Jesus hell that con was so bad.

The alley was a ghost town, the staff threatened us when we packed up early (the rules said we were "not allowed to pack up before 4PM" for it "might negatively effect your chances of getting into the alley next year"), because it was 2PM and we weren't making any goddamn sales, and it was just awful.

Oh and my cosplay fell apart right after the photos I took in it. and so I need to redo the armor parts.

The high point was.... DUDE I MET  Chromamancer
HE IS GREAT IT WAS THE BEST.
I GOT TO GIVE HIM ARTS.
HE GAVE ME SOME ARTS.
DRAGONS!

Okay, it's nearly 1AM and I need to curl up and get a lot of rest.

Up next: Furry Migration.

Yo!

I'm gonna be at Geek Kon this weekend, and Furry Migration after!

I'm not gonna be up for a lot of partying, but I'll be selling art. There'll be new stuff that I haven't shared here yet, some stickers, badges, things like that.

I'll be there with Dapper Raptor Studio!

It's the last day to get a physical badge for whatever convention you want to go to!

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334/

REMINDER

I'm doing a badge special this week only! I am going back to a furry con for the first time in about 7 years, and would love to have some updated examples, and to just be able to give you some badges!

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28306334/

Sorry to actively push commissions but I am in need of an external hard drive!

Drawing too much art, not enough space.

The one I'm looking at is $50 on newegg,so if anyone is willing to help me out, I'll direct you all to the commissions post: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28180041/



But Wolf, why not just use whatever commission money you have earned so far?

I would, but bills have come first, and this is an unexpected expense I did not need to deal with.



HASTY EDIT: So I just talked to my sister who built my PC and knows what I need and there's no way I'll be able to make it through commissions on top of bills. I'm gonna just have to put any extra coms money aside and save. Fuck.
I know it's not an emergency, but if anyone can spread this around or can chip in, I would be very grateful. Thank you.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28180041/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28180041/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28180041/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28180041/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/28180041/

There's a discount for Patrons this time around as well! It'll probably be permanent, so as long as you're a patron of mine, you'll get commission discounts.

These will be open until August 24th when I go to a con.

https://www.patreon.com/TuckerDrawsThings
https://www.patreon.com/TuckerDrawsThings
https://www.patreon.com/TuckerDrawsThings
https://www.patreon.com/TuckerDrawsThings

I know it's not super impressive, but it's helping keep me afloat. And alive.

-$25/month gets you lineart of whatever the hell you want. Each month.
-$30/month gets you 2 lines or 1 colored pic of whatever you want, each month.

and it goes up.

I know some of you just wait for commissions but hey, I am an entire mess of anxiety and I actively want to draw for people, and also live. I mean there's other goodies in there too but honestly, every dollar helps me, even if you can only give $1 a month.

I'm just... I hate begging. I hate going "HEY I HAVE THIS PATREON" because let's face it, I'm not a great artist. I'm not expecting to pull in thousands each month. I just wanna survive, and this has been a rough, rough year for that.

So... yeah. If you can spare a buck each month, I'd be very thankful. If you can spread this around , I'd be grateful.

I'll be headed to Anime Iowa this weekend.

I don't know if any of you will be going but I'll have all my merch to sell and maybe do some commissions.

Other than that, I don't know when I'll be back to regularly posting and opening commissions here.

Hey everyone.

I'm... struggling.

There's been a lot of things that have been just piling up over the past month, and I've been trying to take time for just... things I enjoy.

That's why you see a SFW commission theme this month. That's why there's so many dragons.

I'm exhausted. I'm stressed. I'm depressed. I'm struggling.

I have a convention in a week and a half. I'm preparing for that. If you'll be at Anime Iowa, come see me.

it's 2:30AM. I am going to just...

I'm gonna go to bed.

Tomorrow is another day.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233/

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27714233

Rules/etc
-Min bid increase is +5
-Autobuy for each day is $100
-Payment must be received within 24 hours of auction closing
-One day per person
-I will not draw underage characters
-There is an extra $10 charge for characters that are overly complex
-Any species, any gender
-Can add: breathplay, latex

Purple - Silk Sunday (spider webbing) - SB $30
Blue - Muzzle Monday (muzzle/leather) - SB $30
Gray - Tape Tuesday (tape mummification) - SB $30
Green - Wrap Wednesday (cloth gag/bondage) - SB $30
Orange - Trapped Thursday (ring gag, metal harness) - SB $30
Yellow - Futile Friday (full encasement) - SB $15
Red - Strap Saturday (ballgag, strap bondage) - SB $30

Auction ends Sunday, June 24th

Arranged as always by the great  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

---

Cobra continued through the tunnels alone, the weight of the previous rooms slowing him down. The fates of his friends rested solely upon his shoulders. It was a heavy responsibility to bear for just one person. He sighed and opened the door before him.

There was a bright light as he entered, but then all around him was nothing but black. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, the pillars, the torches. Everything was black, smooth, and cool to the touch. The flickering light from the torches made everything look unnaturally shiny. There was no visible door out or any clues.

The door closed behind him silently as a menacing voice began to laugh, the sound bouncing around the room.

“Hello?” the wizard called out. “Who’s there?”

“Come, on, Cobra.” The voice chided him. “Don’t fool yourself. You know who I am. Now, be a good little one and submit. Join your friends in my collection.”

“Wait, what?” Cobra shook his head. “I know who you are? Why should I join them? If I can make it through all of this, I can save them!”

The voice laughed. “Be my guest! Go ahead and try, Cobra.”

Cobra grunted as the voice mocked him. He wanted to find it’s source and show it not to belittle him. He searched the room, carefully following the voice until he heard it coming from the floor. He knelt down to investigate, but it was a mistake instantly.

The floor pulsed quickly, flinging liquid latex all over the wolfdragon and wrestling him into an uncomfortable shape. His hands were bound to his shoulders and his ankles to his butt, forcing him to rest in a table-like shape on his elbows and knees. His wings were bundled up and plastered to his back. A splash of latex covered his head forming a blindfold and muzzle. Something slapped his ass and inserted a vibrator. Then, the final touch, a wave of latex rushed over him completing the suit, but leaving his fluffy tail visible.

The voice broke out into a wave of maniacal laughter. “That was easier than I thought! You just had to look for me, didn’t you? Ha! Some hero for your friends you turned out to be, Cobra. You were the last one to collect.”

“Mmmrph…” Cobra moaned into his gag. He was mad at himself for falling for the voice’s trick, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel displeasure at his situation. He knew he shouldn’t, knew it must be a magical spell or the vibrator. He couldn’t combat the growing sensation of arousal within himself. His struggling died down as a feeling of bliss overcame him.

“You aren’t as upset about this as some of the others.” the voice observed. “Good. And thus it is that my collection is complete.”

---

With that,  eddyboy1805 has been eliminated, and all of the adventurers have been captured!

The Tomb of Bound Horrors is over!

Arranged as always by the great  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

---

Benji, Sunoo and Viridis strained their eyes as they entered the next room. The room was totally dark except for pale blue torches that lined the walls of the grand chamber. The walls were smooth, showing no signs of any other exits other than the one they came in from.

Standing in the middle of the room was a huge, blood red orb that towered at least twice their height. On it were many gold etching running up, down and across it. It seemed to notice the adventurers' presence and glowed brightly in response.

Words appeared across the ceiling in red lines saying "Cross the breach" and countless red lines began fading in and out the ground, tracing out incomprehensible patterns.

Viridis looked around the room for hints. "Does 'Crossing the breach' mean we got to cross the red lines?" he asked the others. Sunoo shrugged, looking around for hints. He stared at the glowing orb...something about it seemed off.

Suddenly, a dark shadow moves from the corner of his eye. Sunoo quickly turned to look at it but he lost his sense of balance and fell to the floor. The fox hits the ground and red ropes shot out from the red markings along the ground, wrapping around his ankles.

Viridis and Benji jumped to the fox's rescue with Benji untying his feet and Viridis pulling the both of them back through the door with his clawed toes just as more ropes lunged out at them. The three adventurers took a few moments to catch their breaths. "Are you okay?" Benji signals to Sunoo who nods in response.

"Among all the rooms we've faced so far, this one seems to take the biggest slice of the danger cake," Viridis comments. "And I don't trust those red lines."

Benji nodded in agreement. Perhaps he should try to cross the room as the lines fade out. He waited for one long line to fade before hopping over to it. No ropes. Benji gives Viridis a thumbs up and waits for the next line. Three, two, one, hop! Going good so far.

"Behind you!" Viridis warned, but it was too late. A line had just faded in under his feet, sending ropes up around his ankles. "Mfftt!" he struggled as he stepped over more red lines. Ropes shot out at him, binding his wrists around his back.

"Careful!" Viridis shouted. Sunoo and Viridis were standing in the doorway itching to help but the threat of the red lines were holding them back. Struggling, Benji tripped over his bound ankles and fell on the ground. Rope after rope wrapped him up into a cocoon and a final rope hoisted him into the air by his ankles. His bound figure swung back and forth and he moaned in dizziness.

In the meantime Viridis had made his way below Benji as he carefully avoided the red lines. With the use of his hands gone as they were restrained in a straitjacket he was forced to use his mouth. Jumping up at the ferret he bit on Benji's ear. "Owrh owrh owrh!" the ferret yelped. The rope suspending him gave way and he fell towards the ground. The raptor quickly bit the ropes holding him, preventing him from hitting the ground, and moved to avoid the shifting lines. "Mfft!" Benji thanked the raptor from behind the muzzle.

However, Viridis was lost in focus. He needed to be careful if they were to survive. "I'm going to put you down and I want you to go back to the entrance. Can you hop?" he mumbled through the ropes. Benji nodded. Viridis lowered the bound ferret and he cautiously hopped his way back to the entrance.

