Arcane Golem

The **Arcane Golem** is a boss in The Messenger. It is the sixth boss of the game and is fought at the end of the Tower of Time. The Arcane Golem serves as the "Test of Might" to see if Ninja is worthy of being the chosen one. The Order of the Blue Robes "do the thing," transforming into the Arcane Golem.

## Profile

### Appearance

The Arcane Golem is a very large blue humanoid golem with pink accents. It has a blue exterior and an interior filled with swirling pink mist. Its head resembles a Blue Robes member, with a blue hood and darkened face, but instead of two separate glowing red eyes, it has glowing pink eyes, connected together by a horizontal pink line. Just beneath its head is a pink circular gem with three white dots that constantly rotate counter-clockwise.

The upper section of the torso surrounding the head is covered with a blue exterior with intricate swirling patterns, while the majority of its lower torso is not covered, revealing a column of pink mist. The lower torso is covered by three blue horizontal bar-shaped crystals on either side, which are reminiscent of a ribcage.

Arcane Golem has prominent blue shoulders, flattened triangular shapes. The shoulders are covered in triangular prisms of pink crystals that point straight up into the air.

Arcane Golem's blue hands are not connected to its body and float freely through the air. On its palms are rounded outlets with pink centers, designed to release pink lasers. Pink lines separate the knuckles and glow with swirling pink energy.

## Boss Fight

Note: Left/right hand means left/right from the player's perspective, not from the Arcane Golem's perspective.

Arcane Golem's hands do no damage to Ninja but have collisions. Ninja can cling to the side of one of Arcane Golem's hands or jump on top of the hand to ride it around, in order to reach Arcane Golem's weakpoint: the head.

### Phases

#### Phase 1

* HP: 61-65
* Attack Pattern: Hand Sweep → Downward Lasers → Repeat

#### Phase 2

* HP: 26-60
* Attack Pattern: Energy Ball Shield Regenerates → Hand Sweep → Energy Ball Shield Released → Downward Lasers → Energy Ball Shield Regenerates → Energy Ball Shield Disappears into Energy Ball Maze → Repeat

#### Phase 3

* HP: 1-25
* Attack Pattern: Energy Ball Shield Regenerates → Hand Sweep → Energy Ball Shield Disappears into Floor Lasers → Energy Ball Shield Regenerates → Energy Ball Shield Released → Downward Lasers → Energy Ball Shield Regenerates → Energy Ball Shield Disappears into Energy Ball Maze → Repeat
* "Hand Sweep" and "Downward Lasers" become extremely fast.
* "Energy Ball Shield Disappears into Energy Ball Maze" becomes more difficult to navigate through, introducing a few moving pink energy balls instead of solely stationary ones.

### Attacks

#### Clap Pushback

If Ninja does 3 consecutive hits within 4 seconds, Arcane Golem's hands will stop whatever attack they are doing and clap together, pushing Ninja away from the center of the screen. Afterwards, the hands return to their default positions.

#### Hand Sweep

Arcane Golem sweeps its hands perpendicularly across the bottom of the arena, first the left hand, then afterwards, the right hand. Once a hand finishes sweeping across the ground, it returns to its default position. The hands can push Ninja off of the arena if he does not react by jumping.

#### Downward Lasers

Arcane Golem places one hand on one side of the arena at a medium height, palm downward. Arcane Golem places its other hand on the other side of the arena, really close to the ground, palm downward. The hands simultaneously sweep twice across the screen as each hand shoots a laser column down towards the ground. Afterwards, the hands return to their default positions.

#### Energy Ball Shield Regenerates

A ring of 8 pink energy balls appears and starts circling clockwise around Arcane Golem's head. If Arcane Golem performs "Clap Pushback," then the energy ball shield regenerates early. (If done during "Energy Ball Shield Released," the shield will uncharacteristically exist during "Downward Lasers.")

#### Energy Ball Shield Released

The ring of pink energy balls start to flash, then one-by-one, an energy ball homes in on Ninja's current position and flies in a straight line towards the homed-in position.

