Before we could reach the entrance to the passage, a monster busted open the doors to the armory. It must have been roaming nearby, and heard our voices. Just as everything else on Friki, it was unlike anything I had seen before. The monster towered over us, and was big as a barn. Though slow, we could tell it was incredibly strong, too. When I asked what it was, Astor did not know. He had never seen it before, either. Lilith, however, mentioned she saw them working on something in the dungeons over the last year. They took body parts from different beasts and vampires, and surgically pieced them together to create the body. Then, they riddled the body with the same bacteria that is in anubi creatures. This animated the corpse, but it was much slower than the anubi, because the corpse was not one muscular system, but multiple sewn together. It was, however, much stronger, since the bacteria was able to concentrate on a much smaller area, due to the segmentation of the muscles. Lilith finished by saying, the creators called them “stein monsters”. It was a hideous creation.

From the looks of all the stitches in the creature, Lilith was right. The evil warlord had created an abomination. I, for one, had no desire to combat the thing, even though it was as slow as anything I encountered before. So, I asked Lilith if she wished to prove the Didymo weapons tactics actually worked. She looked at the monster, and then at me, before shaking her head. Astor, however, was not fazed by the creature. He told us to step back towards the passage, but I reminded him that if he were to cause a raucous, there would be soldiers all over us in no time. Astor nodded in acknowledgement, then continued forward.

Lilith and I retreated to the passage, and watched the prince work. First, he used his speed burst to run around the monster, out of his sight. Then, he transformed into mist, and began floating around the monster’s head. This confused the creature, and as he stumbled around, Astor began leading him to the door. The monster followed the cloud of mist, and walked right out of the armory. Astor led him all the way down the hall, and as it reached the stairway, he blinded the monster, causing it to fall down the steps. It tumbled and crashed into everything on the way down. At that moment, soldiers came running up to see what the commotion was; Astor faded into a shaded area, and disappeared. When they noticed the stein monster, lying on the ground with, multiple body parts broken off, they began cursing the stupid creature while collecting the pieces to take back to the dungeon for repairs. Finally, Astor returned to the armory, closed the door, and we continued on our way.

When we returned to the passage, Lilith said we were not far away from our final exit. Thus, after a few more floors, we exited into an empty hallway. Proceeding carefully, we looked around every corner, ducked in and out of rooms as need be, and killed soldiers quietly, in order to move undetected. We navigated five floors this way, and eventually we made it to the throne room.

As we slowly opened the door, we noticed the area had a few guards. Astor snuck in first, quickly took them out, and then Lilith and I followed. The throne room was enormous, with a ceiling as high as the sky, and windows just as big. There was a giant wooden door leading out to a balcony on one end, and opposite it was the stage, where the throne was located. To the back of it on the left side, there was a large stone wall that seemed a bit out of place. Astor pointed out that was where the portal was. All we need to do was break down the stone, and I could enter through. I told Astor that we needed to find the evil warlord first, though, as I vowed to help him recapture his kingdom. Astor placed his hand on my shoulder, and said I had done more than enough. I got him out of his swamp cabin. I helped him defeat Leviathan, and took care of him afterward when he was out of commission. I helped him in the gauntlet against the Luso Werewolf Clan, and saved his life. My blood unlocked the Rathegalia blood power. I helped save Lilith and revived her with my blood, and I helped him battle all the way to the throne room. Astor said he could not ask me to do anymore. Plus, Lilith said she was there, and could help Astor kill the evil warlord. They both said it was time for me to return home. So, we broke down the stone wall.

The portal was there, as Pathfinder and Astor both had said. The energy exuding from it was powerful, and though I could not be sure, I swear I could feel home on the other side. Astor looked at me with a sense of bitter sweetness. We had grown to be close friends, and I certainly was going to miss him. We gave each other a hug, I hugged Lilith, too, then I prepared to enter the portal. Before I could, though, we were immediately surrounded by the evil warlord’s soldiers…

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