Once Benji reached the entrance Sunoo signaled the ferret that he would go forward and assist Viridis. He slowly made his way across to Viridis.

Viridis had just reached the red orb which glowed even brighter as it sensed his presence, almost blinding the raptor and he squinted as his eyes got used to the brightness. The orb's golden lines were fading in and out in a fashion similar to that of the lines on the floor. He should probably touch the orb and see what happens, but should he be touching the red surface of the orb and avoid the fading gold lines? Or is the solution to touch the orb on the gold lines?

Well, he had been avoiding the red lines in the room so the gold lines should be the solution. The raptor took a deep breath and tapped a clawed foot on a golden line that had just faded into view. Gold webbing shot out from the sphere and wrapped him in a sleep sack. His view was blocked by the sticky gold fluid with some of it getting into his mouth as it covered his maw. He struggled against the web but it only served to entangled him further.

The sight of Viridis' capture caused Sunoo to panic and take a step forward. He stopped himself a second too late as his foot crossed a red line. Ropes shot out to grab Sunoo's ankles and he fell to the ground. The ropes made short work of the fox and soon Sunoo found himself suspended in the air in a tight hogtie.

Benji looked helplessly at the fox. If he could use his hands he would ask if Sunoo was okay but even then the fox was unable to reply except by moving his eyes. Benji sighed. With his hands bound by his side he could help neither the fox nor the raptor. His only hope was to somehow reach the unleashing key at the end, although with his body tied up like that, the chances of him succeeding was dangerously low. Hopefully the unleashing key was nearby.

He stared at the lines carefully. He was going to be careful now. Patterns. Think patterns. Glow. Fade. Glow. Fade. Glow. Fade. Hop. In careful hops, he made it halfway across to the orb. There was no turning back now, nor was there time to celebrate. The seconds ticked by excruciatingly slowly as he moved slowly but surely across.

The orb was just in front of him now. He could just about reach it, it only he could use his hands. There was a sort of stone step that was in front of the orb, smooth and round except for a round protruding knob. He stepped on the stone and leaned forward, trying to touch the orb with his nose. Just then a red line faded below his feet and a rope tripped him over onto his knees. "Fuck!" he thought, as another rope bound his knees to the ground, one on either side of the step. The orb was still close enough, if only he could reach forward a little more.

As he reached out with his nose again, a rope wrapped around his waist and pulled his body down. The knob nudged against his ass and he yelped in pain from behind the muzzle. His pants ripped and soon he found his tailhole invaded by the stone protrusion. He struggled against his binds but only succeeded it working the protrusion around his ass. He whimpered anxiously. Was it going to end this way?

A final rope sprung up and wrapped around his neck, pulling him into a kneeling position in front of the orb. Black tape floated from the ground and wrapped his muzzle and eyes, securing itself into position.

It was over for him. It was over for their team. "I'm sorry," he apologized from behind the muzzle. The only way out for them would be for one of the other two teams to reach the key and set them free. Until then, they would have to endure their bindings that trapped them.

---

You get eliminated, you get eliminated, everyone gets eliminated!

 Aquiaxsapphire  megaavenger5 and  Sunookitsune are all doomed!

Arranged as always by the great  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

---

The tunnel led Cobra and Fang toa large, round room with a slight drop in the floor, about a foot down, to water. Around the perimeter of the room was a narrow ledge that could bear them around to the far end where the door out was, but they needed to squint to see it, their vision slightly impaired by a layer of mist hanging above the water in the cistern.

The water was unnaturally still as the two adventurers entered the room.

“Seems straightforward for once,” Cobra said. “Just avoid whatever is in the water and get to the door.”

Fang nodded and looked around for something to drop into the water. Aside from each other, there was nothing to throw in. He grunted into his gag .

“How deep is this water?” Cobra asked, looking over the edge of the path into the murky water. As he was considering the depth of the water, a dark shape came rushing to the surface. There was a splash of water as tentacles lash out at Cobra and wrap around his body. He yelps in surprise as the tentacle dunks him into the water before hoisting him into the air.

Fang pantomimed shaking hands and gestured at the creature holding Cobra.

“You want me to do what?” Cobra coughed as the tentacle waved him around. “How am i supposed to make friends with it, Fang?”

Fang whined and patted at his muzzle.

“Sorry,” Cobra grunted as he squirmed free from the tentacle. He splashed down into the water below and became filled with dread. The water seemed to extend on forever beyond his field of vision. He spun around in the water and beheld the creature that at caught him. It was abhorrent in nature; a massive squid-like being with tentacles growing from random parts of its body and a plethora of eyestalks all blinking in their own way, no two blinked at the same time as the creature and wizard stared at one another. Cobra swam to the surface quickly in a panic, gasping for breath.

Thinking quickly, Fang sat down on the ledge and hung his bound legs over, letting his boots touch the water in hopes the creature would pay attention to him instead of Cobra.

“Fang what are you doing?” Cobra called out as he started to swim the length of the cistern.

The creature screeched and whipped out a few tentacles, grabbing Cobra from the water and Fange from the ledge. It dunked them both and pulled them out again, toying with them.

Desperate to escape, Cobra attacked the the creature. With each strong kick or stinging spell he cast at the monster, it would drop him in a fit and then catch him again and shake him like a child shaking a doll. All the while, Cobra cursed at the creature’s persistence in capturing him.

“Cmmbrmph!” Fang called into his gag and casts a spell of his own, conjuring the illusion of a pirate vessel floating in the cistern.

Intrigued, the creature fully submerged, dragging the two grappled men with it. A pair of thin tendrils shot out at the men, tiny, teethless lamprey maws at their tips. The tendrils latch onto Cobra and Fang’s snouts. There was a moment of panic, but it was quickly dispersed as both realized they cold breath fine with the tendrils on their noses.

They share a concerned look as a voice speaks to them. “Welcome… yes, welcome indeed…”

Fang tried to cast another spell to force the creature to release him and Cobra, but all it did was anger the monster as Fang’s radiant spell seared the squid’s fleshy body.

Enraged by the creature’s antics and upset with how the adventure could have turned so wrong so fast, Cobra channeled him innate arcane energy, immolating himself. With a shriek of surprise, the creature releases the wolfdragon as his spell takes full control over his body. He spreads his wings to catch the rush of the water in his spell’s radius as it threw him from the water and slammed him against the door out of the room, breaking it open. He sat up quickly, coughing up water.

“Fang?” He called out to the water, trying to see any sign of his friend, but he couldn’t see anything below the water’s surface. “I’m sorry, Fang.” He stood up and left the room before the creature appeared to grab him again.

Below the water’s surface, the creature swam deeper, its demeanor oddly was serene and calm--a stark contrast to the rage it displayed earlier.

“I’m sorry, too. I was acting on instincts,” Fang thought as he watched Cobra ignite in magical energy and fly from the water. “Go ahead, I’m yours now.” He stopped struggling, letting the tentacles holding him squeeze him tighter.

“Welcome to my collection, Fang,” the voice cooed to the husky. Something licked his face, feeling oddly menacing.

---

 RyanKiba has been eliminated!

Arranged as always by the great  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

---

Sunoo, Benji and Viridis entered the next room. The room was massive, lined with gold on the floor and silver on the roof. In the center stood a statue of Nidhyrrg and he held a shining silver key inlaid with sapphires in outstretched left claw.

Viridis shuddered. "Do you feel it? This presence, like someone's watching." Benji and Sunoo nodded in response.

The ferret looked up at the statue. The silver key felt a little familiar. Silver roof. Gold floor. Silver key. Gold key...? He nudged Viridis and drew out a key symbol and pointed to Viridis again. "Oh, yeah I guess I still have that key," the raptor replied, fishing the golden key out of his pocket.

As the key flashed in the light, a pale swath of fabric swooped down upon him, binding him in the tight self-hug and leaving him trapped in straitjacket. "Gah! How did that trigger?" he grumbled in annoyance, twisting and turning as he struggled to get out of the straitjacket.

"Ugh," he resigned to his newfound article of clothing. He poked his tail into the ring of the key and carried it up. "Guess this goes on the statue?" Benji nodded in response. He stretched his paw out to Viridis, offering to help place it on the statue. Viridis shook his head. "Nuh uh, I can still do this." Benji raised his eyebrow skeptical but let the raptor carry on.

In the meantime, Sunoo had left the other two to figure out the statue and ventured deeper into the room. The room seemed to stretch on and on into the distance and the smooth walls seemed to extend in both ways. Sunoo sighed from behind his muzzle.

During this time, Viridis had made his way halfway up to the statue's arms, grabbing every foothold he could get his claws and tail on. As he reached the arms, thin golden threads shot out from the statue and stuck to the raptor. He soon found himself bound tightly in a golden sticky web. Yelping in surprise, he squirmed against the silk, trying to escape. His efforts, however, backfired and he rolled himself deeper into the web, gagging and blindfolding himself.

Sunoo ran over to an unassuming opening in the far end of the room. A door! He turned to face the other two adventurers who looked like specks in the distance. "Hey!" he tried to shout to catch Viridis and Benji's attention, only to be muffled by the muzzle. Ugh. He started running back to the statue.

He reached the statue to find Benji sitting in the right paw of the statue with the golden key sitting in the statue's paw. Benji shrugged, trying to tell Sunoo that their efforts failed. Sunoo pointed his tail towards the door in response, and Benji facepalmed. Damn, they've been focusing their efforts on the wrong place.

Sunoo nodded towards Viridis as if to ask Benji "Are we going to do anything about him?" Benji nodded and held up the golden key. Since it wasn't part of the room's puzzle, he figured it must be the unlocking key that the rumours had mentioned. These keys were smaller versions of the unleashing key and could be used to free an adventurer once.

