From what Naomi saw on the fourteenth floor, it will take a month or two until the adventurer reaches the safe floor. The number of golem elephants was limited, five in each fort, and without them, crossing the labyrinth was hard, almost impossible. And they can be broken at any moment, like the real thing. Adventurers could attempt to repair them or abandon them. In the case of abandonment after an hour, the broken elephant will repair itself during the reset. Then it will stand in place until someone finds it. So, for now, Naomi waited for someone to reach the new floor. In the meantime, she, like always, fulfilled orders, or in her free time, she experimented with magic. She will have plenty of time to think about what to do with the sixteenth floor. Rough estimation shows that she needed more than half of the year, almost two-thirds, before she accumulated enough mana.
It was a week after finishing the fifteenth floor when General Serator approached her.
“Dungeon Mistress, can I have a moment of your time?”
“Of course, General. How can I help you?” She put aside some fine golem parts she was working with.
“Final checks of the golem elephants are done. We are preparing a caravan to expedite north. But there is one favor we want to ask you, Dungeon Mistress.”
“You finished them?” She almost shouted in excitement. “Can I see them?”
“Yes, Dungeon Mistress. I think the walls will be the best place to see them.” He answered.
“Can we go there immediately? We can talk there about your request.” She pleaded.
“Understood, Dungeon Mistress.”
When they reached the spot on the walls closest to the giant tents, the paladins were taking off the fabrics covering the golems. To protect people from being cooked alive inside the golems, carpenters build light wooden construction covered with fabric. The tent protected the metal armour from being directly exposed to the scorching sun of the desert. It was still hot inside the golems, but after opening all hatches, fresh air was able to circulate, and no one was in danger of collapsing from the overheating.
“They are beautiful,” Naomi whispered, admiring the bronze giant standing in front of her.
“They are your creation, Dungeon Mistress. You are very dedicated to how your golems look.”
“While I can agree with the second part, the first one is not true. That golem is a fruit of your and your men's hard labor. Not only because of how big they are, but also because you were trying something unheard of. Tell me, General, how many of you ended with new skills or just levels?”
“All of us.” The General answered truthfully. There wasn’t even one person involved in the whole project that don’t get rewarded in some way.
Naomi raised her hand to signal that she was ready to take a photo of the finished golem.
“Now that we need to wait a few minutes before the photo takes shape, can you tell me about your request?” Naomi asked the General.
“Yes, dungeon Mistress. I want to ask you for permission to send a platoon of my paladins under your banner.”
“My banner? Oh, you mean my crafter mark I used for my works?”
“Yes, Dungeon Mistress.”
“Hmm. I don’t mind, but it could be misleading. I didn’t build those golems. We need to change it.”
“My apologies, Dungeon Mistress. I forgot about that.”
“First ideas often require refinement.” She waved her hand dismissively and summoned an illusion of a flag with her seal. “So the tower needs to stay, because it represents the oasis. Symbols of my patron gods need to be removed.” Illusion changed accordingly. “Sword and shield are an unusual symbol for holy knights. Yes?”
“Yes, Dungeon Mistress.”
She put a shield and the sword in front of the tower.
“Not bad, but it lacks something.” Naomi scrutinized her work.
“Forgive me, Dungeon Mistress, for being blunt, but I think it’s because it looks like any other banner. While the tower shape suggests your dungeon, we need something more distinctive.”
“Distinctive? Like what? This is a dungeon in the middle of the desert.”
“Dungeon full of golems. There is no other place like that.”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“Golems? Let’s try and see if something will match.” She immediately began adding various golems to the banner, but they made the whole picture messy. “Wait. We don’t need a golem, only something that symbolizes them, and other things from my dungeon.” Naomi realized her error. In the background, she placed a cog wheel, then her tower, and inside the tower, the shield and sword. “What do you think about that, General? But please be honest.”
“The wheel in the background is a good idea. It represents the golems, because without them, they don't work. Also, this wheel could symbolize a connection to the Smith, patron of all those artisans needed to build a golem.”
“Then it’s decided. Actually, I have one more idea, General.”
“Yes, Dungeon Mistress?”
“What if we use this pattern as a base. You will use it for yourself. But each platoon or other group that will need its own banner will have its own variation of it. For example, people who will be using golem elephants will get an elephant head on the shield.” Naomi presented banners next to each other.
“It will be a great honor for me and my people. I promise not to dishonor this banner in any way.” The general bowed respectfully, surprising Naomi.
“Of gods, I did something again, yes?”
