“Valethalassa, Ian!”

The pair came out from behind a vent shaft and hurried to the door at Ban’s whispered call.

“Any problems?” Vale asked.

“Justiciar Law is closing today, forever. I doubt it is a coincidence but the office is empty.” Ban said as he ushered them inside. “We need to head back down to the lawyour workspaces, cross the floor, and get through the doors to get up to the Partner’s floor. Be prepared for anything once we reach the Partner’s floor I have never been, so I don’t know what to expect.”

Vale and Ian nodded following Ban inside. He led them back to the W shaped office space. With Flint gone the office was completely dark save for the moonlight filtering in through the windows. Ban led them to a set of ornate double doors in the far corner. Across the doors written in bold white spellskrit were the words:

PARTNER’S AREA:

Restricted Access

“Ready?” Ban asked, drawing his hammer in one hand and grasping the door handle in the other.

Ian and Vale drew their weapons. Ban twisted the handle and tugged on the door. It didn’t budge. He pulled harder. He pulled so hard that the veins on his muscular arm began to stand out and his teeth ground against each other. Still, nothing happened. Ban dropped away from the door and Vale stepped in sliding her bow over her shoulders as she moved.

Vale whipped out her daggers and slashed around the lock. There was nary a scratch on the door when she finished. She frowned and set the tip of her blade against the stubborn wood and leaned in. The dagger sank into the wood and a smile of triumph flashed across her face. The grin dissolved into a grimace of pain. She dropped her dagger; the blade and hilt were white-hot. The heated metal started burning a hole in the carpet. The ranger sucked on her blistered fingers as she stomped around the edges of the blade keeping the carpet from igniting.

“Manaka dor Kelia!” She angrily hissed at the door.

They had one final option if Paragorian sneak-thievery wasn’t going to work Ian’s survival card. Roland, with Ian’s help, had tested the survival tool before their departure. No matter what Roland threw at it the steel did not react. The mage concluded it must have some magical nullification properties. Which explained how it had dispelled Ivy’s enchantment on his gun.

Vale stepped back and Ian slipped up to the double doors and drew out the card. After a deep breath, he positioned the card along the crack in the doors stopping right before he slid it in. Hesitating as a thought came to him, he looked over his shoulder to the minotaur.

“Ban, when magic is nullified, can it explode?” Ian asked.

“There is no standard reaction when it comes to magic. If Roland were here he might be able to tell us, but we must press on. We cannot waste this opportunity as we will surely not have another,” Ban replied without looking back. He was keeping his eyes on the offices. A sense of foreboding had settled in around him and he could not shake it. His usual placid demeanor was set on edge. His ears twitched and swished in agitation as his eyes darted around for the source of his unease.

“Okay, here goes,” Ian breathed and turned back to the door. Vale touched Ian’s shoulder stopping him.

“I heard something,” She whispered cocking her head to one side. Her long pointed ears twitched as she listened. “Ban’Koliath, stay with Ian. Something is not right.” She picked up her cooled dagger and slipped it back into its sheath. She stepped into the office while drawing her bow and knocked an arrow. She disappeared around a corner and into the depths of the office.

“Yeah, let’s wander off to investigate the strange noise. That always goes so well,” Ian muttered. “And while we're at it let’s poke the potential explosives without consulting the expert because we’re in a hurry. No problem.”

Ian ran the card down towards the lock. Ban braced himself. A pop, deep in Ian’s ears, went off as though he’d just come down a mountain. With no explosion forthcoming, he let out a breath and tried the door handle, it twisted open with ease.

“Alright, go get Vale,” Ian said pulling his gun free. “I’ll wait… no, you know what? I’ve seen this movie. Let’s both go get her.”

Ian crouched with a shoulder braced against the wall of cubicles walking in a crouch. Ban walked along the opposite wall but he barely had to duck. Only the tips of his horns cleared the cubicle walls. They moved back through the offices each keeping an ear out for Vale as they headed in the direction she’d gone. As Ian stepped cautiously around the corner, Vale came hurtling from the darkened hall that held the floortal. Her petite body crashed into Ian with immense force and sent the pair into a nearby cube.

“Chi...mera…” She struggled to her feet gasping to regain the air knocked from her lungs. Her left arm was bleeding and several angry lacerations were visible across her chest where her leather armor was gashed open. She glanced to her chest and up to Ian waving a hand as though it were nothing.

Ian trained his gun down the pitch-black corridor helping Vale to her feet with his other hand. An orange ember sparked from the far end of the hall giving them a heartbeats warning. Fire poured out from the entryway narrowly missing them and forcing the pair away from the hall. The breath of death was followed closely by an ear-splitting roar that reverberated through the entire floor.

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“Watch the dragon-head,” Vale warned Ian as she dove back into the fray. “Chimera!” She shouted to Ban peppering the floortal hall with several arrows as she dashed to a new position.

Ban crept down the far side of the W shaped office space slipping into one of the conference rooms. The chimera let loose a cacophonous clamor as Vale’s arrows struck, Ban took the cue and rushed into the hall bellowing out a challenge of his own. A faint orange glow emanated from the mouth of the far-right head, the dragon-head. Ban closed the distance with bounding strides and brought his hammer up in a wide arcing swing starting high and coming full circle. The heavy blow connected with the beast’s shoulder and sent it crashing through a door on the other side of the hall.

