They pressed forward together, now every watchful. At first they came against no resistance, aside from the magical lights there was no difference to the last time they walked these halls, in fact the light made traversal all the easier. They were starting to even feel themselves calm, that is until Kassadi’s foot sunk as it pressed down on a pressure plate. The Wizard didn’t have more than a second as the mechanism she triggered went off, a panel to her side opening with a clunk revealing a half dozen nozzles that all sprayed boiling water. Kassadi’s hand moved on instinct alone, gripping the clay in her satchel and casting her spell before even drawing it. Steam erupted as the super heated water cascaded against the stone wall Kassadi raised in front of her. She panted heavily, heart pounding in her chest.
“This is gonna be super not fun.” Kassadi mumbled when she could finally manage to speak.
“I think it might be to our benefit, actually.” Madrona said, leaning in and investigating the nozzles. She could feel the heat radiating from them.
“How is nearly being boiled alive to our benefit?” Kassadi exclaimed, furrowing her brow.
“I mean, Travlona reset all these traps to wear us down and maybe even kill one of us.” Madrona turned and leaned around the rock wall to glance at Kassadi. “That means she’s not sure she can beat us in a fair fight.”
“Small comfort if we get there and my skin is sloughing off.” Kassadi said morbidly.
“Hey.” Madrona said sharply. “Listen to me, I’ve met a lot of people in my life, lot of self projected egg heads so confident in their own mental prowess and I can tell you, I’ve not met anyone smarter than you. From the moment I met you you’ve been on top of figuring things out, even when you don’t know you’re there putting the pieces you have together. I have no doubt you can get through this.”
“Oh.” Kassadi was, for once, speechless. She stared at her hands as she fumbled with the clay in her palm. Her cheeks took on a deep shade of pink and red and she couldn’t stop smiling. “Thank you. I’ve never met anyone with such strength of character and resolve as you have, Madrona.”
“That’s called being a stubborn ass.” Madrona stated with a smirk. “But thank you.”
Moving along together the women were able to manage themselves quite well. Over the next hour they were able to navigate around a pitfall trap, an arrow slit trap, and three glyph traps. The glyphs proved to be both easiest to spot but hardest to avoid. Mechanical traps all had a trigger, whether it be a trip wire, pressure plate, or seismic trigger it was simply a matter of avoiding the trigger. Glyphs were all about proximity, no matter how carefully you stepped if you got to close the magic would go off. Two of the three they managed to avoid were the classic explosive type, but the third was an ice glyph trap, triggering it would cause the entire hallway to flash freeze, coating the stone with ice and freezing the blood of any creature caught in the blast. Kassadi found it facinating and wanted to get a closer look at it but Madrona insisted on moving on. She insisted by dragging Kassadi by the shoulder away from the ice trap.
Avoiding the traps was going well, however, it was slowing them to a crawl. They had to be cautious with every corner taken, every stone touched or trodden on. The problem this presented was that traps were not the only threat within the labyrinth’s walls. Over the century as the maze was conquered by adventurers and the advent of time the halls became nothing but shaded stone caverns. Dry and secluded, it was the perfect place for creatures to take refuge in, and not just any creatures, but monsters. With all the traps now reactivated the creatures would become agitated as their havens became hostile to them. They would become incised and seek something to lash out against, something soft and warm and made of flesh.
“Do you hear that?” Madrona stopped in her tacks, holding up a hand to Kassadi.
“Hear what?” Kassadi looked around, she couldn’t see anything, but worried about a poison gas trap now.
“Sounds like scratching.” Madrona turned and narrowed her eyes, seeing nothing to coincide with the sounds he knew she heard approaching from behind.
“I don’t hear anything.” Kassadi turned around as well, glancing from floor to ceiling. As her gaze trailed up above them she gasped inward and grasped at Madrona’s shoulder in shock. “Madrona above us!”
