”

Then Lain saw madness flash in his eyes. His face transformed from one of surprise and concern to one of mirth. As if he was realizing something important. “It worked, by Voreheim’s Hammer! It worked!”

Lain and Quincy exchanged a look. Then Lain ventured to ask, “What worked?”

“The Sleep of Stone!” the crazed maugrim said. As he cackled more, he turned over and pointed a hand at his back.

He lifted up his tunic, revealing the stone fused to the center of his spine. There was a silver jewel in it the shape of an hourglass.

It was full of vigama, fluttering around, alive.