Guardians of Terraria II: The World of Calamity

Episode 23.3 - Warnings and Wailings

It wasn't long until William and Robyn returned to Slimetown, another log from Draedon, another Encrypted Schematic, and more plating and circuitry in their hands. Robyn had also found a set of Arctic Diving Gear inside a chest at the bottom of the ice lab.

It hadn't taken them long to find the lab – in fact, it turned out to be directly behind a random wall inside one of the caves they'd explored earlier while mining for Cryonic ore. Then destroying the turrets stationed throughout it had become second nature to the two of them.

Just as William had hoped, the Encrypted Schematic from the ice lab was able to slot into the computer, but the Codebreaker needed some Draedon Power Cells to work. They had discovered that some of the machines in the labs, named Power Cell Factories, could generate them, so Robyn had set some up in the warehouse behind the Codebreaker. The machines slowly chugged away, vaguely reminding Robyn of a sewing machine in how they functioned. A stick at the top coated layer after layer of matter inside a tray, 3D-printing power cells at a somewhat slow rate. While they waited for enough power cells to be generated to power the Codebreaker, William said he'd go back to the other two labs and pick up the rest of the Power Cell Factories so they could add to their assembly line.

Leaving Robyn sitting in the warehouse, watching the machines work and listening to their low humming and crackling of energy.

As night fell outside and the air inside grew cold, she began wishing she'd gone with William. Those all-too-familiar feelings of uncertainty and anxiety began building inside her.

And she felt tired. It had been a long few days. She decided to lay down on the wooden floor.

Just five minutes. Five minutes...

She awoke to see a hooded form standing in front of her.

The form had its back to her.

Is that the rogue? She scrambled for her bow, notching an arrow in its string.

Then the figure turned around.

It wasn't the rogue.

It was the Lunatic Cultist.

She screamed and let her arrow loose, a frosty arrow shooting into the Cultist's heart.

But it just passed right through and shattered against the Codebreaker behind him.

"I tried to warn you," he spoke. "I tried to stop you."

"You cursed me!" Robyn shouted. "You used me to kill people and attack my friends!"

"In the game of worlds there is no room for morals. There is only keeping the natural order."

As he spoke he began to morph. His body grew taller, longer. A sky-blue tail began poking out from beneath the hem of his robes, pushing his body into the air, towering above Robyn. His mask fell out, revealing nothing but empty blackness inside, but something began to sprout through the top of his hood. Eyes – four of them – yellow and glowing, a scaly blue head with a sharp maw.

That maw opened and shrieked, and lunged at Robyn like a cobra.

She screamed and flailed her arms.

But all around her were only blinking machines.

She huddled against one and wrapped her arms around herself. It was cold. She wanted William here. To hold her. Comfort her. Be everything he was to her.

But he wasn't there. All she had to accompany her was the vivid images of her own nightmares.

Of the mask and robes of the Lunatic Cultist.