He tapped Viridis' bound body with the key, and the key shone brightly as it freed Viridis of the threads, dropping the raptor to the ground. "Ooof!" he gasped as the wind was knocked out of him. "Thanks, I may have gotten a little ahead of myself there." Benji nodded in response.

Sunoo tilted his head towards the door again. "Uh, yeah. Good job with finding the door!" Viridis grinned. The fox smiled back from behind his muzzle, and the three adventurers made their way into the next room.

Arranged as always by the great  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

---

The trio of slightly restrained adventurers come to a grand room sporting a golden ceiling and a silver floor with a pair of massive intertwining statues of Inndyr and Nidhyrgg at the far end. The silver coating Inndyr and the gold on Nidhyrgg had a mirror-like sheen the caught and bounced light off of them. The sight of the statues filled the group with awe in their presence. The room was too magnificent to not be the end.

Before the statues stood an altar of polished white marble draped in a gold and silver cloth. Perched atop the altar was a golden key in an ornate design and inlaid with rubies. It was eye-catching.

“This can’t be the last room.” Cobra said, marveling at the key and the statues. “Can it really be this easy?”

Fang shrugged and shook his head. He doubted the legitimacy of the key instantly; it was too convenient. But thanks to the gag he couldn’t tell the others of his doubts.

Seglagg walked to the statues and stared at them. “Never in all of my travels have I seen statues quite like these. I mean, it is possible this is the last room. Somehow, I feel that it might be, but I don’t want to be blind to a trick.”

“We should inspect that key.” Cobra walked to the altar, dragging Fang along.

“Mmmhhmmmph!” Fang nodded quickly and squeezed Cobra’s hand. He would need to be extra creative on how he communicated with his friends.

“You guys stand back, I’ll check it out.” Seglagg said, ushering the conjoined pair off to the side of the altar carefully. “I don’t want to mess up and you both pay for it.” Once the other two were far enough back, the lizard leaned over the altar and noticed a few familiar etchings along the carved columns and frame. “The altar is a trap like the one from before, when all thirteen of us first arrived. Damned thing almost got Crestor and I, and I think this one is probably a nastier trap.”

“Damn,” Cobra breathed. “This isn’t good. Theres got to be a trick in here. The altar is probably trapped to protect the key, but there is also no visible door.”

“Nggph? Smmrrph fmmr mmt?” Fang gestured and pantomimed looking around with his free hand over his eyes as if to block the sun.

“Yeah, good idea,” Cobra nodded and pulled Fang around the room to look for doors. After a few minutes of finding nothing they returned to Seglagg, still studying the altar’s markings.

“We know there is a trick,” he said, the tip of his tail rubbing at his goatee. “I wish we knew where to start. At least we can talk in this room.. Well, except for Fang, but he’s gagged. Sorry, buddy.” the lizard frowned.

Fang looked away from the others, discouraged by his evident handicap of a muzzle.

“Aww, come on, Fang” Cobra nuzzled and kissed the husky’s cheek. “We still love you.”

Seglagg nuzzled his other cheek. “I could try to take off the gag, but I don’t know if would be able to manipulate my tail for another escape after that. I’m sorry.”

Fang gave awkward one-armed hugs signalled that he was alright with his current situation.

“Alright,” Cobra said, “What is the plan then?”

“Well,” Seglagg sighed. “The key and the statues are all we have to go off of. It is possible the key needs to be taken to active a hidden door or maybe we need to climb the statues. I would advise against climbing the statues as Inndyr and Nidhyrgg have been very kind and generous to us and I think climbing statues of them would only make them angry.” He looked at the statues and took a breath. “Inndyr and Nidhyrgg, please guide us to safety in this tomb or show us something about the Unleashing Key.”

Fang gasped in suspense in his gag awaiting a response to Seglagg’s plea, but none came.

“I’m at a loss,” Cobra sighed and hung his head. “That was a good idea to try, but we could be tested on our faith here as well. I wouldn’t give up on the deities just yet, but perhaps we should be more cautious still. Deities can be fickle.”

“You’re right,” Seglagg nodded.

“Mmmbyph wmm kwmmph bwmmrrt tmmph twmmphs?” Fang offered, his ears folded back as the nonsense sounds the muzzle had reduced his speech to.

“Bait the traps?” Seglagg raised an eyebrow. “We could try, but without knowing what the traps were aside from the altar they would be hard to bait. Not to mention none of us are really in a state of mobility to successfully bait a trap. Sorry, Fang. It is a good idea, but we can’t capitalize on it, I am afraid.”

“Hmm, maybe there are runes somewhere?” Cobra asked. He cast a simple detection spell, his eyes glowed a vibrant blue as he looked around the room once again. He frowned soon after. “There are no secret runes. Damn. Seg, what do you suggest we do? We’re running out of options.”

Seglagg sighed once more, a sinking feeling in his stomach. “I think we need to take the risk with the key. It is all we have to go off of. Nothing else we have tried was successful.

Fang shook his head and whined into the gag, trying to signal to Seglagg not to do what he was likely about to. Cobra only nodded and quietly agreed. “You’re probably right.”

“I don’t trust the key to be safe.” Seglagg said. “But we need to at least try it. I’m going to break those shackles so you both can go your own way should something bad happen. I love you both.” He walked up to his companions and struck the chain of their conjoined shackles, breaking it, leaving the metal band around their wrists still. “Well, that’s a new fad accessory, guys.” He kissed their cheeks and readied his tail to grab the key.

“Be careful, Seg,” Cobra said as he helped Fang hop to a safe distance away from the altar.

The lizard took a breath, closed his eyes, and swiped the key from the altar.

There was a brief moment of false hope for Seglagg, causing him to believe the Key wasn’t a trap, but then it’s true nature was revealed. The key grew in size to a feral crocodile’s head in pure gold with ruby eyes filled with malice. The jaws opened and yards of rope shot out at Seglagg. He yelped and tried to dodge out of the way, inadvertently slicing the ropes binding his wrists on the corner of the altar. This didn’t stop the magical ‘key’ from catching his still. Ropes coiled around his wrists, ankles, and tail, spreading him out without the ability to reach any of the knots. The ropes pulled him high into the air as a pair of ropes wove their way around his torso into an intricate rope harness to tightly hug his chest and crotch.

“Ah, gods no…” He breathed as the ropes constricted him tightly and pulled taught, denying any slack or range of motion aside from moving his head back and forth.

There was a flash of light from the ruby eyes of the former key as a generous lengths of sticky black ribbons shot from the magical maw of the trap to enwrap Seglagg’s head to form a blindfold and gag.

“Mmmph?” he called into the gag and tried to struggle, but the ropes wouldn’t budge.

“Seg!” Cobra called up to the lizard. “Are you alright?”

“Cmmphbrmm!” Fang grunted into his gag and tackled the wolfdragon just in time as the rug behind the altar reaped up to strike the pair. Fang rolled over and pointed at the carpet. With a gold light emanating from his eyes, he shot a beam of radiant energy at the rug, burning it to a crisp.

“Damn! Thanks, Fang!” Cobra nuzzled the husky. “You saved me there.”

Fang pat Cobra’s shoulder and got up slowly and hopped over to where the rug used to be. In its place was a trap door. He growled into his gag. Seg’s capture could have been avoided, he thought bitterly, but then remembered how they had checked the room thoroughly. The rug only came alive after Seg had taken the key. He shook his head at the doors’ and traps’ designs.

“We should get going,” Cobra said, nodding to Fang. He looked back up to the suspended lizard. “I’m sorry, Seg. Hang in there. We’ll get you down.”

Fang sat on the ground and opened the trapdoor, finding a ladder within. Soon, he and Cobra had descended into the tunnel below and closed the door behind them, leaving Seglagg behind.

Despite himself, Seglagg was becoming aroused by his predicament. His kinky tendencies were getting the better of him and the rope harness around his chest and crotch wasn’t helping any.

“I see you are enjoying yourself,” a voice taunted him. “Good. It is good to enjoy the magic of life, isn’t it. I think you will enjoy being part of my collection, don’t you?”

---

 Cryptic796 has been eliminated!

Arranged as always by the great  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

---

Viridis led the party into the next room. "Careful guys," he warned. "We lost half the team in the previous room." Benji and Sunoo nodded, both of them gagged by an airtight muzzle. Sunoo had a leather body harness too, pinning his arms to his sides. Viridis sighed. This was going to be hard.

The scent of the next room wafted through Viridis' nose. There was a faint smell of the ocean and the raptor felt a sense of calmness. There were giant diamond-accented statues of Inndyr, her beautiful form encircling the room. A floating river weaved between the statues, held aloft in the air by powerful magic.

The three adventurers gazed at the room in awe and wonder. In the midst of the dark and dangerous dungeon, it was pleasant to have a place to wind down. Viridis approached a stone tablet that sat in the centre of the room.

"The world was young, the mountains green
No scar upon the moon was seen
No sea was marred by blood or stone
When Inndyr rose and flew alone

"She named the nameless hills and dells
She gave us all the seas and wells
She stooped and opened Mirrormere
And above her head the stars appeared
As gems upon a silver thread
The Sunken Stars circle her head

"The world is gray, the oceans cold
The streams and wells are dry and old
No words are sung, no praises called
The darkness dwells in Inndyr’s halls," Viridis read out loud.

Benji tapped the other two on their shoulders and pointed his snout to a nearby orb just barely floating over an ivy-covered pedestal. The orb was of a ruby-red colour, perfectly smooth and round, and their reflections stared back at them from the surface of the orb.

As Benji examined the red orb, Sunoo looked around the room. Hidden by the statues were two more orbs, one sapphire-blue and one onyx-black, sitting on similar pedestals. Hmm. He continued searching the room but there didn't seem to be any more orbs, or the exit for that matter. No indentations in the walls or floor for any orbs, no secret button or lever. He sighed.

