Archimedes watched from the shadows, whiskers twitching. When the Piano made its way fully into the next tunnel, he glanced up. "It seems less active than I'd expected. Be ready to come in, grab that thing, and come back here--assuming it doesn't chase me with it in hand. If it does, just... flee, I suppose. If I am smashed, pray I've just been returned to hibernation." There was dark humor in that, but a wariness in his expression as he slid back into the room. "I'll find you later, if I am."

Archimedes scurried right up to the golem; the moment it showed any signs of motion he'd bolt for the entrance of the tunnels, and the surface beyond, where his Charger familiar was waiting. With luck, it'd chase him, he'd outrun it, the Piano could grab the probably important silvery weapon, and it could then do... whatever it needed to do with it.

And with REAL luck, Archimedes would catch back up later.

The rocks at the center of the room began to grind and shift the moment the rat drew close. And when he bolted, they came 'alive,' forming into a crushing shape of rotating stones.

The stones did not pick up the glaive.

They had no hands.

Instead, the golem began to roll after Archimedes with terrifying speed, and the two vanished into the darkness of the tunnel a moment later, the crush of rock on rock echoing back behind them. The Piano had time to collect the glaive, if it so wished, and to move back onward safely... and hopefully, Archimedes would find continued luck to return safely given time.

@The Piano (for real this time)

The Piano felt the vibrations of a commotion of rolling rocks coming to life thrum through its strings, and felt them fade as the golem presumably was drawn away. A thrill of triumph sang through it, and it rushed back heedless of the way the rough ground put its wheels and legs through the wringer. It snatched the beautiful silver glaive and paused to admire it for only a fraction of a second before speeding back to where it would wait for Archimedes to return and meet it.

Rather than worry (it did, in fact, have full confidence that the rat could accomplish incredible things, including taking care of himself against a massive golem), it idly sent its magic probing at the edges of what it could reach. Advance warning of an approaching threat (or the golem returning) would be useful, of course, but what it was really hoping for was more loot.

@Archimedes

Archimedes raced up the the tunnel, trying to keep himself together. He'd have been lying if he'd claimed this wasn't a terrifying experience. The golem could crush him under... foot? Under rock, whatever, in a split second. And yes, he had a head start, and he was small. He could stick to shadows and dart around. But it felt like the thing could track him.

Maybe that made sense. It had no eyes, no ears that he could see. Maybe his footsteps were drawing it? Maybe something else. But it was gaining on him.

He ran all the way up to where the broken fence lay, and there had the terrifying realization that in the open, it'd probably just catch up and smush him into paste--possibly so strongly that he wouldn't even have the chance to chrysalize. He was starting to think, actually, that he might have made a mistake here.

The fence drew his eye and he ran for it, urging his Charger to stay well clear of this whole thing. He dove into the mostly-rusted bars, what little wasn't already dust, and wound between them. He was hoping it'd slow the thing down, maybe entangle it. Then he was running back down the tunnel, the way he'd come, heading for The Piano.

The silver glaive was warm to the touch. The moment The Piano lifted it, it seemed to come to life: thankfully not the way a golem would, but rather, with a brief shimmer of heat and a drifting of magic embers. It caught nothing aflame and didn't burn to pick up, but it was clear this item was enchanted.

Nothing else in this room caught the Piano's magical eye, though. The Golem was already long up the tunnel. There was a faint sense of magic off ahead, but it was distant: more loot, maybe? Or more danger...

Behind Archimedes, the rusted fence provided little more than a speedbump for the golem. It did buy him a little space, but "a little" was the key here: the grinding, crushing stomp spun a moment before turning to pursue Archimedes... back toward the room with the glaive.

The Piano would hear its rapid approach. It was clearly time to move on, if it wished to avoid combat with a fellow almost-inanimate-object.

@The Piano

Its delight doubled as feedback from the glaive indicated that it was in fact magic. It must have missed the signature amid the golem's stronger one just then. And it was cool! Or, well, hot. The Piano gripped the handle and gave it a couple of experimental swings through the air. This business trip was paying off finely already, wasn't it?

—Or... not? The Piano felt a pang of uncertainty as it heard the grind of rocks and felt a faint sign of magic off in the distance. It did not think both belonged to Archimedes. Without hesitation, it obeyed Archimedes's previous instruction to flee, of course not forgetting to bring the hard-earned glaive along with it.

If worst came to worst... it could test out how effectively this weapon worked.

Cowardly and knavish as it was, Archimedes was not about to fight the golem. Undoubtedly there were Gembounds in the caves who'd have blathered about honor or nobility but he preferred living, thank you very much.

Still, it grated a bit how undignified he felt, submitting to his rodent instincts: darting in and out of tiny spots along the walls, trying to lose the Golem out of sight.

It occurred to him that they probably weren't the first Gembounds through this place--and possibly not even the first to die. He wasn't aware that golems went for gemstones; even if he had been, looking for one here would've been fruitless. The golem had already... collected them. That left Archimedes trying to outwit it. He dipped into a crack in the wall, emerged, dipped in again and all the while the thing was grinding along just behind him.

He kept on in the same direction--and then abruptly doubled back, silent and slow instead of bouncing between the hiding spots in plain sight. He was hoping the golem would continue on in the same direction. Meanwhile, he'd circle back the other way, and slip up the tunnel to join The Piano. As soon as he could... he hoped.

The Piano would find itself almost immediately facing a new room: a large, square one, void of light and the warm shimmer of the glaive provided only a little to see by.

The room was... ruined, to put it simply. One wall was a spill of broken stone bricks, crumbled inward, the soft drip, drip of water audible and climbing vines intruding through the gap, though without any light, they hadn't spread far. The rest of the room bore a few rather battered-looking wooden chests. Most stank of rot, if The Piano had a method to smell it. Two had lids broken inward, and the wood was so decayed it was barely recognizable as wood at all.

Two exits left this room, plus the door through which The Piano had come. One, on the wall opposite the entrance, was an open archway that led to a round room dimly lit by some form of light, difficult to make out from here. A second exit, on the left, was a square doorway that yawned pitch black; any door that had once closed that path had long since rotted to dust.

The Golem, meanwhile, continued to circle its own room, searching fruitlessly for the rat that had evaded it. So long as Archimedes left quickly (and quietly), it wasn't likely to sense his tiny stone.

@The Piano

Well, the chests in this room were promising. The Piano rather hoped they were of the treasure-containing variety, but remembering the threat of traps and the golem they'd just encountered, it decided to err on the side of caution. Thankfully, its enhanced vision combined with the faint light that came from the glaive and the room beyond were enough to make out some details. The chests looked rather old, which depressed its hopes that they contained anything, but it reached its strings for them anyway, while carefully stretching its magic to prod at them and look for any unexpected magical signatures. As long as nothing quite as alarming as a golem showed up? Flip the lids would go.

Archimedes had not joined it yet, but The Piano was confident that he would. It had never expected failure from the rat. So in this room it would patiently wait.

@Archimedes

Archimedes scampered in a moment later. He sat up, looking back behind them, whiskers twitching--but with no sign of the golem, he hastened to The Piano's side. "Don't roll on me," he quipped. "And we'd best not stay here long. Find anything of interest? Is the weapon useful?"

He assumed they could find some sort of buyer for it, but as to whom, he had no idea.

He skittered along the outsides of the walls, briefly checking the chests too, glancing back now and then as he remained alert to the golem's movements. He then took a moment to sniff down each passageway.

His torch was sputtering, and after a moment he seemed to recognize the wood and wood dust as useful. He spent a moment refuelling it, packing in wood bits, before glancing up to The Piano to see if it'd found anything, itself.