The open sky hung above them, but the labyrinth walls were solid stone, about fifteen feet in height.

As soon as Andy opened the red door, he was met with the loud whines of some mechanical device.

"Dang," Andy said.

It was a small room, perhaps twenty feet long and wide, filled almost to the brim with mechanical gears, like oversized clockwork whirring away at high speed.

There was no way they could reach the door on the other side without being crushed or shredded by the dense gearwork.

"OUR NEW ARRIVALS HAVE JUST STUMBLED ONTO THE CLOCKWORK ROOM, THE FIRST ROOM OF OUR DUNGEON, COURTESY OF DREAMCRAFT LLC, YOUR SOLUTION FOR ALL YOUR BUILDING, SMITHING, AND ENCHANTING NEEDS."

Andy scanned the room. Immediately to the right of the entrance, there were three levers.

"So I assume one of these shuts off the gears… and maybe we can dismantle them and get across?" Andy said.

"Maybe," said Arlene. "I guess we can't do anything but try."

Andy examined the three levers. They looked completely indistinct. There didn't appear to be any clues. The only thing he knew was he was not going to pick the second one.

Andy pulled the third lever.

The gears began to slow.

"Oh, nice," Arlene said. "That seems like a good sign."

Now that the gears slowed, Andy saw that many of them contained razor-sharp blades. Getting caught in one of those gears could mean getting sucked into the whole apparatus and shredded to bits.

Now that the gears were slowing, there was an apparent path to the door. They'd have to crawl, though, and if the gears turned back on while they were crawling under them, they'd be screwed.

"Look, we have to crawl, but you see those gears? Some of them are super, super sharp. They can tear you up if you get caught in them. It's not pretty."

"Like in a factory?" Kermit said.

"Exactly, like in a factory," Andy said.

"Wait," Arlene said. "Do you hear that?"

There was a clicking, as if some timer was counting down. Then it stopped.

Suddenly, three panels opened up on the far wall, and three figures emerged: goblinoid clockwork automatons.

"A goblin factory?" Kermit asked.

"OUR NEW ARRIVALS HAVE TRIGGERED THE GOBLINOID AUTOMATONS, ALSO COURTESY OF DREAMCRAFT LLC. THESE LITTLE GUYS BITE HARD!'

The small creatures clawed their way out of the openings in the wall, climbing the stone like spiders. They were a combination of metal limbs and some kind of glass bodies, filled with gears, shafts, and motors. Their heads were a dull tin. Behind their eyes, burned some kind of filament, like a lightbulb.

Then the room's razor-sharp gear-work apparatus reengaged, picking up speed again as the goblinoid robots leapt across the room and next to Andy, Arlene, and Kermit.

The goblinoids threw back their heads in unison, revealing razor sharp metal teeth.

"HO HO I WOULD NOT WANT TO BE IN THAT ROOM RIGHT NOW. LOOK AT THOSE TEETH!"

"Welp," said Andy, trying to draw his great sword in the cramped space.

"I'm no good close up," Arlene said, pulling Kermit behind her and snatching his frying pan away from him, using it to swat at the automatons.

They retreated a bit as Arlene continued swinging the frying pan, but they were quickly out of room, backed up against the mess of gear work.

Andy drew his sword. He had no room to swing it. He could at least place it between the party and their foes. He held it horizontally, providing a low barrier between the group and their assailants.

A goblinoid leapt at Arlene, razor-fangs shining, searching for flesh to rip into.

Arlene met it with the frying pan, sending the automaton flying into the mess of gears that populated the room.

The robot's leg was caught in a gear, causing a hideous metal-on-metal screech, followed by several loud whines as the machine adjusted to the new pressure. Then the gears pulled it in. Bits of metal, glass, and other detritus flew across the room as the gears shredded the goblinoid to bits.

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"That's easy enough," Arlene said as the two other goblins scrambled back, now a bit more cautious.

They looked at each other for a moment and nodded before turning simultaneously to Arlene and leaping with mouths agape.

Andy raised his sword, attempting to intercept them. One hit his sword, grasping it like a cat would a tree branch, biting at the blade. It made no dents, but sparks flew as it continued gnashing with its sharpened metal teeth against the steel sword.

They don't seem super smart, Andy thought.

The other cleared the sword and landed on Arlene's shoulder, throwing its head back, getting ready to take a chunk of her neck.

Arlene reacted quickly and placed the frying pan between her and the clockwork goblin. Its teeth made contact with the cast iron and bounced right off.

Meanwhile, Andy had a goblinoid climbing on his sword.

