Autumn stood outside the glittering treasure room, peering through the sundered crack in the thick stone door. Even with the limited view, she saw a great deal of wealth within. She assumed this was where the reward for whatever the “trial of might” was had been and likely where the first key was hidden.

Unfortunately, whatever mechanism that opened this door was missing. Likely, the earthquake had broken it along with the door. Even if it was here and intact, it wouldn’t have been of much use as the broken door was stuck fast and they’d have had to break it down just like they were doing now.

The perpetually grumpy Edwyn wedged a rock-breaking rune into the crack. “Cover yer ears!” they bellowed as they took cover.

Autumn turned away just in time.

Shattered stones exploded outwards in a great plume of dust as the rune detonated in the door. Several pinging off the weathered floor and tumbling into the abyss below. Sections of the door collapsed into itself with a grinding crash that echoed out into the chamber.

For a moment, they held their breath, awaiting another screaming horde. Thankfully, nothing replied to their rune-enhanced knocking.

As the dust settled, Nethlia stepped up to the broken stones and lifted the heaviest of them out of the way. Turning back to the others, she spoke loudly over the soft ringing in their ears. “Come help me with this!”

Autumn and the others snapped out of their daze and quickly rushed to help her.

Before too long, they’d widened the small crack in the door into one that was large enough for all of them to at least squeeze through. Even Nethlia.

Within, the treasure shone with an even greater luster, as if luring the adventurers outside with its glittering siren song.

Liddie was the first one through. After checking directly inside the door for traps and not finding any, she scurried through the gap like a joyous rat who’d found a pantry stocked full of delicious cheese. Frantically, she scoured every inch of the decorated floor, walls, and ceiling as the others nervously watched on.

From her vantage, Autumn didn’t see any telltale glow of magical runes, camouflaged by illusions or otherwise. That didn’t mean there weren’t any, as evidenced by that strange viper illusion back in the entry hall, just none immediately obvious to her.

After a seemingly painstakingly long time, that wasn’t actually that long at all, Liddie called back to the others. “It’s clear!” she cried. “There aren’t any traps!”

“Are you sure?” Nelva asked. “You’ve missed some before.”

An offended look flashed across Liddie’s features. “I’m absolutely sure! And you take that back! That trap was a divine whatsitmajigit. How was I meant to find that?!”

“A better rogue would’ve.”

Autumn ignored the playful banter as she squeezed herself through the gap and into the treasure chamber. Dusting herself off, she took in the horde before her — of wealth this time.

Organized piles of treasure cluttered every inch of the rather small room, leaving only a small section in the middle free. Dozens of ornate chests full to the brim with ancient gold coins, polished gems, and sparkling jewels sat against the walls between pieces of gold and blue glass armor, golden weapons, polished mirrors, and a towering bookcase packed full of gilded spell-scrolls.

Swallowing her saliva, Autumn took a step towards the scrolls.

Autumn could hardly believe their luck!

She paused. In fact, she didn’t believe their luck.

Beside her, Eme bounced in place and exclaimed. “Look! There has to be at least ten thousand gold in here! More! I haven’t seen this much gold in my life! Like, ever!”

Autumn didn’t want to be the one to pour cold water over Eme’s enthusiasm, but something about this setup was bothering her, even if she couldn’t put her finger on what that was. It hovered frustratingly out of reach. Like a lost word on the tip of her tongue. A shadow flickering at the edge of her vision.

“I don’t like this. I think we should wait until Liddie checks the chests for traps. Even if the room wasn’t trapped, they could be.” Autumn paused, trying to find the words she had lost. “There’s something about this that’s just…strange.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know,” Autumn admitted as the tension inside her grew. It was as if she was walking down a dark tunnel and didn’t know if the light at the end was the exit or an oncoming train.

She just hoped she’d hear the horn before it hit her.

“Just stay ready. For anything.”

Another nervous glance around the room revealed nothing to her emotional and magical detection. Still, it wasn’t infallible. Things of undead and, more recently, divine origin had evaded her sight, although she was working on seeing undeath thanks to her research into the Necromancy spell-book.

Experience had Autumn looking up, but unlike before, only a cracked ceiling greeted her searching eyes. The floor likewise revealed nothing. Not even a speck of dust was out of place in the well-ordered vault.

Autumn chewed her lip as she paced.

Her chest felt tight. Eyes darted back and forth as her lizard brain screamed.

The others had picked up on her anxiety. They scanned the room with hands tight around their drawn weapons.

A normal person might charitably call such behavior paranoid or uncharitably a symptom of untreated post-traumatic stress. But Autumn wasn’t a normal person. She was an Adventurer, with a capital A. In their line of work, ignoring their instincts would be the height of foolishness.

If she thought something was wrong, then something was wrong until proven otherwise.

Autumn turned to look back at the others. Currently, Liddie was crouched before one of the ornate chests with one hand atop it while her other held a thin blade she was preparing to wedge carefully under its lid to check it for traps.

Sweat beaded down the pirate’s spine as she gently stuck her blade into the chest.

Like a bolt out of the blue, the answer came to Autumn. Her eyes snapped to the ordered piles and treasures. The unnaturally ordered piles.

