Prototype's Gate

Alex started by targeting the weak points. He and Glut swiftly dispatched three duergar who were mercilessly beating two Rothé for not demolishing a pile of rocks quickly enough. They took down another duergar at the dock and then Murmath. With these vulnerabilities neutralized, Alex and Glut advanced towards the main camp, but not before consuming the dead drow. From these, Alex gleaned some useful cantrips and insights.

"No wonder drows are assholes; their life is hell," Alex noted.

Glut shrugged and kept following.

One of the drows wasn't sent by any of the houses but was a Harper named Jahaam, part of a loose organization that aims to maintain balance and combat villainy across Faerûn. This group was aware of the dangers posed by the Cult of the Absolute and had stationed themselves at a place called Last Light Inn in the Shadow-Cursed Lands.

Suddenly, an explosion shook the cave, prompting Alex and Glut to rush towards the source. To their right, they saw a large tent surrounded by crates, barrels, and chests. Far ahead, two duergar—a male and a female—stood alongside a group of gnomes and a drow. The drow was Nere, who was holding a gnome woman, Meerna, by the scruff of her neck over the edge of a lava river. Her brother stood paralyzed with fear nearby. Scowling with anger, Nere suddenly let go of her, but Alex was already on the move. He phased out, feeling like he was swimming through water instead of tar due to the thinness of the faerzress. Moving next to Nere, he phased back in, jumped over the lava river, grabbed the gnome woman, and landed on a small island over the river. All eyes were on him.

A duergar saving a deep gnome was unthinkable.

"Everyone, on arms! That bag of shit isn't one of us," shouted a female duergar, Sergeant Thrinn. A masked duergar, Mind Master Dunnol, cast a spell that smashed into Alex's mind like a boulder. Luckily, Alex's psionic defenses held, but barely. Dunnol knew a spell that could make allies attack each other.

"Glut, time to smash the duergar," Alex ordered telepathically.

"Finally! Nothing will remain of you duergars!" Glut shouted, already charging at a target.

Nere, having unsheathed his sword and dagger, glared at Alex. Another psionic attack nearly cracked Alex's defenses, this time from Nere, judging by his sour expression.

"Hold tight," Alex told the gnome woman before phasing out and back in next to the other cowering gnomes. He let go of her just in time to catch Nere's sword with one hand. Alex felt an unpleasant tug at his mind—the sword was enchanted to deal psionic damage.

Nere's eyes widened when he tried to retrieve his sword, but it felt like it was embedded in stone.

"Ignis," Alex shouted, throwing a fire bolt at Nere. Nere let go of his sword and evaded the point-blank fire bolt. Even without his sword, he kept a composed posture with his dagger pointed at Alex.

(Glut, how are you holding up?) Alex asked telepathically.

(I'm fine,) Glut grunted. Alex peeked at Glut, who was surrounded but still holding strong. If he hadn't unleashed his full strength yet, he must be fine, Alex thought.

Alex turned his attention back to Nere, who had just finished a spell, summoning three more copies of himself made of light.

Alex gripped Nere's sword and dashed towards him. His speed was too much for Nere to react, but before Alex could cleave Nere in two, a yellow light enveloped him, stopping the attack. Alex backflipped, watching one of Nere's copies shatter like broken glass. Despite Alex's sudden attack, Nere remained composed, a trait drow learn early in life—to never show fear to the enemy.

"It will take more than that to kill me," Nere taunted.

Alex chuckled. Poor guy had no idea how outclassed he was.

Suddenly, Alex grabbed his head as the psionic connection between him and Glut snapped. Nere took this moment to stab Alex, but the dagger sank into Alex's neck without drawing blood. The flesh mended itself immediately.

The connection with Glut snapped back into place.

"Fucking rot duergars and your cheap tricks!" Glut shouted as he cast Enlarge, doubling in size. He grabbed a duergar and snapped him in two like a twig. Glut's chest and belly opened up, revealing a maw filled with teeth that started to munch on the duergar, healing his wounds almost immediately. The duergar seemed unfazed by the grotesque display and resumed their attack.

