The chain lift rattled upwards from the Cistern, a rhythmic clanking that vibrated through the soles of Elias’s boots.

  With every metre they ascended, the air changed. The cloying, wet rot of the Warrens faded, replaced by a dry, searing heat that smelled of molten brass and sorched blood. As jarring as these scents were, it wasn't the heat that made Elias grit his teeth.

  It was the sound.

  It started as a low hum, a vibration that buzzed against his fillings. Then, as the lift cleared the subterranean levels, it grew into a cacophony: the ringing of hammers, the hiss of steam, and, above it all, the relentless, deafening tolling of bells.

  BONG. BONG. BONG.

  This was no call to prayer, but an industrial rhythm, a factory floor set to the heartbeat of hollow brass.

  Thorne stood in the corner of the lift cage, shaking. But this was not the post adrenaline tremors of the fight below, but a deep, rigid shivering. She was staring at her left hand; at the scar tissue and memory, branded deeply into her palm.

  "Thorne?" Elias asked, his voice strained to be heard over the clammour.

  She didn't look up at his words, Elias turned to face her, she seemed lost in her memories. "They tune them," she whispered, her voice sounding thin to Elias’s mind. "They tune the bells to the scream. If you don't scream on pitch, they start over."

  The lift jolted to a halt. The iron gate groaned open.

  Heat blasted them.

  They stepped out onto an iron gantry suspended high above a cavernous foundry. The Bellforge Cloister was a nightmarish vision of vertical danger, a hollowed-out spire stretching up into the smoke-choked sky.

  Below them, rivers of molten gold and bronze flowed through channels carved into the natural rock. Above them, hanging from the ceiling like fruit from a steel tree, were thousands of bells. Some were as small as apples; others were the size of boulders. They swung constantly, tolling out the beat.

  [ZONE: BELLFORGE CLOISTER] [HAZARD: SONIC RESONANCE / EXTREME HEAT] [DEBUFF: 'RINGING EARS']

  "Check your armour," Elias ordered, his own voice sounding tinny in his ears. "The sound pressure here is dangerous. It can rupture eardrums."

  "It disrupts the weave," Veyra said, clutching her staff. The leaves on the living wood were curling up, trying to hide from the noise. "The roots cannot hear the earth here. The stone is screaming."

  Oaken grunted, placing a massive, stone-like hand against the vibrating wall. "This is not stone anymore," he rumbled. "It is a drum."

  Solari drifted out over the railing, her light flickering erratically in the sonic waves. "It's the metal. They must forge the blood of souls into the bells. The ringing… it is a choir of the damned."

  Elias looked at the path that rose before them. The gantry led to a spiralling staircase climbing towards the distant belfry, but the stairs were broken in places. Huge, heavy chains hung down the centre of the spire, used to haul the massive bells up and down.

  "We need to get to the top," Elias said, pointing to a balcony far above where a massive mechanism turned. "The Ritual Glyph Fragment will be with the Overseer."

  "Castellan Kael," Thorne spat the name over the link. "He conducts the choir."

  "Then we go pay the conductor a visit," Elias said. "Thorne, stay close. Use the anger."

  They moved along the gantry. The heat was intense, but the Aether-Balm they has applied to their armour held up, just.. Elias could feel the cool, slick sensation of the spore-lattice against his skin, refracting the thermal energy.

  "Contact," Oaken growled – a low rumble that Elias felt through the floor rather than heard.

  Ahead, blocking the path to the stairs, stood a squad of knights.

  They were massive slabs of bronze armour, glowing with an internal, molten light. Their helmets were shaped like bells, flaring at the neck, with no visors, no way for them to see. Only a mouth grate was visible from outside. They carried maces that reminded Elias of bell clappers.

  "They're blind," Elias whispered. "How do they....."

  The lead Knight raised its mace. It didn't swing at them, but struck the rim of its own shield.

  TING!

  A visible ripple of distortion shot through the air, washing over the squad like a summer days haze of heat.

