The Pilgrim of Pondwater | Pilot

"The search lasted more than an hour. They were not strong enough to lift many of the rocks and Claire needed to rest between each levitation spell for the bigger boulders. At last they saw a glittering in the debris."

The second hardest thing about killing a stone golem, is having simultaneously to defend against the many small bat-like monsters that live within the recesses, cutouts, and under the archways of the golem. Adventurers begin confident that they can defeat a roost of the winged fiends, when suddenly the floor beneath them caves in. Beam and plaster shower down on beguiled adventurers. They fall at the hands of toppling columns. The gnashing bats receive their reinforcements in brick and stone. The giants stand there not *like* they are a part of the walls, but *as* the ramparts, the buttresses, the bridges, and the stone floors. The very walls rise in attack in spite of their mortar. Strategic sections of roof cave in with deadly accuracy. The dungeon itself, come to life.

"FROOMIS, ABOVE YOU!" Tinkerspring shouted amidst the explosion of shattering stone and creaking wood.
The gnome ran diagonally across the wide room, back towards its entrance. He sped off, protecting his head from the falling stones and leaping over the snaking cracks erupting in the ground below. Froomis wasted no time by looking up at whatever was coming. He knew from experience that whether it was a falling boulder, a snarling bat, or some new peril, his only option was to be somewhere else—fast. He compressed into a tensioned ball, dropping to all fours. His hind legs, loaded with the bulk of his weight, kicked as hard as possible, while his forelimbs swung out first into a 'T' and then back together above his head for reduced air resistance. He leaped. Like a dart he shot at incredible speed to the left, staying astonishingly low to the ground. A knobbed pillar of stone came crashing down at the frog's after image. The golem had missed its leather clad target.

Froomis leaped again. Two bats raced after him. They were each less than half the size of him, a rather tall frog when he was all stretched out. His body was mostly legs, left uncovered below a slender leather chest-piece. He was wrapped in a greying blue cloak whose sleeves were cut at the bicep, exposing thin green muscles that ended in three bright bulbous fingers. As he hopped, Froomis searched upward with his right eye, maintaining his focus on the ground below with his left. The bats were gaining on him. The nearest lunged, screeching as it brought its sharp teeth close to its airborne target. Froomis prepared to take the hit, seeing no way to keep jumping away from both bats. The bat's momentum might give him more speed to get toward the leftmost edge of the room where there was a raised platform. This high ground, far from the golem, was his aim. The bat thrust its head forward, prepared to slash at whatever part of the invading frog was in front of it, but the pain did not come to Froomis. His right eye missed the ball of fire that knocked the bat out of the sky, as he winced in fear. Claire, the party wizard, and the knight Strogan beside her, saw only that Froomis did not even hesitate as he dodged crashing stone and timber, seemingly unafraid of the poisonous bite of the bats. They were inspired by his complete trust in his team to protect him.

The golem turned its attention to the duo. New limbs seemed to grow out from its central body, that part which was already moving. Like a tendril, a "leg" lifted out from below Claire and Strogan. The very ground they stood on rose up and threatened to launch them into the ceiling.
Strogan grabbed Claire and jumped, "SLOW FALL! PLEASE!"

Tinkerspring was watching from behind a toppled statue, praying for the chaos to end. At this command he stood and incanted, "loe," and shot a burst of air toward the falling pair. It reached them half way down, where their accelerating descent promptly retarded. But it slowed them far too much. Still high in the air, they were suddenly surrounded by three bats.
"Uh... I can't get any swing in my sword in this gravity. Got anything Claire?!"
"Shit Shit," Claire responded, trying to wave away an encroaching monster with her staff.

Froomis managed to defeat the bat that chased him on his way to the easternmost ledge. He was one hop away. He stopped for the first time since he dodged that initial swing of the golem to catch his breath. To jump up to this great height, the frog needed all his energy. Rising onto his two back legs, he ran forward. He twisted, facing his right shoulder where his head had once been. Then, in the moment before leaping, he squatted low, tensioning his muscles like a compressed spring. He reached for the ceiling with his flexing toes, ankles, knees and upward swinging arms. Froomis rose and his rotational momentum turned him so that his back was now facing the eastern wall. With eyes forward, his attention could survey the battle at hand. His tongue flicked out over his shoulder and reached for a bunch of sharp tipped bolts held in the quiver on his back.
*Please hit. Please,* he thought.
He grabbed one from the bunch and loaded his wrist mounted cross-bow. Still rising toward that ledge, he fired at the trio of bats surrounding Claire and Strogan. The shot went short, but the frog wasted no time loading the next bolt. He shot again, but missed again. Froomis reached the vertex of his parabola, and began falling. His force started to flip him backwards. Upside down, Froomis' bolts threatened to fall out of his quiver. In an effort to save his only means of defense, he violently kicked his legs causing him to rotate even faster. The bolts slammed into the side of the quiver instead of falling out and Froomis completed an unintentional backflip.

