Amulet of Bolli Part 2

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by on November 11, 2023 at 12:00 am
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“I’m uh… I’m here to talk to you about the extended warranty on your golems!”

“…My golems?”

“Yes! Wouldn’t you like to insure they stay maintained and uh—eep!” Tora heard FPS give a panicked squeak. He didn’t need to look to know his invisibility had already worn off. The amulet was still halfway across the room.

“And?” Rakak snapped. “And what?”

“Ffffffunctioning? Maintained and functioning. Yes. That. See my company offers extended warranties on all your golems to replace whatever parts break.”

Good recovery, Tora thought.

“Right. I really don’t need that.” Rakak crossed his arms. “Who let you in?”

“Uh, the-the dogs…?”

At this, Rakak huffed, exasperated. “The dogs. Of course. I thought I installed the ‘No Solicitors’ program in them. I’m not interested in buying warranties from a talking weed on my own work. I’ll call a golem to escort you out.”

Rakak made to turn back to his console, with Tora fully visible and a few feet from the amulet.

“W-Wait!” FPS cried. “We uh, also offer tech support?”

The asura stopped mid-turn. “Tech support?”

“Yes, I um, see you’re having trouble recovering your password…?”

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by on November 11, 2023 at 12:02 am
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Rakak considered this. “And what would you suggest, Mr–?”

“Call me John Smith.”

“Mr Smith, then.”

“You say 1-2-3-4 didn’t work?”

“Yes, it’s clearly too simple for Bo—I mean me, but I figured it was worth a shot.”

“Have you tried 1-1-1-1?”

The thief made it to the amulet, finally. The glass tube had no real lock on it, just a simple latch. He gently lifted it open, trying not to make a sound.

“I feel like that’s worse.”

The amulet floated before him. He reached in.

“How about 2-2-2-2?”

No longer floating, he felt the weight of the amulet like a small stone in his palm. Slowly, he began to pull it out.

“I really don’t think—”

He had the amulet—grasped in his hand, held just above its glass prison.

Then something had him.

A giant fist of metal and stone clasped around Tora’s stomach and squeezed. He dropped the amulet back into the tube with a gasp, felt his body being lifted off the floor.

“Miss Bandi!” FPS cried.

“Oh I should have known,” Rakak snarled.

The thief squirmed, managing to get a better look at his assailant. His felt the sap draining from his face: it was a massive metal golem with lines of purple magic scrawled across its body.

The Time Freezing Golem.

Unlike the one in the lab, this one seemed to be operating. Where had it come from though? He noticed the stone pillar in the centre of the room—there was a door in it he hadn’t seen previously. Ugh, of course. It wasn’t a pillar, it was some kind of storage container.

“Don’t move, weed, or I’ll snap your twig friend in half,” Rakak warned. Evidently FPS had attempted something—Tora didn’t see. “Let’s see: two overgrown plants running amok in my lab, is it? You’re the ones who set off the fire alarm in Hall E, weren’t you? And raided my kitchens no doubt—I know that last sandwich didn’t have half as much ham as it should have!”

“To be fair, sir,” FPS tried. “I think you’ve maybe had too many sandwiches as is—”

“Oh shut it, who asked you?! And you—” The old asura turned on Tora. “—who

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by on November 11, 2023 at 12:04 am
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hired you?!”

“Can’t a couple plants want a nice tour of a floatin’ lab?” Tora tried with a pained smile—the golem’s grip was doing numbers on his ribs.

“Don’t get smart with me! I know that idiot gang I hired ran into some trouble with some chatty lettuce—and now here you are! After MY amulet! Although…” Rakak paused and frowned, looking back and forth between the two plant folk. “Based on their description I kind of thought one of you would have been a very saucy looking lady?”

The thief smelled an opportunity. “Huh. Wow. Crazy. Guess it can’t be us then!”

“HOW DARE YOU?!” FPS countered with a rage Tora had never seen from the man. “I’ll have you know Miss Bandi is the sauciest lady I’ve ever known!”

And just like that—opportunity gone.

“Miss Bandi?” The tiny old asura scrutinized ‘Miss Bandi’ with bewilderment before declaring. “Are you blind? That’s clearly a man.”

“BLASPHEMY!” FPS roared as he took up his staff and shot out a bolt of lightning. It ripped past Rakak and struck the golem square in its metal forehead. The golem shook violently as the electricity coursed through it, dropping Tora mid-shake.

“What did I tell you about moving?! Damn it, whatever—T.I.M.M.Y. stop them!”

Tora rolled onto the floor, bounced back to his feet, but then paused. “Wait, ya named yer golem Timmy?”

