“I have told you already, you are free to leave wherever you want Honored Senior but once again if you or any of this group step outside those front doors before this test is complete they will not be allowed in again.” Zif said as he and his six golems in front of him walked down the wide tiled steps of the stairs.

  “Just leave it be Gull,.” Frazier said.

  “The last Gaudian of this temple who is somewhere between 4,000 to 5000 years old and is somehow a living Golem has just issued us a test. I know how my party is going to respond.”

  “That is because you are rookies and idiots. If whatever is down there is pushing back Brother Zif and and an army of more advanced golems than this world has seen since the days of the Five Evils then I think a few Copper adventures will not make a difference girl.” Gull nearly hissed the words at her.

  “Most Honored Senior this is where you are mistaken. You all, even in your weak state will help immensely. The second vault's many rooms were not designed for me so I can only patrol and fight in the main halls of that vault and you alongside these golems will do good work killing the monster that inhabits that vault.” Zif said.

  Franco had to ask, it was driving him crazy. “Zif, you keep saying vault as if it meant something it doesn't to us. A vault is a floor right or a single large room? Franco asked, hoping he didn't sound to dumb.

  That question got Zif to stop on the stairs, he spun his upper body to look at Franco, his four arms occupied again with their weapons.

  “Umm interesting. A vault is a unit of measurement meaning an area 120 feet in depth. That is it. A vault could have up to 8 or 9 floors in some cases but most had fewer.”

  “Oh and how many vaults did Desanigh have?” Franco asked, trying to act casual.

  “At the collapse? The Deep Mines were at Vault 208 but no one really lived past vault 158 at the time. With active mining from 170 to 208. Zif turned his body straight again and started walking down the stairs.

  “Zif how many vaults does the Temple have?” Franco asked from behind as he hurried to keep up.

  “Good question human, you have good questions. 210, we always kept ahead to teach, to guide, to help. It was the first mission of this Temple” he said.

  “And how many floors do we need to clear to get to this Grand Armory?” Sarah asked excitedly.

  “Six in Vault two and then three in Vault three, so nine total”

  “Not to bad guys.” Sarah said, trying to sound positive.

  “Now that is the attitude we need.” Zif said, stumping downwards as they passed another large landing and doorway onto a floor.

  They continued down the large set of stairs for another five minutes before the stairs stopped at another landing whose floors were made up of stone. Solid grey stone whose top had been worked so as to be one color and consistency. The white tiles stopped on the last step.

  “We are here, ready for battle.” Zif said as he raised his shield up leading with the left side of his body.

  “Wait Zif, please wait.” Frazier and Gull asked at the same time.

  He lowered his weapons a bit and turned his head to look at them. Frazier waved both her arms at him.

  “We are mere mortals Brother Zif we need to rest, eat and other things before we go in at least.”

  “She is right, give us at least thirty minutes to get ready,.” Finn said from further back in the group as he lowered the small bag he had carried on his back to the ground and sat down next to it. Zif was still for a few seconds before he stood up straight and turned to face them.

  “You are correct, I forget the needs of the body. Rest and if you must relieve yourself go there in that corner.” He said as he pointed to the corner of the landing that was closest to the stairs but as far away from them as could be.

  “I will summon another golem with cleaning tools to um, yes, clean up after you.” Ziff said as the six smaller golems formed a 2 by 3 line in front of the closed door. A set of double doors that was big enough to fit all six golems side by side through.

  “Thank you Brother Zif.” Maph said as he put down his ruck and sat next to Frazier against one of the walls.

  “Just Zif will do young elf. We will soon battle together and hopefully most of you will live.” Zif said as he turned to face the door, his back to them. Their team sat together while Gull went and sat next to Finn. Franco’s legs were a bit sore but it had been the emotions of the last hour or so that he had found so draining.

  “Do none of you think we should turn away from from this.” Oaken asked the team.

  Sipping water from a water flask that had a long built in straw that made it easier for Kimber to drink from. Franco looked to see if anyone wanted to answer first and when no one did he reached out and squeezed Oaken's shoulder as they sat across from each other on the floor.

