Time Paused
“Alright little one, which-”
“Left door,” The kobold said quickly before diving back to the cock.
Finn cocked a brow. “Very well.”
He stroked his kobold’s growing tail with a smile.
-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=
Charlie and the party walked over to the left door.
The wolf was careful not to get within fifteen feet of the mud-covered orb above the stone door. He wasn’t sure if it could sense things even after being obscured. It might have been enchanted with True Sight, and if it had, nothing could stop it from scanning him.
“Take apart the bodies!” Oswin ordered. “Let’s see if we can find out what these things scan for!”
The Rangers complied.
Charlie was impressed with how well they dismantled the golems. Then he realized they likely did the same thing to the people they ambushed. The wolf suppressed a shiver, but one glance at his companions shifting nervously told him they were thinking the same thing.
Eventually, one of the Rangers pulled out an oil-covered orb.
“That’s it!” Veles shouted excitedly, pointing at it. “It’s glowing with energy. That has to be what that other orb scans for, they have a similar aura to them.”
“There’s only five orbs, though,” Charlie pointed out. “There’s not enough to go around.”
“Well, we can’t bust through the door. Even if we take out the orb, there’s a magic circuit in those stones.” Veles pointed. “I think if we tried breaking through, it would lock itself down.”
“We don’t have time to bust through stone doors.” Oswin said firmly. “Charlie, you go first. When the door opens, we’ll stick some wedges in.”
“Doesn’t solve the trap.” Charlie pointed out. “Walking through without an orb-”
“So roll the orb back to us when you get through.” Oswin rolled his eyes. “Come on, it’s not a hard puzzle to solve.”
Charlie’s ears flattened. “Fine.”
Picking up the orb, he walked over to the door.
The scanner lit up, a grid of warm red energy roaming over Charlie’s body. He shivered, his fur standing on end where it the energy struck it, making him tingle. For a brief moment, he wondered if it was going to transform him.
Then the light met the orb in his hands and the grid shut off.
The stone doors rumbled open. Charlie took a a calming breath and stepped through into the chamber beyond. With quick, hurried movements, he pulled out a hammer and some pitons. Then he carefully wedged the door open.
“Throw the orb!” Oswin called impatiently.
Charlie rolled his eyes and gently rolled the org to the stag.
It was slow going getting scanned one at a time, but eventually everyone – rangers included – had made it into the next room. As the last ranger walked in, Charlie piled the orbs next to the door – in easy reach of the exit in case they had to escape.
Thankfully, there were no golems here.
Charlie guessed that once the intruders were detected, the boss of the dungeon had ordered the rest of the golems to retreat to his chambers. If there were traps here, the pitbull had likely turned them all on. Accessing the inner chambers was going to be a slog.
Hopefully, most of the Rangers wouldn’t make it.
The wolf didn’t trust Oswin, but it was more than that – he every time he thought about the stag he felt a profound sense of disgust.. He wasn’t sure if this was some sort of perception check that he had passed – or perhaps failed – but he felt an intrinsic repulsion from the stag, whose mere presence was enough to fill Charlie with anger.
Oswin, for his part, had made it clear he didn’t like Charlie either. Between constant snide remarks and Oswin’s seeming eagerness to use threats to get what he wanted,Charlie wanted to slit the man’s throat now. And he would have too, but for the golems with ray attacks. If nothing else, Oswin and his men were bodies, bodies that Charlie could place between himself and those rays.
Then again, now that he’d learned of the golem’s vulnerabilities, he was confident he really only needed, say, three spare Rangers.
He made a show of looking around the room.
It was moderately sized, not cavernous like the processing chamber they’d just left. Decorating the room were taxidermies. A lion, giant boa constrictor, velociraptor, and a variety of other animals – even a wyvern – all sat in permanent, threatening poses throughout the room. Then, in a seeming break to rest of the room, was the small console that sat in the center with several differently sized levels sticking out of the top.
