The next chamber was markedly different.

Andy, Arlene, and Kermit entered a serene courtyard with a grass-covered floor, as if a mountain meadow had been lifted up and dropped here in the arena.

Andy who knows, perhaps it had.

The opposite wall stood a generous fifty or so feet away, covered in moss with flowing fountainheads of beautiful figures, human, animal, and divine. Straight across from them, there was a door made of gold.

The width of the chamber measured at least forty feet.

The eight fountainheads, two per wall, each gave forth clear water into a white marble basin. From each basin ran a small irrigation, perhaps six inches wide and set with marble, which fed into a central pond.

In that pond, across a set of eight modest but perfectly carved wooden bridges, there was an impressive marble shrine, a platform with pillars that supported a decorative sloped roof.

In the shrine, there was a strikingly lifelike white marble statue of a man with the head of a boar, dancing. He was frozen as he was just about to leap into the air in his apparent exuberance.

"This is beautiful," said Kermit quietly.

Kermit was right. The enclosure gave Andy the impression that he was intruding on a very sacred garden.

Andy stepped toward the fountainhead to his left, a small faun with horns and a flute, water emerging from each of the pan-pipes into the basin below.

"It's just like we predicted," Arlene said. "They're testing for the Knowledgeable feat. They have to be with all this iconography."

Andy glanced around at the other fountain heads: A serpent, a coyote, a small elf-like creature, a fox, a monkey, a hare, and, immediately on the other side of the entrance, a man drinking a bottle of wine and pissing at the same time, of course instead of urine, he was issuing forth clear, fresh water into the marble basin below.

Andy tried to consider what the various statues could have in common. They all seemed to be associated with nature… well, except for the diminutive elf, and also the pissing man. Maybe nature wasn't the common denominator.

Perhaps all these animals were associated with something else. Andy knew that the serpent was a symbol of the devil to many religious folks on earth, so if the archetypes in this world were similar, it could be evil here as well.

But could all these statues be considered evil? The hare was downright cute, and the faun was just playing music. And sure, pissing and drinking was rude, perhaps even bad, but was it evil? Surely it wasn't a satanic act to take a piss and have a swig of wine at the same time…

Yeah, I have no idea what this means, Andy thought finally.

"That would've been a useful feat to have," said Andy. "Let's check the little pamphlet I guess."

It was a pamphlet for parents, teaching them how to discuss religion with their children. Andy didn't want to get his hopes up about the usefulness of a probably very cursory skim of religion on the infinite plane.

Arlene untied the small leather string and unfurled the pamphlet.

"Oh wow," she said as she unfolded its various panels. "This is very… intense."

Intense? That's promising.

Andy approached Arlene and looked over her shoulder.

Kermit sat down in the grass right in front of the hare statue, alternating between looking at the statue and the sky.

"The print is so small on some of these pages, I can barely read it," Arlene said.

"How does it start?" Andy asked.

Arlene held the pamphlet up very close to her face, holding her finger on the line she was trying to decipher.

"As a parent it is your duty to teach your children proper piety, and as such, you yourself must learn the Greater Pantheon in painstaking detail… this is… a complete course in deities and theurgy… for use with… something."

"So this is a jackpot," Andy said, trying to disguise his excitement.

"Yeah sorta," said Arlene, "but it's really, really tough to read.

"IT LOOKS LIKE OUR NEW ARRIVALS ARE STUCK," said the announcer, floating into view.

Shoot, we forgot to disguise the pamphlet, Andy thought. The room was so serene… my defenses were down and I didn't even think to specify to be stealthy…

Arlene apparently had the same thought. She quickly hid the pamphlet back in her tunic without lifting her head.

"Damn," she said.

"OH, IT LOOKS LIKE THE FORTUNE FINDERS HAVE MADE AN IMPORTANT MOVE ON THE BLUE ROUTE… ALRIGHT LADIES, GENTLEMEN, AND HAPPY FRIENDS… LET'S SEE…"

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The announcer floated back to the other side of the arena, his voice growing fainter as he did.

"It's ok," Andy said, "I don't think they noticed."

"We'll have to keep it hidden," said Arlene. "The announcer is probably not the only one with eyes on us."

"Then what do we do?" Andy said. "If the pamphlet's print is too small to read without being obvious, and we don't have the Knowledgeable feat, then I'm not sure how to handle this room."

"Me neither," said Arlene.

"Let's check the shrine, I guess," said Andy.

He stepped over the small bridge, its soft wood planks bowed ever so slightly under his foot, and he approached the statue of the boar-headed man.

The boar-headed man stood on a marble pedestal that had a few lines engraved on it: "Being and Seeming; Perception and Illusion; Sense and Nonsense; Between these terms is the path of the jester."

Jester? Could this be tied to the charlatan class, perhaps? And what was all that stuff about Being and Seeming? Perception and Illusion? This sounds like it was from that Verses book that the scholars kept talking about.

"Whatcha looking at?" Arlene asked as she approached the shrine, reading the plaque.

"What do you think that means?" Andy asked.