Hadn’t this place been subject to an earthquake so strong it rent the chamber beyond in half? Hadn’t the same natural force cracked this vault’s thick stone door and ceiling? If so, then why was everything still in place and not strewn all over the floor?

“Wait!” Autumn called out suddenly.

Liddie turned away from the chest she was testing just as an eye cracked open on its top, the wood grains splitting around the orb. The lid opened up to reveal a fleshly interior lined by massive teeth. A long red purple tongue lashed out from the chest, wrapping around the pirate’s wrist.

“What the? Oh, shit—” was all Liddie could say before the mimic’s jaws snapped shut around her.

Around the room, all the other piles of treasure blinked their eyes open. Great jaws of massive teeth slobbered foul, sticky saliva onto the floor as their tongue unfurled.

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Now they bloomed into Autumn’s senses with hunger.

“Mimics!” Nethlia snarled. Hefting her pole-hammer high, she hauled Edwyn away from another snapping chest. The mimic’s teeth barely missed the Manus’ boot. “Don’t let them touch you! Their saliva is like glue!”

“Someone get Liddie out of that thing!” Autumn yelled. Swearing, she backpedaled as the bookcase mimic slammed down before her, attempting to crush her beneath its ponderous weight. An engorged purple tongue lashed out towards her and ripped her knife from her hand when she reflexively stabbed it.

The mimic let out a keening squeal at the pain.

“We’re trying!” Nelva replied tersely from behind Autumn.

Glancing over her shoulder, Autumn watched as the Lepus knight hacked away at the chest nomming on Liddie, the pirate’s legs kicking desperately in the air. The crimson blood leaking from the mimic’s mouth undercut the comical sight.

Nelva let out an uncharacteristic snarl as her iron blade got stuck in the flailing chest. Taking her mirror shield in two hands, she brought its edge down on the mimic with a roar. Purple blood splattered across the floor. The mimic squealed as she ripped the mirror free — the glue-like sweat failing to cling onto the Reflection of Kazam.

Autumn turned back to her own fight before the bookcase mimic could take advantage of her distraction.

Adopting her defensive stance, sans knife, the dark-haired witch unleashed a barrage of necrotic magic at the large monstrosity. Her Necrotic Lances splashed across the mimics wood and paper textured flesh, rotting it away in an instant.

The huge mimic let out another high-pitched squeal. It smashed its hefty bulk wildly around itself in another attempt to crush the witch, ultimately killing a few of the smaller mimics in its blind frenzy.

It took quite a few more necrotic blasts to end the mimic. With a wet thud, it crashed down before Autumn. Dead.

Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, a whipping purple tongue slammed into Autumn's chest and sent her sprawling along the blood-slick floor. The glue-like saliva immediately stuck to her black robes, and the mimic gleefully reeled her back towards its gnashing maw.

Scrambling for her wand, Autumn unleashed a magical barrage towards the chest mimic who’d grabbed her. Unfortunately, due to its smaller size and the jostling she was experiencing, her spells zipped over the mimic harmlessly.

Autumn’s boots stuck to the mimic’s toothy maw as she tried desperately to keep it from swallowing her. Her legs quivered as it pulled her towards it with a surprising amount of strength.

Suddenly, a white hilted blade flashed past her.

The mimic let out a squeal as its tongue was severed clean in two, splattering its purple blood across the floor. Another pair of flashing slices saw Autumn’s boots free of the chest, causing her to fall onto her back with a grunt. When she looked up, Eme stood protectively over the top of her. The catgirl hissed at the mimic with ears pinned back.

Eme lunged forward and drove her enchanted blade deep into the mimic, killing it. She easily withdrew the Snow Demon’s Fang as the enchanted blade resisted the glue like Nelva’s shield had done before.

“You're okay?” Eme asked, holding a hand out to Autumn.

Autumn took it, allowing herself to be hauled to her feet. She quickly brushed herself off. “A bit bruised, but I’ll be alright.”

The bard let out a hum. Alacrity filled Autumn’s limbs as a bardic spell took hold, making her move and fight that bit faster. “Take care, alright?”

Slapping herself on the chest, Autumn channeled her magic into her Witch Armor once more. A shadow breastplate and scarf adorned her again. “I will,” she said before turning back to the fight.

Across the way, Nethlia had abandoned her iron pole-hammer as multiple mimics had stuck to the head, weighing it down. Instead, she’d stuck her hand deep into the throat of a panicking smaller chest mimic and was bashing the other ones to death with it.

Autumn blinked in disbelief. Nethlia seemed to have things…in hand.

Shaking her head at her own terrible pun, Autumn rushed over to the others. She cast multiple Necrotic Lances on her way over, killing scores of the smaller jewel pile mimics.

Pyre tossed a glass orb behind Autumn filled with a familiar potion of Alchemist Fire. Heat bloomed across Autumn’s back as the flames engulfed the mimics behind her. Autumn hurriedly covered her nose as the scent of burning meat filled the air. It was startlingly familiar by now. A few air-burst runes courtesy of Edwyn saw the conflagration blossom into a raging bonfire.

