Amelia Earhart, Renowned Adventurer, Breaker of Records, Mistress of the Air, Conqueror of the Skies, the Unstoppable Explorer, the Fearless Aviatrix, and most recently, “Champion of Earth” leaned against the wall of the goblin mine-shaft and ground her teeth in frustration.

Two years of intense physical, mental, and equipment training and she was going to be knocked out of the competition on the very first Quest.

She glared back with futility into the darkness of the underground shaft for her partner, Mr. Houdini, but saw nothing.

“Harry!” she said in a barely audible whisper, and although she heard some rustling movements far away, her teammate didn’t reply.

Where WAS he?

She pulled out the Duskvision™ monocle, depressed a small raised bump on the side, then waited for it to initialize. A brief vibration alerted her it was ready and she took a look through it. The image was fuzzy and green, but good enough to tell there were no threats. She powered it down to save the charge, then squatted down and drew the quest card from her inventory. The letters glowed faintly.

Quest: The Pollution Solution

"Champions, we need your help. The goblin-run mine in the Serpent's Spine Mountains is poisoning our village. Crops are dying, livestock are sick, and our people suffer.

Go to the mine and stop the pollution. Negotiate, fight, destroy, divert, or all of the above! — The choice is up to you!

Return when our village is safe. Our survival depends on you.

For the thousandth time, she wondered where the rest of their team had gone. All four of them had entered the portal, but she and Harry were the only two Americans who had appeared on the other side. They’d spent almost a full day gaining experience from killing the starting area beasts but with no further communication from their missing members, they had finally made the difficult decision to begin the Trial.

Amelia glared at the quest card in her hand. She and Harry had been forced to accept it because it was the only one they qualified for. By the time they'd reached the Challenge Board, all the easy ones were taken or required 3+ participants. The only one left was “The Pollution Solution”, probably because it was rumored the quest was cursed. No one had ever completed it.

“Harry!” she whispered again. “Come ON!”

Nothing.

She squinted in the direction she’d come, but without Duskvision™, the most she could see were rough shapes.

Removing the cover of her wrist timer she narrowed her eyes at the glowing numbers it revealed, then covered it up again quickly.

“HARRY!” she hissed as loudly as she dared.

The system message popped up directly in the middle of Amelia Earhart’s field of vision, blocking her view of the passage in front of her.

You have been detected.

The famous Aviatrix swore softly.

“Horsefeathers!” she said and firmly blinked twice to dismiss the system update, as she’d been taught.

It faded away and Amelia initiated stealth, but it was too late.

A familiar, guttural growl came from the darkness ahead of her, then a small point of light appeared. It rapidly grew in size from a dot to a flaming ball of fire, and for a brief moment, it hovered, illuminating the snarling face of a Mine Goblin.

Then, with blinding speed, the projectile shot toward her head.

As it flew, it trailed flames and illuminated the tunnel, giving Amelia a flash of half-full mine carts, unlit torches dotting rough-hewn walls, scattered rocks, and shallow puddles.

With her heightened reflexes, she launched herself off the wall, using her entire body to propel herself forward. The fireball passed through the spot her head had just been.

She felt a searing wave of heat skim past, and then it was gone, impacting a mine cart behind her and engulfing it in flame.

“Horsefeathers!” she said forcefully.

With a hissed word and a quick wave of her slender hand, Amelia summoned three ethereal blades from the void. The air around her hand shimmered as the blades materialized, their blue-white edges pulsing with magical energy.

With a casual flick, Amelia sent them toward the source of the attack.

The blades reached the snarling goblin who was leaning around the corner of the shaft and effortlessly severed its head from its shoulders and its arm from its body. With a dull thud, the goblin’s body collapsed, a lifeless heap in the dim light.

Windblade hits Goblin Adept for 150 dmg, 0 resisted.

Goblin Adept (1) killed.

Experience gained - 1

Amelia double-blinked the bright, glowing pop-up away, then turned in the direction where she hoped her companion would be standing, no trace of her world-famous grin, waiting for her eyes to re-adjust.

She spotted Harry trotting toward her, a chagrined look on his face.

“morrymorrymorrymorrymorrymorrymorrymorry,” he mumbled, not bothering to look at her but focused on something in his hands.

“Harry,” she said firmly, as he reached her.

He was looking down at a small box and was pushing the sides, twisting, brows furrowed with the effort. Between his teeth he held his "flashlight", a thin, black metallic tube with a glowing end, pointed at the box.

“Ullmmst owhit,” he mumbled unintelligibly.

“MR. HOUDINI!” she exclaimed and he finally looked up at the unexpected formality, the light blinding her.

Harry Houdini, Magician, took the light out of his mouth. “Sorry, almost got it,” he repeated, and grinned at her.

“Put out that light!” she said, irritated. “You’ll get us caught!”

He looked over her shoulder at the heap of goblin parts on the ground behind her and grinned.

"Got it!" he exclaimed, and there was an audible click.

The symbols began to glow faintly, and the sides of the box started to shift and realign with a series of soft clicks. Harry dropped it in surprise but the box never reached the ground. Small, spindly legs made of segmented metal shot from the sides, just in time for the box to catch itself before it landed.