The rat’s face couldn’t have been more red. “I’ll have you know it’s a clever acronym. Now get away from my amulet!”

He had no intention of doing that. Instead, the thief made a mad dash directly at it. Predictably though, before he could reach it, he was stopped by a metal fist making an attempt to grab him. He dodged it, then found himself continuously dodging as the golem stomped after him. It’s aim was a little off, a little janky—FPS’s lightning-work must have fried an important circuit or two. Even so, despite being garbage at hurting him, it was still pretty stellar at keeping him and the amulet at length.

Odd that it was trying to grab him at all though.

“Is Timmy too good for blasters or somethin’?” Tora asked.

“It’s T.I.M.M.Y. And if you must know, adding blasters ended up taking too much energy from its mainframe.” Rakak huffed. “Caused a bit of an… issue in the past. Not that it matters, he won’t need blasters once he’s complete—hey! Stop that!”

FPS had been trying to grab the amulet. The angry asura slammed the lid on its glass container hastily before he could.

“T.I.M.M.Y. protect the amulet!” He cried.

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by on November 25, 2023 at 12:00 am
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Timmy responded by seemingly teleporting—one moment he was there, readying another swing at Tora, the next he was across the room making a swing at FPS. The golem sent the elementalist flying back towards the thief. He scrambled out of the way as FPS hit the floor, then scrambled back to check on him.

“Worry not about me, Miss Bandi,” FPS coughed, waving Tora off as he hoisted himself back up with his staff. “I’m fine.”

“Ha! See? He doesn’t need blasters” Rakak mocked. “Fine work, isn’t he?”

Satisfied that FPS was functioning enough to keep on his feet, Tora split from him, making cautious steps around the golem.

“Sure, yeah. It’s got a neat teleport trick,” Tora commented casually. He knew damn well that wasn’t what it was—it was time related, obviously, but how much of it and in what way? He needed the lead rat to give answers so he’d know what they were up against—and if Rakak had half the ego he seemed to be sporting, a little prodding should get them what they needed.

Rakak didn’t disappoint.

“A teleport trick?!” He scoffed. “Is that what you think that was? Ugh, this is why I hate talking science with inferior races!”

The thief didn’t respond, instead taking cautious glances between the recovering FPS and Timmy. It seemed Timmy was done teleporting for the moment, content

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by on November 25, 2023 at 12:02 am
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instead to simply guard their target.

“It’s always ‘oh is it teleport magic?’ or ‘let me go! I have a family!’—useless chattering, all of it,” Rakak continued.

“Looks like teleportin’ t’me,” Tora prodded.

“It’s not—it’s TIME magic, you imbecile! He’s freezing time for everyone but himself. It’s far more sophisticated.”

Tora gave a short whistle. “Sounds powerful. Don’t seem like he’s keen on doing that now though, ya?”

Timmy rotated as Tora moved, watching his footsteps. Good, Tora thought. It couldn’t go after them both—going after the more nimble thief would give the elementalist time to recover. It had to be pulled away from the amulet though. He reached for his pistol.

“You—! He’s just limited right now, that’s all. It’s a work-in-progress. He can only freeze time for like five seconds, then he needs to recharge for another five minutes.”

“Oh? Fascinating.” That was exactly the information Tora needed. He readied a shot, dinged the side of the golem’s head. It didn’t do much damage but it did what it needed to. The golem moved from its post, making a lopsided charge at Tora. They still had time before it’s next ’teleport.’

Two bullets left.

“Don’t get cocky, weed! He’ll be unstoppable as soon as I unlock this bloody thing!” With that Rakak returned to his console with newfound haste.

With both the golem and Rakak distracted, Tora saw FPS make a break for the amulet. He couldn’t watch the tree man’s progress for long, he had a big hunk of metal to deal with. As he danced around the golem’s arms swinging at him, he took glances at FPS and Rakak. The former was struggling with the glass tube’s latch; the latter was hammering in passwords and failing.

“Just what in the Eternal Alchemy is this blasted password supposed to be?!” Rakak screeched.

“Maybe try Bolli’s birthday?” FPS offered.

“I tried that already!”

“Wouldja stop helpin’ him?!” Tora cried as a silver fist nearly knocked him flat.

“Sorry!” FPS called back between breathes—he was really struggling with that lid. “I can’t help it—I just like being helpful!”

“You’d think it’d be something personal, like her birthday or a lover or a lover’s birthday,” Rakak muttered to himself.

The golem was moving faster now, swinging and slamming and pushing Tora further

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by on November 25, 2023 at 12:04 am
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back across the room.

“Well stop—” Tora yelled between a swing. “—helpin’” Another swing. “—the guy” Another. “—tryin’ t’off us” A fist slam this time. “—and help ME! Shit!” He slipped, hit the electric floor. The golem’s fist came swiftly into view.