  “No, Oaken this sounds beyond dangerous and we just met Zif but you did just help end a 4000 year old seal, I should say 5000 year old seal. We need to open this temple for the expedition and we are promised an item from this Grand Armory for helping. How could we say no? This is an adventure of a lifetime.” Franco tried to keep the excitement out of his voice.

  “Make sure to eat something Franco and Sarah. Oaken you don't have to go. If you or someone else wants to go back and tell them what's going on, I am sure they would appreciate that.” Frazier said as she broke apart some bread she had brought from this morning offering a chunk of it to each of her party members.

  They all took one and added what dread meats or other items they had brought. After eating for a few minutes in silence they started to take turns getting up and relieving themselves in the corner. Soon they heard a golem coming from above its metal feet echoing only slightly in the stairwell. It carried a bucket with water, soap and stiff cleaning brushes in one hand while the other had a mop. Franco along with the others started to pull out their weapons and to go over them. Arranging their gear so it was comfortable. The temperature in the landing and the temple had been comfortably warm. Where one would only sweat with exercise and not by just walking around.

  “Zif.” Gull said from where he was sitting to get the golems' attention. Ziff turned his body to the old [Water-Mage]

  “What are the conditions pass this door, will it be warmer or or colder than it is now? And can we leave some gear here and be able to get it later when we need it?”

  “Let me check Honored Senior.” Ziff looked to do nothing for a few seconds as he just stood there before he replied.

  “There is a bedroom on this floor showing that it is one degree warmer then here and there is a kitchen three floors down that says it is two degrees colder. That is all I could find but you may leave your things here. The door to the stairs for vault 2 are on the far opposite wall from us on this floor but the path between differing vault stairs is always a straight line. We will secure that door first and then clear the floor behind us. I will summon more Golems to guard our backs and hold the floors we have cleared.”

  “Ah, thank you,.” Gull said. “By any chance do you know what monsters are behind that door?” Gull said as he pointed at the closed doors.

  “No idea Honored Senior, but finding out should be interesting.” Zif said before he turned away.

  Franco had listened to the conversation but had gotten back to sharpening his saber’s edge. Wet stone and oil out. Sarah along with Maph and Frazier had laid out on the floor and were all napping as well as Finn who laid next to Gull. Oaken was reading from his new grimoire, muttering to himself as he tried to memorize the two page spell. Franco was just feeling his nervousness settle and the possibility of him napping again when Zif spoke.

  “It has been forty five minutes. Let us start soon.” At his words everyone woke up and started to prepare. Franco was on his feet and drew his saber. Wand in his left hand. The thud thud of more golems came down from the stairs.

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  “Formation Zif.” Gull said as he readied himself.

  “I and the golems will clear the pathway in front of us. Casters and support should follow while young Maph and Franco should guard our backs from the things that will come behind us from the floor.” Zif replied. They moved to take up that formation with Gull and Oaken closest to the Golems then Finn, Frazier and Sarah behind them with Maph and himself last.

  “Are you ready?” Ziff asked without turning around.

  “Yes.” Frazier said after looking at Gull who had nodded at her.

  “This is a most glorious day and a fitting test for those who would call themselves True Kimber and Friends of the Most Holy Temple of Jade. Let us see your resolve while we reclaim what was lost.”

  As his words ended the doors in front of them began to slide into the walls on either side, a loud cracking sound followed their movement. A dim light filled hallway appeared in front of them as the doors moved slowly open. The area emerging was half in shadow while a humid stench filled air flowed into the landing area they waited in. Sounds of other living, moving things filled their chamber.

  “For Hearth and Home!” Zif bellowed as he stepped forward in line with the 2 by 3 formation of his lesser golems.

  “For the Forge and the Jade Goddess!” he bellowed once more as they stepped forward in unison one last time before the hallway around them exploded into violence. Zif’s arms blurred as his upper body swung side to side. Huge brownish grey worms as large as horses with mouths of glittering teeth reared up to bite at the Golem and were cut apart. Centipedes as large as snakes crawled between their legs and on the sides of walls. Their large biters tried to bite the golems that stomped on them as they continued to slowly walk forward. Slimes of various sizes started to roll around them as they went to pick up as much carrion as they could.