Benji signalled to Viridis, motioning that perhaps the orbs should be arranged in a certain order. "Sure, makes sense to me," Viridus nodded. As Benji stretched out his arm to the orb, it unfurled and grew into a large octopus the colour of the orb. It struck out at Benji and wrapped him in a tight, slimy tentacle.

"MMMMMppphhh hhlllpppp!" Benji yelled out, trying to stab the tentacle. Viridis raised his mace and lowered it sharply down on the octopus. Benji also stabbed the tentacle, and the octopus shrieked in pain. It curled back up, turning back into a floating orb on the pedestal.

"We're good," the raptor gave a thumbs up to a concerned Sunoo who had ran to their aid. "Ready to get up Benji?" he asked. The ferret nodded his head and the both of them stood up and continued exploring the room.

Sunoo went back to the blue orb. There was nothing else in the room and this orb looked the safest. With his wrists bound at his sides, he couldn't quite reach the orb from where he stood. Instead, he turned so that his side faced the orb, and tilted his body so that his arm was level with the orb. Bracing himself, he picked the orb up.

The orb glowed a soft ocean blue and a soft chime filled the room. A door faded in at the end of the room. "Good job Sunoo!" he congratulated the fox and cautiously approached the door. The door didn't seem like it was going to open to his pushes and tugs. "Damn, guess it unlocks with the black orb?" he thought out loud.

He approached the black orb. "Here goes nothing," he said, grabbing the orb. "Hey guys, I got the-" he was interrupted as the black orb exploded, sending a sticky black liquid all over the room. The shiny fluid landed over Viridis' and Sunoo's feet. Benji, however, had a full blast of it over his body. There was a cracking sound as it began to harden over him. The ferret panicked and struggled, quickly pulling the mass of sticky liquid off him before it encased him.

"Mfft..." Sunoo grumbled as he threw himself into the air. The strong rubber was no match for his momentum as he broke free of it, landing gracefully on the floor. Tugging with his strength, Viridis stumbled out of his own puddle.

Benji pointed to the blue orb Sunoo was still holding and tilted his head to the door. Sunoo nodded and bounded over to the door, touching it with the orb. There was a hum, and the door happily slid open. "I..ugh.." Viridis gasped as he introduced his face to the palm of his claw really, really hard.

Sunoo looked at the cleric empathetically and shrugged, and the three of them went through the doorway into the next room.

Arranged as always by the great  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

---

Leaving NIall behind in the previous room, Fang, Cobra, and Seglagg made their way to the next room. It was small and well-lit, a stark contrast to the dim light from earlier. The room was hexagonally shaped with more murals blanketing the walls. Unlike the mosaics a few rooms back, these wer hand-painted and depicted Inndyr in various scenes that would have been breathtaking to behold had they all not been defiled with red profanities. Whoever was at fault for these markings was likely a follower of Starweaver.

In the middle of the floor nestled in a thicket of iron brambles and thorns, was a glowing red orb.

Cobra looked on at the vandalism in disgust and shook his head. “Revolting… Some people have no respect.”

Seglagg opened his mouth to remark on the murals, too, but noticed the red orb. “Guys, be careful around this thing. Those thorns look deadly.”

The orb glowed brightly and the thorns shifted. A pair of shackles shot out at Cobra, but he managed to dodge it with a flap of his wings. A length of chain shot out of the brambles at Seglagg, too, but he spun out of the way. The shackles and chain clattered to the floor in a limp heap.

Fang looked on, wide-eyed as the wolfdragon and lizard avoided the traps. Any little thing could be a trap, the cleric thought. He wanted to ask if the others were alright, but without knowing what caused the orb to activate, he decided against making a noise.

Unperturbed by the traps, Cobra and Seglagg examine the words written on the murals. They were petty, childish things like comparing Inndyr’s mother to an old hippocamp and scrawling various phalluses wherever the whim struck the vandal.

I am so glad our wealth of knowledge is being used to read profane defilements in an ancient tomb, Seglagg thought as he and cobra made their way slowly around the room.

As they reached their starting position again, there was a sound like thunder and a voice spoke to the trio. “Vengeance… promise me vengeance.”

“Wait.. Ind--mmph!” Cobra was about to say, but Seglagg quickly wrapped his tail around Cobra’s snout to gag him before the orb could activate. The lizard shakes his head and gestures to the orb cautiously.

“It is I,” the voice replied softly before fading out.

Seglagg sighed and released Cobra’s snout, wrapping his reptilian tail around his waist as a makeshift apology.

Cobra returned the act with a quick nuzzle and turned to Fang. He moved a hand to signal the husky over. Should any other traps go off it would be better for them to remain close by to help one another.

Fang sighed into his gag and looked around the room. There was no visible door aside from the one they entered through, and he doubted that entrance would also be the right exit. Gagged as he was, he felt a bit useless to the group without being able to fully articulate his ideas. They all had heard the voice of Inndry ask for vengeance, so that was something to go off of, but Fang knew he wouldn’t be able to promise anything in his current state.

Seglagg did a few girations with his tail in an attempt to tell the group he was going to speak. They didn’t seem to understand what he was doing. He took a breath and spoke. “Inndyr, I, Seglagg, promise to bring you vengeance for the defilements against you.”

There was a loud rattle as another length of chain slithered from the iron thorns and coiled around Seglagg’s ankles, binding them together.

“If you do as you promise, I will lead you onwards.” the voice said as a door faded into view in one of the murals.

Cobra grabbed Fang’s hand and spoke, too, following the lizard’s lead. “Great and wise Inndyr, I Cobra, and my silenced friend, Fang, pledge ourselves to bring vengeance in your name upon the believers of Starweaver and those who have wronged you and defiled your sacred images.”

“You, too, will have a path through.” the voice said.

The red orb glowed again, sending another pair of shackles out. They latched onto Cobra and Fang’s wrists, binding them together and forcing them to hold hands.

Seglagg bumped the unlocked door open with his hip and looked back at his friends. He jerked his head towards the door, wrapped his tail around their connected wrists and ushered then forward before any of them said anything else to activate the red orb in its bed of needles.

Arranged as always by the great  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

~~~~~~~~~~~

=== DOOR 2 ===
The second group of adventurers travelled down a few corridors and stairs. With the two fighters bound, Benji led the way with his scimitar in front of him. Zefiro, Crestor, Dezblade and Sunoo followed in the middle and Viridis guarded the back.

Crestor growled. He was getting uncomfortably aroused under his loincloth as the vibrating buttplug had its way inside him. "Mfaw froo graw!" he moaned.

"Keep it down Crestor, don't want to alert the monsters," Benji cautioned. "We can't understand you anyway."

Crestor grunted in response.

The corridor came to an end, and the group entered a large, circular room. There were four chests sitting in the center of the room: one of cherry wood, one walnut, one oak, and one mahogany. On the ground, silver lines curled in around around elaborate patterns that traced out the visage of Nidhyrgg. Two figures were on the ground: the first was a muzzled bunny in a bunny-shaped body cage and the other a fully mummified squirming body.

Benji ran over. "Marshmallow! Are you okay?" he asked concernedly. "And I'm guessing that's Jamison?"

Sunoo, Dezblade and Viridis came over to the two bound adventurers and joined Benji's efforts in trying to get them free. Crestor and Zefiro, both hooded, stood by for moral support. However, despite all their efforts and moral support, the restraints were not coming off.

Crestor grunted. "Guh chhrk fuh truh," Crestor prompted the rogue. Sunoo gingerly stepped towards the chests, looking for traps. (Go check for traps)

"Huh," Sunoo gasped as he felt a strong sensation of danger about the chests. "Those chests are super trapped," he announced.

"Fuh gurh uhhh wurh arfh," Crestor called back. Figure a way out.

"You're even less intelligible than usual, now that you're gagged," Sunoo snapped. "Useless too." Crestor growled back at the rogue.

"Well, I guess you can actually be useful. Give me your blade," Sunoo grabbed Chestor's heavy sword before he could react and painstakingly dragged it over to the nearest chest, the walnut one, dropping the sword into it. Crestor protested, shouting loudly from behind his ball gag and squirming tightly against his bonds.

When nothing happened Sunoo sighed and returned the dragon's sword. "Worth a shot I guess," he shrugged.

In the meantime Dezblade and Viridis were inspecting the lines on the floor. Nidhyrgg's form was complete except for the missing eyes. There seemed to have been gouged out leaving two indentations in the ground. "Huh, the eyes are missing," Viridis mused.

Suddenly, the lines on the ground glowed and an illuminated message etched itself into the ground. "Pledge your loyalty to me, and I will lead you to the key," Viridis read out loud. "Is this Nidhyrgg?" he wondered. "Well no matter who is speaking to us, I'm not going to pledge any loyalty," he declared.

"Guys, in the lore Starweaver tricks adventurers into turning against Inndyr and Nidhyrgg. If this is Starweaver..." Sunoo shuddered. "I think we should look for a way out first." Viridis quickly agreed.

The six adventurers began looking around for traps, or at least, Benji, Sunoo, Dezblade and Viridis were. Crestor and Zefiro were tapping the walls with their paws as they moved across the room.

As Zefiro went around the corner of the room his tail bumped against the mahogany chest. It appeared to growl and wake up the other three chests. The chests lunged at the adventurers, each bearing their own traps.

The walnut chest attacked Sunoo, shooting a muzzle over Sunoo's face. The muzzle locked behind his head and Sunoo gasped for air. The muzzle was choking him! Viridis came over to his side and blasted the chest with a bolt of holy magic. Turning back to Sunoo, he cast a sustenance to allow the rogue to survive without air.

The cherry chest crashed into the defenceless Crestor. Knocked to the floor, the dragon swung his blade around, trying to hit the chest. However, the chest shot out a heavy metal shackle, binding his arms behind him. His blade clattered on the floor as it flew away from him. He growled at the chest but it ignored him and continued advancing on him. It spit out long rolls of bandages, bundling the dragon up into a mummified worm.

Dezblade and Zefiro weren't so lucky. The oak chest was chasing Dezblade and revealed a grey goo that hit him in his chest. It spread its tendrils around his body, grabbing his arms and binding them to his side. It spread to his legs too, encasing his feet in a solid shell. A voice called out to him, speaking to him in his thoughts."Dezblade. It's okay now. I'm here."

"Who are you?" Dezblade thought back.

"Your guardian angel," it spoke.

"Guardian angel? Can you help me out of this thing?"

"No. There's no need. Everything is okay. You're safe here now."

"Safe...here?"

"Safe."

In the meantime, a tongue lashed out from the mahogany chest to Zefiro, grabbing him by the waist and pulling him into its gaping mouth before closing shut. Benji tried to open the chest to help the dragon out but the chest had clamped its lid shut tightly. The ferret knocked on the chest. "You okay in there?" he asked. There was a draconic whimpering in response.

The remaining adventurers took stock of their party. "I can't get Dezblade out of this sticky slime thing. It's like he's in this trance too," Viridis called out. Benji knocked on the chest that had swallowed Zefiro up. "Guess we'll have to find this unleashing key and release Zefiro too," he figured, picking up the golden key that Zefiro dropped and handing it over to Viridis. Sunoo rolled Crestor's mummified form over with his feet. There was a muffled vibrator sound still coming out from under the bandages. Sunoo tilted his head to Crestor and shrugged, indicating that the dragon was pretty much out of commission too.

From under the bandages, Crestor growled. "Am I out just like that?" he thought. "Pssh, I can still be useful. I'll actually do something." From behind the layers of his hood, gag and bandages, he shouted "I PLARG MAH LORH YARH TEE TAH YARH," pledging loyalty to the unseen entity.

The lines on the floor glowed again tracing their way across the floor and up the walls. A rectangular shape appears and a door faded into view. Sunoo muses, surprised that the dragon could still be useful for one last time. Benji motioned to Sunoo and Viridis with his head indicating that they should get going. He patted Crestor on the head, and the three of them headed out through the door.

Crestor sighed. Guess this is it for him in the dungeon. There was a clunking noise lumbering around the room. Hmm. That didn't sound like Jamison. Perhaps Marshmallow in his iron cage? But the cage's metal hitting the ground wouldn't sound like that.

"You wish to be a good fighter, do you not?" a voice sounded through Crestor's mind.

"Yeah of course," he scoffed back.

"Then you'll be happy to hear I'll make you my soldier," the voice called back. "Forever."

The suit of armour that was moving around the room made its way to Crestor. With its two arms, it picked Crestor up. Crestor writhed from under the bandages, screaming to be let go. However, the armour opened its chest plate up and pushed the struggling dragon into it before closing itself up. The suit of armour picked up Crestor's sword and held the sword in front of it, pointing towards the ground. The armour stiffened up, trapping Crestor in a cold, metal prison. "Mfft!" he yelled for help, but the rest of the party was long gone.