“Miss Bandi!” He heard FPS cry but didn’t see.

What he did see was a tiny stone dog appear from nowhere, leaping mid-air before the golem’s fist and carrying a very powerful looking electric sword.

The golem hit the sword—or the sword hit the golem? Either way, the result was Timmy being blasted backwards as the little dog golem landed before Tora, magic sword in tow.

“Bork!” It nudged the sword towards him.

Baffled, but grateful, Tora took it. “Good dog,” he said.

“That’s IT!” Rakak yelled triumphantly. “Her dogs! Of course!”

Shit.

The old boy typed in the password. Tora didn’t need to look to know that it was some combination of zeros and ones. It worked, and just as it did, FPS popped the lid off and grabbed the amulet.

He didn’t get far—Rakak shrieked for Timmy, and in turn, Timmy teleported back to FPS. Thinking fast, Tora threw the sword towards FPS just after Timmy disappeared. It didn’t stop him sending FPS flying across the room again, but he did get another massive shock the minute he teleported back into view.

The tiny dog vanished too, grabbing the sword and giving it back to Tora. Did it have time powers too? It had to.

In the corner of his eye, he saw FPS struggle to get back up with more difficulty this time. The amulet had been knocked out of his hands, spiralling across the floor before him. Tora ran after it. Rakak didn’t, instead running in a different direction. The reason why didn’t become clear until he had the golden metal of the cubic necklace in his grasp again.

The data crystal of its core was missing.

Old boy Rakak had it, glistening between his fingertips. With a triumphant laugh, he  sped back to his work, slammed the core into the tube and went back to the console.

The thief panicked, took his pistol and fired the last two bullets: one for Rakak’s hand and the other his foot. Both hit the mark, but despite his pained cries, Rakak barely slowed down—he only needed one good hand to type in four keys after all.

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by on December 9, 2023 at 12:00 am
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Out of options and desperate, Tora dashed towards the amulet core at full speed, dragging the lightning sword behind him. He forgot Timmy was still there—got a full metal arm swung into his chest.

The room blurred around him as he was sent back the way he came. His body hit the wall near the entranceway, expelling all the air out of his lungs. He crumpled on the floor, wheezing, trying to remember how to breathe. Timmy hit hard, real hard. The pain screaming from his ribs made him feel sure something had broken.

“Finally!” Rakak cheered. The password must have worked. Through spotty vision, Tora could see the rat limping over to the tube, and plucking the amulet core out. “T.I.M.M.Y. come here! It’s time we installed this in you.”

The thief reached for the magic sword, but it was gone. He must’ve dropped it when he was hit. His pistol was empty, too. Try something else.

“Ya sure… that’ll work?” Tora said between breathes. His vision was starting to stabilize again. He needed to stall for time. Somehow. Stop whatever was about to happen. “Ain’t that just… Bolli’s research papers?”

“Are you daft?” Rakak snarled back, waving the data crystal in the air. “This is Bolli’s legacy—her life’s work! You think this is just some data log of her school assignments?! No, idiot! It’s the result of it!”

“No!” FPS gasped. A glance revealed the elementalist some feet away from him.

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by on December 9, 2023 at 12:02 am
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The tall plant wasn’t much better off than Tora was, but at least he seemed to be moving. How’d he manage bein’ hit by that thing twice? Just once was torture.

“Yes! Her time-freezing device—made real! Once I install this, you two’ll dead.” Of course it was that. Ain’t that just the way. The small wrinkled rat waddled confidently over to Timmy who was kneeling on the floor. He maneuvered his way to the back, and started clambering up to its head.

Tora tried to get up, hit his head on something, felt a jolt, and spun around to see.

On the wall behind him was a long metal rod shooting off sparks. It was mounted to the wall with a series of thick wires atop a tiny shelf—evidently what Tora hit his noggin on. The wires travelled down the wall and fed into the floor.

The electric floor.

“Bork!” He looked to find the tiny dog again with the magic sword.

“Almost got it…” Rakak muttered from behind the golem’s head.

“Miss Bandi—” FPS gave Tora a panicked look.

“Stay there!” He called back. The gears in his head were already turning.

Tora grabbed the sword and started running towards FPS. The tiny dog chased after, excited.

“Almost…” Rakak muttered again.

The thief spun on his heels, swinging the sword overhead. He could hear the dog barking in anticipation.

“Got it!” Rakak cried.

“GO FETCH!” Tora yelled.

Timmy booted up, its carved magic lines shining with a newfound dangerous glow. The thief swung out the sword as if to throw it and then swiftly hid it. The dog blipped out of existence and reappeared on the shelf where the metal rod was mounted. It started tugging.