  The moment the ripple hit Elias’s armour, the Knight’s head snapped directly towards him. It locked on instantly, raising its mace for a charge.

  "It’s a ping!" Elias shouted, realising the mechanic as the enemy moved. "It’s sonar! They're tracking the echo!"

  [ENEMY: CHOIR-FORGED KNIGHT] [TYPE: CONSTRUCT] [ABILITY: SONIC SHOCKWAVE]

  Briar let loose a volley of moss-arrows, aiming for the joints in the knight's armour, but the sonic waves knocked them off course.

  He charged, switching stances mid-stride.

  Click. [STANCE: JUSTICE].

  The blade flared red. He swung at the lead Knight.

  Unable to block at the close distance the first knight opened its mouth-grate and screamed.

  A cone of superheated sound blasted Elias. It was like walking into a jet engine exhaust. The air shimmered with unchecked resonance.

  "Silence it!" Elias yelled, gritting his teeth against the pressure.

  Thorne stepped out from behind him. She didn't look scared anymore; she looked furious.

  "Shut up!" she screamed.

  She slammed her staff into the metal grating and cast Vacuum.

  A sphere of negative pressure expanded around the Knight. The air was sucked out, and the sound cut off instantly.

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  The Knight paused, confused. Without air, sound couldn't travel. Its echolocation failed, and it was blind.

  "Now!"

  Elias swung. The Star-Steel blade bit deeply into the bronze armour.

  CRUNCH.

  The plate wasn't hollow but filled with super-heated metal. Molten gold sprayed out, hissing on the floor, biting into the iron of the gantry. Elias twisted the blade, severing whatever runic abomination held the suit together.

  Two more of the knight's cohorts charged.

  "Oaken!" Elias barked.

  The massive Leshei scout surged forward, foregoing weapons, relying solely on his rock-hard body. He slammed into the knights like a boulder rolling downhill, absorbing their sonic blasts on his rocky arms. He grabbed two of them by their throats and slammed their heads together.

  GONG.

  The sound was deafening, but effective.

  Elias stepped in and switched to Mercy Stance.

  He used the flat of the blade to parry the overhand swing of a mace, the impact ringing like a chime. He spun, driving the pommel into the flared "neck" of the bell-like helm.

  The head caved in, andit internal light died.

  "Clear," Elias panted, the ringing in his ears getting worse.

  Thorne was breathing hard, staring at the melting bodies. "I hate them," she spat. "I hate the sound they make."

  "We're stopping it," Elias said, putting a hand on her shoulder. The Star-Steel was cool against her robes. "One floor at a time."

  The stairs ended abruptly fifty feet up, the rest of the flight having collapsed into the molten river below.

  Between them and the next platform hung the great chains, massive links of iron each one the size of a man’s torso, moving slowly upward as they hauled bells to the belfry.

  "We have to climb," Elias said. "We hitch a ride on those" as he pointed at the metal links moving inexorably upwards.

  "Climb the chains?" Veyra looked in alarm at the molten gold bubbling hundreds of feet below.

  "I’ll secure Cindersnarl," Elias said, pulling out a length of woven vine rope. "Thorne, Veyra, go first. Solari, scout ahead. Oaken, you bring up the rear, and be ready to catch anyone who slips."

  Veyra leaped, catching the chain with her staff. Thorne followed, using a burst of kinetic air from her staff to boost her jump.

  Elias securely fastened the rope to Cindersnarl’s new barding and tied the other end around his waist.

  "Jump when I jump."

  They leaped, gravity pulling at them all the way. Elias hit the chain with a bone-crushing thud, the Star-Steel clanking against iron of the ginormous link. Cindersnarl landed on the link below him, claws scrabbling desperately for purchase on the rounded metal.

  They rode the chain up, slowly passing rows of cooling bells.

  Halfway up, a Choir-Forged Knight appeared on a balcony opposite them. It raised a heavy arbalest loaded with a bolt completely covered in flame.