~~~~~~~~~~

A ton of eliminations in this chapter!

 TwistedSnakes  Zefiro  DezBlade have all been eliminated!

Arranged as always by the great  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

This one is a little out of order, but it will make sense soon!

---

Jamison and Marshmallow made their way through a few more corridors and down a flight of stairs to enter upon a large, circular room. They could distinctly make out the visage of Nidhyrgg upon the floor, traced with gleaming silver lines. In the middle of the room sat four closed chests: one made of cherry wood, one walnut, one oak, and one mahogany. As they entered the room fully and looked around, they notice the ceiling inlaid with luminous stones of bright silver and gold, like a night sky.

“Oh great!” Jamison sighed, “More choices.” He shook his head and secretly cursed himself for what would likely be inevitable bad luck.

“Hey, Jamie,” Marshmallow walked over to the fox slowly, his bound knees making it look like a shuffling step. “We should agree to not get upset if we get trapped.” The rabbit turned his attention to the four chests, then. “Should we open them? Could be treasure or they could be...fun?”

“What are you implying?” the fox raised an eyebrow and then it dawned on him. “Hey! Don’t get any ideas.” He could still remember how intent Marshmallow was to spank and sabotage him in their first challenge with the red orb.

“I’m only saying the traps never physically hurt us,” Marshmallow said defensively. “They only added restraints. If we get too caught up, we might not be able to proceed.”

Jamison sighed, “Yes, you’re right. I guess our best bet is to open the chest then? Could be worth the risk to get treasure, I suppose.”

“Yeah,” the rabbit went to the far left chest, its mahogany wood shined a little in the light of the room, the polish didn’t seem to be faded at all. He opened the chest quickly. There was a loud click as a muzzle flew out, but Marshmallow managed to duck out of the way in time as it came at him. The chest them slammed shut again. “Well, that one is a dud.”

“I’ll try this cherry wood one,” Jamison giggled. “It matches my fur, I think. So that has to be a good sign.” The fox nudged the lid of the red chest open and was promptly met with a flurry of bandages. He didn’t have time to get away before they had coiled around him tightly, mummifying him fully from the neck down. “Marshmallow, help!” He fell backwards and squirmed.

“Jamie!” Marshmallow knelt by his companion. “I’ll help you hold on!”

As he began to fidget with the bandages, he heard the voice from the previous room whisper to him from his golden collar. “Finish off the competition.”

“Shut up!” Marshmallow yelled at his collar and drew a dagger from his belt and held it to Jamison. “Hold still.”

“Whoa, hold on,” Jamie writhed away from the rabbit. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? You could hurt me!”

The adventurer’s matching collars began to glow brightly and bandages began to weave their ways over Jamison’s head to complete the mummification. Marshmallow recoiled in fear from the fox.

“Jamie? Are you alright?” Marshmallow asked from a safe distance, his dagger dropped to the floor.

“Mmmphfft! Mmmngphrrr…” Jamison wiggled around on the floor, but it was pointless.

“Okay, I can do this,” Marshmallow took a breath and opened the walnut chest. Another muzzle flew out and this time he wasn’t fast enough to escape its leathery grasp. “Mmmphh! Hrrmmphhrmm!”

Try as he might, He couldn’t pull the muzzle from his face.

There was only one chest left unopened and in his desperation to continue on his adventure, Marshmallow opened it, too. The oak chest creaked as it opened. A metallic rib cage jumped out and grew in size to accommodate the rabbit’s shape before embracing him in a restrictive hug, locking in place around him and rendering him immobile.

“That went just as I had expected,” the spectral voice whistled to the two newly bound adventurers. “How interesting it has been to see how companions can turn on one another and themselves…”

---

 SpontaneousFred and  FluffyShutterbug have been eliminated!

Arranged as always by the great  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hallway the group travelled through opened upon a darkened room illuminated solely by small, luminescent stones that glowed a faint blue color. In the dim light, the group could see mounds of leather and interspersed metal buckles all over the floor. At the far end of the room, a door could barely be seen, aided by two pinpricks of light from within, likely passing through a pair of keyholes.

“We need to be careful, guys.” Seglagg cautioned, holding his tail out to his side to signal his friends to stop. “I think I hear something out there, but I’m not sure what. Do any of you know a light spell or have a torch, by chance?”

“No, I don’t, but i think that sound is just creaky leather to me,” Fang shrugged and pointed at the door. “And I would be willing to bet our brass keys need to go in that door. I wish had something to throw though, maybe trigger the traps from a safe distance.”

“Somehow I think the traps need a person nearby to be triggered.” Seglagg frowned, shifting his weight awkwardly. The shackles on his ankles were getting uncomfortable. “I think those buckles might belong to harnesses and straitjackets. I have done a few escapes from those in the past with my old roupe, but something tells me these are much worse.”

“Well, these stones look like they form a path to the door.” Niall offered hopefully. “Maybe we just need to follow it?”


“Maybe?” Seglagg hopped around the group to get a different view of the room, but lost his balance. He yelped as he fell over. There was a loud clanking sound followed by the slight whisper of rope across his scales. “By Inndyr! Look guys! Niall and I have been blessed! Well, kinda blessed, I guess.” The shackles that had bound the hyena and lizard had fallen away and were replaced with firm rope bindings. Seglagg’s ankles, though, were left unbound. “It is an odd blessing, but I’ll take it.”

Niall shrugged his thanks for the change in bondage, not really taking stock in the idea of a divine being blessing him. Gods were not part of a necromancer’s repertoire.

“Lucky for you all, I have a sunrod.” Fang laughed after rifling through his bag and withdrawing the rod. He broke it and held it up to the room.

“Looks like a nest of snakes,” Cobra observed, looking at the tangled mass of leather straps and buckles.

“Or a nest of cobras, eh buddy?” Seglagg laughed, slapping Cobra on the back amiably with his tail. The wolf dragon rolled his eyes in response to the lizard’s joke.

“Well, I hope now that that sound wasn’t actually a snake.” Fang sighed.

“Shh, wait…” Seglagg held up his tail. “Listen…” It was quiet, unnaturally quiet. A shiver ran down the lizards spine. He looked at his companions and wrapped the tip of his tail around him snout to signal to them to be quiet.

“I am fairly sure the light makes us a target, Seg.” Fang whispered.

“I know, us being quiet is so we can hear better.” Seglagg said from under his tail. “Inndyr’s blessing on Niall and I helps. Ropes are a lot quieter than clanking shackles.”

“I think Fang had a good idea for now though,” Cobra said. “We should throw something to see if a trap will spring. I have a few spare corks for potion bottles I haven’t used yet, we can throw those, I think.” He threw one of the corks into the room, striking a buckle, but nothing happened in response.

