They ran. Through the vault, past shelves of Complete Warrior and Tome of Magic , past a weeping bard trapped in a Song of Fire and Ice crossover module. The golem smashed through a display of vintage dice, but Lina was small, fast, and she knew the terrain. She slid under a closing portcullis just as Kaelen vaulted over it.

Kaelen drew a shortsword. “Can you fight a golem?”

Suddenly, a stone golem in curator’s robes stomped around the corner. Its eye-runes blazed red. “INTRUDERS DETECTED. CEASE AND DESIST. YOU HAVE NOT PURCHASED THE COMPATIBLE LICENSE.”

Lina plugged the spike into her portable cipher-slate. The file tree reappeared. She opened the Mythic Realms PDF.