The cowering gnome, Tinkerspring, watched as Froomis leaped high into the air and shot two arrows at the bats in quick succession. Just then a sharp stone was launched from the golem's chaotic thrashing, directly toward the vaulting frog. Tinkerspring watched in awe as Froomis somersaulted in mid-air, over the oncoming rock, loaded up a third arrow and shot!

This third bolt did connect with one of the bats, but things were looking dangerous for the magician and the knight. Froomis finally landed on the ledge and saw the perilous state his party was in. Claire and Strogan were fending off two bats, and had taken some damage already. Tinkerspring and their two porter mice were protecting, or hiding amongst, all of their luggage near the entrance of the room. Below him and to his left, Todd the Toad and Merry the shrew, were trying to clear rubble away from something. Froomis couldn't locate Stanley. Bats? Where's the golem? Who should I help? his mind raced. He again aimed his bow at the slow falling bubble. It had not reached solid ground yet. He reached back for more bolts and fired again. The arrow head pierced through the hairy chest of the closest bat. One left. He lifted his arm straight out in front of him, his three fingers spread wide with little silver rings on each. Attached to the rings were wires that connected to his crossbow. Closing one eye he aimed just above the final bat. He held his breath and clenched his fist with strength. This pulled the wires taught and released the mechanism launching the loaded arrow at the final bat. As the arrow sailed across the room, some kind of stone wall fell from above. The big rock came between him and his arrow. His vision was obscured. He opened his eye and looked at the annoyance. Horror. The golem had made a limb out of the entire section of roof in front of him, and was bringing it down fast. The frog could not move, could not even shout. A jagged burst of red shot from the near side of the stone. Below, Todd and Merry were crushed.

The hardest thing about killing a stone golem, is that you have to kill the golem too. It's only a matter of time before it kills you, broadening its sense of self to the entire room. There would be no escape then.

"I SEE THE MONSTER'S CORE, ITS THERE AT THE TOP OF THE CENTRAL LUMP!" Tinkerspring announced using a telepathy spell on the party.
This mental intrusion woke Froomis up from his shock. He ran and hopped onto that destructive limb that crashed down in front of him a moment earlier. He was angry, but focused. Strogan and Claire regained their footing and straight away launched into an offensive. The ironclad hero stabbed into the fleshy skin visible through the gaps in the brickwork of the golem leg towering beside him. The sharp pain paralyzed the golem's movement for a moment and demanded its attention. The golem started after its new target. Claire took the opportunity to run toward the entrance of the room. She launched a quick volley of magic at two bats buzzarding over the mice. Strogan continued his onslaught, slashing shallow gashes into the exposed golem skin as he ran toward its center.

Froomis, meanwhile, zig-zagged up the arm reaching a central column from which many more appendages emerged, like branches. He followed a path up, hopping between the myriad limbs determined to maul Strogan. He neared the roof of the chamber and spied the core of the beast, that enchanted bauble which animated it. He loaded up one of his arrows and aimed. The golem felt the threat and presence of Froomis. It spawned a circle of bricks around the base of the core and shot them like a pistol at the invader. Each time a brick was launched, a new one emerged up from its stony body to take its place. He ran in a wide arc around this deadly fountain, just faster than the cannonballs sent whizzing behind his back. He took aim again, still running. The tip of the core could be seen. A brittle white bone. He squeezed his fingers shut launching a silver tipped arrow. The core shattered. With not so much as a cry of agony, nor a thrashing in pain, the golem robed in stone vanished. Its fleshy interior disappeared leaving behind hollow tubes of cobble suspended in mid air. It all came crashing down.

"BRACE!" Froomis shouted as he himself began a free fall.

Tinkerspell, Claire, and the mice raced through the broad doors to the previous room. Strogan was in the most precarious situation. Weighty rock and cement hailed down on him from every direction. He used his circular metallic shield as an umbrella and ran. It protected him from the velocity of falling stone, but the weight of the rubble eventually forced him prone. None heard his muffled cries for help. Froomis was lucky to be at the top of the pile and much lighter than the stones falling beside him. As he made impact with the floor below him, he let his limbs, initially outstretched, crumple until his stomach and head were centimeters from the ground. He instantly kicked his hind legs, tossing him over his arms into a neat roll to capture the rest of the fall.

After defeating the last few bats, the party met in the center of the room.
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five," Froomis said pointing lastly to himself, "Anyone have eyes on Strogan?"
"He must be over there!" Claire said as she ran towards the direction of their earlier battle.
"Hold on, lets go togeth—" Froomis started.
"C-C-Captain, we are also missing Stanley, M-Merry and the t-t-t-toad," the meek pinkish-white mouse interrupted.
"Wait your turn to speak you runt! Though, my esteemed captain, shall we not split up and search?" voiced the ever sweet-talking brown mouse.
Froomis paused, *How should I break the news? It's my fault right?*
"They didn't make it," he said coolly and started walking after the jittering golden ponytail of Claire.