“At least they didn’t react to that, I guess.” Fang said cautiously. “I’m going to take a step forward and test it out then” As the husky took a step forward, there is a slight hiss as two leather straps slither from the nearby pile and wrap around his legs, almost tripping him, Seglagg lashed his tail around Fang’s waist to keep him steady. “That was only one step though!”

“I knew they need a person nearby to activate…” Seglagg grumbled as he helped Fang get back to the rest of the group. “I think there is a path we can take we just need to be careful.”


“And not be as bold as I just was,” Fang agreed.

“So the plan is just to get to the keys then?” Niall asked, hopping his way across the cleared path on the floor. “Pfft, alright.”

An unearthly sound erupts in the room as a flurry of movement bursts from one of the leather piles. Straps began lash and bind Niall’s body, cinching around his torso, legs, ankles, and neck. He lost his balance then as a strap pulled his ankles up towards his diamond collar, forcing him into a restrictive hogtie. Before he could attempt to ask the rest of the party for help, a few more straps coiled around his head into a tight blindfold and muzzle. He thrashed furiously in the straps and whined into the gag trying to tell the others to help him. Then, a voice spoke to him in his mind. “You were so eager to join me, Niall, why would you want to leave now?”

“Niall!” Seglagg shouted, his voice an odd mix of surprise and disappointment. “Are you alright? Why did you do that? Fang and I just said to be careful! And what did you do? You hopped head-long into a trap.”

“Smmphg!” Niall whined again and wagged his tail quickly in circles. “Hmmllph mmmph!”

Cobra and Fang shared a collective sigh.

“Well, one trap down, I guess.” Fang said, holding the sunrod aloft. “But there is no shortage of straps still.”

“Are we leaving Niall behind, then?” Cobra asked. “I’m not sure any of us can carry him like that, besides the fact that he would only slow us down now.”

“Plmmmph hlmmph mmm smmjj…” NIall whined again and rolled around on the floor.

“I’m sorry, Niall, but I can’t free you from that.” Seglagg shook his head and frowned. “You were too reckless and paid for it. The traps will only get worse from here on out and we can’t afford to act first and question later. We will come back for you if possible, though. With the Unleashing Key.”

Niall whined in response and nodded slowly that he understood.

“Any other ideas?” Cobra asked. “Those stones look suspicious.”

“They do,” Seglagg agreed, wrapping his tail around Fang’s waist to help him stand.

“Thanks, seg.” he leans on the lizard’s shoulder and regarded the stones and mounds of leather. “I don’t really see a pattern to this. We could try jumping from stone to stone, or avoiding the stones. But otherwise I am at a loss. Just looks like a dragon’s hoard, really.”

Seglagg snorted. “That’s a hoard I wouldn’t mind having, but now isn’t the time to think that.”

“Seg, can you let me go, please?” Fang said, tapping the lizard’s tail. “I’m going to try hopping from stone to stone. It is worth a shot, right?” He pulled the lizard’s tail from his waist and began to hop. Another hiss could be heard as a belt leaped from a pile and tightly wound itself around Fang’s ankles, further hobbling him. “Well, that’s not as bad as it could have been.”

“Damn,” Cobra breathed. “Are you still alright, Fang?”

“Aye, I still have my arms free.”

Seglagg stroked his goatee with his tail. “Maybe we should try asking permission to cross the room? Like that game kids like to play at festivals: ‘Constable, May I?’ You know, like ‘Constable, may I please go to the juggler’ or ‘Constable, may I please see the poppet show?’”

“You’re joking,” Cobra raised an eyebrow.

“No, I am serious. Maybe if we tried to be respectful to whomever is in this room or the room itself, we might be granted safe passage out of the room.” Seglagg shrugged.

“Fine, I’ll try it,” Cobra sighed and raised his voice exasperatedly. “Hello! If anyone is in this room, may we please get to the door on the other end?” There was a faint shuffling sound as a few belts and straps shifted away from the path of lighted stones. “Hmm, i guess that did do something.”

“It worked!” Seglagg breathed and smiled to Cobra and Fang. He addressed the room, “With your permission, may we progress to the doors? I promise not to step on any of your lovely, illuminated stones.” He began to walk to the other end of the room.

“Is it really that simple?” Fang asked, looking back to Cobra as Seglagg passed him confidently. Cobra shrugged.

Once at the door, Seglagg turned to look behind him and bowed deeply. “I graciously thank you for this generosity.” He looked to Fang and Cobra and nodded. “Come along, now. Be gracious and genuine and I think you should be alright.”

“Okay, my turn to try, I guess.” Fang said. “Honourable host of the room, I request permission to cross your abode.” The piles shifted a little more as Fang hopped across to Seglagg. Once to the door he also bowed to the room. “Thank you.”

Cobra spoke up then. “Um..hello again. I humbly request permission to cross your room, if you please.” There was a groan in the room as Cobra took his first step after looking back at Niall still whining quietly and squirming in his hogtie. A leather strap lept from a pile and bound Cobra’s snout and pulled his chin down to also form a collar around his neck. A pair of straps then slither up his legs towards his chest, binding his arms to his sides, leaving his elbows and wrists free. “Aww come on!” Cobra yelled, thankful the collar and muzzle wasn’t a full on gag, though that didn’t make it any less comfortable to wear. “I asked nicely!”

“Cobra, calm down!” Seglagg cautioned. “Take a breath and try again. Remember, be gracious and genuine.” He looked back at Niall and chewed on his lip nervously. “Take a breath, do a bow, and be careful. I would prefer not to lose two of us to the same room.”

Cobra sighed heavily and bowed as best he could in his new bindings. “Thank you for this show of faith,” he said bitterly and walked forward. Nothing else happened to him as he joined Fang and Seglagg at the door.

“Seg, which belt pouch do you have the keys in?” Fang asked, turning to face the lizard.

“Front right pouch,” Seglagg said, thrusting his hip to Fang. He called back to Niall.” I’m sorry we have to leave you, Niall. Hang in there, we’ll come back with the Unleashing Key and save you.”

“Ready?” Cobra asked as Fang stood in front of the door.

“Yes,” He nodded and asked aloud. “May we please use out bras keys to open the door and leave this room?” The was no response as he tried to turn the two keys in tandem, but his timing was off. There was a loud creak as a leather muzzle shot from his left and latched itself over his snout complete with a sturdy leather knob in his mouth, silencing him. He grunted is disappointment.

“I’ll try to ask then,” Cobra offered. “May we please open the door?”

Fang tried the keys again, but still was a bit off with the timing. There was another groan, but accompanied by a flash of light. Fang yelped into the gag as he felt something invading his rear and begin to vibrate softly. He whined and looked at his companions.

“May we please be allowed to open the door and leave this room?” Seglagg asked with growing concern. Fang was paying for the room’s finicky temperament. “I apologize if we are intruding. That was never our intent.” He nods to Fang cautiously.

He tried the door a third time, the lock clicked and the door swung open to another hallway, though this one was lit with a series of torches.

Fang grunted and gestured to the hall. Seglagg nodded and asked. “May we please leave your room? We thank you for your time and patience.”

As the husky and lizard crossed the threshold to the hallway, Cobra hung back and looked at Niall. “Could we get Niall back,”

The room roared. Niall squealed in his gag as his hogtied was pulled tighter, straining him against the latex poster binding he received in the previous room. A thick leather strap flew at Cobra’s face as a hasty blindfold.

“Gah!” Cobra yelped and jumped back into Fang’s arms and Seglagg’s tail, shaking his head. The blindfold promptly fell off his face. “Oh...okay.” He awkwardly bent down and picked up the blindfold. He grabbed Seglagg’s hips and stuffed the blindfold into one of his back belt pouches.

“Thank you?” Seglagg said as Cobra patted his butt. “You alright there?”

“Yeah, let’s just go.” Cobra sighed, discouraged by his attempt to help out Niall.

“We need to be extra careful from now on.” Seglagg said, leaning in to kiss Cobra and Fang’s cheeks in turn. “There is no telling what still awaits us.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and  Witch_of_the_Wilds is the first one out! Wrapped up with belts!

Arranged as always by the great  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

---

Marshmallow and Jamison came to a well-furnished room. Large mirrors were positioned at various points along the wall and standing mirrors scattered the room. There were large bolts of fabric running down from the ceiling and streaming across the floor. The fabric appeared expensive, its silky surface shimmering from the light of the torches. They could barely see the wall at the far end as the cloth and mirrors obstructed their view of the large room.

"Jamison, I apologize," Marshmallow turned to Jamison in a small bow. "I...It got into my mind that you would enjoy being bound by the traps in there. You looked like you were having fun."

Jamison blushed. "Heh, well, I would be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy the gag once the panic subsided," he responded.

Turning to the fabric on the floor, he used his bow to poke the fabric cautiously. The lifeless cloth didn't react. He lifted up the bow, letting the fabric slide into his open paw and felt it. Soft silk weaved with a level of workmanship Jamison had never seen before. "Hey Marshmallow, I think we found a treasure horde!" he cried out.

"Eh... it's beautiful but that's all the more reason to leave it," Marshmallow warned. "Don't succumb to greed." He eyed the cloth warily. "If it weren't some kind of trap, it would have been cleaned out by previous adventurers already."

"Well, they could've all been stopped by the previous room. C'mon! Lighten up! If this was a trap, something would've happened to my bow."

"Very well, throw caution to the wind. Wrap it around yourself, stuff your backpack with it." Marshmallow snapped sarcastically

"We came here for treasure, no?" Jamison challenged, gingerly feeling the silk. He could almost imagine the riches all these rolls of cloth would bring him. "Well, if you don't want the silk, then more for me!" He began quickly rolling up the nearest yard of cloth.