Andy took advantage of the goblin's position, swatting his sword toward the gearwork.

The force of the sword's motion caused the goblin to glide smoothly off of the sword, and into the mess of gears, which whined and stuttered before consuming the second automaton.

Andy turned toward Arlene. The final automaton was now crawling across her back until it spotted Kermit. It had found a new target.

The automaton brandished its teeth and prepared to leap from Arlene's back onto Kermit.

Kermit screamed in terror.

Andy let his thoughts fade as he accessed his spirit. He allowed his sword to fall to the ground as he became fluid and leapt between Kermit and the clockwork goblin perched on Arlene's back.

The automaton lunged in slow motion. As soon as its feet left Arlene's back, Andy struck it in the head with his palm. Time sped up again as the force of Andy's strike sent the goblin into the whirring gears, getting crunched up and mangled by the clockwork.

"WOW! OUR NEW ARRIVALS HAVE CLEARED ALL THREE GOBLINOIDS JUST LIKE THAT! SWALLOWED UP BY THE DEADLY CLOCKWORK TRAP PROVIDED BY DREAMCRAFT LLC, THE SOLUT–"

Andy actively stopped listening to the rest of the announcer's words. The advertisements were getting repetitive, annoying, and distracting.

The room's tangled gears kept whirring, but the machine goblins, now a mess of parts and shrapnel strewn across the room, were no longer a threat.

Arlene relaxed and handed the frying pan to Kermit.

"You ok, bud?"

Kermit nodded.

Andy turned to the levers. He had pulled the third one, knowing full-well to avoid lever number two. He obviously hadn't made the correct choice.

Andy reached out and pulled the first lever.

Immediately, several panels on each wall opened to reveal a nozzle.

That doesn't seem good, Andy thought.

"Duck!" he yelled, anticipating darts or some other projectile.

Andy, Arlene, and Kermit all hit the floor. Andy raised his great sword over them for cover, alongside Kermit's frying pan.

The gears continued whirring, but nothing came from the nozzles.

"What are those things in the walls?" Arlene asked.

"I don't know," Andy said. "I thought they were some type of gun, but I'm not sure… they aren't doing anything."

The nozzles were about eye-level, so if he remained crouched, Andy could move around with relative safety. At least he thought he could.

He peaked out from the sword and gathered himself into a crouched position, looking up at the nozzle.

Then the whirring gears in the room began to slow down.

"Uh oh," Andy said.

All at once, green smoke began billowing out of the nozzles. Andy immediately put his tunic over his mouth and nose, but the smoke burned his eyes.

"AND NOW IT LOOKS LIKE THE NEW ARRIVALS HAVE TRIGGERED THE ACID SMOKE! WOW FOLKS, THEY MAY NOT MAKE IT PAST THE FIRST ROOM!"

"What do we do?" Arlene asked.

The gears started whirring again. Even with the tunic over his mouth and nose, he began to feel himself choking on the green smoke. It burned.

His eyes teared up, and his chest began to tighten.

Andy reached for the second lever.

We're about to find out if Antoine is a friend or foe, Andy thought.

Maybe Antoine was genuinely trying to help, or maybe his advice was a trap. Either way, it was all that was left to do. Andy's nose began running violently as he grasped the lever and heaved it downward.

Upon pulling the lever, the whirring of the gears almost instantly stopped, as did the smoke pouring out of the nozzles.

Andy used his greats word to fan away the smoke out into the open air of the arena, where it would be too diffuse to hurt anyone.

The three of them continued choking, spitting, and coughing for a few minutes until the effects wore off.

Andy wiped his nose and mouth on the inside of his sleeve, spitting and hacking.

"So… we just had to choose the second lever, huh?" Arlene said between clearing her throat.

"I guess so," said Andy.

Kermit cleared his throat and spit multiple times, sniffling.

Several clicks echoed from behind each wall.

Suddenly, the gears began descending into the floor as the tiles underneath them opened up to receive them. They clicked into place in their recesses as the tiles closed once again.

They were now in an empty room with nothing but goblinoid shrapnel around them.

Was it really that easy? Is that all I needed to do? Pick the second choice? Andy thought. He could hardly believe that was true.

Unless Antoine had anticipated Andy's response to his advice… perhaps he had told Andy to choose the second lever knowing full-well that he wouldn't.

The air was now cleared up. Kermit and Arlene were now fully standing, dusted off, as was Andy.

"THE NEW ARRIVALS HAVE CLEARED THE ROOM!"

The audience applauded.

"And that was just the first room," Arlene said with a brisk sigh.

"Through the next door I suppose," said Andy.