The creatures let out a piercing squeal as they were spotted and dropped. The worm like bodies wriggled as they fell from the ceiling and onto the two women, who only barely were able to leap from harm. Their skin was yellow and semi-translucent, slick with slime and covered in dozens of little claw tipped legs. They clicked at their prey with large mandible like beaks and stared with large black segmented eyes. They were both four feet long and came to the height of a large dog as they bore down on the women, two large tentacles snaking out from each of the creatures abdomen, all four of the appendages tipped with a barbed stinger that dripped a black and acrid liquid. Kassadi and Madrona looked on at these creatures with horror and disgust.
“Gross!” Kassadi cried out, backing away from the worms.
The worms struck, each of them throwing one of their stingers at one of the women. Both of the targets managed to duck the attacks, which seemed good until the second stinger went for where the women had moved to in what must have been a common hunting tactic for these worms. Kassado managed to deflect the stinger with a casting of her shield and Madrona twisted in such a way that the bard stabbed into her pack rather than her flesh. Realizing that these creatures were not dumb the women scrambled to gain even more distance. The worms kept pace, however, intent on not allowing their prey to escape.
Madrona twisted around to face the creatures first, dagger drawn, and threw her hand forward. All noise vanished for a half second before a deafening boom filled the hallway. Kassadi stumbled as the ground beneath her shuddered and she could see the stonework around the two worms cracking under the sudden thunder. The creatures themselves were wracked with pain, they thrashed and flailed around helplessly. Their bodies shuddered and wrenched against the thundering energy. One of the creatures split open, white milky guts spilling out onto the stonework. The second managed to keep it’s body from rending itself, but one of it’s barbed tentacles was torn from it’s form in the throws of agony. It skittered up a wall over the ceiling before losing it’s grip and falling onto it’s back in a pathetic display. Kassadi frowned at the creature and raised her hand, three bolts of energy soaring through the air to perforate the creature, more so putting it out of its misery than anything else. The two glanced over the creatures for a moment before moving on, hoping the sound of the fight didn’t draw more creatures their way.
While they were lucky enough to apparently not have drawn any monsters forward, what they had drawn might have been worse. From down the hall they heard loud metallic stomping. They quickly made their way down a branching hallway and pushed themselves into a tight alcove. Peeking out they saw a creature of metal and wood moving in even and stilted footfalls down the hall. A construct, an object given a false imitation of life. The golem like creatures were commonly used by wizards and other casters as Servants, able to handle simple tasks, and guards. These sentinels were tough, lacking any the vulnerabilities of flesh and blood opponents, they could withstand an incredible amount of punishment. They could also dish out just as much as they could take. They were walking battering rams, and something that it was best not to find yourself fighting against. Luckily they also tended to be dumber than a bag of rocks. No actual life flowed through them so they could only do so much on their own, needing their creators instruction to guide them long in their tasks. A guard construct would attack any creature not meant to be in a given location, but only if they were found. Kassadi and Madrona both held their breath as the construct passed them, and waited a solid five minutes before moving from the alcove to press down the hall, now all too aware of yet another hazard they needed to be aware of.
Time passed, neither of the women could really tell how much, but with the slow and cautious movement, the hyperawareness, and the sickening feeling they would find a metal fist swinging at them when they rounded the next corner they were finding themselves mentally exhausted. They needed to hunker down somewhere and rest, if just for an hour. Kassadi let Madrona know she knew somewhere they could go, and she lead the way. As they approached, however, the women could hear a high pitched wail. They both felt the unease of another potential monster fight, sharing a glance with each other before pressing on. What they found was not a monster, but carnage. As they entered the Goblin camp they found blood and bodies. The last of the goblins lay slain on the ground, bodies slashed open by blade or, in some cases, split in twain by what was clearly a heavy axe blow. In the center of it was the source of the cry. Maryl, staring at the last of her people dead before her. She turned as she heard Kassadi and Madrona approach.
“She killed them.” Maryl said with tears in her eyes. “She killed them!”
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