"I suspect that there is no treasure," he looked in disdain at the frantic fox. "Even a pile of gold could be a trap for all we knew."

Jamison stuck out his tongue at Marshmallow, gathering more cloth. He also shoved smaller scraps of silk into his bag as he found them.

Marshmallow stared at the cloth, deep in thought. "Maybe it's here for a reason..." He gathered the cloth, laying them out flat on the floor in an even pattern.

"Find anything yet?" Jamison smugly taunted.

The patterns on the cloth looked beautiful, but none of them formed any patterns.

"Hmm, we still need to find a way deeper into the temple. Do you think all of these mirrors mean something?" Jamison wondered out loud. "I've heard that shining light on mirrors can do stuff."

"We don't have any lights to shine," Marshmallow pointed out. "But look at the fabrics please, I would like your opinion before I give up."

They both looked at the designs in the mirror. There didn't seem to be any patterns, words or symbols appearing. However, something weird was bugging them. Instead of seeing themselves as they were in the mirror, they saw themselves bundled up in layers of the fabric that surrounded that.

"Ye gods! More magic, of course. That's not a good omen," the rabbit commented. Suddenly, he noticed a smooth stone weighing down the pile of fabric that Jamison had gathered. "Where did you find that stone?" he asked the fox.

"What stone?" Jamison looked at him quizzically.

"The one on your silk?" he turned to face the gathered silk in the room. There was no stone. "Wait what?" He turned to the mirror again. The stone was still there. " Jamison, look.. do you see it too?"

Jamison peered into the mirror, giggling nervously at his bundled figure, bound and struggling. "Yea-" he was interrupted as the silk in his bag flew out at the both of them. Marshmallow stepped quickly away from the fox as the silk bundled him up. He pretended not to see the bound fox as he examined the mirror. "Hmm, now was that a trick of the light that I saw earlier?" he thought.

"HEY!" Jamison yelled. "I need assistance!"

"No, you need to listen when you are told something is a trap. I warned you, and now you got what you asked for," Marshmallow scoffed.

Jamison squeaked softly, tugging at his binds. "Can you cut me free?"

"I don't know," he brushed off the fox. "Now where is that stone?" he spoke to nobody in particular, moving to the bundle of cloth where the stone supposedly sat on. However, instead of the stone, he was greeted with the sight of a soft, gold-coloured collar.

"Jamison!" he called out in a singsong voice. "I have something for you!"

Jamison squealed as he tried to get away.

"Don't worry, we'll all get out of this in one piece," the rabbit grinned maliciously. "Maybe a little sweaty and out of breath, but unharmed."

"You won't put that collar around me, will you?" Jamison struggled.

"I don't know, do you want me to?"

The fox was feeling uncomfortably turned on. "I... I don't know!" he whimpered back. On one hand, he was almost certain it was a trap. On the other, he was oddly attracted to it. Something about the gold velvet attracted him to its aesthetics.

Marshmallow advanced on the bound fox, eager to clasp the collar around his neck. Suddenly, the collar jumped at Jamison neck.

Jamison rolled away, painfully aware that the collar was now chasing him. The collar glowed with a gold light as it flew after him. He rolled past Marshmallow into a roll of silk hanging down the wall. He squeezed his body under the excess silk that had piled on the ground. As he wiggled his way in, he bumped against something wooden. A door!

The collar appeared to notice the standing bunny, and split itself into two collars, each chasing after each adventurer. One collar clasped itself against the bound fox's neck and locked itself. He scratched against the collar. The lock appeared to have dissolved, replaced with the smooth velvet of the collar. The other collar caught the rabbit too, repeating the same process as its counterpart did with Jamison.

A voice boomed through the room. "Keep fighting among yourselves. It entertains us."

"Fuck," Marshmallow thought to himself. There was a greater evil at work here, and it would be to both their benefit if they worked together to escape. He tugged against his collar. Not coming off. He could run off and leave Jamison behind, but would the unseen voice be able to catch him? What was its power?

He should try to bluff. "I, uhh, need something more to bind the fox with," he requested nervously.

Jamison stared at the rabbit suspiciously. Would Marshmallow turn on him? "I refuse to fight!" he shouted both at the voice and at the rabbit, hoping Marshmallow would change his mind on binding him.

The voice didn't respond. "Maybe it left? We should get out of here before it comes back," Marshmallow suggested. Jamison sighed in relief. "Yeah, let's get out," he agreed.

"There's a door right behind me!" he called out to the rabbit.

Marshmallow quickly bounded over and pulled the silk aside, looking at the door. There was a smooth indentation in it. The perfect size for... "The stone! Go get the stone!" the fox called out helplessly from the ground.

"I know what goes here!" he shouted exasperatedly. "I saw it in the mirror, but I couldn't find it." He grunted. "I have an idea, you look in the mirror and tell me where it is, guide me to it. It may be invisible in the real world but it has a reflection."

He went back to the pile of cloth where the stone supposed to be. "I looked for it here, but I only found that collar," he told the fox. "You're in the wrong place. It's three steps to your left."

After much guiding, Marshmallow's paw felt something invisible in the air, and the stone materialized in front of him, a smooth and shiny grey. "Let's go," he gasped, picking up the stone and running to the door.

"What are you doing?!" the voice called out again.

"Oh crap it's back!" Jamison warned.

Marshmallow ran faster towards the door. He reached its wooden surface panting. "Hurry!" the fox rushed him. "Yes I know!" he snapped. He took the stone and shoved it into the hole of the door.

The door exploded in his face, throwing him back and sending debris in their direction. As he fell, he could feel straps wrapping across his body. His body hit the ground and the impact left him in a daze. There was a deep, loud laughter booming through the room, fading away as Marshmallow passed out.

"Are you okay?" The rabbit woke up to the fox's bundled figure kneeling beside him, nudging him awake with his knees.

"Huh?" the rabbit gasped. "What happened?"

"The door exploded and the voice went away. I think we can leave now," Jameson explained.

Marshmallow tried to get up. "What the-" There were two straps wrapped across his chest, binding his arms to his sides, leaving only his forearms free. His upper thighs were also bound together by a thick band. "Shit," he grumbled, slowly working his way into standing position.

"Let's go," Jamison carefully stood up, and the two of them made their way awkwardly to the door.

Arranged with the help of the always amazing  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

---

Meanwhile, the other adventurers behind the second door continued their way through the long hall, coming to a large rectangular room. There were three large red squares on the floor, enough for a person to stand on. There were three doors at the end of the room, each labeled "1", "2" and "4" respectively, although the door labelled "2" had a faint sound behind it. The floor in front of them had an inscription that read "The sunken Stars have appeared."

Hearing the sounds behind the second door, Sunoo went to investigate the sound. It sounded to him like muffled voices, but otherwise couldn't discern anything.

"Tell, I think the floor panels correspond to a door, and if we stand on them it might open the door. Crestor!" he called out.

"Yeah?" Crestor replied from under his hood.

Benji held Crestor and guide him onto a red square. "Sunoo, you get the left square and I'll pick the right?"

As the three adventurer stood on the squares, a large CLICK sounded through the room. A five-foot space on the floor around the squares opened up. Dezblade happened to be near them, and soon found the ground below him disappearing. A cluster of bandages shot at them from the abyss, shooting at all of them. "Duck!" Benji shouted, throwing his body against the ground. Crestor reacted fast too, and he threw himself to the ground, dangerously close to the edge. Dezblade swung his blades at the incoming bandages slicing them to shreads. Sunoo, however wasn't so lucky, and the bandages wrapped his legs in a tight bind.

"Damn!" Sunoo yelped.

"Crestor, don't move!" Benji called out to the dragon, who was already getting up and was halfway stepping into the abyss. Crestor froze, and felt the ground below his feet.

"Oh, there's a gap here?" he asked.

"Yeah, about 5 feet wide," Benji called.

"Pssh, that's easy," he boasted. He jumped into the air, spreading his wings and soared across the gap. Suddenly, more bandages lashed out at Crestor from below, throwing him on the other side wrapped from neck to ankles. "What the fucking shit?" he screamed.

"You guys work on getting across the gap. We'll look for the exit here," Dezblade shouted to them. Splitting up, Zefiro, Dezblade and Viridis explored the dungeon.

"Ahh Crestor," Benji shook his head. Now to find a way for him and Sunoo to get across. "Hmm," he thought to himself. Soil had filled in the gaps between the stone bricks in the walls and ceiling, solidifying into hard dirt. Might as well give it a go.

Benji tied his rope securely to a modified arrow with a metal body with a ring at the end. Taking out his bow, he pulled the arrow back, aimed at a gap of dirt, and released. The arrow hit its mark, lodging itself between the bricks. He pulled on the rope. It look like it'd hold him up.

With a running jump, he swung his way across the gap. More bandages shot up from the abyss, threatening to trap him, but he was too fast and he landed on the other side safely. Throwing the rope back, he shouted "Sunoo, it's your turn!"

Sunoo grabbed the rope. His arms were bound by his side, so if he wanted to swing across, he'd have to do it holding the rope with one hand. "Ugh," he exclaimed in frustration. He didn't have a choice. Taking the rope in his hands, he wrapped multiple coils of it around his wrist. He held the end tightly in his fist, and jumped.
His body swung to the opposite bank as the bandages emerged from the pit. "Safe!" he thought. He let go of the rope, but the loop had tightened around his wrist. His body swung backwards, into the waiting grasp of the bandages. "Wait no!"

Benji quickly rushed to his aid. Grabbing the fox as he came back a second time, Benji quickly untied him. Sunoo however was bundled up like Crestor, fully mummified from ankles to neck. He tried helping himself up, trying to move around with his bound body. "Well, at least we can still hop around," he told Crestor, who grunted back in reluctant agreement..

