The master of the dark arts watched Fleetfoot navigate the wire gauntlet, shaking his head. He’d never be able to do that. He also couldn’t imagine knocking out the besps more than he already had.
He looked at his teammates. Bernd shook his head and gestured for them to go first, signaling he’d be the last one, which made sense. He’d probably trigger every single trap. Darken was sure the exit was inside or below the chest, which Fleetfoot seemed unable to open. He looked at Legolias, but the mage just shook his head; he had no clever ideas either.
Darken stepped forward and took a potion from his belt. He downed the sweet, syrupy liquid in a long gulp and felt the alchemical magic spread through his limbs. He showed the others the label: “Nebekar's Potion of Nimbleness,” and made it clear he only had the one. Potions of Dexterity were still expensive, even as they only gave a meager bonus of +2 to dexterity. That gave him a stat of 14, but he still had no movement skills and wasn’t used to obstacle courses. Well, it couldn’t be helped. He took off his billowing cloak, folded it, and put it into Bernd’s backpack.
After makin sure none of his clothes moved about, he slowly approached the wire maze. He ducked under the first wire and stepped over another, always watching out for the trigger plates on the floor. He ducked and weaved, then stopped. The next obstacle only had a way through at about knee height. He got down on his knees and lifted one foot over the lowest wire, then transferred an arm. Then it happened. His sleeve brushed against one of the wires, sending a faint vibration up his arm. Time seemed to slow as the nearest bell trembled and let out a single, crystalline chime. The sound reverberated through the room, echoing off the stone walls.
Some besps stirred, but only one woke up. Its wings came to life, and the besp lifted up, looking around for enemies. Darken suppressed a curse. He couldn’t fight this deep inside the wire maze, at least not without causing enough of a ruckus to wake the whole swarm.
The besp started to fly lazily in his vague direction. He held perfectly still, and it seemed not to notice him. It started to circle the wire maze. Darken inwardly cursed. If he moved, the besp would probably spot and attack him. But he was in a rather uncomfortable position at the moment, held up on one foot and one arm, balancing with the other foot and still hovering between two rows of wires. He couldn’t hold this position any longer. Slowly, he transferred his weight and moved his foot over the wire.
The besp turned straight toward him, its wings whirring faster. Before he could balance himself, it started its attack run, stinger raised and pointed at his face. He threaded his hands around a wire, too slow to even get his hands in front of his face before…
Something flashed through the space right before his eyes. The besp was gone. Darken didn’t see what happened, so he concentrated on finishing his movement. On the other side of the obstacle, he had enough room to fully stand up, which he did.
Looking around, he found no trace of the flying beast. Instead, he saw the grinning Bernd holding his short bow in his left hand while giving him a thumbs-up sign with his right. He had shot the small beast right out of the air without triggering any traps. Darken returned the thumbs-up sign.
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Darken took a deep breath and continued through the wire maze. He focused on each step, carefully navigating the tangled mess of wires and avoiding the trigger plates on the floor. The memory of the silver chime still echoed in his ears.
He reached the halfway point and paused, scanning for the best way forward. Fleetfoot had found a way straight through the wire maze, but he didn’t believe he could copy her method. She was far nimbler and had the movement skills he lacked.
He found a way he thought would be passable for himself. He had to circle the maze for about a third, then continued in the direction of the chest. Fleetfoot rolled her eyes and gestured for him to move faster, but he ignored her. Every step was more complicated. His progress slowed to a crawl. He stepped over another wire but moved his foot too low. Without noticing, he caught his foot in the wire and pulled. The chiming of bells sounded. Darken froze.
The chiming of the bells echoed louder this time, and Darken's heart sank as he saw multiple besps stir from their dormant positions. Wings buzzed angrily, and the small, hornet-like creatures took to the air, their beady eyes scanning for the source of the disturbance.
"Darken, move!" Fleetfoot's urgent stage-whisper cut through his paralysis. He forced himself to keep going, but his movements were clumsier now, hurried and frantic.
Bernd was already knocking another arrow. He released it just as the first besp closed in on Darken. The arrow flew true, skewering another besp mid-air. But there were more—too many for Bernd to handle alone.
Legolias stepped forward, his fingers already weaving intricate patterns in the air. A quiet chant escaped his lips: “Magic Projectile of Ice.”
Faintly blue glowing globes took shape above his hands. As soon as they fully materialized, he fired them at the besps. Two were hit, but Darken could see he didn’t discharge the cold energy at impact. Instead, he waited till their force had pushed them clear of the wire maze. Only then did the projectiles flash with concentrated cold, freezing the besps solid.
Darken felt a stinging pain in his leg. Looking down, he saw a besp that had reached him. His leg was getting slightly numb. More beasts were flying at him.
Fleetfoot took some throwing daggers from hidden sheaths and threw them. She had to be very careful not to hit one of the wires, so she could only target high-flying enemies.
Legolias threaded two more projectiles through the maze of wires and turned them straight down to hit two low-flying beasts and squash them against the floor.
Bernd, meanwhile, had to put his bow on the floor since he had to defend himself against a small swarm of besps.
Darken turned his attention back to his goal. He had to make these last few steps count. He ducked under one last wire and finally stood before the chest. Fleetfoot glanced up at him, a look of relief mixed with exasperation on her face.
The battle had wakened a few additional enemies, but the main bulk of them was still sleeping soundly. Bernd was already squashing his attackers.
Fleetfoot had been stung twice while he wasn’t looking. He could see the still bleeding pricks on her arm she had used to shield herself.
They turned back-to-back and in the free space could defend themselves against the insect monsters. Darken got another sting before they managed to squash the last enemy. Then they looked around but found no more attackers.
"Finally! Hold this," she whispered, handing him a small, delicate tool. "We need to open the locks simultaneously from both sides."
Now he understood her frustrated looks. He swallowed. Lockpicking was not one of his many talents. But none of his teammates were more dexterous than him, so he had to try. He nodded at Fleetfoot, got on the opposite side of the chest, and inserted his skeleton key. That would take a while.