Kermit continued sitting on the grass across the room. He had begun humming a tune.

"That's really cryptic," Arlene said. "There's a shadow over there, let me see if I can find anything about a Jester in here."

The sun had sunk far enough that the left wall cast a small shadow, enough for Arlene to use Blend Into Shadow.

"Ugh," she said. "It's too dark in the shadows, and the print is too small."

Didn't think about that. Reading in the shadows? That was never a good plan.

"Ugh. Great," Andy said with more than a hint of sarcasm. "I guess we're going to have to rely on our own wits, then."

He walked around the shrine, checking for other clues, but nothing stood out.

"What's going on, Kermit?" Andy called. Perhaps Kermit could bring a new perspective.

"I'm just looking at this bunny," he said.

Andy and Arlene crossed the room together as Kermit rose, brushing the dirt off his legs and bum and picking his cast-iron skillet back up.

The serene environment was suddenly interrupted as a loud crashing sound came from a small distance away.

"What was that?" Arlene asked.

Andy strained to hear. It sounded like a pile of rubble toppling over, accompanied by squealing and galloping.

"OH, IT LOOKS LIKE THE FORTUNE FINDERS ARE HAVING A LITTLE TROUBLE WITH THE TRICKSTER'S SURPRISE!"

The audience collectively gasped as the announcer's speakers blared.

"Don't trust this room," Andy said.

Just then, a rumbling began to shake the wall with the golden door. The fountains on the far wall began to sputter, and finally, boom.

Bricks and stones went flying every which way as Andy drew his great sword, broad and strong, to defend himself and his group against any debris. Several rocks and pebbles bounced off as a huge amount of dust filled the courtyard.

"You ok?" Andy asked his companions.

"Yep," said Arlene.

"I'm alright," said Kermit.

"Good," Andy said, peering into the dust.

"Be prepared for anything," he said, brandishing his sword in a defensive posture and peering deeply into the dust.

He was searching for a figure, a form, anything to give a clue about what they were confronted with.

Then he saw two gusts of air push dust and dirt forward. Then two tusks emerged.

As the dust cleared, a giant boar, standing at at least five feet tall and probably thousands of pounds, lowered his head.

As the dust continued to settle, the boar came more into view. He was lean, his skin a natural armor of thick leather, with a bristly, unkempt coat. His tusks, each a few feet in length, seemed razor sharp at the tips.

The animal confronting the group, the animal that had just single handedly wrecked the stone wall across from them… this animal was a living, breathing killing machine. And it didn't seem happy.

"AND IT LOOKS LIKE OUR NEW ARRIVALS HAVE JUST GOTTEN THE SAME TREATMENT!" the announcer said, flying back over to the red route, the side of the labyrinth that the group was taking.

The boar continued to huff, its nostrils flaring as it lowered its head, getting ready to charge.

"Watch out, Kermit," said Andy, readying his weapon and moving toward the boar.

Arlene pushed Kermit behind her. She drew her bow and notched an arrow.

"Piggy!" Kermit said. "I can make friends with it, you know."

"Not this one, bud," Arlene said. "Get behind me and stay very still so we can both blend in."

Stepping into the shadow, Arlene's rogue feat concealed both her and the small child who stood behind her.

Andy stood before the boar, determined to draw its attention away from Arlene so that she could be more effective at range and also keep Kermit out of harm's way.

Andy began to walk sideways, luring the boar's attention toward the left wall while Arlene kept herself and Kermit concealed in the shadowy right corner.

Then an arrow flew from the corner. It hit the boar's shoulder, but bounced right off. The boar didn't even seem to notice.

Damn, Andy thought. That's some thick skin.

Then, without warning, it charged him.

"HERE WE GO, FOLKS!"

Andy felt a jolt of adrenaline as the tusks' razor sharp points came barrelling toward him. It was just enough adrenaline to momentarily suspend his thoughts.

Andy engaged his Fluid Strike. At this point, he knew better than to try to fully engage his sword during a Fluid Strike, but he still found the feat useful for gaining a tactical advantage in situations where you needed to think and respond with incredible speed.

The boar slowed as Andy's perception of time dilated. It was a huge creature, and even in slow motion, it was approaching rapidly. Andy realized there was no attack he could make to stop it, and with that momentary hesitation, he was thrown out of time dilation and back into the fray of battle.

Andy attempted to raise his sword, but a tusk caught it, knocking it from his hands as it plowed into Andy, cutting through his tunic but thankfully missing his flesh.

The boar smashed Andy into the wall with a crunch. He had avoided impalement, sliding between the two tusks, but the boar's massive skull smashed into Andy. He felt a snap somewhere in his torso. Probably a broken rib.

As the boar backed up and began to lower its head again, Andy fell to the ground. He couldn't breathe; the boar had knocked the wind right out of him.

Andy started to reach for his sword, but it was too far away.

The boar huffed, readying itself to charge as the bristles stood up on the back of its neck.

Suddenly, something else came from the shadowy corner where his companions hid. Not an arrow, but a soft, green glowing orb.