The Stone Golem is a creature that specializes in defense and tanking. Its hulking body can absorb even the deadliest of blows. The Stone Golem can increase the damage a monster takes from all sources, increase the defense and accuracy of itself and its owner, create random enhancement cubes, and more!
Anstrad was a busy Asura. Being renowned as one of the foremost killers in the world had ensured that Anstrad, the Shadow Knife, was never without clients... or targets. A special deal with the Templars of the Church of Brighton ensured that he always had the rupees to pay for whatever pleasures he wanted on his rare nights off.
Tonight, however, he was hunting a Gaian magician who had been experimenting with magic stone. Anstrad made a point of not asking questions about his targets; it made killing them a little bit less enjoyable if he knew too much. The magician's domicile was carved into the side of a cliff and small blue cubes - floating and twirling over pedestals - lit the way through the compound to his sanctum. Nothing had eyes to lay on Anstrad the Shadow Knife and he progressed quickly, his feet soundlessly slipping across the polished stone floor.
The magician's workshop was remarkably clean and organized. A pair of glowing stone cubes, almost as large as yaks, flanked him silently. Anstrad stepped through the room as quiet as a shadow, until the magician, not looking up from his projects, spoke, "That's far enough, I think. Have you come to steal my work, or simply put a stop to it?"
Anstrad chuckled; it was not often he had the opportunity to discuss his prey's impending death, "Not many people get a chance to ask their death a question. You offended someone who could afford my rates, that's the best I can tell you. Make your peace with the Goddess." The assassin chuckled, not breaking stride. With a metallic hiss, Anstrad's long, wickedly curved daggers appeared in his hands, dripping with a potent mixture of venoms.
The red-haired magician turned slowly to look at his assailant, blue light from the small stone cube in his hands casting a haunting glow on his well-chiseled features and a cold smile spreading across his face, "Hmm, interesting. You'll make a fine test." He held out his hands and the cube leapt from them, twirling in midair for a moment before unfolding, gaining mass and size. The original cube opened into a chest and arms held in place by gleaming ropes of magic. The arms expanded to form perfectly geometric fists, and legs extended down to the floor with a thud. Finally, the chest opened and a still larger cube with a glowing, inhuman faceplate popped up, glowing with a strange sentience.
Unhesitating, the construct rushed toward the Asuran assassin, its cubic fist shattering the floor and sending tiny pebbles everywhere. Anstrad was too fast for the eye to follow and one of his knives came down in a gleaming arc into the golem's energy-banded neck, the other flashing in horizontally at the side of its head. Such strikes would kill anything with a brain to pierce and a neck to sever, and Anstrad had used them hundreds of times to dispatch his targets' guards.
The golem proved a greater challenge, however; the energy beam of its throat provided no resistance to the blade, but neither did the blade's passing seem to affect it at all. The knife that should have pierced the construct's head-block did little more than scratch the stone, and Anstrad's wrist was numbed from the impact, the dagger sent flying from his hand. A growl of surprise and pain escaped his lips. This was going poorly. A few acrobatic dodges kept him safe from the golem's slow counterattacks but the blasted thing was simply too tough to hurt.
The magician's taunting voice echoed through the chamber, "Excellent, even the smaller specimens are considerably tougher than previously anticipated. Thank you Sir Assassin, you have done your duty admirably." The magician, which Anstrad now recognized to be an Evoker, held out his hands - glowing with the same bright blue power as his enchanted cubes - and bellowed, "Minions, dispose of him!" The magic lashed out from his hands into two large stone blocks, each of which began unfolding into a massive gorilla-armed construct that utterly dwarfed the man-sized golem that Anstrad was facing. Their fists alone were as large as his torso and their arms were perfect stone circles surrounding overlapping bands of surging energy longer than he was tall.
The Assassin's last thought before the massive stone fists came down was, "I am not getting paid enough for this."
But Vulcanus was not destroyed. Split apart and locked in many tiny prison dimensions, his power consumed even the chains that held him. And now he has found a crack in the prison wall. Sending out spikes of power from his prison, he has finally gained a foothold in the land he once called home. These footholds are tiny passages that allow transport between Vulcanus's prison and the world of Gaia. He cannot escape yet, but his power has begun to seep through. If left unchecked, Gaia faces certain doom. But lone adventurers may slip through the passages and face the shards of Vulcanus in his prison. Only these brave souls can stop Vulcanus before he wreaks his revenge!
The lair of Vulcanus is a unique dungeon that can be accessed at level 30 or higher, but can only be entered alone. To enter, you must collect 20 Imprisoned Soul and take them to a Shrine of Vulcanus, where you can use them to enter his molten prison. Once inside, you must face waves of Vulcanus's fiery minions, then descend further into the prison with more imprisoned Souls. Only after defeating all of Vulcanus's minions will you face Vulcanus himself. Remember, though, that this is only a shard of his true power, so gather your courage and achieve victory!