Just as Alex shattered another of Nere's copies, a massive three-fingered hand rose from the lava river, grabbing the stone shore. A magma elemental emerged from the lava, slamming its massive fist to the ground, already starting to melt. Disturbed from its sleep by the explosion, it charged at the nearest creature, which was Nere. Nere evaded the attack, but the elemental's next target was Alex, who stood between it and a group of frightened gnomes.

Alex's body shifted back to his normal height, covered in grey armor resembling an exoskeleton. His fists bulged in size, becoming like wrecking balls. The paranoid part of him whispered to let the gnomes die, to keep his abilities hidden, but he pushed those thoughts aside. He refused to be like his former self. With a punch, he stopped the elemental's charge, making a clean hole through its chest. However, the hole quickly regenerated. The magma forming under his feet was too much even for his extreme fire resistance, thanks to a thin coating of mucus from the intellect devourer.

Alex pummeled the creature with punches, but it regenerated quickly. The growing pool of molten rock impeded his movement and burned his biomass, forcing him to heal rapidly. The gnomes moved further back to avoid the molten rock, while Nere worked with the duergar to bring Glut down. Alex could sense Glut's mental state deteriorating under the constant psionic attacks from Nere and the two mind masters. They could offload so much psionic damage between their mental connection . He needed a solution fast.

Alex reviewed what he knew about elementals: creatures made of elemental energy and magic, immune to poison and their own element. He didn't have any water or ice-based spells but had something that worked against magical energy.

Alex's body shifted, projecting a short anti-magic field around him. He flipped over the magma elemental and grabbed onto it. The creature flailed like an angry bull. Alex's body smoked from the extreme heat, his biomass quickly burning away. His arm shifted, becoming pointy like a spear, and he plunged it into the elemental's back as deep as possible.

Maximizing the sussur tree's ability to absorb magic energy, he started draining the elemental's energy. The magma elemental flailed harder, but Alex held on. The elemental shrank, its heat dissipating and its movements slowing. Meanwhile, Alex's body became brighter, red fiery veins pulsing all over. His body mutated, trying to adapt to the massive influx of elemental energy. The pain was unimaginable, molten rock flowing through his body, but he pushed through. Moments later, the elemental was gone, replaced by Alex. His armor was slightly darker, the flesh under the plates pulsing with red light. The magma under his feet felt like hot water, no longer burning him or hindering his movement.

Alex's arms shifted into claws, their metallic talons glowing with an orange hue. The lower part of his helmet cracked, revealing obsidian-black shark-like teeth. Alex unleashed a bestial roar, making everyone's bones rattle. Like a tiger spotting prey, Alex quickly jumped to the nearest duergar, shredding him. He focused on the mind masters, consuming them. The remaining duergar, now without the constant psionic attacks, stood no chance against Alex and Glut. Alex felt incredible, the rush of elemental energy making him euphoric, pushing him to burn everything to the ground. He held back the craving, but barely. Some tried to run, but Alex phased next to them, cutting off their escape.

The last to fall was Nere, thanks to his copies and psionic shield. Alex needed to bring Nere's head to Spaw, but Nere's abilities were impressive. Just in case, Alex decided to bring Nere's mostly intact body back as well.

...

After Glut consumed a few duergars to heal himself, he and Alex turned to the trembling gnomes who cowered further away as Alex's imposing appearance drew nearer. It didn’t help that they had just witnessed him kill more than a dozen duergars without even a scratch. Among them, Alex spotted a familiar face—Barcus Wroot, the gnome he had untied from the windmill.

"There's no need to be scared. I'm here to save you," Alex said, trying to calm the gnomes. But his words failed to soothe them as they continued to back away in fear.

"Thulla sent me to save you," he tried again, and this time, it seemed to work.

A gnome wearing a red shirt slowly stepped forward. His name was Beldron. "I'm grateful for saving us, but... why would a being like you want to save us? I doubt Thulla could offer you something important enough that you couldn’t take by force."

"Because I can help. That's why I did it."