#### Energy Ball Shield Disappears into Energy Ball Maze

Arcane Golem's energy ball shield disappears. The stationary outlines of pink energy balls appear near the ground in a specific formation, while Arcane Golem raises each of its hands to the upper-left and upper-right part of the arena, palms facing downward. Each hand shoots a laser column down to the ground, and the pink energy ball outlines materialize into physical pink energy balls that deal damage. The hand closest to Ninja sweeps across the screen, and once it reaches the opposite side of the screen, both hands move together back towards the other side of the screen. If Ninja is at the ground level, he must navigate himself through the field of pink energy balls while avoiding the downward lasers. Afterwards, the hands return to their default positions.

#### Energy Ball Shield Disappears into Floor Lasers

Arcane Golem's hands descend to the ground level and hug the sides of the floor. It charges the ground filled with pink energy, telegraphing where laser columns will shoot straight up out of the ground. There are 7 lasers outlets on the ground, which are predetermined to perform one of three patterns.

* Type #1: 3/4/5 → 1/2/6/7 → 1/3/5/7 → Fake-Out Lasers
* Type #2: 2/6 → 1/3/7 -> 1/3/4/5/7 → Fake-Out Lasers
* Type #3: 1/2/6/7→ 3/4/5 → 1/2/4/6/7 → Fake-Out Lasers

Afterwards, 8 thin floor tiles raise straight up into the air at varying heights, carrying Ninja upward. They float for a bit, then fall back down to the ground. The hands return to their default positions, completely perpendicular for a few moments before returning to their normal shape.

## Main Story

### Tower of Time First Visit

Ninja climbs to the top of Glacial Peak, where he meets three sages. One of the sages, The Artificer, is excited about Ninja's arrival and proclaims his desire to "do the thing." It is revealed later that "the thing" is the Order of the Blue Robes combining their power together to form the Arcane Golem.

Ninja reaches the top of the Tower of Time, where he meets the three sages again. The Artificer is so excited to "do the thing" that he teleports away before The Prophet can finish his speech. The Prophet and The Shopkeeper also teleport away, and from below and behind the arena, the Arcane Golem slowly rises up and towers high above Ninja. Ninja and the Arcane Golem engage in combat, as the Arcane Golem primarily uses its hands and pink lasers to attack Ninja. Ninja defeats the Arcane Golem, and the Arcane Golem disappears, leaving behind a crystal teleportation switch that leads to the next section of the Tower.

### Ending

Ninja, The Shopkeeper, and Phantom teleport together to the top of the Tower of Time, where they join up with Monk, The Prophet, and The Artificer. The group chat with each other for a bit, but the conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the Mask. As it turned out, the Mask slowly grew in power over the countless Messenger cycles, becoming extremely powerful. The Prophet and The Shopkeeper doubt that the Mask can be stopped, but The Artificer encourages the team, stating that they can "do the thing." The Shopkeeper does not believe that the Order of the Blue Robes can win against the Mask since the Order has been reduced down to only three members. But The Artificer states that everyone present can "do the thing" since everyone there is attuned to the scroll. The Artificer raises one arm up in the air and rallies the others to follow suit. The group each raise an arm up into the air and they teleport away, returning together from below the arena as the Arcane Golem.

The Arcane Golem brings its cupped hands together, and the hands crackle with pink electricity as a pink energy ball forms between the two hands. After gathering enough energy, the Arcane Golem raises its hands above its head, releasing a massive pink energy column upward to attack the Mask. The Mask counters by firing two laser eye beams downward, which halts the progression of the Arcane Golem's pink laser. The Arcane Golem and the Mask struggle against each other in a laser beam duel, but eventually, the Arcane Golem wins out. The Arcane Golem's laser shatters the Mask into many pieces.

## Trivia

* Arcane Golem's right hand is found lying on the floor in The Artificer's room in the Tower of Time HQ. A panel on the side of Arcane Golem's index finger is missing.

## Achievements

*For the main article, see Achievements.*

## Gallery

An animation of Arcane Golem from Sabotage Studio's website.Beta version of Arcane Golem.The Arcane Golem's first concept art.Key art #3, which depicts Arcane Golem.