"The hallway they are walking through with their group is very long. The hallway must lie beneath almost the entire village. Why would the innkeeper have walked here, why does this hallway even exist? Whatever happens, he will survive. After all, he is a giant, who would even dare to attack him?
After ten minutes of walking, the hallway changes. The hallway ends in a fork. In front of them are three doors: one leads to the left, another to the right, and the middle one goes straight ahead. Which should they take?
"What do we do now? Bjorn, you were following the innkeeper, do you have any idea which way he might have gone?"
"No Senjin, I saw him for the first time yesterday. I want to find out why I was attacked in his inn and why he walked here. I wouldn't know which direction to go now." What does it matter which hallway they explore? They can always return and explore the other halls. This group can handle any danger.
"Oh Colos, do you hear me?" Out of nowhere, Colos hears a voice in his head. He doesn't recognize the voice, and he is perplexed by what just happened.
"You don't have to answer, the rest don't need to know I'm speaking to you. I am a friend of yours, Colos, I could help you..." Who is this? Is he really hearing this? He didn't drink that much yesterday, did he, to start hearing voices in his head?
"No, Colos, you didn't drink too much, and yes, I can hear your thoughts. Just trust me now, take the left door."
"Who are you, why do you want to help me?"
"Patience, Colos, I am your friend. I will tell you more about myself once you have gone through the left door."
"I suggest we go left."
"Why Colos? Have you seen that innkeeper before, do you know where he went?"
"Of course not Emelina, I just don't want to wait needlessly here, and if we want to try another door, we can just go back." No one tries to convince him to choose a different door. He probably said what everyone was thinking but no one dared to say out loud. Should he tell them about the voice in his head? Maybe not, they already see him as the foolish one in the group. They wouldn't believe him anyway, so he wisely keeps his mouth shut. They go through the door one by one, but when he walks through the door last, he hears a loud bang behind him. When he turns around, he sees that the door behind him is closed. He goes back and tries to open the door, but he can't open it with all his strength.
"Where have we ended up now? Why does that door just close?"
"Calm down Shogo, it's pointless to stress about this. We're here to help these three adventurers. The person who locked this door won't be able to hide forever. Senjin and the da Silva household will find him." Can't this adonis just be quiet and keep following the hallway? He's not even part of the da Silva household's entourage. It's no wonder there's only one knight left who follows this adonis if he keeps talking like this all the time.
"We are not alone in this hallway, do you also hear that sound further down? It sounds like something buzzing. Could there be insects here?"
"There's only one way to find out, Emelina." With these words, Bjorn takes the lead. He walks forward and starts walking briskly. However, he stops this pace when he sees what's making the buzzing sound. In front of him are two circular wind blades. Each blade has eight protruding, razor-sharp points. They spin at a tremendous speed. It's impossible to walk past them because they take up the entire width of the hallway.
"What do we do now? We can't go back because the door is closed, but we also can't go forward because then we will be skinned by these wind blades."
"I will show you how we handle this as a group, Senjin, Colos, come help me." There's only one thing Bjorn can mean by that, they need his brute strength. Colos walks forward and examines the two spinning wind blades with Bjorn. Then they look at each other and smile. Bjorn takes his barbarian battle axe in his hand and he takes his devil's mace. They both stand in front of one of the blades. Then they start hitting the blades with all their strength. At first, nothing happens, but after a while, the blades start spinning slower and slower. Some points fly off and some land on Bjorn and Colos, but it doesn't affect them much.
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When the blades have completely stopped, they maneuver carefully past them as a group. Fortunately, no one gets hurt, and they continue through the hallway. However, a few minutes later, an unpleasant surprise awaits them. They suddenly find themselves facing the same three doors again.
"Sorry Colos, I accidentally led you through the wrong door. This won't happen again. You have to take the middle door, that's how you reach the place you want to go!""Who are you? You said you would tell me who you were when I went through that door. Were you the one who locked the door?"
"You just have to trust me, Colos, I co-designed these halls. I just wanted to show you my spectacular wind blades. They were impressive, weren't they?"
"Okay, we're not going left again, so that leaves two doors, any suggestions? I suggest we go right, anyone object?" Senjin wants to go right, but the voice in his head says to go straight. Should he trust the voice now? Or is this voice just playing a game with him? There will likely be another trap behind the middle door, so maybe it's better to just follow and go right. They all go right and just like last time, the door closes behind them when the last one goes through. No one is surprised by this, they expected it. What Colos didn't expect is what he sees when they've been walking for a few minutes, another trap.
Senjin, who is walking first, doesn't notice that a mechanism is built into the left wall of the hallway. A part of the wall is carved out and replaced with another stone wall with iron spikes on it. Senjin doesn't see this, and when he walks past it, the wall with the spikes falls toward him. Colos wants to yell to warn him, but someone beats him to it. He sees Shogo jumping forward and grabbing Senjin. They land a little further down, so the wall with the spikes falls on the ground without hitting anyone.
"Thank you, Shogo, you have proven your worth once again. What kind of sadist makes these sorts of devices? First those wind blades and now this wall with spikes, what's going to come next?" After this statement by Senjin, Colos hears a familiar voice in his head again.
"I am the sadist, Colos, but you already figured that out, of course. I warned you to go through the middle door. I didn't want you or any of your friends to get hurt by this trap. Do you trust me now?" I trust no one who continues to hide. Aren't you brave enough to face me? You're a coward and I'll find you, and then you'll regret what you're doing to us now.
"Hahaha Colos, don't make me laugh. I make the rules here, no one else. Oh, what do I see there? Are those the same three doors again?" Indeed, they were back at the same three doors. However, there was no discussion about which door they would take this time, only one remained.
"I must tell you something before we go through this door. We are not alone here."
"What do you mean, Colos, have you seen someone? Are we being followed?"
"No, Emelina, I haven't seen anyone. I know how strange it sounds, but I hear a voice in my head. This voice has been talking to me since we first stood at these doors. It told me to go left and then straight. I have no idea who it is or what it wants. However, the voice claims to have co-designed these tunnels."
"We'll meet him soon enough, Colos, then we'll quickly know what he wants. Let us know for sure when he speaks to you again. Everyone, keep a close eye out. We're being watched by someone, maybe even more than one. How many enemies do you have, Bjorn, do you have any idea what this is?"
"Too many to count, Shogo, and no, I have no idea. Otherwise, I would have said so. Come on, let's keep going now, the faster we get out of these halls, the better." The journey through the middle hallway takes much longer. The door of course closes behind them, but this time there is no immediate trap in sight. However, their luck doesn't last because the hallway abruptly ends. It ends in a cave, but the ground they are walking on stops. It continues 25 meters below them, so they will have to climb down. If they lose their balance, they will fall hard down below.
They are fortunately a group that has already undertaken multiple adventures. They go through their gear and tie several ropes together and eventually manage to make a rope 23 meters long. Colos is chosen to hold the rope, so everyone can get down. They climb down the rope, some more smoothly than others. Eventually, they all make it down, and it's Colos' turn.
He throws the rope down and uses the rock wall to climb down. The first 18 meters go smoothly, but then he slips. In the last meters, the stone becomes slipperier and due to his size, he slips.
He falls and lands flat on his back on the ground. This time, he does feel the pain, but he will survive. It doesn't take long before Emelina is by his side, starting to heal him. Her treatment does its job, and Colos can move on. However, he shouldn't fall from such a height again. Even he has his limits. Whoever is behind this will come to regret it."