"I'll be back for you all later,"  you say, as loud as you dare.  


There's an opening in the wall with a spiral staircase going up, so you head through it.  At the top of the stairs is a wooden door.  You can hear voices from the other side, probably guards.  Quietly, you turn the handle and push it open.  Two guards stand on the other side, their backs to you.  They don't notice you, because they just keep chatting about the weather.  You creep closer, and closer, and then you put a hand over each of their mouths and drag them back through the door before they even realize you're there!


They struggle in your grip, but their flailing is no match for your strength.  You carry them downstairs, still covering their mouths, and toss them into the nearest empty cell.  You steal the keys off their belt while you're at it, and lock them inside.  


"What's going on?"  one of them cries.


"What the heck are you?"  Asks the other.


"Shut up, both of you!"  You say,  "I need to know where the Dark Sorcerer lives."


"Why would we tell you that?  You're kidnapping us!"  the first guard says,


"Because if you don't, you die!"  You say, slamming your fist against the bars.  


"I'm not talking."  The first guard says, crossing his arms.


"Well, I am!"  The Second one says, trembling,  "He's in the tower opposite us, at the very top!"


"What the heck is wrong with you?"  The first guard says, "If you tell it that, you're breaking your sacred oath to protect the king!"


"I'd rather stay alive, thank you very much!"


"Shut up, or I'll kill you both!"  You say, feeling a little guilty.  (Threatening lives isn't exactly the most fun thing in the world).


They go quiet after that.  There's no way to know how long they'll stay quiet though, so you'd better be quick.  You head back up the stairs and slip out the door.  Luckily, the courtyard isn't all that crowded, but there are still a few Oalkwardners milling about here and there.  


A line of bushes sits in the shadow of the wall, wrapping all the way around, so you crouch behind it to avoid being seen.  As fast as you can, you crawl around the perimeter until you reach the tower the guards were talking about. There's no-one there to guard the door, it's almost too easy.  Quickly, you slip inside and find yourself staring at yet another spiral staircase.  


You take the stairs four at a time, as they're smaller than stairs for humans.  The tower has multiple levels, with rooms branching off on each one, but you don't stop to look in any of them until you reach the very top.  The stairway ends in a trapdoor. You press your ear up against it, but hear nothing. Pushing on the door reveals that it's locked, with the same type of wooden lock that was on the cells in the dungeon.  For a moment, you panic. What are you going to do if you can't get in? It would be a defeat on the whole purpose of this mission!


Then, you remember that you stole the keys off the guards you trapped in the dungeon.  Checking over your shoulder to make sure no one's coming, you pull out the wooden key ring and try each one of them on the lock.  The key slides in on the fourth try, and the door swings open freely to reveal something like a cross between a bedroom and a laboratory.  One side of the room has a big table full of all kinds of odds and ends, different materials and chemicals. The other side has a bedroll, woven from grass and stuffed with... well, more grass.  


You start looking around for anything that looks like it might do away with magic armor.  You look through the contents of the table first, but don't find anything remotely useful. (Though, there is a cage of yellow rats on one corner, which is quite entertaining to look at).  You're about to turn elsewhere when you spy something else. Hidden behind a stack of books is a bowl of a strange green substance, glowing slightly in the dim light.  


This is the same fluid that's in the back of the disk you found in the forest when you first woke up!  You pull it out of your backpack to confirm.  Maybe, if you refill the tank on the back, it'll work properly again, and you can find out more about what it does.

You there's no time for this. Keep looking for the weapon.

You sigh and leave the bowl alone.  Maybe you can come back here once your mission's over.  There's a book lying on the floor next to the bed that you didn't notice until now.  Its cover is blank, and it looks hand bound. Curious, you pick it up and open it to a random page.  Numerous entries in impeccably neat handwriting fill the pages. Looks like the sorcerer keeps a diary.