“Say goodbye, you ugly weeds!” Rakak laughed, sliding off of Timmy’s smooth body. Only when he reached the floor did he notice the tiny dog at its task.

“Wait, is that my dog? What are you doing?” He squinted at it, puzzled, then shrieked when he realized. “Wait! No! Bad dog! T.I.M.M.Y. stop him!”

The little stone pup plucked the rod from its place, Tora jammed the magic sword into the floor, and the floor dissipated, leaving only the floor tile beneath FPS and Tora. Timmy, with its master latched to its leg in fear, vanished just as it did, attempting to freeze time too late. It flickered back with its master, seeming to hover for just a moment, then tipping backwards into the sky. Rakak screamed in a mix of rage and fear as he tumbled down with his life’s work.

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by on December 9, 2023 at 12:04 am
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Shaking and battered, the thief and the elementalist watched as the shrieking rat became a small dot in the deep blue below.

*

They’d done it. The two would-be-thieves survived somehow and managed to stop an Inquest plot. However, now they were stuck, panting and bruised, floating on a single electric floor tile in the middle of the open sky.

They couldn’t go back where they came from. Unless they dragged the sword along with them, perhaps? The little dog had done that earlier, but it was small. If Tora made a new floor tile before two grown plant people could get on it, they’d fall just as Rakak did.

“Don’t s’pose you could give us a lift, ya?” Tora tried.

“I’m sorry, Miss Bandi. I can’t.” FPS replied. The thief figured as much. Neither of them had much energy left after that, and FPS had taken a golem arm to the guts twice.

Before they could puzzle it out any further however, the tile started sinking. It was a slow descent but nonetheless alarming. The thief’s heart hammered against his chest, panicking. Was the tile going to give out? Was this it?

It didn’t though. It stayed perfectly solid.

But it kept sinking.

They drifted down below the lab. He could hear the dog golem barking after them, see it huddled on the shelf where the rod had been. The rod itself was gone—the dog must’ve dropped it. It wouldn’t be following them this time. After all, it couldn’t actually teleport.

As they drifted farther and farther down, it became clear the magic sword was enough to keep the tile’s shape. The two relaxed a little, settled down, sat at the tile’s edges. Tora refused to let the sword go, one hand always gripping it as they descended.

The descent was slow: the sky turned red with the sunset as the floating island finally lifted from their view.

FPS offered Tora a sandwich at some point—procured them from his coat. He’d stashed them for later from their earlier kitchen raid. Smart. More a thief than Tora had initially given him credit for.

They sat and ate, watched the sky turn from red to violet to navy blue.

“I didn’t even get the amulet,” Tora sighed. He picked at the remains of it in his pocket—would the client even want it if it wasn’t whole?

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by on December 23, 2023 at 12:00 am
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“You did stop the Inquest though,” FPS offered with regained cheer. “I’d say that’s worth far more.”

“Yeah?” Tell that to his landlord. Or Trip, even. He wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. He’d already got the man to stall his rent so many times.

“Of course!” FPS said. “You know, I’ve been thinking. You have some very impressive talents for a dog walker.”

“Uh, right, thanks.”

“No really! I think it’s a waste, honestly.”

“Yeah? Hey look, I can see the ground.” He actually could, but he also did not want to entertain this conversation any further.

“Oh look at that, so it is.” FPS gave the ground a considered look, then to his dismay proceeded. “Anyway, back to what I was saying.”

Please no.

“Can I tell you a secret?”

Tora paused at that. That wasn’t what he expected.

“Sure.”

The tree leaned in conspiratorially, “I actually work for the Order of Whispers, you know.”

Tora blinked. “No foolin’?”

Every sylvari knew the Order of Whispers. Despite their secretive work, they worked pretty openly in The Grove. If FPS was with them, that explained a lot. A member of that group would absolutely be concerned with an Inquest scheme, and have the information on how to find them. It explained FPS’s motivation and sources far better than his Wyld Hunt did at least.

“Yes!” The elementalist continued. “And truth be told, I was actually looking to recruit when I met you. The Order sent me after this thief for hire who was starting to get some notoriety in Lion’s Arch.”

“O-Oh?” Tora could feel cold sweat forming on the back of his neck.

“They called him the Black Bandit. Quite impressive, no?”

“Oh yeah… sure…” Had he been found out?

“Never found him though.” FPS shrugged, and Tora sighed with relief. “But I think I found someone better. What do you think?”

“Wait, me?”

“Of course!”

“…I’ll have to think about it.”

And he did, for what felt like hours as the ground came closer.

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