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“Look, we have two options so someone choose, and fast!”
“Two?! There are three passages.”
“We came from the one on the far left and I don’t think you want to go back and make friends with the blob of guts and teeth. So somebody say right or left!”
Three pairs of boots pounded into the ground as they ran through the twisting turns of the artificial labyrinth. Hot on their heels was a pack of wolf-shaped monsters that were trying to kill them with a single-minded purpose. The walls were narrow enough that the party had to run in single file, the paladin in the front barking the orders. He was the slowest of all three but if anything came from the front he was the most willing to just run into it headfirst.
“I like right!” Sumi called from the back of the group before letting out a shrill squeak as one of the monsters lunged at her ankles. She threw the last of her caltrops into the tight stone hallway, praying it would be enough to give them the distance they so desperately needed. Since the decision had been made, Justice swung around the corner using his momentum to change direction. The right-most hallway was just as tight as the one they just came from so he kept his wings tightly pressed against his back. Any slight deviation to the right or left meant his arm would scrape on the wall, jostling him and filling the room with the ear-splitting scream of metal and stone.
Once Fenrir and Sumi both followed him into the hall, the ground seemed to shake. It was a quick tremor and then the ground seemed to shift, dropping down just enough for all three to reach out and balance themselves. The opening of the hallway was suddenly closed as a slab of rock dropped down, just the size of the doorway. The monsters could be heard on the other side, scratching and snarling at the fact that their prey was now out of reach.
“We’re safe from the monsters but I don’t trust this place to hold our weight. It dropped at least an inch already. Justice, you walk further in front, you’re as heavy as both of us combined.” From the center of the formation the tiefling quietly gave instructions. While he wasn’t entirely wrong, Justice huffed at the implication that it was his fault. He was only ‘heavy’ because unlike his companions he thought it was a good idea to hunt monsters fully armed and armored. Still, Fenrir was right. He slowly moved forward, picking his footing carefully. The ground was the same oddly patterned stone as the walls but he’d fallen into enough traps in his life to know to look for any kind of switch or weak patch of ground.
Once he was a few steps in front of his friends there was another tremor and the sound of wooden gears slowly squealing to life. It was clearly some kind of trap but the hallways were too tight for him to try and fly away. He couldn’t even get out a weapon with no room to move so when the floor suddenly dropped he just braced himself for the fall. His armor crashed into the ground with a metallic thud as he slid down the now-sloped floor. Gravity pulled him to the bottom, tumbling over himself, leading a scattered away of feathers down the slope until he hit the ground with a crunch.
“Why...is it always me?” The paladin slowly rolled onto his stomach, letting out a groan. Next time he was making Fenrir walk in front. At least the new room that he had been unceremoniously deposited into was larger. The ceiling and walls were still made out of the sample magic-laden stone but there was enough room for his wings to stretch out behind him. He turned to the ramp and called up.
“I think our attempt to escape this maze is only putting us deeper into it. You guys coming with me or no?” The floor was steep enough a slope that he knew he couldn’t climb back up. He could fly part way but the mouth of the opening was much too small for him to fly through and there was nothing for him to grab onto to pull himself up. Maybe if they put down a rope he could fly up to it but he was the only one with ropes and he was pretty sure they didn’t have enough upper body strength combined to hold him.
“While we appreciate your sacrifice, I think we’re going to find another way.” There was a little too much smugness in Fenrir’s voice for Justice’s liking. His wings puffed up in annoyance but before he could complain there was the sound of a stone scraping on the ground.
“Ahh, doggies are back! Nevermind, Justice we’re coming!” Sumi screamed as there seemed to be a scuffle up above. In only a few moments the other two were sliding down the path, landing at the bottom with much more grace. The monster wolves from before stopped at the top, snarling at barking, their claws scraping against the ground.
“Okay so up is no longer an option. I guess we go straight. Lemme guess, me first?” The paladin turned towards his companions but they just motioned him to lead. With a roll of blue eyes, he started to lead, taking note of the new hallways they were in. Like the others, it was lit with small magical flames that seemed embedded in the walls every few feet. The blue light bounced off of his armor as well as the eerie patterns drawn into the stone. It seemed similar to the hallway before, but now it was wide enough for about two across and tall enough that Justice couldn’t reach the ceiling without jumping.
“Next time we’re trying to run away from something I’m not going to follow Sumi’s lead.”
