Another couple of weeks, and another chapter for you guys to read. With this, it's now time to go after another one of the major battles in FoZ - Fouquet and her golem. Hope you guys enjoy!
Chapter 8: To Catch a Thief
A couple of days had passed, and true to his word, Tlopfest kept Louise within his sights whenever and wherever he could. Classes, dorm, mess hall, Tlopfest stood guard. No matter how much Louise seemed to hate him for it, Tlopfest kept it up. By day three after the attack, Tlopfest and Louise were in a study hall session when they were summoned to Osmond's office by Professor Colbert, much to the delight of some of Louise's classmates. Soon after the duo left the room however, Kirche had decided to follow them as well, concern showing on her face, while dragging Tabitha along with her.
Within Osmonds's office, there were many of the faculty members lined along the walls. Standing at the front were Colbert, Osmond, and his assistant, Miss. Longueville; a young adult with green hair.
Soon after coming in, Louise finally noticed Tabitha and Kirche right behind Tlop and herself. "What are you two doing here? They only asked for Tlopfest and I."
"What? It seemed much more interesting than waiting around in the study hall" Kirche responded nonchalantly.
"Dragged along." Tabitha, as usual, was brief with her explanation, head buried in a book still.
"Ahem." Miss Longueville called the occupant's attention. "While investigating this crime, I was able to talk with some of the local townsfolk. They mentioned a shady figure going in and out of a cabin within the woods nearby the school. Based on this, I was able to draw a sketch of the person in question." As she said that, she pulled out a rolled piece of paper, unfurling it to reveal a rather well drawn sketch of a person to the occupants of the room. Louise and the others gathered closer to get a better look.
"There's no doubt about it, that's Fouquet for sure."
"Wait, hold on." Tlopfest quipped, catching the attention of the room. "You were able to go around town, and based on some, probably vague, descriptions of this person, create a nearly perfect sketch of the potential thief?"
"That is correct." Longueville replied in an even tone.
"And you're sure this is the person that was on top of that golem Louise? I myself didn't really get a good look."
"I'm positive. That's got to be Fouquet."
"..." Tlopfest nodded and stood back up, although he wasn't entirely convinced, eye glowing yellow green in response to this. "Either she is really good at her job and can draw, or…she's the thief. I'd better keep an eye on her, just in case."
"Very good Miss Longueville. I knew I could count on you!" Osmond smiled towards his assistant, pleased at her results.
"We should report this to the castle immediately." Colbert said. "We can send the knights out at once and capture this thief."
"That will take too long," Osmond responded. "By the time they get there, Fouquet will have been long gone. No, we shall go after that thief ourselves and reclaim the Staff of Destruction and our academy's honor. Those who want to volunteer for this, raise your wands!"
Much to his disappointment, every faculty member kept their hands down. "What? None of you want to go after Fouquet, raising your fame ever further?" No one said a word still, until Louise raised her wand.
"Louise? Are you sure about this?" Tlopfest asked worriedly.
"I failed to stop Fouquet the first time, I'm not going to let her get away with this!"
"I'll come as well." Kirche raised her wand. "It certainly seems like an interesting endeavor, and I can't just let my rival go after a famous thief alone."
"Of course…" Louise said flatly. The group then noticed Tabitha also raising her staff.
"Tabitha. You don't have to go as well, you know?" Kirche said.
"...Worried about you two." Tabitha responded.
The other two mages could only stare in appreciation of their friend coming along.
"Then I shall leave it to you three to take on this quest." Osmond said.
"You mean four?" Tlopfest quipped. "Familiar or no, I'm not about to leave these guys to go after a potentially dangerous thief on their own."
"Oh but they won't be." Miss Longueville said, stepping forwards. "I'll be taking them to the cabin that the townsfolk described. There is no need for you to come along Familiar."
Before Tlopfest could retort, Louise pointed her wand towards Longueville. "He will come along. He is my familiar, and both he and I wish to partake in this quest." Louise turned to smile a little at Tlopfest, bringing him some relief.
"Thanks." Tlopfest muttered.
"Very well then," Osmond stated. "This group should do just fine against the thief. Miss Zerbst has been known to be very good at her fire magic. Miss Tabitha, even at such a young age, is knighted as a Chevalier."