  “Ah gross.” Sara said, her two regular daggers out as he started to dance around killing anything on the ground that got past the golems. Oaken and Frazier started to join in the slaughter, shooting past the Golems into the growing mass of monsters.

  “Hold, Hold.” Finn said his mace out as he smashed a centipede on the wall.

  “The golems are doing fine, use your melee to kill anything that gets past them. Save your spells for your team.”

  Franco waited not being able to contribute as their group slowly moved forward. Only able to watch at the slaughter. The golems were clearing the area ahead of them well for the first ten minutes until they crossed into the first large hallway intersection where they split up. Zif stepped forward to clear the path ahead by himself while one of each type of lesser golem went to hold the right hallway and the other three went to hold the left.

  With the sword and shield golem in line with the pike carrying one while supported by the twin auto crossbow golem behind them. Here Franco and the others started to help. What looked like an actual snake made of rock wrapped around the pike carrying golem on his left. Trapping the golems arms to its side. Franco lunged forward stabbing the snake in its body, his saber only going into it a few inches but causing it to loosen itself as it moved its wounded side away from him, giving Franco a clean shot to its head. The magic bolt took a good chunk of the head off, brownish red blood and rock-like scales splattered the golem that was now able to break free of the snake and crush its remaining head under foot while it moved to strike down other monsters with its pike.

  Here they stopped and fought for minutes with Zif alone in the front, a whirlwind of death. Franco along with Sarah, and Gull helped their golems hold the left while Maph, Frazier, Oaken and Finn helped on the right. Franco held off on using his wands as much as he could and jumped in and out of combat stabbing and slashing with his saber but still he had to switch wands out as it seemed never ending.

  Killing giant monstrous worms, beetles, centipedes, slimes and every foul thing of cave and sewer. Only after minutes did the tide slow down and then suddenly it stopped. Franco could hardly hear over the blood rushing through his head and his heavy breathing. He looked around at the dim lit intersection they stood at and the wall of stinking flesh that surrounded them on three sides. Maph had his hands on his knees, head down as he tried to catch his breath on the other side while Frazier drank deeply from her water canteen. Zif stood tall in the middle of the hallway leading straight from where they had come. He was covered in blood and gore, most of it slowly sliding off his metal exterior.

  “Good work, I will summon more golems to hold and clean this intersection. Catch your breath and take a break. It will take them several minutes then we will continue down this way and you will clear the rooms on either side with my golems helping.” Zif said, sounding pleased.

  “Was that, was that the worst of it.” Sarah asked as she drank some water and tried to catch her breath.

  “For this floor maybe. I forgot how much more aggressive they are when they sense living things but we should have another fight like this by the stairwell leading down on this floor and maybe one or two more. Most of the floor will know we are here now but not all till we get closer.

  Franco used his [Instant Recharge] on his magic bolt wand but holstered it as he kept his Shock Bolt wand at the ready. He thought he had better start the refresh timer on his Ability now. As they waited Oaken and him put out a few light orbs showing off the intersection and the hallways better. The stone floors looked mostly intact as did the walls and ceilings but things were growing in places and the air was humid. Normal sized bugs and flies were flying and crawling everywhere as they swarmed over the gory slaughter. Dungeon Moss grew in patches up and down the hallways.

  Finn along with Frazier walked around as they waited and checked on everyone. No one seemed to have been hurt as the golems had taken the brunt of the attack. After another ten minutes fifteen more golems came but only 12 were armed for combat as the other three had shovels, brooms, large canvas bags and other cleaning items.

  “Good they are here. Divide up in two groups. The rooms we will clear in this hallway were suites of rooms for important guests. So they will have several rooms that need to be checked. If their door is intact it does not mean nothing is inside.” Zif said before he moved out of the intersection and down the large hallway that ran straight from stairwell to stairwell.

  The six golems they had fought alongside followed Zif now in two groups of three.

  “Same groups.” Sarah said to the group as she cleaned some bug chunks from her braid of long red hair.