Beldron seemed taken aback by Alex's simple answer, though it was a bit more complex than that. He also did it for the gnomes who had been killed by the duergars. A part of him wanted revenge.

Meerna and her brother Welso stepped forward too.

"Thank you for saving me," Meerna said.

"Thank you for saving my sister," Welso said after her.

Alex walked to Welso, who took a step back as he approached. "You should take better care of your sister," Alex commented, then turned around and walked away. He hoisted Nere's body onto his shoulder and left with Glut next to him.

"Take a skiff and follow us. We will lead you to where Thulla is," Alex said.

"Wait!" Beldron shouted. Alex stopped in his tracks and turned to Beldron.

"We can't go yet. One of us escaped with something very important," Beldron said, looking at the other gnomes. "We can't leave until we find her."

Alex checked his internal clock. Ten hours approximately had already passed since he came to the Underdark. "We can help you find her. Do you have any idea where she could be?"

Beldron shook his head. They were talking about Philomeen, a gnome woman who escaped with a runepowder barrel. The powder had enough explosive power to destroy this entire place.

"Glut, stay with them. I will look for her," Alex said, placing Nere's body down.

"We will go with you. We can help you," Beldron offered.

"I'm faster," Alex said as he jumped ten meters, grabbed one of the legs of a metal bridge, and hurled himself onto it.

Everyone watched as Alex left, then turned to Glut, who stood with his legs and arms crossed.

...

Using his mind radar, Alex found a group of feeble minds clustered together in a locked room. Opening the door revealed a group of merregons and two hell boars. Alex quickly dispatched them and consumed them. From their rudimentary minds, he learned why this place was in ruins and that the one responsible could still be around.

Searching around, he felt another cluster of minds. This time, it was three chests close to an edge.

He walked to one of them and, before it could attack, sank his sword arm into its body, killing the mimic instantly.

He rushed the other two, who met the same fate.

Finally, he found a single mind behind a massive iron gate . "I hope that's her," Alex said. It was the only place left to search. If she wasn't there, she had already left the place.

He put his hand over the lock and pushed. The door swung wide open, revealing a scared Philomeen, her hand glowing with fire hovering dangerously close over the open barrel.

"Hold it! I swear to Ironhand, one more step and I’ll blow us to chunks!" Philomeen warned.

Alex phased out, phased in next to her, and grabbed her.

"Let me go, you scum!" Philomeen wriggled in his arms.

"Beldron sent me to find you. All the duergar are dead."

"Lies! I know who you are—one of Nere's cult-goons. Sailed right in."

Alex sighed and walked away with the woman.

She screamed, punched, and flailed her arms and feet until Alex dragged her next to the iron bridge, showing her that her friends were alive and unharmed. Then, he pointed to the pile of dead duergars.

"Great Ironhand, you were telling the truth," Philomeen said.

Alex grabbed her again and phased next to the rest of the gnomes.

All the gnomes stepped back as Alex and Philomeen appeared next to them. His appearance shifted back to his human form.

"Philomeen!" a woman shouted, running to running and hugging her. "You're alive!"

"Larrida ! . I'm so happy you are alive," Philomeen said, hugging her back.

Everyone turned to Alex, who brought forth the runepowder barrel.

“Move away from it!” Philomeen shouted, running to the barrel. Alex took a few steps back, grabbed Nere’s body, and walked away. Glut stood up and followed him.

Philomeen stared at Alex’s back until he left, then finally relaxed and looked around at all the gnomes.

“Where are the rest?” she asked.

Everyone looked down.

Philomeen put her hand over her mouth, the meaning of their expressions hitting her.

“Oh no,” she whispered.

Larrida rubbed her shoulder. “What do we do now?” she asked.

“I say we follow him,” a male voice said. Everyone turned to look at Barcus Wroot.

“That man saved me before from goblins and let me go without asking me for anything in return.”

“That thing? Are you sure?” a gnome whispered.

Barcus noded “ I will follow him,” Barcus said as he walked away toward where Alex had gone.

Reluctantly, everyone decided to follow Alex and hopped onto the skiff.