Eva had Genoa’s snake golem on the floor in front of her and was in the process of pouring a dark orange potion over the top of it. She was being careful not to let a single drop fall to the floor, something that was becoming easier and easier as she continued.
Once she finished upending the vial, she knelt down and picked up the obelisk before taking a few steps back herself. There was a short strain in lifting the stone structure, but Arachne caught and steadied her until Eva managed to get herself under control.
The stone carving swelled. It stretched out, quickly becoming large enough to fill out the entire width of the hallway. The tail thrashed, sending the wooden center door flying back into the room it once guarded. With the added room for its tail, the snake appeared to relax.
For a moment, at least. Once the snake’s width grew enough for its scales to reach both ends of the door frame, it started squirming again.
The walls were giving way more than the blackish scales.
“E,” Zoe said, warning in her voice. At least, as much warning as she could cram into a single letter.
The snake whipped its head to Zoe at the sound. Its silver and black eyes bored into her.
Zoe took another three steps back, extremely grateful that the creature was stone and not turning her to stone. A fact that the basilisk seemed to realize as well.
“Stop!” Eva commanded as the sculpture started slithering towards Zoe. It continued forwards for a second–growing all the while–before an unnatural stillness overcame it. “Holding it with the blood inside,” Eva said without a hint of concern in her voice, though there was a bit of strain as she shifted the obelisk in her arms. “Too much growth potion?”
“Get it out of here before it crushes us,” Wayne shouted.
“Right. Down the hall,” Eva said, pointing her arm. “Don’t try to bite or stare. Just crush everything.”
The head of the snake was forcibly dragged away from Zoe. Eva set it to looking out the stone doors.
“Is it going to follow your orders?” Zoe asked.
Eva tried to shrug. The effort was there, but her shoulders barely moved. “Doubt it. She hasn’t followed anything else I’ve said. I don’t think it was designed for that. Maybe I will take golemancy next year,” she mused under her breath.
“Will it attack us?”
“No. She is full of blood that I can manipulate. Just stay behind her as she charges out of here. I think she should take at least a few bolts of lightning before anything bad happens to her.”
“Maybe more than that,” Zoe murmured. She wouldn’t be able to say for certain without seeing it in action, but it was doubtful that they would be able to ‘kill’ it unless they hit the golem animation core. The main body was carved from stone which should be somewhat hardy.
Of course, if they hit it a few times with blasts as powerful as the initial lightning that created the dust cloud, it might not matter all that much in the long run. Half of the thing could turn to dust before the actual core was exposed.
“Get it moving,” Wayne ordered, still backing away as the snake grew larger.
Eva didn’t argue. The snake’s unnatural stillness ended after a slight nudge out into the hallway. It slithered out, body winding back and forth as it pushed its scales against the ground.
Arachne moved up to Eva’s side, using her body to help cover Eva from any enemy fire while helped to hold the obelisk. The two of them charged out in a slight crouch so as to keep behind the snake’s bulk. Eva paused for just one moment to vaguely gesture with a nod of her head into the still settling cover of dust.
“Serena is lying there, if anyone cares. Can’t tell if she’s alive or not.”
Keeping herself low to the ground, Zoe sent out another dust clearing gust of wind. She was careful to keep a wall of the dust between them and the stairwell. No need to make it easy on the nuns.
Serena had a brick-sized hole in her stomach. One bloodied brick was stuck half in her side along with several smaller shards of stone.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” the vampire said with ragged breath.
“No time to argue,” Zoe said. She flicked her dagger towards Serena, levitating her just above the ground.
Wayne appeared at her side. Without a word, he incinerated the ground that Serena had been lying and bleeding on.
As one, they turned and ran to catch up to Eva, Arachne, and the snake.
They emerged from the cover of the lingering dust between the room and the stairwell. There was a sharp cry of “Basilisk,” from one of the nuns. The lightning cut off almost instantly. The few bolts that hit the snake did only marginal damage to the stone scales.
Tuning her ears’ sensitivity ever so slightly, Zoe heard the rustling of clothes moving farther away. They were retreating up the stairwell. Probably to set up an ambush that could take out a basilisk without exposing themselves to its gaze.
The nuns were obviously not yet aware that its gaze was entirely impotent.
