NOVEL NEXT Chapter 50 - Unwelcome guests
What is going on?
I’m just here, minding my own business, when suddenly a massive explosion rocks the place. If I wasn’t so well put together and not at all in the middle of renovations I'm sure plenty of the stones constituting my borders would come loose and potentially threaten my mannequins. No, this is a very safe workplace environment, which is why the explosion is more irritating than anything else (though Matt and some of the workforce mannequins did have to dodge some debris, because renovations are in fact underway).
A peek through the eyeholes confirms that the surrounding caverns suffered as well. But it does reveal something else to me as well. Specifically, a group of familiar faces that seem to be making a run for it. In my direction.
I would be considering what has got them running but there was an explosion just a couple moments ago so… some villains if I had to wager.
Considering I don't know anything about the world around me, I cannot possibly hope to guess their motives, but I still take offense to an explosion set off in my vicinity. Maybe these adventurers can explain.
In fact, I am certain they will be able to, based on their expressions as they run for my entrance. Something is going down out there, something big.
Monsters, we should pause our projects for the moment. We are getting guests. The occasion? Undetermined as of yet. Does not look like a delve. Get ready for anything.
Actually, focusing my senses outside, there is something else out there. A malevolent presence, following on their heels. It feels like a miasma, slowly seeping into the cavern. My mimics would probably describe it as… not tasty. The foul presence is reminiscent of something similar I experienced recently. The portals opened by a certain paladin…
The closer the aura draws, the more certain I am. I don’t quite understand, but it looks like the paladin had friends, and they are coming.
The party of adventurers, meanwhile, arrives at my front gate, just as something else enters the cavern. A quadrupedal being, with lean muscles and sharp fangs. Its hide is furry, but only in patches. In larger chunks, the skin is sloughing off of the being, revealing rotting meat and necrotized tissue beneath.
The abomination scrambles to its feet after invading the open space and tripping over itself in the process of descending the small crevice connecting to the outside. Its head swivels, but I can’t tell whether it has detected the adventurers or not, it is too far away.
“We apologize for the intrusion, great dungeon, but we seek shelter from forces of great evil.” the rogue intones as they push their way through the double doors.
I would be hesitant to grant such a request, something within me inherently disagreeing with the idea, but I saw that thing and felt that presence.
“We will grant you shelter.” Juliette speaks up in my stead. “What is going on, what should we expect?”
“Friends of Marcus, it seems. Necromancers, it seems like. Their undead minions are on our tail. We don't know how many, or how strong, but we can assume that we are outnumbered and outmatched.”
We will need a plan then.
“Use the crowded hall for guerilla warfare. The Mannequins in here are illusory constructs, largely. We shall retreat down to the costume shop where we will fortify for now. The main entrance to the stage we will blockade. How intelligent are the minions?“
Juliette quickly relays my initial thoughts, while I go about organizing my forces. A big slab of stone blocks off the main entrance to my stage. My mannequins, clothes and mimics assemble in the costume shop and organize the shelves into makeshift barricades. The adventurers seamlessly slot into the effort, Larissa producing tools and weapons out of thin air and handing them out.
I have a quick glance outside, and what I see does not inspire courage.
Abominations like the one before litter the cave, several dozen swarming the plaza in front of the ruined building I call my abode. They surround the building but make no moves to enter yet. It only takes a few moments to figure out how. The aura of malignance around deepens as a figure descends into the area through the small opening.
A humanoid figure in deep black robes appears, a swirling nexus of the lingering power. Many more humanoids follow him, their faces covered by the deep shadows of their hoods. The figure at the center strides closer and closer in an utterly unhurried stride. The rest follow him, like a procession, as the creatures all across the area fall into formation around them.
Their procession arrives in front of my doors in short order, and the humanoids begin arguing amongst each other. At a few words of the central figure they quiet down, however, and several of them move forward with a large group of abominations and skeletal creatures.
My monsters and the adventurers inside stand ready to receive them.