The two of them watched in stunned silence as the box, now a small mechanical creature, skittered away into the blackness, its symbols leaving a faintly glowing trail in the air.

"Grab it!" Amelia hissed but it was too late. The box spider was gone.

Harry looked at her questioningly.

"What if that thing sets off an alarm?" she asked him.

He rolled his eyes. "Scared?" he asked.

That cocky little… She’d show him! Amelia thought. Clearly he needed to be taught a lesson so she selected a spell that wouldn’t affect him too much. Probably.

With a different incantation than earlier, Amelia unleashed a wave of force from her palm. The invisible energy surged forward, catching the startled man off guard.

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Harry Houdini’s arms started to flail wildly, but he recovered immediately and, with an impossible mid-air twisting flip, landed on his feet.

“Tada!” he said, then opened his arms wide and bowed deeply, ever the showman.

Shockwave hits Player (Harry Houdini) for 10 dmg, 130 resisted.

Horsefeathers! Amelia thought as her vision was obscured again by the system popup.

She blinked it away.

“I’m not scared of a single goblin, but what if there were a dozen? Or a hundred?” she responded. “Some of their attacks would be bound to hit. And what did you call the wolf things outside?”

“The ones pulling the carts?” he asked. “The ones the goblins ride? Worgs. They’re not like wolves, they are wolves, just massive ones. And they’re smart.”

“Yes, the worgs. They seem quite a bit more dangerous than the goblins,” she retorted.

I suppose,” he admitted. “Ok, if we run into a hundred worgs, I’ll panic, but until then, we'll be fine. He looked back up the shaft the way they'd come. "I wonder what was inside the box."

“Come on, Harry, let’s GO!” she exclaimed in frustration. She’d grown to respect his abilities and judgment quite a bit, but the man could be incredibly difficult to keep focused when he found something that piqued his interest. “It’s just a puzzle box!”

“Maybe,” the dark-haired man said, still looking around. “Most puzzles don't run away though,” he said and his voice trailed off.

Tired of arguing with the stubborn man, Amelia turned and proceeded farther into the mine, only pausing to loot the dead goblin’s wand and the few coins he carried. When she’d taken everything he had, the goblin’s lifeless form pixelated and shimmered away, leaving only his bones, lying on the ground exactly in the position it had fallen.

Regretfully, Houdini abandoned his search for the puzzle box and followed after Amelia. The tall woman strode purposefully, avoiding the bones with disgust, leaving Harry running to catch up.

They continued deep into the mountain, Amelia keeping her right hand on the wall as she’d been taught, and before long, they reached a fork. Sticking to the right, they proceeded and repeated this each time they reached a place where the passage gave them options.

Harry handed her a Flask of Replenishment. “How long have we been walking?” he asked.

“Over an hour,” she replied, feeling frustrated by the total lack of progress. She took a long pull from the flask, instantly feeling energized.

“What do you think we’ll find down below that will help us complete the quest?” she asked, handing the flask back. “The simplest solution was to blow up the entrance. We could be done already.”

“We’re trying to show the Alien Council we’re civilized, right?” he asked.

She shrugged helplessly. “I guess?” she asked. “Are we? What does that even mean?”

“There has to be an optimal solution to each of their tests,” he answered. “They value some solutions more than others.”

“Ok,” she said, wondering where he was going with this. “But we’re wasting time.”

“No one has ever passed this quest before, so maybe no one ever went inside before. Maybe they always just blew up the entrance, and that’s why they failed,” he responded seriously. “Maybe the right solution is inside.”

That actually made a lot of sense and Amelia nodded slowly.

She pulled a nutrition bar out of her inventory and munched it silently as they walked, thinking.

She looked over at her companion and asked, “Do you ever think we’ll get back?”

He noted her tone and answered seriously. “Amelia, I’m not even sure we’re alive.”

She nodded. The same thing had occurred to her, but she hadn’t said it out loud.

He tugged on his goatee and continued. “What is more likely, that the President of the United States sent me on a magical adventure with a world-famous aviator, the fate of the world on my shoulders— or that I didn’t make it out of one of my tricks?”

“You’re only here because he thought you could do real magic. Who knew it was all tricks?” she responded with a laugh.

“And you because they thought you could fly.”

“I CAN fly,” she said matter-of-factly. “But you can’t do actual magic.”

He had no answer to that, only rolled his eyes.

“Just because I’m not doing real magic doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous,” he protested. “Yes, they’re tricks, and I have my secrets, but when I’m locked inside a cast-iron safe underwater, it takes immense concentration and skill to survive.”

“Oh, it requires skill and concentration? That settles it. You’re dead,” she said with a wicked grin.

“I could be,” he admitted.

“And your last mortal thoughts were of going on an adventure with me?” she asked, flashing her famous smile. “What would Bess say?”

“Good point. My final thoughts would obviously be of my dear wife, no offense intended,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

Suddenly, Amelia held up her hand, and they both froze. Up ahead, the passage turned, a faint glow emanating from around the corner.

