The dragons maybe?"

Besla snorted. “Dragons breathing fire? Where do you humans come up with these ideas?"

The three of them put some distance between themselves and the fray.

“How about Lothar? Can he conjure fire?" Robbie asked.

"I don't know. He's been trying to get at the shaman and he's sweating up a storm. He's not used to this," Natasha said nervously.

Lothar was well hidden, but eventually the shaman would find out where he was and send a golem after him. “We need to either take care of some of those things out or find a way of getting to the shaman. Where's he drawing all that power from? Lothar is no slouch, but he's sweating Like a pig."

"The jewel maybe?"

"I don't think so. I don't think that's what the jewel does, from what Lothar told me." She looked at Besla. "See if you can get a good look at his surroundings . . . see if he's standing near anything or is protecting something." She turned to Robbie. "Sneak over to Lothar and see if he has anyway of conjuring fire. Tell him what we saw with the golem."

Natasha watched her comrades take off. She figured she'd make another play at the shaman. It wasn't like he had anything that could actually hurt her. She tore off across the field, dodging her earthy adversaries. She got within fifty yards and ran into a new problem.

More specifically she sank into it.

“Holy fuck!" she shouted. The ground around the shaman had been softened, and Natasha quickly sank up to her knees. It seemed to have little effect on the powerful golems, but the ground-based attackers were slowed anywhere in the shaman's vicinity. “I'll give the bastard credit. He's clever," she muttered. Then she almost smiled. ‘It's VERY soft,' she thought.

Meanwhile, Robbie had found Lothar hidden in a grove of trees. He had a narrow view of the field of battle, but it was all he needed.

The nerd-turned-hero was sweating from pores he didn't know he had.

“I can't get through, and he doesn't even seem to be getting tired!"

Lothar gasped.

"We think he may have some kind of power-source," Robbie said. "Besla is looking for it. Listen, can you. . . like do fireballs and stuff?

Fire makes the golems brittle. We might be able to start breakin'em up."

“Fire is tricky and potentially dangerous. It'd be easier to localize it than to try to fill the air up with it."

"There's a bunch of ceremonial fire pits out there. Will that do?"

“Yeah, but I don't have much juice left. If you can get them all close together a Robbie nodded. “Leave that to us. Don't worry about the shaman for a bit. Let's take his guards out. Keep an eye open. I've got an idea.”

Actually, he didn't have an idea. He just wanted to sound Like he did. ‘Fuck, how am I gonna manage this?"

He bolted out into the open, headed straight for one of the golems.

He kept an eye out for the biggest of the fire pits.

"Do you have a plan YET?" came Besla's screech as she swooped in next to him.