The search lasted more than an hour. They were not strong enough to lift many of the rocks and Claire needed to rest between each levitation spell for the bigger boulders. At last they saw a glittering in the debris. Strogan's silvery boot stuck out from beneath a large slab of marble. Froomis wrapped his long tongue around it and tied a simple knot on its return. Tinkerspring, Charlie, and Xanther gathered behind the frog and pushed. The mice leaned their backs into the person in front of them, using their legs to press the train forward. Slowly, they inched the rock to the side while Claire tried to grab hold of the unconscious human and pull him out.
"He's breathing!" Claire shouted in glee.
They were afraid to carry him back to their camp.
"He might have broken bones beneath his armor. Mice, go get the supplies from our room. It shouldn't be too many floors away. We will have to try and heal him here rather than go back," the Frog commanded.
"Right away sir!" Xanther replied, "Now, get on you little creature. We haven't all day!"
At this command, Charlie raced away.
"We'll be back in no time, sir!" Xanther said with a salute, and ran after the pink mouse.

Their spot in the center of the room was not ideal for sleeping. New monsters might enter the room, no longer fearing the wrath of the golem. Baby bats might wander hungry in search of their missing parents. Once Strogan managed to regain consciousness, they helped him limp towards the far eastern corner, beneath the elevated battlement Froomis earlier used for sniping. Here they also found the traces of Merry and Todd, and collected their gear. It was a somber evening. They ate stale bread and roasted bat. Tinkerspring looked nervously from face to face.
"Heheh, that was a crazy fight huh," he said quietly.
The gnome waited for a response but everyone kept quiet. He removed his hat.
"Say Captain, what'd you make of it?" he started again.
"It's a monster I have faced many times. You all did well. It was a tough battle," Froomis replied with authority.
Charlie sat hunched over and silent. He could see the sweep of their friend's blood out of the corner of his eye. They heard some ominous banging a few rooms over and all fell silent again. After a while, Tinkerspring made a deep yawn.
"I'll keep watch, you all rest," Froomis announced.
"Well hold on now captain. You fought hard; Let me. Surely you'll give me this honor!" Xanther pleaded.
This sparked Tinkerspring's excitement.
"Boy did he ever fight hard! Did you see his backflip? He jumped up like 100 feet, shot two arrows in mid air, did a back flip to dodge a stone spear and shot again all before landing!"
"Now's not the time for your bardic tales, Tink," Froomis cautioned.
"OHOHO but this tale is without added sugar! Claire, really! He jumped 200 feet into the air and killed all three bats, didn't he?" Tinkerspring proclaimed.
"True. He did kill those bats from God knows where," Strogan recounted from his position lying on the floor wrapped in bandages.
"And more! He climbed up into the eye of the storm and KABLAMO! Down goes the golem," Tink dramatically mimicked Froomis' shooting gesture, pointing his arm out and clenching his fist.
"The c-c-captain is amazing," marveled little Charlie.
"We... all fought our hardest... Let's get to bed, I'll stand watch. You all rest up. Now," the seemingly invulnerable Frog directed.
"YES SIR!" Xanther shouted with enthusiasm and dived straight into his sleeping roll.

The light of the dungeon never wanes. Where it emanates from is still a mystery. Perhaps the very stones themselves release a soft glow. Dungeon crawlers carry custom fitting eye masks to block out this light when they figure they are too tired to go on. Time also moves funnily in these caverns. One could walk for days needing little rest. But sometimes, they might sleep after each new room is conquered. There was no pattern to it, nor any indication of whether it was day or night in the overworld. They slept in a circle around their central campfire and luggage. They protected it from even the walls as there were such thieving monsters as brick ants.

They let the fire continue to burn so as to drown out the strange sounds of the dungeon behind its soft crackle, and to give Froomis something to look at on his watch. He sat amongst the luggage, organizing them into a lumpy sofa, and stared intently into the blaze, following with his eyes the flaking red splinters of a burning piece of beam.

*I should have seen the golem coming. I'm always missing things fuck fuck. Todd's children...* Froomis released a deep sigh and stared up at the ceiling.
*I am a terrible person. I don't know why these fuckin guys are following me. I'm not fit to lead. What was it? Like 6 months ago when Trinny died from the giant snake? I could have saved her somehow...* He slapped his cheeks twice.
*No, I'm being stupid. It's a battle. It's not my fault.* Froomis closed his eyes and again thought himself vile.
*I could have shot faster and not missed those shots. I fucking killed her goddamn it. Everyone will know I'm evil and they're right. I am just literally taking these guys to slaughter. What am I doing? The king will imprison me surely... Shit! I didn't even look for Stanley,* Froomis sat up in shock! He stood and ran to the rubble near the blood splatter. He thrust his hands into the rocks and dug. Charlie woke first from the clattering stones.
"Is everything alright c-captain?"
Froomis froze, breathing heavy.
*God I can't show them I knew where Stanley was. They'll know I didn't save him. They'll know I killed Merry and Todd.*
"Oh... just thought I saw something. No worries." Froomis walked back towards the campfire and patted Charlie on the head, "Go to bed Charles."
He sat again at his spot amidst the luggage and tried to think of something else. He sat there for a long while distracting himself, soothing himself, but coming somehow back to the idea that he could have saved everyone, if only he wasn't so inept, evil, and weak.
Claire watched as he silently wept from within her roll, peeking through her slipped sleeping mask. He had been crying a lot lately.