"Great," muttered Thomas. As the turtle swung its head around to locate its prey, Thomas and Alex charged. Alex used his charge skill to strike the first blow, attacking the turtles right front leg. The head darted in to snap at Alex, but a shield of light protected the paladin from the blow. Thomas found himself trapped between the shell of the beast, and its extended neck. Not one to let such an opportunity pass, he sent a flurry of blows at the relatively soft shoulder joint that was exposed when the shell peeled away. Thomas recognized that the neck was probably long enough to reach the turtles rear legs, but could not close tight enough to defend its base. That didn't mean the turtle was not able to, as the giant beast seemed to hop forward in an attempt to squash Thomas under its bulk. Thomas grabbed the edge of the turtle's shell and rode with the hop. The landing shook him loose, and he rolled out of the safe zone he had found from the turtle's neck. The head quickly turned its attention to Thomas, who was forced to continue to roll away from a series of vicious snaps. A spear of ice then struck and shattered against the cheek of the turtle's head. While it didn't cause any noticeable damage, the cloud if ice fragments forced an involuntary flinch that allowed Thomas to regain his feet.
Meanwhile the rough plan the party had laid out was in shambles. The turtle was so huge, that even Elidin's nimble tiger form could not get clear of the tail to reach the glyph. Alex was continuing to hammer at the leg joints, to little effect. Sara had her hands full repeatedly healing Alex and Elidin as the both took strikes from the turtles most mobile appendages. Karen was using every attack spell she knew, but again to no result. Suddenly the turtle hopped vertically and retracted its limbs. When it landed, it began spinning like a top, forcing all the party to scramble out of its way as it careened around the room like a billiard ball. Karen luckily found herself wedged into one of the four corners when the turtle sped toward her. Its bulk prevented what would otherwise have been a fatal blow from reaching the mage when it encountered the walls first.
Soon, the turtle stopped spinning and reemerged from its shell. Letting out a strange low frequency howl that was more felt than heard, it opened its jaws wide and pointed its head toward Alex.
"Magic cannon!" shouted Karen over a rising tone that seemed to coincide with the cannon's charging. "Alex, watch out!"
Alex sprinted down the hall, trying to reach the cover of the turtle itself. The cannon shot passed inches from Alex's shoulder to impact against the wall. Ricocheting off, the shockwave threw Alex into the turtle's shell, where she bounced off and fell to her back. While trying to get her breath back, she saw Elidin fly over her chest, having been slapped once again by the tail.
The turtle began to charge another cannon shot. Thomas tried to send a fireball into the open mouth. It was partially successful, in that it did disrupt the charging process, but it did very little damage.
"Karen," called Thomas. "can you freeze its mouth shut?"
"On it!" Karen also recognized how dangerous the magic cannon was. Once again, she summoned the thick fog. This time she directed it to coat the turtles head in ice. The layer of ice became so thick, that the turtle could not retract its head back into the shell.
While the turtle was distracted, Thomas had Alex boost him up onto the shell. The climb to the top was relatively easy, despite the shaking that accompanied the turtle's stomping around. When he reached the top, Thomas attempted to use some ice magic of his own. Focusing on one of the uppermost stone tiles, he froze it down as low as he could. Then he smashed it with the heated head of his mace. As he had hoped, the rock shattered. Inside the turtle he could see a lot of mechanical parts that looked to be gnomish made. Silently praying that he wouldn't have to pay for what he was about to do, Thomas summoned lightning. The first strike to the internal workings caused the entire turtle to shake. Again, Thomas summoned the power of the storm. After the strike, he could see the machinery beginning to give way. As he prepared a third strike, he was joined by a slender golden-haired elf, with pale skin and dressed in green and holding an oak branch staff, with various feathers and other decorations hanging from the head. Elidin, in his natural form, loosed his own lightning bolt into the workings of the turtle. Thomas immediately followed suit. It took thirteen individual strikes for the turtle to finally collapse inertly.