You skim the pages, looking for any mention of the king's amour.  A full page drawing of a helmet stops you in your tracks. It's entitled, "Kingly helmet."  The next few pages are the same, full of images of chest plates and gauntlets, different designs and chemical formulas.  It's only when you reach the last page of drawings that you find anything useful. A little blurb at the bottom of the page tells you everything you need to know.


It has come to my attention that this amour, while stronger than anything this world has ever seen, is not infallible. It does not block out liquids, so that a little splash of water might be enough to do our great monarch in.  I must keep this fact a secret, or I fear he may have me executed. Thankfully enough, no one else can so much as touch this water either, so there's little chance of it being used against him. I certainly hope none of our enemies figure out a way to circumvent this, as it could spell doom for the entire kingdom.


You look up from the book.  This is perfect! All you've got to do is lure the king down into the dungeons and push him into the water and you're set!  At that moment, you hear shouts from outside. You rush to the window and look down into the courtyard to see the tiny figures of three guards dragging Kralmer into the courtyard.  Your heart begins to pound.  You have to save him!


Then, an idea comes to you.  An idea that might just save Kralmer and everyone else.  You rush down the stairs as fast as you can. When you reach the ground floor, you open the door to the outside just a crack and peer out.  You can just see the guards holding Kralmer on the other side of the courtyard. Now all you've got to do is wait...


A minute later, the king comes out of one of the towers, just as anticipated.  (You know it's him because he's clad in a strange bronze amour, unlike any you've ever seen.  At least, that you remember you've seen). He talks to the guards for a moment, then they all head towards the dungeon.  Quick as you can, you start to crawl around the perimeter, behind the bushes, towards the same place.


You reach the door to the dungeon just as the king and his guards enter, and wait a moment to let them get a little further ahead.  Then, you go in after them. As you sneak down the stairs, you can hear their voices.


"What happened?"  the king shouts.


"We were trapped by a monster!"  


You jolt a little.  You'd forgotten all about the guards you trapped in the cell!  The king must've found them.


At this point, you've reached the bottom of the stairs, and are peaking into the next room.  The king and his guards are still talking.


"Go sound the alarms,"  the king orders, "I've got an execution to oversee."


It's now or never.  You dash out into the next room, screaming at the top of your lungs.  Everyone leaps backwards in shock. By the time they regain their footing, you've already scooped up the king under your arm.  He's heavier than most with that armor, but you manage.  


"Let me go or I'll have you executed!"  he screams, "Guards, take him out!"


"Never!"  you shout, and dive into the pool of water at the opposite side of the room.  


The king shrieks in pain as the water floods through the cracks in his armor.  You turn away, not wanting to watch. By the time you've exited the lake, the king is dead.


The guards stare at you, openmouthed.  You ready yourself to do battle one more time, but then something entirely unexpected happens.  One of the guards in the cage begins to clap. Then the rest of them join in. All the prisoners pick up on it too, until the entire dungeon is applauding.  


"Bravo, monster!"  one of the guards in the cage says,  "The rest of us hated him just as much as anyone else.  Now we can all be free!"


"You have done well, Human."  Kralmer says, "I believe you will go down in history as a hero.  Never before has such a great deed been performed alone."  


"Yeah," you say, trying not to think about the king's final screams as he died,  "I guess... I guess it was pretty great."

You epilouge

After the king's death, the rebel group that the king was trying to stop steps into the power vacuum and takes over.  They estate a glorious new order in which all of the people share their resources and the government owns the means of production.*  The people are quite receptive to it, as they hated the old order of things and needed a change.


The story of the Human that ended the terrible reign of king Maeldral is passed down from generation to generation, until it becomes legend.  Some say you integrated into their society and are living a quiet life in a village near the edge of the kingdom.  Others think you returned to your own world.  Whatever the answer, everyone agrees that you are a hero.  Thanks to you, the kingdom is much better off.


 

The end.


*The only reason this sort of Communism works is because they are fantasy creatures in a fantasy world.  Do not attempt in real life, it never has worked out, and probably never will.