Finding Delphi, I survived day six

I woke up feeling exhausted. I thought about going back to sleep, but decided against it. I wait for Fritz and Aurora to join me before we head down.

As soon as I get downstairs, Sting (my dagger) starts glowing blue. I can sense an orc nearby. That’s never happened before.

I head toward it, and notice that it’s a small little goblin. Fritz is coming at it from another direction, so I blast it before he can get there. All the experience is mine. I let out an evil sounding laugh as I feel the now familiar sensation of increased health and power. I feel awake, like never before.

As the last of the goblin melts into the ground, Sting stops glowing. This could be useful.

The rest of the area is pretty boring. I practiced my magic by blasting a statue of a rothe, and a few boulders. I did find a gorgeous hexagonal amulet, but I decide to wait before I try it on.

I come across a gnomish wizard. The air crackles around him, and he gives me a headache. I figure he wants to compare magic, so I blast him with my basic spell. Guess who won.

Sting warns me about another goblin. By the time I get there I’m weak from hunger, thankfully there was a corpse for me to chow down on. I was still feeling peckish, so when I saw that he was carrying a pancake I didn’t think twice before eating that as well.

It didn’t take long for me to decide I was ready for the next level. I don’t even bother with a nap this time, I’m ready and raring to go.

First thing I see when I make it down the stairs is a large chest. I try to open it. Damn, it’s locked. Before I realize what I’m doing I have Sting stuffed in a crack and I’m pushing down on it trying to force the lock. I almost stop when I realize what I’m doing, but the lock pops open. I was lucky this time. I lift the lid, ready for a pile of gold and precious gems.

It’s empty.

I come across a little dog, and I’m about to hit it when Fritz, out of nowhere, leaps at it and tears it’s throat out. Vicious little thing. I’m glad he’s on my side.

I came to a large room, filled with statues of centaurs. I stop to admire one. The artist perfectly blended a horse with a man. I’ve never seen one in real life, and I still don’t think they’re real, but this statue is making me doubt myself. It’s plain stone, but expertly chiseled. The horse part looks furry, to the point where I have to touch it to prove it’s nothing more than stone. The male torso is such a stark contrast. It has solid looking abs that almost glisten. The muscular arms are crossed across his wide chest. The expression on the face is a distasteful sneer. The statue has long hair, tied up in a ponytail.

By the time I finish looking at the statue I realize I’m not alone. I hurriedly look around and see a giant creature of pure gold standing in the doorway. It’s vaguely human shaped, with arms, legs, and a head, but it looks like it’s solid gold. How can I even fight something like that. I prepare to blast it with magic, but Fritz gets between us. Stupid dog, it’s going to get killed doing something like that.

I try to circle around, when Aurora comes up on the other side of it. How can I use magic if my pets won’t give me room to fight.

Thankfully, they don’t try to fight the creature, and leave it in my hands. I get closer, and once I’m sure it’s safe, I let loose a solid bolt of energy. It strikes the golem, tearing a hole in it’s arm. The golem seems unaffected, and takes a swipe at me, breaking my arm.

I stab at it with Sting a few times, but don’t seem to do much damage. It hits me again, the solid gold arm striking me in the chest. I hear a few ribs break, and I suddenly have trouble breathing. I go back to magic, and try to blast it.

It’s still coming at me. How can I kill this fucker? I try magic again, this time there’s a hole straight through it’s chest, but it is still swing at me. It hits my head, and the world goes black for an instant. I’m about to die. There’s only one thing I can think of.

I drop to my knees and call out to Anhur. I’m surrounded by shimmering light again. The golem starts to attack me, but pulls back. This happens a few times, stupid thing doesn’t learn, does it. When I finish my prayer I feel that Anhur is well pleased. I feel much better. In fact, I think I’m in perfect health.

I still don’t know how to deal with this dam golem though. I try one last time, out of desperation. It worked. This time it crumbles into a pile of gold coins. Thank Anhur for that.

I lean against a statue to get my breath back. That was a close call. I see small demon walk into the room. It looks like a perfect human, but really tiny. It’s the size of Aurora. I tense, ready for a fight, but I notice that the eyes of this demon aren’t glowing red. Maybe it’s peaceful. I walk over to it and try to engage it in conversation. It doesn’t reply, but it also doesn’t try to kill me, so I guess I was right. I try to remember what it’s called. I have heard of these before. I think it’s called a homunculus.

