The Newt and Demon

Theo’s plan to bring some drama to the event wasn’t just about drama. He had a way he thought he could take care of the monster by flooding the chamber with water, but that came with its own set of problems. Where would the water go after it extinguished the smoldering beast? Would it flood the caverns below, causing problems for his town down there? He couldn’t predict that, so he came up with a more dramatic plan.

“You’ve been practicing your running, haven’t you, Tresk?” Theo asked.

“That question is so pointed,” Tresk said, looking slightly offended. “I don’t need to practice my running. I’m naturally good.”

One of the many projects Theo had worked on involved a set of staircases and ledges to the southwest, right through the rocks near the mine and out, giving a view of the open ocean. Digging a tunnel between the cliffs and the chamber wouldn’t be too hard. Leading the monster down that very same tunnel would be just as easy. Normally, he would be concerned about convincing Tresk to take on the task, but she seemed strangely eager. Maybe she was bored.

Although Sarisa and Rowan had come along, their roles in the event fell to being mostly observers. Although Theo wouldn’t decline their help if things went wrong, his plans often went wrong. But the strength of a Broken Tusk was their adaptability.

“Perfect,” Theo said, pulling himself from his thoughts. “Let’s get to work.”

“You’re going to get to work,” Tresk said, folding her arms. “I can’t move this much stone.”

“You can’t move any stone,” Theo said. “Look at your little noodle arms.”

“Hey!” Tresk shouted. “I love my noodle arms.”

Near the entrance of the mines, another tunnel led off to the cliffs Theo had worked on. The tunnel was angled slightly, heading upward, but only to provide drainage. The original idea was to run a railroad track down this way, looping along the cliffside and down onto a causeway in the sea. That’s because we had failed spectacularly, although Theo still didn’t know the reason. The party edged along the cliff, finding an area they thought might give them a straight shot to the chamber.

Using his earth sorcerer’s core, Theo sensed the rock, piercing it with his shadowy aura to determine where the chamber was. His senses delved deep, finding strange openings in the rock passages he wasn’t aware of and other interesting things. But soon he found what he was looking for. The massive opening in the rocks felt hot to his senses. He could feel the fire of the monster burning brighter—perhaps brighter than before. Reaching out with his will, he grabbed a cube of rock, pulled it back, and tossed it down into the ocean below.

“You know,” Sarisa said, tapping her chin. “Feels as though you could use that power more often. You know… to crush things.”

“Seriously, imagine getting one of those tossed at you,” Rowan said, shaking his head.

“I’ve done it before,” Theo said with pride, sticking his chest out, only to be smacked in the back by Tresk.

“Memento mori, my good friend,” Tresk said.

“We’re pseudo gods,” Theo countered. “I’m not sure death needs to be a concern of ours.”

“You know what I meant,” Tresk said.

Carving a new tunnel from the rock was easy enough, and if things went wrong, Theo could plug it back up before the monster got to them. He pulled countless stones from the wall, realizing after a bit that he could put Ziz out of business.Manipulating the stone with his core was almost effortless. With his willpower so high, he could reach out and make intricate shapes if he wanted. He could pull a sheet of rock from the cliff face and turn it into small, useful blocks. That aspect of the power had never appealed to him, though.

“Getting kinda hot, isn’t it?” Tresk asked, fanning herself.

Theo looked back, seeing that both Rowan and Sarisa were sweating. It was easy to forget he was wearing the Coat of Rake, which made most environments tolerable. He looked back to the wall, realizing that as he reached out to the new bit of stone, it was hotter than the last. Falling into his thoughts had made him stop paying attention to the heat, and he could only think that they were getting closer to the chamber.

“Is it really that close?” Theo asked, looking back at his companions and concerned. “I thought we had at least another hundred feet.”

“I’m up, baby,” Tresk said. Her daggers appeared in her hands, and she assumed a combat position in the darkened tunnel.

“There’s no need to fight this thing,” Theo said. “Not until it’s in the water, then we can get it.”

“Wait, there’s a part two to this plan?” Sarisa asked, looking slightly shocked.

“You two wanted a fight, didn’t you?” Theo asked.

“We were willing to fight,” Rowan corrected. “Not like we were looking for one. Not least of which against a giant beast like that.”

“You two should make your way down to the coastline. Just wait for our signal. If we need to, we’ll lead the beast back to the city, and the guns can take care of it.”

“I’m about to head off to the tavern,” Rowan grumbled as he walked away with his sister.

Theo estimated the time it would take to walk down to the coastline, counting it out in his head as he thought about all the ways this thing could go wrong. He and Tresk both had backup plans so they wouldn’t be in immediate danger. The only problem would be if the beast somehow managed to avoid their trap, not slipping from the cliff and turning to attack the miners. At least they could send up a general alarm to the town.

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“Are you ready?” Theo asked. He felt Tresk’s eagerness to prove herself flood through him.

“Ready!” she shouted, daggers still in her hands.

Of course, it was awkward when it came time to remove the last few blocks. Dreskin Theo walked the blocks back from the far side of the tunnel, tossing them over the cliff. A few more blocks later, and the heat was almost unbearable. Theo felt as though the stone he was pulling might go molten at any moment. And he didn’t remember the monster within the cavern being this hot.

“Oh, I have a feeling something’s going to go wrong,” Tresk said, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

“Terribly wrong if our luck’s anything to go by,” Theo said. He considered the last block he had to pull, looking back on the long tunnel and realizing something about his plan.