“Hey, I had a fifty-fifty chance. Maybe the other hallway was even worse.” She stuck out her tongue even though Justice couldn’t see her behind him. After a little while of walking in peace, the hallway suddenly narrowed enough, tight enough that Justice again had to pull his wings into his back. Fenrir had paused to inspect some of the runes on the walls just outside of where it narrowed, Sumi stopping behind him to keep their formation intact.
“Justice I think that we should...what’s the noise?” The tiefling seemed to stop, tilting his head as if to listen. The angel-winged paladin turned to face them just as he heard what seemed to be a gear snap into place. Suddenly the air was pierced with the sound of metal cutting through, followed by a scream and the wet tear of blades into flesh and clang against metal. The smaller hallway was suddenly filled with a web of spears, creating a near-impossible path. As Justice had been in the hallway they just impaled through him as if he was no obstacle at all.
“Justice!” Sumi made a panicked noise but didn’t step into the death trap. There was what looked like a lance that had cut from the top left side of the hall and right through his armor, shoulder, and wing, before embedding itself in the right wall. Another magic-tinged spear went through his chest from one side to the other, holding him completely in place. The half-elf looked as much as he could from her distance, noting one in his right leg, left hand, and left arm were all trapped by the metal web.
“Guys...behind you.” The paladin grunted out between pained breaths. Apparently, the monster dogs were tired of waiting as the entire pack seemed to have caught up with them. The monstrous leader snarled, slobber dripping from his maw and sizzling onto the stone below him.
“Guys, run! I don’t think this trap can undo itself when I’m stuck so just climb around.” It was a horrible idea but the dogs growled before running towards them. They were fast and built of nothing but killer instinct and muscle so he knew that Fenrir and Sumi were short on time.
“What about you?!” Sumi yelled even as she started to climb in between the motionless spears. They were all embedded so deeply in the stone that even pulling on them did nothing. She she was a half-elf, and a small one at that, climbing nimbly through the deadly web didn’t seem to pose too much of a challenge. When she reached Justice she did her best not to jostle him but there wasn’t enough room for both of them unless she pushed his wing out of the way, pulling it in the opposite way than the spear had pierced it.
“I’ll catch up, just run!”
“But you can’t move.” Despite his hesitance, Fenrir climbed into the trap. The dogs were quickly catching up so he did his best to climb through the small holes left between the parts of the trap.
“I’ll figure something out but if you try to pull me free I’m going to die of blood loss or become dog food so just leave!” Fenrir started to climb by Justice and he was much less agile, having to gently push against the injured paladin to give himself enough room to pull free. Justice just bit his lip, holding back a cry as it felt like his stomach was being pulled out of his gut. Just as Fenrir started to force himself behind Justice the dogs reached the hallway. They launched themselves at the spears, jaws clamping down on the metal web. The hiss of acid trying to eat through metal felt loud in the crowded space, even among the monsters snarling, barking, and the snapping of their jaws.
“Justi-”
“If you guys don’t run and get out of here I am going to hunt you down and set you on fire, you hear me!” There was a silence between them before the other two nodded and quickly left. Their footsteps reverberated through the hallway for some time before they faded to nothing. That just left Justice and the angry dogs that didn’t seem willing to give up. Not that Justice was going to give up either.
Since the others were free he had no reason to act as a human shield anymore. Since his right hand was scraped, but not impaled, he was able to reach over and grab hold of the spear in his left hand. It was sturdy and even pulling on it did nothing but further aggravate the hole through his palm. The monsters hadn’t figured out how to get to him yet but he knew that eventually, they might fumble their way through. This meant that he had two ticking clocks to work around, acid-spitting monster hounds and his own blood loss.
Justice continued to trace the spears with his eyes, trying to find any weakness he could exploit to escape. The quiet clack of gears in the background slowly came to a stop and the paladin felt himself freeze. He heard one more turn, another sudden clack, and then whatever mechanism released the impaling spears suddenly pulled back, each and every weapon pulling free and disappearing into the holes that they had first come from. As they wrenched free they tore through flesh, muscle, and feathers all over again, splattering blood on the floor and walls from the renewed wounds. With a wheeze of pain, Justice collapsed to the ground, a messy pile of blood and feathers spreading out around him.
“Damn it. I just…” His blue eyes looked up to see the dogs back up but only for a moment. They smelled blood and seemed to all lock onto their target in sync. He was too wounded to run and too tired to fight. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he got on his hands and knees, wings spreading out across the floor. If he was going out, it was going to be in a blaze of glory. Literally.