I finally turn my attention back to the statues. I’m going to have to destroy them all. I start blasting them apart when I hear a noise behind me. Aurora is attacking the demon.

“Stop it,” I yell at her. “It’s friendly.”

I stop yelling when I see the demon bite back.

“Kill the bastard!” I yell. “You can do it.”

I don’t think I can get involved. The demon is aligned with Anhur, and I’d rather not risk his wrath, but I should be safe if my pet is the one who actually does the deed.

The demon bites Aurora, and she falls asleep. The demon then just wanders off. I guess it’s not a serious fight. Fritz comes over and bites the demon a few times before walking off again. I’m really confused by their behaviour, but go back to smashing statues. I find a purple spellbook in the pile of rocks left behind by a statue, and Fritz manages to kill the demon.

I circle the room, and see a kobold lord standing in a doorway. I hit him with Sting, then blast him with magic. I enter the room to pick up the darts he left behind.

“Hello, Faylen, welcome to Delphi!” I’m greeted when I enter.

I take a second look at the room inside a room. There’s a ring of four fountains. In the middle is a beautiful young woman. Her skin was a darker shade, almost like a warm brown. She had dark hair, split into two braids that wound around her head.

“The Oracle,” I say softly. I had only heard rumors about her existence.

I had to talk to her. I respectfully walked over to her, and spoke.

“Wilt thou settle for a minor consultation?” She asked me.

“No,” I replied.

“Then dost thou desire a major one?” She asked.

“Yes,” I answered. Here it was. The ultimate words of wisdom from the Oracle herself.

She meditates for a moment and then intones:

“Almost all adventures who come this way hope to pass the dread Medusa. To do this, the best advice is to keep thine eyes blindfolded and to cause the creature to espy its own reflection in a mirror.”

I’m a little annoyed. I mean, it’s great advice, but far from the epic revelation I had been expecting. I already knew about Medusa. I thought about asking for my money back, but didn’t think that would go over well.

I decide to continue looking around. I finish breaking the statues, but don’t find any more books. I’m starting to get hungry when I see a gnome king. Ah, there’s a meal. It’s a long fight, back and forth. He keeps smashing me with his club, and I slash at him with Sting. I finally emerge victorious, battered and bruised. Before I can make a meal of his corpse, Aurora runs past and eats it on me. I do feel the feelings of health and power though. At least I got something out of killing him.

I’m about to yell at her when I spy a food ration by his club. I run over and fill myself. A little later I manage to kill a pair of giant rats, and manage to make a meal out of one of them.

I come across a large dark room. Perfect chance to try out me new spell. I walk in a few feet and cast it. A glowing yellow sphere of magic erupts from me, and spreads out. When it hits the walls and ceilings, it ignites into the magic flames I’m used to seeing in the other rooms. Now half the room is lit, and I walk into the other half. I cast the spell again and the entire room is alight.

As I leave, I’m overcome with feelings, I feel wise and tougher than before.

Once I’m satisfied that there is nothing left for me to discover, I head to the stairs. I’m just waiting for Aurora and Fritz to join me when Aurora vanishes. I look closely where she had been standing and I see a strange trap. It looks like it teleports living creatures. I hope she’s ok.

I decide to look for her. Fritz accompanies me rather than running off. We encounter a gnome mummy, and Fritz delivers the killing blow. He suddenly grows, turning into a large dog before my very eyes.

We encounter a gecko and a lizard. Both are quickly killed, and I grab the lizard corpse while Fritz eats the gecko. I’ve heard that lizard corpses don’t spoil, great food to keep around.

I still can’t find Aurora. I decide to look upstairs, maybe she was teleported to another level. Just as I reach the stairs, I see a large monkey coming down the hall toward me. I blast him without missing a step. I need to find my cat.

I check upstairs, and wait for a bit, nothing. I go back downstairs, ready to check the next level down when I see Aurora and Fritz walking side by side. Damn pets, no respect, running off like that. Maybe I should have kept that leash.

Just before I head downstairs I remember the book I found. I decide to read it in the relative safety of this level rather than the unknown below. I can now detect monsters. Useful, but I don’t know how often I’ll actually use it. Still good to have.

I wait for my pets, and decide to give them a quick pep talk before I have a nap. I get a yip and a purr, which puts me at ease, and we bed down for the night.