The beast very well may follow him through the tunnel as he pulled the last block. Well, he had made sure that the passageway was large enough for the monster to follow. He hadn’t counted on it following immediately after the block was pulled. Since he was effectively cutting the stone from the rock, it would be mobile after he made this last cut. Tresk might have been right in her predictions that things were going to go wrong.

“Ready?” Theo asked.

“Stop delaying,” Tresk said, bouncing with excitement. “I wanna jump off a cliff!”

“Is Alex ready?” Theo asked. Tresk’s impatient grew. She simply responded with a series of grunts.

The moment Theo pulled the last large block from the wall, he felt something press against it. He held against it with his willpower, working with his core to try to hold it in place, but the force on the other side was too great. Although he had no physical contact with the stone, his feet slid back, scraping against the stone floor. Tresk chirped with excitement, making strange noises as she laughed. The alchemist simply let the monster push him, sailing towards the light on the far side of his hewn tunnel. His companion ran as fast as she could.

No matter how much willpower he put into it, the Oak couldn’t hope to stop the monster. It pushed him until, what felt like moments later, he was sailing through the air. He couldn’t remember when the darkness of the tunnel had given way to the light just above the ocean. But the next thing he remembered was a sensation of falling. The sky above and the ocean below spun in a dizzying display that was impossible to understand.

Tresk hooted with excitement as they fell. The wind rushed by, deafening Theo to everything but the excited chittering of his companion. The only other sound he could hear was the roar of the flaming monster above them. Alex dove, scooped Tresk from the air, but left Theo to his own plan. Except he didn’t have a plan. He hadn’t thought this through as well as he had expected. Most people would consider him paranoid for keeping so many utility potions on him. The alchemist preferred to think of himself as prepared.

There were a few potions Theo could drink to get out of this situation. There was the unfavorable Return Potion. That potion would bring him back to the place he was born, which either meant he would return to the destroyed Earth, or more likely, to wherever the body he inhabited was born. But he had a better potion for the job. The Retreat Potion, imbued with the Elemental Wind property, would see him through.

As Theo fell, he angled the potion awkwardly, trying to get the contents to drain into his mouth. He drained the liquid from within the vial through great effort. The effects of the potion were immediate. Several things happened all at once. Theo shot backwards with more force than he thought his body could handle. If not for his enhanced Vigor, he might not have recovered from the whiplash alone. A gust of wind burst forth before him. The sound of the whipping wind became intense enough that he couldn’t even hear the creature roar. Once he stopped rocketing backwards, he felt the next effect of the potion take hold.

Theo drifted about 50 feet above the waves below, the feather fall effect from his potion carrying him harmlessly. He watched as the monster crashed into the water, massive gouts of steam issuing as its body was extinguished. He still couldn’t get a good look at what the thing looked like under that steam, but he saw dark flesh. It was as though the monster was made from coal, some embers still burning as it sank below the waves. Tresk hooted with excitement from somewhere above. Alex’s excited honks joined her shrill voice.

Drifting awkwardly towards the harbor, Theo crossed his arms and shook his head. He watched the boiling sea, trying to spot any sign of the monster below. But as he grew more distant, he found he was unable to see anything worth noting. It was an undignified thing to be propelled by one’s own momentum, unable to change course, especially when the ocean came rushing up to meet him.

Theo wasn’t the strongest swimmer, especially not with the river dumping into the harbor, creating large eddies near the defensive towers they had built. Fortunately, the builders of those towers had enough knowledge to put little ladders along its length on both sides. Pumping his legs, the alchemist finally reached the ladder, grasping the rusted metal and pulling himself onto the stone causeway. He sucked in a breath of fresh air, coughing and spitting out a fair amount of water.

The causeway rumbled slightly as Alex and Tresk landed next to him.

“That was pretty cool,” Tresk said.

“It could have been cooler,” Alex honked.

A tres cat away of celebrating before fights were over. Theo rose to his feet, ringing out what parts of his clothes he could see. Water dripped onto the causeway as the defenders stationed there looked on in confusion. They were all prepared for the lizardfolk to attack. But Theo was more concerned about the giant monster thrashing in the water about 200 feet away. It hadn’t died from the fall, and extinguishing its fire seemed to do little to temper its rage.

The alchemist now had a better view of the monster, who seemed to learn how to swim after a few moments of thrashing around. If the creature’s proportions weren’t so strange, it would have almost been cute doing a little doggy paddle towards the defensive towers of the town. It had a big lumpen body, arms and legs almost like a toad’s, and a squat face to match. If the creature had eyes, a nose, and a mouth, he couldn’t see them.

“Round two. Fight!” Tresk shouted.

Theo looked up at the nearest tower, smiling to himself. He knew that it wouldn’t be much of a fight, not with the Sandscourge Company on deck. Zan’kir took his job very seriously. The towers he commanded bristled with weapons, both constructed by the local artificer, Throk, and those generated by the system. He heard orders that spread through their ranks: loading rounds, aiming the weapons, and preparing to fire. They were just waiting for a command from their officer. While the alchemist could give that command, his eyes were locked on the monster in the water. He couldn’t stop thinking about what it was, or what it was doing down there in the mine.

Eventually, the order came, and the deafening snap of several railguns firing at the same time echoed across the harbor. The beast flailed in the water as more rounds were fired. It didn’t last long against the might of those weapons. And Theo was reminded that perhaps this was another exploit that should be patched. There were just too many things to track.

“That went well,” Sarisa said, approaching an out-of-breath from the far side of the causeway. Her brother was close behind her.

“I shot an arrow at it,” Rowan said, striking a heroic pose.

“And I’m sure we’ll never have a problem with giant flaming toad monsters again,” Theo said, smiling to himself.