The doorway dropped us onto a bridge in the main cavern, where the water was a tad bit higher than it had been before. The stone path we’d crossed earlier was still traversable, if a bit covered in water.

We traversed the rickety wooden bridge, which collapsed behind us the moment the final foot lifted from the planks, falling into the water below. It was a poor attempt at a fake out, and Sinbad kicked down the rolled-up rope and wooden ladder by his foot, dropping it to the doorway beneath us. He slid down, protected from the intense friction by his gloves. Eliza, Cove, and I climbed back down to the first floor at a more leisurely pace, splashing into the inches of water that covered the platform.

With another push of Sinbad’s hand, the door slid open. A great number of somethings scuttled on the walls beyond, and I suppressed a shudder at the sight of the cat-sized spiders on the other side of the doorway. Cove entered first, shooting off whirlwind, the second obtainable wind spell. His hand reached out, a dusty tornado forming beneath it, lifting the countless number of spiders into the air and slamming them into the wall. Their strength was in numbers, not in durability. Many of them died in the first hit, leaving less than half stunned along the dirt floor.

Eliza and Sinbad sprinted along the rounded edge of the rugged cavern wall, slicing and dicing the remaining spiders while I switched to the swordsman class, jumping as the door slammed shut behind me. I followed their lead, making use of the basic attack with great satisfaction, conserving my ability points for use later. The sword rang true, releasing a satisfying crunch as it sliced through the thick outer shell of the spider and into the meatier middle section. They exploded into darkness where they died, leaving behind fangs and legs–useful for potions, crafting, and upgrades. We collected as many as we noticed, throwing them into our inventories for later.

The door we’d entered through slid back open, and a thick wooden chest slightly larger than a mailbox appeared in the center of the room. As the closest Cove tossed it open, pulling out another basic-looking silver key he vanished into his inventory. We exited through the door we’d entered, the only door in the room, climbing the rope ladder once more. Across from the collapsed bridge was a half-flight of stairs, which we climbed to reach another locked door. Once again, Cove slid the new key into the lock and twisted it, pushing open the stone door into a new room. This one was larger than any of the others we’d entered so far–through much smaller than the main cavern, of course, and about half the size of the rook’s resting place.

Empty streams and gutters lined the floors and walls, crossing, merging, and bridging over each other to reach unmoving watermills connected to gears and platforms. It was our first real puzzle. I scanned the walls first, searching for the levers that controlled the water flow, and the tunnels I knew shot off the sides, leading to treasures and the next area of the dungeon. Combining observation with memory, I carefully picked out the path needed, finishing in the time it took for Eliza, Sinbad, and Cove to reach the bridge nearest to us. I nudged them to the right side, pointing past the waiting crabgators and giant toads across the room to a seemingly blank spot in the wall, where pipes vanished into a false wall.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

We ducked and slid between pipes and aqueducts, slaughtering the crabgators and giant toads in one or two basic attacks. As the first to reach the wall, Sinbad reached a handout and walked through, followed by the sound of metal grinding and straining against itself. Water gushed down from a pipe above, landing into a gutter and pushing against one of the mills. It fluttered slightly; however, more water would be required to get it moving.

Eliza, experienced in exploring, was already on the task, climbing a story up a steep rock face to tug on the lever that hung there. More water drained into the area, pushing just enough to get the mill moving. Gears clanked and turned, a giant platform rising and falling in three stages at the center of the room, opening up a myriad of paths above us.

“There’s four more levers,” I told the others, pointing to their locations on each wall above us. “If we follow those pipes, there,” I pointed to the pipes in question, which jutted out to brush against the platform as it rose and fell, “we can reach them.”

In agreement, we climbed carefully onto the platform, each jumping off into a different gutter before the platform lowered back down. They swung and shook with the impact of our landing and swayed beneath us as we walked, but they held. We pulled the levers nearly simultaneously, and water rushed down to where I was standing, pulling my feet from underneath me. I fell, sputtering as my face slipped beneath the new water, and my suit-covered side scraped against the metal as I was yanked down the slide. My palms pushed against the curved walls as I steadied myself, gaining a small semblance of control as I neared the rising and falling platform.

Carefully, I stood, the gutter slick as ice beneath my feet. Just as I reached the edge, I pushed off, leaping forward to land and stumbling onto the thankfully raised platform. Three distinct thuds reached my ears as Sinbad, Cove, and Eliza landed hard next to me.

A laugh bubbled out of Eliza’s throat as she reached up, scrunching the water out of her hair.

“Why did the Explorers cross the road?” Cove questioned, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Good-humoredly, Sinbad said, “I don’t know, why?”

“To get to the other slide.”