"Wait what?" "Seriously Tabitha?" Both Louise and Kirche were surprised to hear this, and Tabitha only nodded in agreement.
"And Miss Valliere can, uh…well…" Osmond wasn't entirely sure what to say.
"She was able to summon me here." Tlopfest chipped in. "And I was able to take down that Guiche guy a while back easily enough."
"Right, because you're Gan-'' Colbert quickly shut up, apparently not wanting to say…whatever it was he was going to say. Tlopfest could only look at him questioningly.
"Ah, yes, yes, that is true." Osmond seemed grateful for Tlopfest's save. "And Miss Longueville here will be able to quickly guide these students to the thief's hideout."
"We leave within the hour. Gather what you need, and meet me at the gate of the academy," Longueville said to the group, eyeing Tlopfest for a second longer than the rest.
"...I got a bad feeling about this." Tlopfest thought.
An hour later, Tlopfest, Kirche, Tabitha, Louise, and Longueville were on a horse-drawn wagon heading towards the thief's hiding spot. Along with them, Derflinger was attached to Tlopfest's back. A little ways into the ride, he popped his handle out to speak.
"Not that I mind coming along with you for once partner, but where are we going exactly?"
"We're supposedly going to the hideout of a thief that recently stole from the academy. Also, sorry for not having you around as often. I'd just prefer to not try to really hurt anyone here if I can help it."
"..Well, you're not wrong I suppose."
"You know, now that I think about it, you nobles are the only people that can actually do magic, right?" Tlopfest asked the group.
"That's right," Louise answered. "Only nobles are able to use magic at all."
"Yet not all nobles are mages," Longueville added. "Some decide to become plebeians for one reason or another. In fact, I myself am not an aristocrat anymore actually."
"Really now?" Kirche responded. "How did that end up happening?" Longueville didn't seem to want to answer that question, opting to stay quiet instead.
"Kirche!" Louise interjected. "You're being rude. We're here to capture a thief, not do small talk."
"Hmph." Kirche sat back down in her seat. "I'm just bored is all. Why did I have to go after this thief?"
"If you didn't want to chase them, you didn't have to come along. It was only Tlopfest and I that were summoned in the first place."
Kirche cringed slightly at that, before getting up and sliding over to Tlopfest. "Say, remember that deal we made a while ago?"
"Kirche, are you seriously wanting to cash that in, here? Now?" Tlopfest was also somewhat annoyed at the redhead at this point.
Kirche just pouted at that. "You're no fun."
Louise, on the other hand, smirked internally at the rebuttal Tlopfest gave Kirche.
After a good while of riding in the wagon, the group was able to make it to the shack in question. Tlopfest, for his part, went ahead and took a cursory look through one of the windows of the shack to check for any signs of Fouquet. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any. "All clear."
The group sighed and approached the shack. Tabitha used her staff to see if there were any magical traps around, of which it returned none. At this, Kirche, Tlopfest, and Tabitha went inside to search for the staff. Louise and Longueville, however, stayed outside to keep watch and scout the area respectively. This just added on to Tlopfest's worry about Longueville. "I really hope I'm wrong, but I still should be ready to jump into action at any time."
After a few minutes of searching, Tabitha was able to procure the case of the staff from a corner of the cabin. Just before the group was going to open the case to check for the staff however, a yell of surprise from Louise caught the attention of the group. They started to head out, yet the roof of the cabin was suddenly ripped off by an earthen hand.
"A-A golem!" Kirche spat out.
"Crud, Fouquet must be nearby!" Tlopfest thought.
In an attempt to counter the golem, both Tabitha and Kirche used their wind and fire magic to attempt to hurt it, to no avail. Louise, outside of the house, kept trying to use various magic incantations on the golem, only for all of them to create harmless puffs of smoke on said golem. What they did manage to do however was grab the golem's attention.
"Louise! Get out of there!" Tlopfest yelled out at her.
"No way! I'm an aristocrat, and therefore I will not turn my back on an enemy!" Louise responded, holding her ground. Yet even with all her effort, the golem was still unscathed by her attacks. Seemingly annoyed at her tricks, the golem raised a hand to smash her with. Yet before it could do so, Tlopfest managed to nab Louise and get her out of the way, once again.