"Get the switch!" called Thomas, as he sat exhausted atop the broken remains of the boss. Sara sprinted for the alcove at the end of the room. The young priestess was the only one still able to move quickly, as she had been spared the battering the vanguard had taken, as well as not having so completely exhausted her magic as Karen had. Slapping her hand against the glyph triggered a loud gong and the cleverly hidden doors in wall to the right of the alcove opened to reveal the path back down the mountainside. They had successfully cleared the course, and kept Karen 'Alive' for the duration. She now had her required pass, and would advance into the new term without worries.
As the exhausted party made their way down to the operations booth to receive their score, Karen was profusely thanking the others.
"Karen, enough. I know you're thankful for our help, but there's no need to overdo it." Explained Thomas.
"I know, but I can't help myself. I was sure I was going to need to beg Cecilia to help me pass after the term began. You have no idea how little I want to resort to that." Karen went quiet for a dozen or so steps. "In fact, I don't want to have anything to do with her at all."
"So, you're not heading to Brightmoon Bay to shock her with her real score and ranking?" Alex asked as she leaned her dented helmet against the reinforced leather cap and chainmail coif Thomas was wearing, as he supported her. During the last seconds of the turtle's death throes, Alex's knee had been dislocated when the leg she was smashing had given way, and her leg had been trapped under the shell.
"Not even if I wanted to. It's a three-day ferry ride to Brightmoon Bay from here. That makes six days round trip. Not worth it for only one day of exploring or training with the Sparking Sword guild." When Karen next looked at Thomas, her expression had turned a little nervous. "Since I'm going to be here for the rest of the week, I would like to train with the four of you, if that's okay? I know it's a lot to ask, since you just sacrificed so much to help me."
"You're always welcome," Thomas said with a smile. "Just like all our friends are. In fact, tomorrow we're going out to search for ore and some plants for our clubs. You can join us if you'd like."
The party arrived at the operations booth before Karen answered. Ms. Nightfrost looked up from her book at the battered students. "You are back quite early, Thomas. I assume you were wiped out?"
"No, Ma'am." Thomas proudly stated as he presented their student tokens for inspection. "There were a few tight spots, but we all came through alive. Most importantly, Karen has now completed the course."
Ms. Nightfrost's mouth dropped open in shock. "That can't be right," she began to manipulate the controls to retrieve the party's data, "You were only in there for… Fifty-three minutes forty-six seconds." Ms. Nightfrost fell into her chair in shock. "The first-year maze has not been cleared in under an hour since before I started working here, forty-three years ago. How did you…?" She began to look more closely at the magical data slates before her. "Followed a center course...Skirted the troll lair…Ogre and Anubis warriors…Skeleton platoon…I see…effective…boss…the Turtle…beaten…cleared." Ms. Nightfrost was stunned. "This is incredible. Mr. Walker, I know I warned you about the possibility of lowering your scores. I was wrong. I believe you have set the new high score for the year. Congratulations." Ms. Nightfrost shook the hands of each of the party members as she returned their tokens. "Now take a seat over on the benches over there, while I summon a stretcher for Mr. Mason. The rest of you should get checked over in the infirmary as well."
As the group sat in the indicated seats, Karen shook her head in shock. "I can't believe this. The last student in the school to clear the exam does so by setting the record? I must be dreaming."
"It's not a dream Karen. If it were, my leg wouldn't hurt so much." Alex said in a weak attempt at humor.
"Seriously, Karen. Setting the record wouldn't have been possible without you. It's clear you have almost memorized the maze layout and the most dangerous areas. And the knowledge you shared about the boss was vital. Not to mention the platoon of skeletons you stopped. And while I'm not surprised at how many spells you were able to cast, I am greatly impressed you were able to keep up with us as we ran through the tunnels."
"Well, I go jogging most mornings. I find it restful and a great stress relief. Cecilia calls it my friendly foible. Funny, saying it out loud, I never realized how degrading that sounds."