“I’ll scout ahead,” she said and without waiting for a response, crept silently up to the bend and disappeared around the corner.

Harry waited patiently but it was less than 30 seconds before she waved him forward.

He caught up to her where she stood, directly in front of two colossal doors where the tunnel had ended. Each was roughly twice as tall as Amelia herself and nearly ten feet wide, constructed from massive dark brown wooden planks and reinforced by thick iron bands. In the middle of each door, a giant brass ring served as a handle, its bottom shiny where rough hands had rubbed it clean.

Amelia cocked her head and placed her ear to the door. She could hear activity from behind the door, the clash of metal, the hum of conversation, but unless the doors were incredibly thick and nearly soundproof, they should be fine. The sounds appeared to be in the distance.

Amelia looked over at Harry and shrugged.

He stealthed and his form gradually faded away in front of her until she could only see a faint shimmer where he’d stood. Amelia grabbed the large brass ring and ever so gently began to pull. The door remained motionless, so she pulled harder, then harder still. It began to move, barely perceptibly, until suddenly, both of the doors flew open with enough force and speed to throw her and the stealthed man to the ground.

From her new vantage point, she noticed that the doors had some sort of weight and pulley system, with sizable counterweights that dangled from thick, weathered chains. After she’d gotten it moving, the mechanism had taken over.

“That’s really clever,” Harry said from the ground, looking up at the mechanism.

Amelia’s eyes widened.

“Harry,” she said haltingly.

“I wonder how long those gears have been around,” Houdini murmured, still looking up. “They look old.”

“Harry,” Amelia repeated tightly.

“What wonderful craftsmanship,” he said in admiration. “Those doors must weigh thousands of pounds.”

“HARRY!” Amelia said and he finally looked over at her.

She was pointing through the opening.

“I recommend retreat,” she said tightly. As it turned out, the doors WERE unreasonably thick and WERE nearly soundproof.

Behind the doors, a cavernous room extended, the ceiling towering nearly fifty feet above, adorned with jagged stalactites. Flickering light from numerous torches cast eerie shadows over long wooden tables laden with food.

Food that was being ripped apart and shoved into snarling, chomping, gnashing, stained teeth.

They’d stumbled into the goblin dining hall.

Amelia took a step back. Dealing with one goblin wasn’t a problem, nor two, nor even twenty, but this was hundreds. They would be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers.

“Shut the door,” Harry said quickly, and she nodded, but it was too late.

There was a scream, half rage, half alarm. A goblin serving wench had noticed Amelia and was pointing at her in utter hatred.

Harry, knocked out of stealth when the door hit him earlier, leapt to his feet and began to tug at one of the massive doors.

A few goblins had turned to see what the server was pointing at and their screams joined hers.

Amelia pulled on the other one, and like before, it didn’t budge.

“Harder!” she cried and watched more than a dozen goblins leap to their feet.

The door began to move.

The goblins charged, less than fifty feet away. Alerted by their action, more goblins pushed away from the tables and joined their comrades.

“PUSH!” Houdini yelled and suddenly, the doors shot closed, the counterweights kicking in.

The massive doors slammed shut with a resounding thud, just in time to stop the sprinting goblins from reaching them.

Amelia and Harry immediately leaned forward, palms flat on the door, putting their full weight into holding them closed.

A faint pounding made it through, and they could feel a shudder, but the doors remained shut.

“Now what?” Amelia asked pointedly.

Harry shrugged. “I don’t think they can get the door open as long as I keep pressure on it.

“We can’t stay here forever,” Amelia pointed out.

“We don’t need to,” Harry countered. “We just need to wedge it closed. The counterweights don’t start to work until the door has moved a little bit. At least, I think so.

He pulled a dagger from its sheath on his belt, then jammed it into the crack between the two massive doors.

“Hammer?” he asked, looking around wildly. and Amelia quickly handed him a rock.

He slammed it into the hilt of the knife, driving it in another inch, then nodded in satisfaction, the door wedged shut.

“Shall we proceed?” he asked smugly.

Amelia rolled her eyes and together they turned around to head back to the last fork they’d encountered.

They froze.

Less than twenty feet away stood a worg, its massive wolfen body almost filling the dim tunnel. It was easily 4 to 5 times larger than any worg they'd seen so far.

It took one step toward them, then another. Then another.

As it approached, Amelia could hear the low, menacing growl escaping past the beast’s sharp, yellowed teeth, teeth larger than Harry’s daggers, teeth that dripped hate.

Amelia's heart pounded as she took a step back, her eyes locked on the approaching monster. She scanned it quickly and her heart sank.

She glanced at Harry, who stood tense beside her, his face a mix of fear and determination. There was no escape, nowhere to go; they had to face the monstrous creature head-on.

"You scanned it?" Harry asked quietly.

She nodded.

“That’s not a level one creature,” he said.

“No,” she said with immense understatement.

"What is it?" he asked.

She looked over at him. "It's a boss," she said tersely.

Harry's eyes narrowed and he said only a single word - "Horsefeathers."