Prototype's Gate

Alex put down Nere's body and looked at the gnomes. They were tired, dirty, and some bore ugly wounds, but they would be fine.

"Glut, take care of them. I have something to do inside the forge," Alex said as he tossed Glut a simple ring, the ring Omeluum had given him. He had been fast enough to toss it aside when he consumed the magma elemental.

Glut scoffed and waved him off. The gnomes watched in silence as Alex jumped off the skiff and walked back to the duergars' camp.

...

Alex landed next to a big cogwheel. Climbing over a stone step, he squatted next to a skeleton. The armor on the skeleton seemed familiar, reminiscent of the one Shadowheart wore. Searching the body, he found some gold, a sword, and a letter. He opened the letter and read it:

[Must find new sources. Nearby mithral veins are near depletion and the quantities required for Brother Silouv's most recent project were considerable.

Some of the acolytes have taken to calling it 'Grym', for the place it was made. Though never within Brother Silouv's hearing.]

"Useless," Alex muttered, tossing the letter aside and walking forward.

Ascending a few stone steps, he found another body. On it, he found a scroll of Expedition Retreat. He opened it and memorized the spell. It was simple enough; he could try it later. He pocketed the scroll and looked around. To his left were racks full of rusty spears and dozens of scattered armor pieces.

"What kind of battle took place here?" Alex wondered. He had the memories of marregons, but they were so simple he could barely piece anything together.

To his right was a set of stairs leading down. At the top was a stone plaque. Alex squatted down to read it.

"Forge your blades in the fire, and raise them in the Mistress's name."

After reading it, he stood up, turned left, and climbed a set of broken stairs. At the top was a small platform. To his left were some bookshelves; ahead was a chest; to the right, a table with notes and a book scattered around. He checked the bookshelves first. All the books and papers were already destroyed by the passage of time, so he moved to the chest—a real chest this time.

Inside, he found some trinkets, gold, a big finger, and a scroll. The scroll had a Bestow Curse spell. Unfortunately, the spell was much too complex for him to use anytime soon. He memorized the scroll and put it back, intending to retrieve it later. Peeking over the edge of the platform, he spotted a huge machine below.

"That must be the forge. I must find some mithral to use it and a mold," he thought, already knowing how to operate the machine thanks to the book he found on the dead drow at the myconid colony.

On the table, he found a journal called "Forge Construction Log."

> [This decaying tome details the scientific and arcane principles behind the great forge's construction. The results of multiple experiments are explained in exhausting detail.]

> **Hammer Test 2.5.66.8**

>

> The forge is functional, but operating at a scant one-third of its full potential. At current fractalization values, the Hammer can force various iron alloys into molds, but adamantine remains unmoved and unmarked. Increasing levels of hypo-torque to 6.94. Doubling magma heat values.

>

> **Hammer Test 2.6.70.0**

>

> Test unsuccessful. So hot was the magma that the adamantine shattered entirely under the force of the Hammer. The properties of super-heated adamantine are intriguing, but I seek to mold it, not to crush it. Maintaining hypo-torque levels. Reducing magma heat values by one-fifth.

Alex walked back to the set of stairs with the stone plaque, entering an open space. Again, more rusty weapons and destroyed armor pieces lay around. Alex inspected another skeleton he found. On it, he found a potion of animal speaking and a dusty book. He took a few sips of the potion—it might be useful later—and read the book.

> Praise be to the Lady of Loss. She has, through Sister Ansar, taught Brother Silouv the true nature of our lives—that they are loss and nothing but loss. Through that sorrowful lesson, he has turned from his fame and following and come to us, into the Lady's loving embrace.

>

> But he has not left everything behind—the man once known as Silouv Yali brings with him his miracles of metallurgy. This dark alloy, adamantine, will let us spread the Dark Lady's will with new fervor.

"Why are Shar's followers so fanatical?" he wondered aloud.

He looked around. To his left was a set of broken stairs leading down to the forge. He decided to keep looking around. On a stone table, he found a mold with a symbol of a mace on it.

"This will do," Alex said, securing the mold to his back. Tendrils of flesh wrapped around it.

Alex dashed to the left, an arrow embedding in the stone floor where he had stood. He looked around and saw, up ahead on a metal bridge, someone wearing the same armor as the skeletons lying around. Its face was covered by a silvery mask.