"What are you doing you stupid familiar! Get out of my way!"
"I'm not about to let you get crushed by a pile of rocks just because you're too stubborn to realize you don't stand a chance against it!" Tlopfest shouted back. "I knew this was a bad idea, I just knew it!"
Meanwhile, Tabitha had managed to call her dragon, Sylphid, and she and Kiriche were mounting it with the staff to escape. Tlopfest dragged Louise, much to her complaining, towards the dragon and got her on. "Get out of here! I'll stall it as long as I can!" Tlopfest shouted to the group. Before Louise could react, Sylphid had taken off and was starting to head back to the academy.
"Alright you hunk of rock," Tlopfest said, pulling out his pickaxe. "It's just you and me now." Saying that, Tlopfest rushed the golem and started hitting it with his pickaxe, taking out chunks of rock from each of its legs. However, the golem didn't seem to react and continued to try to stomp Tlopfest out of existence. Even worse, glancing back towards his dealt damage, Tlopfest could see that the golem was quickly regenerating the lost chunks. "Ah great, it's got regeneration on…"
As he was thinking, one of the golem's hands started to come down on Tlopfest, of which he dodged in the nick of time. Thinking of what to do next, Tlopfest hopped onto the golem's arm and started scaling it, double-jumping as needed to get up to the top. Once there, he continued trying to swing his pick at the golem, dodging the hands that kept trying to grab him. Meanwhile, in the air, the rest of the group watched on in anticipation and wonder, seeing Tlopfest run around the golem and not get hurt.
"I gotta say Louise," Kirche said. "That is one good familiar you were able to summon."
Unfortunately for Tlopfest, he eventually misstepped and got caught in one of the hands, of which gripped him tightly and threw him on the ground, dealing eight hearts of damage. "Criminy, that hurt like all heck!" Getting back up slowly, Tlopfest was fortunate enough to get away from another stomp attack. "I gotta make some room before I get killed again…"
"Partner!" Derf had popped out of his scabbard again. "Pull me out and use me on the golem!"
"Are you sure Derf?" Tlopfest questioningly looked towards the sword on his back. "This thing is made of dirt and rock, and you want me to, no offense, use a rusty old sword on that? You're probably gonna break before we get through it."
"Trust me!"
"...Alright, not like I got many other choices." With that, Tlopfest sheathed his pick and pulled Derflinger out of the scabbard, and he suddenly felt a lot better, his left hand glowing some underneath his glove. "What the?" Pulling his goggles down, Tlopfest noticed that a new effect had been applied to him. "Spirit of Gandalfr? Weird. Wonder what that does, other than dull the pain apparently."
"No time partner! Look out!" As Derf called his warning, another smash attack from the golem was heading their way. This time however, Tlopfset was able to step out of reach much faster than before. Acting somewhat on instinct, Tlopfest swung Derf towards the now outstretched arm of the golem, slicing it clean off of the rest of the body.
"Incredible. So this thing not only speeds me up, but increases my strength along with it!" He then noticed a set of absorption hearts in his UI. "And that explains the dullness of the pain. Hopefully this gets me through the fight."
Back with the rest of the group, Louise was staring at Tlopfest fighting the golem. "I can't just stay up here and do nothing." Looking at the staff's box, Louise got a plan. A stupid and reckless one, but a plan nonetheless. "Drop me off. I'm going to help." With that, she grabbed the box and jumped off of Sylphid, much to the surprise of her classmates. Tabitha quickly threw a slow fall spell at Louise to protect her from the fall. Dropping the case, Louise pulled out the 'Staff of Destruction' - a long staff with green crystals floating around one end and an odd symbol carved into one of the crystals.
While Louise came down, Tlopfest had managed to cut off one of the legs of the golem as well, yet it just kept regenerating like nothing happened. "Good grief, this thing just refuses to die." As he said that however, he noticed Louise landing and starting to swing the staff, yet nothing happened. "Louise, what did I tell yo-" As he started yelling towards her, he finally noticed the way the staff looked. "Wait….that can't be." Lost in thought, the golem took the opportunity to turn towards Louise and start lumbering towards her instead, much to her worry.
"Come on you stupid thing, why won't you work!"
