1 - Rag Doll Dance - 2

The group found themselves in a similar room to the first, except this one had only two double doors.

'That took you longer than I had expected. I am disappointed.' Magister's image faded into view. 'But, you did figure it out, so I suppose I can't be too disappointed.' He smiled as Hellhound snarled at him. 'Now, each of these doors is ensorceled to only allow four people through. The challenges are on the other side. Choose your teams well.' The image disappeared.

'Well, that's simple. I suppose.' Headbanger looked at one of the doors and scratched his chin.

'Splitting the party. That's dirty pool.' Erisian snorted.

Scarabeus crossed his arms. 'The basic formula for the division is fairly obvious. One mage, one tool user, one muscle. Then the other two can be split however.'

'But, hey, wouldn't that mean the team that gets stuck with Damascus be at a disadvantage? I mean, he's got a sword.' Erisian looked toward Damascus. 'No offence, dude.'

Damascus shook his head. 'You underestimate the Assassin's Blade, Erisian.' He pulled it from its scabbard, and peered at the blade. 'But, I do admit, Triton's ring seems to be more versatile.' He sheathed the sword again.

Triton blinked, then inclined his head. 'Mayhap you are correct. The Naiad's Trident is indeed versatile. If you believe the Assassin's Blade to be significantly less so, the solution is simple.' He looked at Damascus. 'That team which takes Damascus takes the third spellcaster, also.'

'Works for me.' Erisian shrugged, and flipped open his Gemini, and attached a set of earbuds to it.

Headbanger looked back at the room, and leaned next to the door he was looking at. 'Guess that means Triton and Larva will be on the same team.' The rest of the group nodded agreement. 'Well, I've got history with both, so I'll go with them. Objections?'

'Who. Cares?' Hellhound wrapped his hand around his amulet.

'If you activate that, I swear to God, I will end you, Renheim.' Panthera snarled.

Headbanger cleared his throat. 'So, that's settled then.' He looked at Panthera. 'Panthera, you're with us.' He looked to the others. 'Objections?'

'Hell, yeah!' Erisian looked up from his Gemini. 'Why do we get stuck with him?'

Hellhound snarled.

'Because.' Headbanger paused. 'You have two wizards in your group, and are thus better equipped to control him if he loses it.'

Erisian looked at him for a moment, then snapped his Gemini closed again. 'Fair enough.' He turned toward one of the doors. 'Come on guys, we're this way.' He stepped toward the door, followed by Scarabeus, and Damascus. After a moment, Hellhound followed with one final snarl directed toward Headbanger.

As the other group turned toward their door, Triton touched a hand to Headbanger's arm. 'We would have been able to handle the Hellhound, I believe, dear friend.'

'Oh, no doubt.' Headbanger raised his hand, and turned back toward the other group. 'You lot ready?'

'Yeah, let's do this!' Erisian was holding the handle of his door. 'On three. One, two...'

The two groups opened their doors simultaneously, and stood a moment, muscles tensed. Nothing happened. With a small chorus of nervous laughter – which Hellhound did not partake in – the two groups stepped through their respective doors.

Headbanger looked back at Triton as he let the door close. 'Anyway...' He shrugged. 'Yeah, we could totally take Hellhound. I mean, my first time out, me and Caballero brought him down, and Caballero's not nearly the powerhouse you or Larva are, let alone the two of you together.' He started down the hall the door opened on to. 'I just didn't want to deal with him, and if I could convince them to take him, then, good.' He snorted. 'Besides, by making him out to be a total badass that I was scared I couldn't take down, I stroked his ego a bit. Might make him easier to handle.'

'Devious.' Panthera growled quietly. 'It's too bad you're not animalistic, we could use someone like you in Zootrope.'

'Hero, remember.' Headbanger grinned at Panthera. 'But I'd figure you guys would be good at that.'

Panthera's ears twitched and she shook her head. 'No. Perhaps we're too animalistic. We are, as a whole, straightforward.' She paused, and shrugged. 'Even Anubis and Jormungandr prefer not to be so roundabout.' She snorted. 'Anubis is a wiseass, and I think Jor has daddy issues.'

'Yeah, well, if your dad were Loki, you'd be afraid of being like him t...whoah!' Headbanger came up short just as he reached the end of the hallway. A short distance in front of him was a wall of water, that rose from the floor up into the ceiling.

'I suppose it's best we got this one, instead of the other team.' Panthera touched the wall...it rippled under her touch, much like the surface of any pool of water, then went still again.

'They have two wizards. They would have been able to figure something out.' Headbanger straightened as Triton brushed past him. 'Still, though, having Triton with us will probably make it easier.'

Triton smiled, and pushed a hand into the water. 'It is too much to effect with the trident, as a piece.' He let out a short string of multitonal sounds.

'What was that?' Panthera looked at him, one ear twitching.

'I apologize.' Triton shook his head. 'I was just saying that the water feels good. Clean.' He scooped out a handful and let it drip to the floor. It rippled for a moment, and then rejoined the suspended water.  'It appears that I could not move it, even had I the time.' He smiled again, and let out a quiet, breathy laugh. 'I admit that I am gladdened.' Nodding to the others, he stepped into the water and started swimming upward.

Headbanger watched him disappear into the ceiling, then turned to look at the others. 'Now we wai...' He trailed off, and wandered over toward Larva, who was standing quietly in the corner of the room. 'You OK? You've been awful quiet since all this began.'