Alex took cover behind a stone table as another arrow flew past him, shot by another attacker.

"I can't feel their minds. I need to be careful," he thought.

His arms bulged and turned black . Using the musclemass ,with one hand, he grabbed one of the cogwheels lying around and threw it at the shooter on the broken metal bridge. The cogwheel, as big as the table he hid behind, hit its target. Alex expected a cloud of blood; instead, the armor pieces scattered.

"There is nothing inside them. They are animated," Alex noted.

His arm shifted into a whip fist and impaled another animated armor. The armor raised its crossbow, but before it could shoot, the whip reeled back. Alex grabbed the armor and stomped on its head. The pieces fell to the floor, the force holding it together fading away.

Four more armors appeared, these ones wielding swords. Alex unsheathed his own sword and dashed toward them. This time, he didn't use brute force but his blade skills. Now that he wasn't under the pressure of the mind master, he could practice what he had learned from the drow he consumed. His blade moved smoothly, his body dancing around the armors, an extension of the blade. Despite being just animated pieces of metal, Alex couldn't deny that they knew how to use a sword. He was even a bit disappointed he couldn't consume them.

Alex quickly ducked under a flaming sword and phased away. Phasing in on the broken bridge, he looked at his attacker. The creature was a fire elemental, wearing only a chest plate and a helmet, holding a pair of flaming scimitars. The creature exploded in flames and appeared next to Alex, its scimitars raised high. Alex's body shifted into armor mode. Raising his arm, he shifted it into a shield, blocking the hit. The scimitars barely sank into the shield, but a normal human would have been crushed under the force. Alex kicked the fire elemental away, making sure to hit it in the chest plate. The elemental fell, and Alex was on it. His insides shifted, his right arm morphing into a spear. He plunged it through the elemental's armor and started to consume it. Alex made sure to raise spikes around them to avoid being disturbed by the armors. A few moments later, the elemental's armor fell to the floor and shattered like glass. Alex looked at his hand, now glowing fiery red. The spikes around him receded, and he raised his hand. An explosion of fire obliterated the armors.

He looked again at his hand, clenching and unclenching it.

He felt powerful, extremely powerful.

"This world must burn under my fire!" Alex declared, followed by maniacal laughter.

Alex raised his fist and punched himself in the head.

His head deformed from the hit, but it was enough to regain his senses.

"I need time to adapt..." Alex said, closing his eyes.

He stood there for a few moments until he felt his grasp on sanity return.

....

Alex jumped down from the metal bridge, landing next to a massive chunk of mithral. The mithral gleamed like silver but with a subtle blue tint. Alex's gaze shifted to the magma elemental, which was calmly walking on the lava lake. The elemental glanced at Alex briefly before resuming its stroll.

"The magma elemental that attacked me during the fight with Nere must have been disturbed by the explosion," Alex mused. "These things seem peaceful otherwise."

Peering over the edge, he spotted a temple a few dozen meters below, constructed from the same black marble as everything around the forge. Alex's arms morphed into hammer fists, and he smashed the chunk of mithral, selecting a piece large enough for his needs before descending the stairs to the forge.

As he walked, he noticed some bookshelves on a barely intact stone platform. "Maybe I could find more scrolls there," Alex said, veering off his path. Before he reached the platform, the lava around him erupted, and dozens of magma mephits began flying around him warily. Ignoring them, he stepped onto the platform, where another mithral vein emerged from the wall.

On the shelf, he found several scrolls: Melf's Acid Arrow, Misty Step, Burning Hands, and Dimension Door. "All of them are useless," Alex lamented, as he could already perform similar feats. However, a book titled *Grymforge: A History* caught his attention.

The book, although thickly bound, contained surprisingly few details. It spoke of the origin of the Grymforge builders and their devotion to the Lady of Loss. The text hinted at Ketheric Thorm's efforts to restore the forge to its former glory, intending to spread the shadows of Shar and extinguish Selûne's light.

[The binding of this book is thicker than its combined pages, which are surprisingly devoid of detail.]

[We know little of the ones that came before, but we know they worshipped the Lady of Loss. We know they constructed the great fortress, and named... [The next few words are smeared and illegible.] But from whence they came, and why they departed - this is a mystery even to Ketheric Thorm himself.