  "Arrows!" Elias yelled. "I can't reach him!"

  If he attempted to draw a weapon, they might both fall into the madness below.

  The Knight took aim.

  "Thorne!"

  "I can't hit it! The chain is blocking my line of sight!"

  The Knight fired.

  TWANG.

  At the last second, a beam of blinding light struck the Knight’s face. Solari.

  The Knight flinched, spoiling the aim. The bolt slammed into the chain link right next to Elias’s head.

  SPANG.

  Molten fire splashed his helmet. The armours resistance flickered then died, overloaded by the direct hit.

  "Climb!" Solari urged from above. "More are coming!"

  They scrambled up the moving links, hand over hand, lungs burning from the heat. Reaching the upper platform, they hauled themselves over the railing.

  They had reached the Belfry.

  the summit was a metallic forest of inscribed bronze.

  Hundreds of massive bells hung there. Though silent now, their stored energy vibrated and hummed in unison with the activity below. A massive mechanism controlled the chiming sequence at the centre, and a gate of solid sound blocked the path to the Overseer’s sanctum.

  [PUZZLE: THE DISSONANT CHORD]

  "It’s a frequency lock," Thorne said. "We need to stop the resonance."

  Thorne walked forward, scanning the room, her face pale. "I know the sequence. They drilled it into us. The Morning Hymn. Bells 3, 7, and 9."

  She pointed. "That one. That one. And the big one at the back."

  The bells were swinging slowly. The mechanism clicked, and their pace quickened.

  BONG.

  "We have to stop the clappers," Elias shouted over the noise. "Veyra, bind two. Oaken, grab one. I’ll take the big one."

  Veyra slammed her staff down. Vines shot out, wrapping around the clapper of Bell 3.

  Oaken charged towards Bell 7, foregoing magic. He grabbed the massive bronze clapper with his stone hand and held it fast, his feet grinding sparks from the floor as he fought the bell's momentum.

  Elias sprinted for Bell 9. It was massive, the clapper swinging toward him like a wrecking ball.

  He triggered Justice Stance. The sword flared red.

  He waited.

  Swing... Swing...

  Just as the clapper reached the apex of its backswing,the moment of zero momentum-Elias struck. He drove the sword into the gear mechanism above the bell.

  CRUNCH.

  The Star-Steel blade jammed the gears, and the bell froze.

  The hum died. The sonic barrier flickered and vanished.

  [PUZZLE SOLVED]

  Thorne released a breath she seemed to have been holding for more than twenty years. "Silence," she whispered. "Beautiful silence."

  The gate opened.

  They stepped into the Overseer’s Sanctum.

  It was a circular room with a glass floor looking down into the molten heart of the tower. A tapered ceiling was supported but a vast bronze column in the centre of the room, reminded Elias of the interior of a massive bell.

  Castellan Kael stood there, facing the doorway as the team appeared.

  He wasn't wearing armour. He WAS armour. His body had been replaced by components of polished brass and clockwork. His chest was a blazing furnace, and his right arm was a massive, piston-driven hammer.

  "You stopped the music," Kael said, his voice like grinding gears. "The choir must sing."

  "The choir is done," Thorne said, stepping forward. "And so are you."

  Kael’s furnace chest flared blindingly bright. He raised the piston-hammer.

  "Then I will forge you into something that obeys."

  Kael charged.

  He moved with the terrifying inevitability of lava, the brass floor plates groaning under his weight.

  "Oaken, brace!" Elias shouted. "Cindersnarl, flank! I have the centre!"

  Elias stepped forward to meet the charge. With all of the bodies inside the room, he couldnt dodge, the glass floor was too slick. He planted his boots as best he could, relying on the interlinked sections of the Bastion-Breaker Plate locking his legs into a solid stance.

  Kael swung the hammer in an overhead smash, with the momentum to flatten a tank.

  WHAM.

  The impact was cataclysmic.