Charlie walked up to the velociraptor and looked it over. It was big, at least as tall as he was and probably fifteen feet from snout to tail. But most striking about it was the pose – a wicked toe stood poised to strike while a clawed hand reeled back. Then, on its chest, was a gaping wound, splattered with dried blood.
The taxidermist hadn’t attempted to cover the wound up – if anything they’d done everything they could to accentuate it. And from its size and location, it was obvious that it was the cause of this raptor’s untimely demise.
Looking down, Charlie saw that the raptor was standing on a stone base and memorialized with a golden plaque: “Richard. Survived three rounds, lost to Frank.”
Those weren’t animal names, Charlie realized, they were human ones. Or, rather, they were anthro ones, given the universe he now inhabited. And as Charlie looked around the room, he noticed that each taxidermy had a similar plaque.
He continued to the far end of the room.
Other than the entrance, the only visible way out of the room was a small hole that has been carved into the wall opposite the door, just barely big enough for someone to fit through head first,. Above it sat a shimmering image of a hooded snake.
“Is that an asp?” One of the rangers asked.
“Cobra,” Charlie said.
“Looks like a rattlesnake to me,” Veles said.
Charlie shook his head. “It’s magic. Maybe the specific type of snake is up to the individual.”
“Could be,” Oswin nodded, then turned to the console. “What do you make of this?”
Charlie padded over.
There was an inscription on the console, but it just looked like chicken scratches to him.
“Veles? Palseks?” Charlie called over his shoulder. “What does this say?”
The kobold and the cougar hustled over and stared at the inscription.
“It not Draconic,” Palseks shrugged, “Should Palseks use spell?”
“Don’t bother,” Veles placed a paw on her shoulder. “It’s Paranese. Says something like ‘The apex predator leads the way’.”
“Apex predator?” Oswin stroked his chin. “Doesn’t that depend on the circumstances? Snakes are ambush predators.”
Charlie wondered as well.
“Maybe we should pull the levers, see what our options are.” Veles said.
“Right.” Charlie moved to alter the levers, but paused. “Are we sure we want to move it?”
“Hmmm…” Oswin glanced at the hole. “Should we check and see if the current position is the correct one?”
“No, I think we should check our options.” Charlie said firmly.
He started pulling levers.
Each time he did, a rumble issued from the picture above the hole. It rotated to a different picture. Snake became rat, then eagle, then wolf, then a dog, then what looked like a dinosaur or a wyvern, then a bear, and finally a human.
Charlie’s eyes widened.
What was a human doing here? Hadn’t they all gone extinct in this world?
“What the hell is that supposed tah be?” A wolf growled, “A hairless ape or sumthin’?”
“It’s…” Charlie glanced at Veles, “Probably something extinct since the fall of Paranor.”
“Right, right…” The wolf grumbled. “Ain’t fair tah put somethin’ up there we couldn’t know about.”
“I doubt the owner of this tomb cares,” Oswin snapped. “Is that all?”
Charlie pulled the lever and the picture returned to snake.
“Guess that answers that question,” Oswin muttered. “So, which should we go through?”
Charlie stared at the puzzle.
Human seemed…. really obvious. Finn wasn’t that type of DM. The other options were interesting. Maybe the dog? The guy running this joint was a pitbull. It would make sense if he took pride in his species.
Perhaps the bear was a good choice? It had brute strength. The dinosaur was unparalleled in its time. Or was the boss of the dungeon being scientific and saying that a cobra, which lay hidden before it struck, was the real hunter?
So many choices, so many ways to rationalize what the best hunter was.
“Well?” Oswin asked.
Charlie opened his mouth and said…
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Time Paused.
Finn huffed as he pressed the crystal ball.
Man, this kobold was getting good at cock-sucking! Sure, he was currently filling the little lizard’s brain with a hundred years of blowjobs, but whoa mama!
He gently pulled the kobold off his twitching, gushing cock.
Erwin burped, looking up at his master with love in his eyes, “Yes master?”
“What should he choose, little one?” Finn asked, stroking the kobold beneath his chin.
“Erwin think…”