Larva looked at him, silently for a moment. 'I will not be a burden, Headbanger. You can rest assured.'

'That's not what I asked. I asked if you were OK.'

Rather than answer, Larva simply pointed toward the water.

Triton stepped out of the water, and brushed his hair aside. 'There is a problem, I believe, my friends.'

'What sort of problem?' Larva stepped forward, past a frowning Headbanger.

'A...' More of Triton's strange language.

'Sorry?' Panthera leaned against the wall near the water, crossing her arms over her chest.

Triton shook his head. 'I do not know the word in your language, I am afraid.' He sighed. ''Tis, I suppose, best called a "presence".'

'Show me this presence.' Larva started toward the water.

'It is water all of the way until the gate which bars the presence, madam.' Triton put a hand on Larva's shoulder.

Larva looked at him. 'My abilities will sustain my host long enough to ascertain what your presence is, even if not to defeat it. I would rather not take longer to deal with this than necessary. So, please, lead on.'

Triton shrugged and turned back to the water, followed by Larva, and the pair swam up into the ceiling.

Headbanger glanced over at Panthera. 'Weird. Larva wasn't as...abrupt last time we met.'

Panthera shrugged. 'Wouldn't know. Guess the situation's just getting to her.'

'Yeah. Maybe. I dunno.' Headbanger shrugged and settled against the wall. 'Well, now we wait.'

***

Triton tapped Larva on the shoulder and pointed to the side, as they reached the top of the passage. There was a short side passage that ended in a barred gate. He spoke the name he had given for it again, this time the lowest tones in the word resonated in Larva's belly. She nodded and swam closer to the gate, which rattled as though something had hit it. Triton spoke the word again.

Larva reached a hand between the bars. The bars rattled again as she was pulled into them. Bracing her legs against the bars, she straightened, and the bars rang out, as something – something which could not be seen – slammed against them. Triton held his hand out, in a fist, and a vortex spun from his ring, breaking into smaller eddies against the bars.

Larva drifted backwards a moment, then caught herself against the ceiling, then swam back toward the bars. Bracing herself, again, she reached both hands in, then pulled back until the bars rattled again. Then she began pulling harder, and looked over toward Triton. She nodded at the gap in the bars near her head.

Triton nodded and swam forward, thrusting his hand into that gap and another vortex of water lanced out.

Larva drifted backward, then swam back toward Triton and nodded to him.

'It is dead?' Triton's voice was deeper than it had been in the air, and more overtones could be heard – and felt.

Larva nodded, then pointed to a spot on the wall. Triton looked at it, then glanced back at her. She held her arm up, in a fist, as Triton had done.

He nodded understanding, and held his fist out. A lance of water was forced against a small section of the wall.

The bars began to slide into the floor, setting the stone and water to vibrating. Triton started to swim back to the others, but Larva caught him, laying a forearm against his chest, and nodded down the now open passageway.

Triton shrugged, and they swam down the passage.

With a bone-jarring thud, the bars snapped closed behind them. The two peered at the bars.

'A mistake, I believe, has been made.' Triton nodded down the hallway. 'We should proceed, before you drown.'

Larva looked at the bars, for a moment, then nodded and turned to start back down the passage. Before the two of them had moved far, though, a swift current drove them back into the bars. They were pressed against them with a steady and uncomfortable, but not painful, pressure.

After a few moments, the quality of the light changed, growing lighter, and the stone began trembling again.

'The water is draining...' Triton glanced over at Larva, who had twisted around, despite the current to look in the direction they had come. 'What is it?'

Larva pointed. As Triton turned against the current, he saw what she was pointing at. Sections of the passage were shifting outward, as though they were stairs.

'A clever device. But they will not be safe steps, I do not think. They are too shall...' Before he finished his thought, his head banged against the bars, as the whole passage shifted under them. 'I see.' He glanced back at the passage. The next stage heading upward was rapidly approaching. 'We shall need to swim....' He groaned as he looked at the nearing hole. 'Or, perhaps not.'  He let out a multitonal word.

The surface of the water had dropped below the opening.

The water was retreating more swiftly, now, and as it drained past their heads, Triton held out his hand.

The floor ground to a halt. As the water dropped below their waists, a column about the width of his arm stayed, braced against 2 of the bars, and the opposite wall.

Triton looked over toward Larva. 'Climb onto the water. If we are fortunate you can reach the next floor.'

'What will you do?'

'I will follow, but I wish for you to go first.' He looked at the bars, which had begun to shake. 'If my concentration falters, it is best if only one of us is...' He looked to the wall. 'Trapped.'

Larva nodded and pulled herself onto the pillar of water, using her forearms to pull herself up, rather than her hands.

'You are injured...' Triton frowned.

'Yes.' Larva steadied herself against the wall, with the elbow of her left arm. 'The bones in both of my host's hands have been broken.' She glanced over her shoulder. 'But they will heal.' She looked up. 'Can you raise the water, somewhat. I do not believe I can reach from here.'

'Certain...' Triton's reply was cut off by a loud metal-on-stone grinding noise, and the water pillar collapsed, spilling Larva onto the floor, which had begun to move again. She looked up, and began laughing.

Triton shook his head as he looked back. 'Yes, it appears our concern was unneeded.'

The bars had sunken back into the floor, and the wall at the far end had begun sliding back to form stairs, as well.

'Come, let us await our friends at the exit.' The two started up the stairs.