  Elias caught the haft of the hammer on his raised shield-arm. Iron Zenith absorption field flared, a sphere of blue distortion that rippled violently as it absorbed the kinetic shock. The glass floor beneath Elias spiderwebbed, but the Star-Steel held.

  "Heat!" Elias gritted out, his teeth rattling.

  A wave of thermal energy washed over him from Kael’s furnace. The Aether-Balm coating on Elias’s armour hissed, turning white as the spores died to protect him, drinking the fire before it could cook his flesh.

  "Get off him!" Oaken roared.

  The massive Leshei scout surged in from the left, slamming his stone shoulder into Kael’s brass ribs. It was like two mountains colliding. CLANG.

  Kael staggered sideways, his balance disrupted.

  "Legs!"

  Cindersnarl darted in from the right, a blur of orange lit fur and fire. He snapped at the hydraulic tubing at Kael’s knee, his furnace-heated teeth shearing through the copper piping. Steam sprayed out with a high-pitched shriek.

  Kael roared, venting a cloud of superheated gas from his shoulders. "Pests! You will burn!"

  He backhanded Oaken with his free hand, sending the stone giant skidding across the glass. He spun, swinging the hammer in a wide arc that forced Cindersnarl to scramble back.

  Briar loosed a volley of moss-arrows at Kael’s visor, but they incinerated instantly against his heated aura, turning to ash before they hit.

  "He’s running too hot!" Solari warned from above. "His core temperature is rising! He is becoming a bomb!"

  Elias recovered his stance. He saw the brass of Kael’s armour glowing brighter, shifting from gold to angry orange. The metal was soft, becoming malleable from the heat, but it made him even more dangerous-anything he touched would burn.

  "We can't chip him down," Elias realised. "He’ll overheat the room before we kill him. We need away to cool him down and quickly!"

  He looked at Thorne, who was holding a grenade, her knuckles white.

  "Thorne! The Frost!"

  "I need a clean shot!" she yelled. "He’s moving too much!"

  "I’ll hold him!"

  Elias switched stances.

  Click.[STANCE: JUSTICE].

  The blade flared red.

  Elias charged back in as Kael raised the hammer for another smash.

  This time, Elias didn't block. He swung Dawnfall upward, catching the descending hammer with his own blade.

  Steel met brass. The impact sent a shockwave through Elias’s arms that numbed his fingers and rattle the bones in his arm, but he held the lock. He pushed back, his strength fighting the hydraulics of the machine. They stood face to face, the heat of Kael’s furnace blistering the paint on Elias’s visor.

  "Now!" Elias screamed. "Thorne! NOW!"

  Thorne pulled the pin on her new Alchemical Grenade. She stepped in, winding up.

  "Catch!"

  She tossed it. The canister spun through the air, aimed right for Kael’s glowing chest. Elias leaped away.

  BOOM.

  The grenade exploded on contact, releasing not fire as expected, but liquid that instantly froze on contact (frost vial extract).

  Thermal shock. The brass screamed, cracks raced across Kael's chest plate, and his piston arm seized mid-swing, frozen in place.

  [STATUS: BRITTLE]

  "Shatter him!" Veyra yelled.

  Elias switched to justice stance and swung Dawnfall with everything he had.

  The sword hit the frozen brass.

  SHATTER.

  Kael exploded into shards of cold metal and gears, falling into a pile of broken clockwork.

  [TARGET NEUTRALISED] [LOOT: RITUAL GLYPH FRAGMENT (2/5)]

  Thorne walked over to the wreckage. She looked at the gold mask, now cracked in half, and crushed a piece of the gear mechanism under her boot.

  She spat, the viscous liquid steaming as it spattered against the broken husk.

  Elias picked up the ritual glyph fragment, which pulsed with a heavy, red light.

  "Two down," he said. "Next stop: The Scourgeyard. Solari, you're up."

  Solari gazed out the window at the mist-shrouded courtyard below.

  "Yes," she said. "The darkness is deep there. I will be the light."