Zefiro in the meantime was examining the doors at the back. The one labelled "2" had an odd twitching noise behind it, and he was finding a way to discern what was inside without opening the door. "Guys, I think there's something behind this door!"

Crestor, hoping to still prove himself helpful even when bound, hopped across to Zefiro. "Well, let's open it then!"

"Wai-" Zefiro called out, but too late. Crestor had nudged the door open with his knee, and two blurs shot at them through the opening. One of the objects lodged itself deep in his maw, its harnesses wrapping tightly around his muzzle, head and eyes. He found it hard to breathe with his jaw opened wide and clamped on the ball gag.

Zefiro and Dezblade were caught in the blast too. Zefiro’s head had ended up wrapped in a hood that covered his eyes, and a muzzle that wrapped around his mouth in a tight hold, effectively silencing him. The straps had no buckles, and there seemed to be no way to remove it as he grasped at the hood. "Stupid Crestor!" he screamed in his mind. Dezblade got out of the blast with only a ballgag fastened in his mouth.

"Ugh, why can't you be more useful Crestor," Benji sighed. "Fine, come here." Guiding Crestor to the front of the first door, he hid behind Crestor's body as he poked the door open with his foot. A burst of magic shot from for the door, and Benji found his arms bound, and an airless muzzle locked over his head. Crestor's body stiffened as the bandages solidified, encasing him in a hard shell, and he felt over with a thud.

Benji panicked from the lack of air. He grasped at the muzzle, trying to pull it off. He needed help! Abandoning his deciphering of the murals, Viridis rushed over to aid the fallen adventurers. Taking a deep breath, he chanted prayers to Inndyr. In his training as a cleric, he had studied the various gods of the world, and Inndyr was one of them. Inndyr too was mentioned many times over the murals, so this was probably a temple to her. Thank the gods he memorized all the prayers in his training.

There was a glow, and Benji found himself fine again. He still wasn't able to breathe, and every attempt to gasp for air would send him choking, but most importantly he was alive. Crestor on the other hand, found his body free from the encasement. His head however, remained hooded and gagged, and the vibrator at his crotch had apparently shifted and got lodged up his tailhole.

"Mftt raargh!" he exclaimed, trying to get the vibrator out, but it seemed stuck. "Frugh tarh," he attempted to tell the other adventurers about the annoying stimulation in his ass.

"We can't understand you, silly," Sunoo said, slightly amused at his unexplainable change in behavior.

Dezblade walked over to the last door with a magical rune of Nidhyrgg in the upper right corner. There was no door handle, and no apparent traps. If there was an exit this would be it. He pushed against the door, slowly opening it. The door flung itself open, and a leather strap threw itself at Dezblade. He stumbled backwards falling on the floor. When he came to his senses, he found the thick leather strap restraining his arms against his sides. “ Dmmph nngh. Gmmphs, cmmnphd umm hmmlph mm umph?”

Benji went over to help the fallen fighter up, and peered carefully into the door. Unlike the others, this one opened up into another corridor leading into the darkness. "Well," he announced. "I guess this is the way forward."

Arranged with the help of the always amazing  TwistedSnakes and  Cryptic796

---

=== DOOR 1 ===
The party of four exited the ‘Watery Depths’ through a door that opened to a small set of stairs to keep the water in the hall from flooding subsequent areas of the ruins. The stairs led to an octagonal room of ornate marble polished to a near-reflective sheen. Hidden lights illuminated the room. Around the room were mosaics made of gleaming tiles and painted to form constellations. A pedestal stood in the middle of the room, a perfectly black sphere made of polished stone floating above it. As the group entered the room fully, an ominous voice called out to them.

”Be you brave and true of mind
The Unleashing Key is yours to find
Hidden deep in twisted halls
Seek it, free it, or forever you fall

With traitor, beast, and party three
Find the exit, set the stars free.”

“Did you guys hear that?” Cobra asked, looking around the room.

“Yeah, I think we all heard it,” Fang agreed walking up to one of the constellation mosaics. “These look to be the clues for this room, guys. Any ideas what they are of?”

They spread out then to examine the mosaics. They were elaborate and highly stylized with excessive frills and swirls.

“Are these supposed to be camels?” Niall asked, his head tilted to the side to somehow see the mosaics better. “They look like sacks of potatoes.”

“Well, this star here is called the Homeward Star,” Seglagg said, pointing to a star in one constellation. He hopped over to the next mosaic and pointed out another star. “This one is the Lost Light, but other than than I’m having issues identifying the constellations. I’ve travelled to so many places that I think I am mixing up the lores of different worlds.”

“Well, I think the one with the Lost Light is supposed to be Starweaver, the Betrayer.” Cobra said, leaning on his staff. “I remember reading about it in my divination classes. Do you think that is what the voice meant by ‘traitor?’”

“That does make sense, but who is he a traitor to?” Niall asked. “Is he a traitor to us? Or to whomever is guarding the treasure?”

Cobra shook his head. “That’s a good question.”

“Then who is the beast supposed to be?” Fang asked. “Or the ‘party three?’ There are four of us?”

“Maybe the mosaics are the key?” Seglagg said, hopping over to Cobra. “There is probably something we need to do to the constellations in the same order as that line in the rhyme.”

“But with names like ‘traitor’ and ‘beast’ there is a chance we’re doing this wrong.” Cobra crossed his arms and walked to the orb. “Maybe this orb is important to the riddle?”

“Cobra, be careful!” Seglagg cautioned, nervously looming close by. “Floating orbs are usually bad news in magical ruins like these.”

“Yeah, good point.” He stepped back from the pedestal.

Satisfied with Cobra’s hesitancy to interact fully with the orb, Seglagg turns his attention back to the mosaics. “You said that was supposed to be Starweaver?” the lizard scratched his beard with the tip of his tail. “I think I remember something about him. So Starweaver the serpent was at war with Inndyr the celestial dragon, and during the war Starweaver cast the 'Son of the Stars' to the mortal world, likely killing him. In revenge, Inndyr made Starweaver a mortal and sealed him away. It's said if we pledge to fight the believers of the Betrayer, Inndyr will bless us."

“Do you think we should try to destroy the orb?” Niall asked suddenly, regarding the black sphere curiously. “Or maybe we should pledge to fight the gods and take out their eyes.”

The group stared at the hyena for a moment before Seglagg cleared his throat. “If you want to do all that, Niall, be my guest. I don’t think we should do anything too rash because it is hard to run away if things go wrong while you’re shackled.” He bounced in place just enough to jingle his bindings.

“He’s got a point, Niall.” Cobra laughed. “Is there anything else we know about these mosaics, though? We could use all the information we can get.”

“Like who this last one is supposed to be?” Fang asked, lightly tracing the last mosaic with his fingers.”

“This last one looks the most stylized of the group to me,” Seglagg observed, leaning over Fang’s shoulder. “I think it is supposed to be Nidhyrgg, Inndyr’s mate and commonly known as the ‘Mother of all Good Things.’ A lot of travelers, myself included, pray to Inndyr for luck and Nidhyrgg for protection. I don’t know if any of you noticed, but i left a few silver stars at the tavern before we came out here.” He gestured at each constellation with his tail. “The brightest star in Starweaver the Betrayer, is called the Lost Light. For Inndyr the Lonley, the brightest star is called the Homeward Star. And lastly Nidhyrgg the Traveler’s brightest star is the Evening Star.”

“How do you know all that?” Niall asked, still gazing at the orb in thought.

“I travel and read a lot,” Seglagg smiled sheepishly and added, “If Cobra hadn’t said that one was Starweaver I wouldn’t have known to share all of that information. The art style of the mosaic murals was really throwing me off. It’s too whimsical and frilly, like an elf drew them while tripping on gnollbeard roots.”

“Hey, guys!” Fang exclaimed, startling the others. “Oh, sorry! But I think the tiles by the constellations’ eyes are actually buttons. Maybe we should press them in the order of that poem’s line?”

“That’s a great idea, Fang!” Seglagg hopped over to Starweaver and found the button. “Ok, I can press this one with my tail. Cobra, could you get Inndyr’s button, please? Fang, are you alright to press Nidhyrgg’s button?”

They nodded in agreement when suddenly there was a loud splash followed by embarrassed hyena laughter. Upon turning around the three other adventurers could see Niall’s upper body was fully encased in quickly hardening liquid latex, the black rubber listened like the rb itself and forced Niall to maintain a rigid posture. “I’m sorry, I wanted to know what it did.”

“So you touched it?” Fang asked, crossing his arms.

“And now we know for sure its trapped.” Niall tried to shrug, but the latex wouldn’t budge for that.

Seglagg shook his head and looked to Cobra and Fang. “Okay, ready?”

The three adventurers pressed their respective buttons. The room shakes as a wall slides away to reveal the door out, but also to fully activate the black orb. It bursts open, flooding the room with more liquid latex. Fang was closest to the door and got out first. The other three were not as fast. Both Niall and Cobra had to cast a haste spell to get out in time while Seglagg used the pedestal as a quick leverage point to tumble through the door. Fang slammed it shut behind them and blocked off the flow of latex into the hallway.

“That was too close for comfort.” Seglagg panted as Cobra helped stand him back up.

“Not close enough, Seglagg…” A voice called out to them. “I was looking forward to having a few new polished statues to add to my collection.”

Seglagg chose to ignore the voice and turned to Cobra. “Thank you for helping me up, buddy.” He gave Cobra a kiss and wrapped his tail around the wolfdragon. “Sorry about that. It’s hard to give proper gestures when your hands are bound behind you.”

“That’s alright,” Cobra embraced the lizard back.

“We should pray to Inndyr and Nidhrygg real quick, too.” Fang said, clutching a holy symbol in his hand. “To prepare us for the next trial on this journey.”