  “Works for us.” Frazier replied when Finn just shrugged. Just a dozen feet or so into the hallway they come to the first set of doors on either side. The right side door was intact while the left side was simply missing. The door was about eight feet tall and a normal Kimber sized wide. The ceiling of the dark room looked to be a good eight or nine feet tall also and not the twenty that the hallway was. Too tight for Zif in his massive 12 foot tall frame to fit in.

  “Light orb and then golems, Franco, myself and Sarah in the back. Check corners and any inclosed spaces. Being so close to the fight it hopefully should be clear already.” Gull said as they got ready.

  Franco shot a light orb spell into the dark room and saw it hit the far wall of the room after moving about twenty feet. Little bugs scattered across the floor and wall as the light entered followed by the golems and Franco.”

  It had been a central waiting room with couches, sitting chairs and a large table against one wall. Everything was broken and in pieces and out of one of the bedrooms through another broken door came a beetle as big as a dog that the sword golem cut in half in a flash of his sword. They cleared the three bedrooms and small kitchen. The only real fight was the bathroom which was half flooded with foul smelling water and a large snake that Gull killed with a lance of water made from its foul home. Franco exited behind the golems to see the other group waiting for them.

  “Anything interesting?” Frazier asked. She had taken off her helmet, her dark curly hair frizzy from her sweat.

  “Just a giant beetle and a toilet snake. You?” Franco replied.

  “Nothing. Dirty but not a millennium worth of dirt. Half the furniture is still good while the other half has rotted away. Still had some nice silverware and jade cups” she said facing Franco but her eyes were on Zif whose legs faced forward but had spun his upper body to watch them. Frazier's team’s three golems in front of him watching the Hallway.

  “I will reward you as I said I would. You do not get to claim salvage rights on this vault or the next as I am a priest of this Temple and this is not a ruin. Now clear below the 50th vault and we will talk then as I have not been down that far in 2000 years.” Zif said before he spun to face forward.

  They cleared room after room until they hit an intersection where Zif would move up some of his golems from the entrance and then continue down the straight shot. Clearing room after room. Franco found most were occupied by something but between the golems going in first and their backs being safe both groups started to clear the rooms quicker as no one felt really threatened. Most of the rooms were living spaces but they found closets and a supply room. A kitchen that had enough water pooled on the floor to support small fishes somehow, offices and bathrooms.

  It all looked like no one had ever used them but Zif explained over the many years he had cleaned or ordered cleaned by his golems every room on every floor as he slowly retreated up. Leaving nothing of real value for the monsters of the deep. It took them over an hour to reach the other side of the floor this way. Where the start of the stairwell for this Vault was. Here they rested until Zif moved them on. Down another hallway this time with only a single golem to guard their back at the last intersection they crossed as he kept five golems at the entrances to both stairwells and six with them helping to clear the rooms. While the last remaining 3 worked nonstop to clean. Franco wasn't sure how long it took, maybe another three hours but they cleared the floor finally.

  “We are done for now Zif. We need to eat and sleep. Can we please use one of the rooms to rest in.” Frazier asked again.

  Zif made a huffing sound as if frustrated and started walking down one hallway waving them to follow.

  “Yes of course, weakness of the flesh. I was a Kimber once, I remember what it's like. I think I do. Well there is an intact room they just cleaned down here. Let's say eight hours of rest and we will do the next floor. It has many more rooms but they are small individual ones that my Brothers and Sisters used as their personal rooms so I think it will be faster. Maybe only three hours at today's pace. Here you go. I will be about but the golems guarding both stairwells will remain and the others will all start cleaning. Yes, cleaning this place. It will look much better when you wake up.”

  They hurried after him as he spoke and at the sight of the clean room and the beds that looked usable Franco sighed in relief.

  “Two to a bed but Sarah, Oaken and Franco you are in one.” Frazier said casually as they walked into the sitting room. Franco was too tired to point out the hypocrisy so he and his two bed mates walked into their bedroom staring at Frazier who looked like nothing was wrong while Maph’s face was red in embarrassment. When all three of them got out of their armor and dirty clothes and into clean underwear they had packed they crawled onto the ancient bed which quickly collapsed under their combined weight but the mattress was still intact so they didn't move when Frazier and Finn checked on them from the sound of the bed breaking. They found them all asleep already.