“No, Dungeon Mistress.” He smiled, seeing her distress. “It’s exactly as I say. We see this as a great privilege to be able to serve directly the envoy of the gods.”
“Tell me at least that other dungeon masters also have their honor guards, I guess?”
“They do. But only a few. Dungeon Mistress of Citadel of the Light, or Dungeon Master of the City of the Adventurers, for example, have people serving them under their banner.”
“Uff.” Naomi relaxed a little. “Then that is ok. However, please promise me that you will keep everything in moderation. If that gives you extra motivation, then that is good. But if you will become fanatics or even start some cult…” Naomi warned him.
“I swerve.” He answered.
Around the same time as caravans were preparing to march north, Syllia and her platoon reached the vicinity of the city of the adventurers. It was besieged exactly as the news was telling them. However, the purpose of this siege was to blockade the city, not to capture it. Worlocks and their hordes of orcs and other monsters were numerous, but not enough to win this fight. That's why they created forts to encircle the city and cut it off. The biggest one was in the south, prepared to fight the reinforcements that would arrive sooner or later. On the north site, it was more like a supply depot than a real fort, but still heavily defended. Only the eastern and western sites were small camps, because no one expected an attack there. Nearby cities and towns were too small to organize a strong enough army to counterattack, and many of them were harassed by bands of orcs or undead. Syllia’s platoon encountered three such groups, and they made sure they killed all monsters and cultists, every time.
“Can we do it?” Syllia asked her three sergeants.
“It doesn’t look bad. They definitely don’t expect us.” Said one of them.
“We could try waiting a few days for bad weather, or just fog, and try to sneak.” Proposed sergeant responsible for scouts.
“It’s risky. Bad weather could create mud or ice patches. Also, every day of delay gives them a chance to find and ambush us.” The third one disagreed.
“Both ideas have merit. We will use them both. We will wait until dusk. Warlocks will be in the middle of the feasts and won't be paying too much attention to the surroundings. And it will give us time to rest and prepare.”
“What kind of formation will we use?” Sergeant, responsible for front-line troops, asked.
“The box will be the best. We need to have a similarly strong defence from every direction. Sergand Timothy, try to identify the best targets for our first salvo. The more damage we do at the beginning, the easier it will go.”
“It will be done.”
Syllia's prediction about warlocks' behavior was spot on. As the sun began to set, most of them retired to the lavish tents made of thick fabrics and covered with animal furs to begin their sumptuous feast. The orcs huddled together near campfires and weren’t supervised. The foul magic that enslaves them guaranteed their obedience.
“Forward.” Syllia gives the command. She didn’t shout, not wanting to alert enemies.
When the paladins were at a distance from where their spells could reach the center of the nearest camp, the mages released their fireballs. Only four of them cast the spells, but each was highly proficient in the grand magic, and they learn about fire a lot during their stay in On Taram. Each spell exploded with earth-shattering force. And then the second volley landed. Explosions and deaths of warlocks and subsequent break of some slavery seals create chaos in the cultists' camps. While Syllia’s platoon still needed to kill a lot of orcs to break through, no one was actually stopping them. And the golem cat she takes with her was sneaking around and killing any warlock Syllia could spot.
On the walls, guards looked in disbelief at the chaos in the eastern camp. What's more, it was caused by a small unit of paladins.
“Do you see their banner?” The commander asked the sentry on the top of the tower.
“Yes, sir! They are marching under the banner of the church of the sun.”
“Good. Prepare to open the gate! Mages and archers on the wall!”
They didn’t need to wait too long. A mysterious team of paladins pressed forward, indifferent to the distraction they had caused.
“I’m Lieutenant Syllia from On Taram, and this is my path.” The elf woman introduced herself.” My platoon and I are tasked to deliver an urgent message to the dungeon master of the City of the Adventurers.”
“Understood,” Commander answered, stunned by how high the levels of the paladin in front of him were. And her companion at her site. There wasn't a mistake. It was a golem. She even had a title for that. “We will prepare the quarter for you, and with first light, we will guide you through the dungeon to see the dungeon master.”
“I’m sorry, Commander, but it’s not possible. It can’t wait. It’s too important to delay this any further. If we enter the dungeon right now by the first light, we should reach the fifth floor.”
“That bad?”
“Actually, the opposite. But still urgent.” Syllia answered.
“Golems, huh?” He guessed, but an elven lieutenant doesn’t react in any way. “Then we will do it your way. Someone find me a guide for them!” He shouted an order.