“How many are there?!” Pyre yelled as Autumn stopped beside her.

Autumn shrugged. “I’m guessing all of the treasure.” Lashing out, she felled a mimic jumping towards her. The body slid to a stop beside her. “There shouldn’t be many left.”

True to her words, it took only a little longer to cut, blast, crush, and burn the last of the mimics.

Nelva hurriedly pulled a pale Liddie free of the shredded remains of the mimic that’d almost swallowed her and gathered the pirate into her lap. She wasn’t looking good. The sharp teeth had shredded her stomach, almost tearing her in two. Blood streamed over Nelva’s legs and pooled on the ground in a great crimson lake.

“Hey! Hey! Keep your eyes open!” Nelva shouted at the drowsy pirate as she lightly slapped her cheeks to keep her awake.

Autumn and Pyre rushed over to the pair.

Without hesitance, Autumn placed her hands over the gruesome wound on the lithe demoness’ stomach and channeled her magic to delay the pirate’s death. When she’d successfully stabilized Liddie, Autumn set to work fixing the worst of her injuries while Pyre fed the pale demoness a minor healing potion.

Liddie’s spine was a mess. The mimic’s teeth had fractured multiple of her lumbar vertebrae and without Autumn’s magical intervention, her injuries would likely paralyze the pirate for life, even with a minor healing potion.

When Liddie’s stomach finally closed, and her bleeding ceased, Autumn let out a shuddering breath and rocked back on her heels.

“Fucking Mimics,” Liddie slurred out. Exhausted, the pirate’s eyes fluttered closed.

“How is she?” Nethlia asked.

Autumn looked over the pale demoness still lying on Nelva’s lap. Without her near permanent smirk, she looked so small. “She’ll live. But we’d better give her some rest and she’ll be light-headed when she recovers.”

“I think I’ve got something for that,” Pyre piped up, tearing her worried eyes away from Liddie to rummage around anxiously in her potion bag. “I still have a few blood replacement potions with me. Glad I packed them.”

Despite being the youngest and at odds with the pirate lately, Pyre hovered over the resting Liddie like a mother hen.

Nethlia reached down and tugged on Autumn’s sleeve. “Come on, let’s let her recover. She doesn’t need all of us hovering over her. Want to see if there is any actual treasure in this place with me?”

Autumn nodded tiredly and let Nethlia haul her to her feet. Her boots squelched noisily with the mimic flesh still clinging to the soles.

As she was walking towards the mounds of dead mimics, Eme latched onto her in a tight hug. “You’re okay, right? I saw you get grabbed and—and—”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Autumn reassured the catgirl. Letting her armor dissipate once more, she gestured to herself. “I’m fine, only a few bruises on me. So, uh, not too tight, please.”

Eme let go of Autumn to scan her over with a discerning eye. “If you say so,” she said, dubiously.

Nethlia let out an amused snort, although there was a similar look in her eyes.

“Weren’t we looking for loot?” Autumn said, rolling her eyes. Inside, she felt all warm and fuzzy.

Most of the mimic bodies were burnt and blackened by now. However, a few pieces of interesting loot had survived the brief, magically induced fire. Of note, they collected roughly around 215g in ancient gold coins — give or take, depending on the historical value — two moderate healing potions that immediately went to Pyre, and a piece of tattered flayed skin that bore a strange inked spell upon it.

“Gross,” Autumn said, holding the skin at arm’s length away from herself.

“You know what it is?” Nethlia asked curiously as she peered at the spell.

Autumn rolled her eyes. “What do I look like to you? A wizard?”

“I thought you could read anything?” Eme asked from her other side.

“I can! But there’s a difference between being able to read something and understanding it. I could probably cast it, but who knows what it’ll do.” Autumn shrugged and tucked the flayed skin carefully away into her belt. “Maybe if I had some time, I could work something about it out, but that’s really not the way my spells work.”

“Fair enough. Uh, did anyone see the key?”

The three of them shared a look.

Sighing, they scoured the room once more, this time looking for clues about its whereabouts. While they didn’t find the key, they instead found a pile of bat guano where it was likely meant to rest atop a decorated plinth. The faded hieroglyphics backed said educated guess.

“So, a bat took it?” Eme scratched her head in confusion.

“Or a bat-like creature. Either way, it’s not here.” Autumn shook her head in frustration. “And I’ve an idea where it might be.”

“You’re not saying…”

Autumn nodded. Yup. Down the chasm. Where else would a bat like to live?”

The three of them turned to look beyond the shattered door towards where the great ravine loomed.

Nethlia let out an explosive sigh. Under her breath, she muttered, “this dungeon is proving to be far more trouble than it’s worth.” Louder, she said, “ok, rest up everyone. We’ll move out shortly once Liddie has recovered. Take a moment to clean yourselves up and grab a bite to eat.”

Autumn staggered her way over the bookcase mimic and retrieved her lost knife with a few swears. Once she had it, she squelched her way over to a wall and slouched down to pick the gunk off her boots.

Sitting down beside her, Eme leaned her head on Autumn’s shoulder. After a while, the pair closed their eyes for just a moment.

A quiet washed over the group as they rested in the treasureless vault.