Part 39: Practice Freedom Pt. 2

You return to the Shaper's Crypt knowing that your work there is not yet done. Part of you yearns to see what was so important to Danette and Defniel that they defied the isle's Barring to inter themselves here. You know, though, that nothing justifies the transgression, and a more vengeful voice in your heart wants to unmake their monuments and leave the tomb as nothing but a rubble-strewn cave.

It's not as though the Shapers even properly completed the crypt.





You locate the old mortuary, where either some skilled human follower or well-trained serviles once prepared the bodies of Shapers for interring.


There's not any notable loot in these rooms, but they do give a little background on Shaper mortuary practices.





Another patrol catches you by the directory. This one room appears to be the most dangerous in the entire crypt -- so many passages meet here that it's impossible to slip past undetected.





Nevertheless, you're able to wade through the crypt creations and visit more sarcophagi.





The shaping belt is of particular interest, but you also find large caches of coin left in the funerary vases and the sarcophagi. The gold's a little unusual -- wealth isn't usually entombed with the dead.



Back south, you cross what appear to be auxiliary spawners. No creations appear while you're nearby. To your disappointment, there are no control panels or visible power crystals around to disrupt.



In fact, the only crystal you find has already been shattered. The Guardian statues didn't save it from whatever creation went berserk back here.





Another clutch of drayks catches up to you near some dusty old slabs.





Dmar holds them off while you bless your creations and direct the vlish. Terror spells clutch at the guard drayks' hearts and successfully paralyze one. Another drayk falls, utterly overcome by fear.



You quickly duck into the burial alcove and read through an intact book; what you're able to absorb in these frantic, stolen moments improves your grasp of mental magic. If you had more time, you're sure the principles written here would make even you a virtuoso in the arts of stealing hearts and minds.





There's never enough time. Another pair of patrols catches you in a pincer attack while Dmar and pumpinglemma finish off the drayks.





Speed helps the vlish coordinate a series of assaults meant to thin the herd. RickVoid and placid saviour assure the imminent demise of another drayk that managed to pass your glaahks to menace TooMuchAbs. Pumpinglemma shreds another glaahk, leaving you clear to focus on the rest of the guards in the northern passage.



You find an inactive pylon here. True to Emarshal's word, the crypt pylon remains quiescent. Its support against the patrols would have been welcome, but at least you don't need to fight it.

If you don't feed Emarshal, these pylons will remain hostile. Honestly, it's fair to decide that using one of your limited mind nutrient items on him isn't worthwhile. There aren't any other rewards for feeding him.





The patrols seem endless. You've lost count of how many drayks, glaahks, and battle creations you've slain.



These rotten tunnels are merely a series of ambushes.





A narrow corridor leads you to a doorway flanked by cold braziers and cracked pillars.



A racket from behind warns you about what's coming.







The battle gamma slams its bulk against the vlish, but they wobble away with very little harm done. The gamma exhales a foul gas, but it does little more than offend your nose. Without waiting for the drayk to strike, you cast speed on your creations. They swiftly take out the drayk, the gamma, and then focus on a third interloper -- a guard glaahk.










A large patrol shows up mere minutes after the last. The alpha falls first, dropping what looks suspiciously like another Shaper's belt. You direct pumpinglemma against the glaahks and drayk while you withdraw the rest of your team from the tight northern hallway, but...



The glaahks meet pumpinglemma with vicious strikes, incapacitating it. The drayk breathes white-hot fire that finishes your glaahk off. The corridor fills with reeking smoke that clings to your skin.

The other guard creations don't last much longer; the drayk, half dead and surrounded by the corpses of its companions, turns tail to flee.





You position your team so that you can check the southern passage. Another battle alpha charges, but this time, you're the target. It takes a swing...



And it whiffs in time for a vlish to send it screaming south into the chamber you want to investigate.

You follow.


You have a crescent stone that matches the one in the northern chamber. This must be some sort of lock system devised by the Shapers here. It's not a very secure means of keeping this crypt closed if any lucky fool can pick up one of the keys.

You put the crescent in the hollow.




The door slides open, inviting you to set foot on a brick path. But you've got more to do before you investigate this inner crypt.







The chambers here wrap around a core of stone. Each corner has its own dead essence pool. More interesting is the branch to the south that leads to another guard patrol.



RickVoid slays another glaahk. You're astonished but grateful that your artilas are still alive. For some of your earliest creations, they've also proven among your most long-lived. You're glad you chose not to absorb them.

The infinite, hostile creations here do not all seem to be the same level, not even within a given species. Sometimes you'll get experience and sometimes you won't. That doesn't have much bearing on how difficult a given enemy is to kill, though -- these guys are absolute piles of HP. The drayks in particular have around 400 HP each.





When the last drayk falls, you step into the chamber and discover another pair of sarcophagi. You wonder if it's significant that so many of these Shapers were interred side by side. You're able to steal a few precious minutes to study a text here and learn more about battle shaping. Perhaps you'll be able to make your own battle gammas soon.



You find a small, filthy room to the southeast that must have once served as servile quarters. There's little of note left here but a living tool, but the surviving automatic door provides some safety. You shape a new glaahk to stand in pumpinglemma's stead. This one you name wedgekree.







The last corners of the Shaper crypt's outer chambers reveal no more secrets. Between ambushes, you uncover more caches of coins, an enchanted cloak, and a small gallery of long-forgotten statuary. They look much like the works you saw collecting dust back in Kazg, so much so that you wonder if the same artist crafted all of them.





As difficult, slow, and frustrating as it is, this first part of the challenge dungeon is very profitable. The little jars and coffins contain beaucoup bucks and equipment, and there are several sarcophagi that confer ability bonuses. Even better, almost all of the random encounters drop money and have a chance to drop a nice piece of vendor trash like steel daggers, stability belts, Shaper robes, singing blades, and so on.



It's time to go further in.

Next time: Barred