Your party slowly enters the maze before you, still feeling numb from the sight of the horrific calling card Cedius had left for you all. The satyr master knew you would come after him!
And now Deirdre is dead.
Like Rachel, you and the others focus on your collective feelings of grief and anger, and draw determination from the latter. The future of your new races depend on your success.
Soon, your party reaches a crossroads. Dick draws out a sheet of paper and pencil from his satchel, and sketches out a map of the Labyrinth, as you explore it together. No one is actually in charge of your little army - but you have all agreed to stay close, not wanting to lose each other. And after hurrying along the globe-lit tunnels for some time, it becomes clear that the maze is huge.
After some dead-ends, the seven of you enter a lit chamber that is split into two halves. On your left is a pit with a sloping edge, and on your right is a small, level landing in front of a wall that has a number of short, wooden poles driven into it - effectively turning the stone wall into a type of climbing frame.
The path before you leads directly on, pass the precarious lip of the shallow pit, and to a door which presents a gold panel.
“This must be the way on!” Minerva sighs with relief. She is at the front of your group. The satyress steps into the chamber - then raises a hand to her lips, as she stifles a cry.
Filing into the chamber alongside her, you all see her discovery. Three satyrs are lying motionless in the room - one a male, slumped beneath the ‘climbing frame’; and two identical brown-haired females in the pit. It looks to you as if one fell in, and the other - her sister - was reaching out for her, in a rescue attempt. Their hands are holding each other, in death.
Yes - all of them are dead. The angle of the bodies, and a pair of sightless eyes bare witness to that. But what happened?
Dick gives a groan. “Those cute twins I had fun with during my…initiation! They’ve…perished!”
Sigmund growls a warning. “I ssense dangerr!!”
“Nevertheless, it seems we have to pass through,” says Minerva. “Let’s see what impression is on the panel!”
You collectively move forward. As you do so, the walls of the tunnel behind you suddenly rumble and come together, sealing off the way behind. Turning round to face the way ahead, you all hear a series of ‘clicks’. Yellow gas gradually begins to fill the pit, coming from hidden pipes.
“Quickly!” you shout. “To the far door!”
Rachel and yourself literally gallop past the pit. Your weretiger and satyr allies are close on your heels. Unfortunately, the vibration of hooves and paws causes the soft edge of the pit to crumble. Rachel yells as she nearly loses her balance - but you swiftly grab her arm and pull your mate back to safety.
When your party reaches the far door, Krista sees that the panel bares a paw print impression. She swiftly presses her own forepaw against it. But the door remains silent, and shut…
“Whatt!?” she snarls, before charging her weight into the door - without success.
“Up there!” Dick cries out, pointing to the top of the wall, where a couple of metal handles are set into the stonework. Your satyr friend turns to his partner. “Anarosa?”
“Sie. I understand, Dick!” Swiftly, she and Dick climb the wall, placing their hooves on the horizontal wooden poles - the footholds. The agile satyrs pull themselves up, racing against the speed of the expanding yellow gas which is now climbing the broad slope of the pit and heading for you all. Centaurs and weretigers begin to cough, then gasp, then fight for breath.
Finally, the satyrs each pull on the metal handles - and you urge Krista to press her forepaw against the panel impression again. A glow of energy engulfs her, and she snarls - but the door rumbles upwards, and - after Dick and Anarosa are back down - all seven of you emerge into the new corridor, gulping in fresh air. The door to the gas chamber then reseals itself.
You and Rachel, both with your two sets of lungs, take a little longer to recover. But recover you do.
Dick glances at everyone. His spirits rise as he sees that you are all okay.
“Onward, then - I guess,” he declares.