The tangle of limbs quickly sorted itself out and sprang up assessing its new surroundings. Instead of rushing back at Ban, it gave him a snarl and spun, bursting through the opposite wall, away from him. Chimera were primarily ambush hunters with a cunning intellect and vicious temperament. But when backed into a corner, they were among the most ferocious predators that had ever existed.

“Keep the pressure on!” Ban called out to the others.

Ian got a good look at the monster as it crashed into the main office space. He’d been hanging back and waiting for a clean shot mentally preparing himself for the sight of a creature that he’d only heard of in fantasy and myth. The triple heads did not faze him. Lion, ram, and dragon, he’d expected that. But he was not prepared for the sheer size of the beast.

It was tall enough to look him level in the eye and that was with it being down on all fours. Its front half was coated in tawny fur while the back was coated in shimmering scales of red, purple, and black. A long, serpentine tail whipped from side to side behind the beast. The tip left a long gouge in the floor as it turned to look at the minotaur. Each of the heads snapped or growled at the others trying to assert its dominance and take control of the body. Ian’s mind ran through his catalog of role-playing game knowledge and tried to remember the creature’s weakness, also hoping for better results than he’d had with his masterful werewolf knowledge.

Fortunately, Ian’s companions had a plan of their own. Vale dashed across the open space firing arrows as she went. One of her shots sank deeply into the neck of the dragon’s head. The chimera whipped in her direction and let loose a stream of white-hot liquid fire. While it focused on Vale, it allowed Ban to bring his hammer down on its hindquarters.

There was a crunch and a cry of pain as one of the dragon scaled legs buckled. Ban jumped back swiftly to avoid the slashing lion claws and whipping tail. Even with one leg crippled, the beast was barely slowed. Ban wasn’t quite fast enough to avoid the claws.

Ban’s leather armor deflected the claws but the force of the impact lifted him from the ground and sent him sailing backward across the room. The crashing, splintering sounds of furniture and desk paraphernalia followed in his wake as he was propelled through them coming to a stop on the outermost wall. Ian tried to go to his friend but a barrage of fiery obstacles from the dragon’s maw left him unable to help.

Vale took advantage of the creature’s distraction and vaulted over a desk aiming in the same motion. An arrow sank into the dragon’s neck a few inches away from the first. She had to quickly spin and dive behind a corner to barely avoid the resulting ire of the dragon-head. She was trying to reposition herself between the chimera and Ban and give her friend a chance to get back on his feet.

“BAN!” Ian shouted. He stuck his head out hunting for his friend.

Some of the clutter shifted aside and Ban’s hammer rose above the wreckage. He shifted aside a desk that had collapsed on him and got up. He looked more annoyed than injured as he shook out his fur.

Vale continued to taunt the monster with arrows to distract it from Ban. But it was closing the distance on her defenses waiting her out as she expended her limited supply of ammunition.

Ian breathed a sigh of relief. The creature was ignoring him and Vale was running out of arrows so he decided it was time to act. He aimed and fired. The chimera, preparing to leap at Vale, went careening wildly off balance when Ian’s shot struck. Its jaws snapping into a desk instead of an elf.

The lion-head crushed the desk in its powerful jaws and all three heads twisted around in unison and stared at Ian with raw fury. Part of the dragon-head’s snout was missing and a thick blue ichor leaked out from the ragged hole which made the glowing orange maw all the more terrifying. Ian ran for shelter as heat erupted behind him. A trail of fire raced after him as he dove behind the nearest desk. Ian was certain the flames would consume his cover but instead he heard a wet gurgle and the fire-breath ceased.

Ban was back in the fight. Seeing Ian on the run, he dashed over with renewed vigor. He leaped into the air and brought his hammer down with the force of a boulder cracking the dragon’s skull wide open. Blue blood and brain matter spilled out onto the floor.

“Dragon-head down! It’s far more dangerous now!” Ban called as his mad dash carried him to safety.

Furniture, chairs, walls, paper; all of it became part of the thrashing death throes of the chimera.

Vale took aim and this time the arrow took on a soft golden glow. She felt time slow and watched as the perfect shot presented itself. She let the arrow fly and it sank directly into the lion-head. Rivulets of blue blood ran along the arrow shaft as it pierced through its golden eye. The head fell limp.

Only the ram-head remained. It rushed Vale putting its head down and horns up. The reckless rush caused the fractured bone of its broken hind leg to burst through the skin but the pain only spurred the monster’s final assault onward. Vale held her ground until the last possible moment tensing her legs. Right before it ran her down, she dove to the side letting the chimera smash into the wall behind her. It struggled and bleated before finally falling still.

“How… How did they even get a chimera into an office building?!” Vale let out between heavy breaths still warily eyeing the unmoving body. “That is a highly regulated magical creature! And not one that can simply be carried in a satchel!”

She calmed herself and retrieved her arrows from the rubble examining them as she went and put the good ones back into her quiver.

Ban rubbed a fist against his armored chest already feeling the bruises beneath. “The Court is not afraid to unleash catastrophic destruction to reach their goals. We cannot assume anything about their methods will be conventional,” Ban said gesturing towards the beast, “but, before we had to deal with this particular reprieve from sanity, Ian did manage to open the door. We need to continue.”

They bound up Vale’s wound as best they could using a few strips of cloth from a lawyour’s jacket that was still hanging on its hook and a poultice she produced from the pouch on her hip. Vale located a S.N.U.F.F. in a safety cabinet and chucked it into one of the burning piles of furniture. A wave of cold air spread out into the office as the S.N.U.F.F. went to work. The group stepped through the doors into the Partner’s offices.