Tlopfest, snapping out of his stupor, rushed towards Louise. "Louise!" Reaching her, he quickly grabbed the staff, getting it out of her hands. The staff also gained a small green flame on top when Tlopfest grabbed it.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
Looking at the staff closer, Tlopfest could truly see what it was. "Louise, you're not going to be able to use this, not like you are." Pulling up a GUI on it from his goggles, Tlopfest adjusted some of the stats on the spell to maximize the results. "This isn't just any old staff." With a wild glint in his eyes, Tlopfest stepped in front of Louise and pointed the staff towards the golem, of which was about to step on them. "Get down!" The moment he said that, Louise got down, and he yelled out "Nuke!"
The instant Tlopfest said that, a green fireball fell from the sky and hit the golem square in the chest. It immediately exploded in a huge display of hellfire, green flames spreading over it as the entire golem exploded. Tlopfest covered Louise, making sure none of the flames or pieces of golem got on her. Unfortunately, he dropped the staff on accident, letting it roll away from the duo a bit.
When the dust settled, Tlopfest let Louise go, and Tabitha and Kirche landed nearby. Louise was shocked to say the least.
"Yahoo!" Kirche then barreled into Tlopfest and got him caught in a hug. "So not only is this familiar of yours good with swords and pans, he can even cast magic!" Kirche was rather pleased with this information it seemed.
"We're not done yet." Tlopfest said, breaking out of the hug. "If that golem was here, Fouquet must be here somewhere nearby." Looking around, the group eventually spotted Longueville near the staff, who then picked it up.
"Well, I must say, the Staff of Destruction surely deserves its name. It took out my golem so easily." Longueville pulled down her hair and took off her glasses.
"So…" Tlopfest commented. "You were the thief. You're Fouquet."
"Indeed I am." Tlopfest started towards her, but she quickly pointed the staff towards the group. "Don't move. You see, I was in a bit of a bind since I had the staff, but couldn't figure out how to use it. I was planning on having some of the faculty come here to show me how it is used, but you four seemed to figure it out just fine." She gave a cruel smile. "Students or no, however, I cannot have any of you blab about me, so, this is goodbye. Nuke!" Yet, when she said it, nothing happened, and the green flame on top of the staff simply vanished. "W-what? Nuke! Nuke! Come on you stupid thing, work!"
As she was fussing with the staff, Tlopfest ran up to her, sheathing Derflinter and pulling out his pan, smacking her upside the head and knocking her out cold. "Unfortunately, it appears that the staff refuses to work with the mages of this world," Tlopfest said. "Although I'm not entirely surprised by that."
"T-Tlopfest?" Louise asked. "What do you mean, 'by the mages of this world'?"
"I mean," Tlopfest answered, picking up the staff, "you guys can't seem to use it. You know why?" The group shook their heads in denial. "This staff is not from your world. It's from mine." The group's eyes widened in shock. "And to top it all off," Tlopfest pointed towards the symbol etched into one of the crystals. Said symbol was the same one found on the front of Tlopfest's lab. "I actually made this staff and the spell that's attached to it."
The entire group just stared at Tlopfest for a moment, before all shouting the same thing on their mind. "Whaaatt?!"
Indeed, Tlopfest now has one of his items back - the Hellfire Staff from Mana & Artifice. I'll leave some stats down here about what it has and what it is (paraphrased though):
M&A Hellfire staff - A green and black staff with green crystals around the top. Only able to be created by those who align themselves with the Demons of the Nether, this staff can have any spell attached to it. However, attaching any fire-based spell will increase the output power of said spell, while also increasing the mana cost to cast. Most fire that is produced from this staff is also changed to green hellfire - much more potent fire that can quickly burn and bring devastation if left unchecked.
Nuke - the spell attached to Tlopfest's Hellfire Staff. It is a spell that is based on the explosion spell component and the smite casting. It also has range, radius, and damage modifiers applied. By itself, this allows the spell to have a rather large range (up to 30-ish blocks if memory serves me correctly), and up to 30 damage to anything caught within the blast. The smite part of the spell only allows it to be cast when there is enough headspace above, but also increases the power of the spell. Attached to the hellfire staff, and well...you get what really is essentially a nuke that can be dropped anywhere.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Let me know if there were any major issues in here, and I'll look at getting those fixed up! Catch you guys in the next chapter.