What we do know is that Shar's Chosen has heard Her call. Just as Grymforge served our Mistress eight hundred years nigh, so it would again.

Here, Thorm's Dark Justiciars shall rise.

Here, we will fulfil our Goddess’ pact.

Here, we will rebuild the lost city of Grymforge.

So far will our shadows spread, and so dark will they be, that Selune's light may be forever extinguished.]

Alex was baffled. "This place never ceases to amaze me. Creatures living for 800 years..." He put the book aside and jumped to the forge platform.

Alex placed the mithral piece into a round crucible and set the mace mold in the mold chamber next to it. "Now I need to figure out how to heat this thing," he said, inspecting the machinery. He found a lever near a set of pipes and pulled it. A series of hisses and jerks followed as the platform descended.

When the platform stopped, Alex noticed a huge grated pipe with lava slowly flowing through it. He turned a nearby valve, lifting the grate and allowing the lava to fill the platform. Just as he turned, something crawled out of the pipe.

"So you must be Grym," Alex said, cracking his neck.

Grym stood tall, monumental construct, towering over Alex, made entirely of dark, tarnished adamantine. Its body was an intricate assembly of thick, angular armor plates, each etched with arcane runes and symbols. Spikes jutted from its joints and edges, A hand build with claw-like fingers and the other a mace . Grym's head was crowned with metal spikes surrounding a glowing amber core that pulsed with eerie light. The construct's eyes, mere slits, glowed with malevolent intelligence.

"Threat detected," Grym said in a robotic voice, turning to lock onto Alex. "Threat assessment initiated," it continued, rushing at Alex.

Alex dodged Grym's spiked hand, his arms shifting into hammer fists as he jumped high and came crashing down on the guardian. Instead of an easy victory, the impact caused his entire body to vibrate, his fist exploding into a bloody mist. He used his legs to jump away, regenerating his internal damage.

Grym, barely dented, resumed its attack. Alex considered his options. "His frame reverberates attacks back," he noted. "Let’s try this while I still have the mass." Grym raised its left claw hand to swat Alex away, but it was too slow. Alex extended a mass of tendrils from his hand, hitting Grym right in the chest with immense force, lifting the construct and pushing it into the wall.

"Shit," Alex murmured, realizing he had used his strongest attack and barely made a dent.

Grym locked onto Alex and approached. This time it didn't step on the small circles above the lava; it walked through it, its adamantine frame glowing with heat.

An idea formed in Alex's mind as he looked at the big press over the crucible. He ran to the crucible and stopped in the middle, waiting for Grym to approach. When Grym stepped onto the crucible, Alex phased next to a lever and moved it. The massive press came down, crashing onto Grym.

Alex looked again at Grym. This time, the construct was damaged, its clawed arm bent the wrong way. The lava around them erupted, and a dozen mephits flowed out, swarming Grym. However, Grym swatted them away with a single, powerful swing of its mace-like hand, scattering them like flies. It then turned its gaze back to Alex.

As Alex prepared to pull the lever again, he noticed the lava flow had stopped. Despite this, he yanked the lever. The press descended, but this time it barely dented Grym.

Frustrated, Alex dashed to the valve, attempting to let the lava flow again, but nothing happened. Alex looked around and spooted a damaged wall , steam and water coming out of it . . Alex dodged another of Grym's attacks, watching as its mace smashed the valve, rendering it useless.

Seeing no other way, Alex summoned his elemental energy. The magma around the forge began to bubble, growing redder and hotter. It flowed onto the platform, crawling up Grym's legs. Alex lured Grym under the press, ensuring the magma around it was at its hottest, and pulled the lever again. The press crashed down on Grym.

As the press slowly rose, it revealed Grym with its upper body flattened. Alex fell to his knees, breathing heavily. He had expended almost all his elemental energy to pull off this move. A few moments later, he stood up, taking a deep breath of the extremely hot air, slowly replenishing his fire elemental energy. He walked over to Grym and placed his hand on it. Flesh tendrils crawled over its body, retracting with a large chunk of Grym's body.

Alex's body shifted into armor mode. The armor looked the same apart from the green shine visible under the fiery light. He flexed his limbs, the new weight.

"A bit heavier but it will do"