The Workshop Beneath the Stone

4E 201 | Early Sun's Dusk | Sixty Days Since Arrival

The fight against Mei tore across the ruin.

Katana's hidden knives forced the Calamity to respect angles she had never seen. Tsukihana used the openings Katana created. Together they drove Mei backward once, then twice.

Mei laughed harder with every cut.

Fen panicked under the storm of frost, chain, and steel. The mare struck a concealed bronze plate near the edge of the clearing.

Ancient locks released.

The ground opened.

Stone, horse, and three swordswomen fell into darkness.

Tsukihana struck scaffolding before reaching the floor. Katana landed among broken automaton limbs. Mei crashed through a metal platform.

Fen did not survive. A slab of stone crushed her beneath the collapsed entrance.

Katana closed the mare's eye with a shaking hand.

"She was only an animal," Mei said.

Katana rose with both swords drawn. "Say it again."

A metallic impact interrupted them.

Two Dwarven Colossi unfolded from the walls of an enormous underground workshop. One carried a hammer and furnace. The other possessed four arms armed with an axe, drill, heated blade, and integrated crossbow.

Red eyes ignited.

The machines raised their weapons.

Mei spun her sickle. "Temporary truce."

Katana did not look away from the dead horse. "When this ends, I am killing you."

"Take your time."

The hammer fell.