RAVEN'S GAMBIT | Part 16: The Price of Error
The room fell silent again, save for the slow dripping of water and the fading whisper of the shadows retreating into the stone. The last spells flickered out around the exhausted united bands.
Breaths were short, magic reserves gone.
Sir Cedric Lightbringer stood at the edge of the muddy chamber, his armor splattered with grime and blood. "We move," he growled.
Backtracking to the last fork, they took the northern route this time, heading east. The corridor sloped upward again, the waterline fading below their boots. Another short flight of stone steps rose out of the muck, ending at a swollen wooden door—wet, like all the others in this cursed place.
Sir Cedric didn’t hesitate. He shoved the door open with a wet crack of wood.
Inside was a chamber of stone and mildew, lined by five massive, bloated corpselike figures. Each stood motionless, hunched and gray, grotesque stitches holding limbs in place. Crudely carved into their chests were the numbers 1 through 5.
One lifted its head at the sound of the door.
“One of us does not belong with the others,” it rasped. “If you can pick out the interloper, we will allow you passage. If you pick the wrong one, we will kill you. You have one minute. One guess.”
The door creaked closed behind them.
“Another damn riddle,” Kaela Virell muttered.
But Sir Cedric had already heard enough.
“I am done playing games!” he roared, divine light pulsing around him.
With a battle cry, he charged the line of golems, sword high. The blade came down with a righteous shriek—striking number three.
But number three didn’t react.
Number two did.
Its eyes ignited with crimson fury as it roared and surged forward. The rest stood still.
The flesh golem moved with terrifying speed.
Sir Cedric raised his shield—but the golem's massive fist crashed through it and smashed the paladin down, again and again, until there was nothing left but crushed steel and a red, pulpy smear.
“NO!” Zel Dorne screamed.
Kaela Virell hurled a ball of acid, the sizzling spell tearing skin and muscle. Bows, blasters, and guns thundered as the united survivors unleashed hell—but the golem did not slow.
It turned and pummeled Zel Dorne into the flagstones, her skull cracking beneath a wet boot.
Kaelin "Fox-Eyes" Virell moved to flank—but the golem was faster. It seized him, lifting the lithe rogue and slamming him repeatedly until he was nothing more than a twitching heap.
“We’re losing everyone!” Brother Tetsuro shouted, swinging his naginata in wide arcs to keep distance.
Out of tattoo magic and desperation in his eyes, Jorek Inkthane rushed forward with a dagger.
“Raven guide me!”
He stabbed once—twice—before the golem caught him mid-lunge.
His body crumpled under the weight of a single strike.
Dr. Evelyn Cross screamed as the golem's fist crashed down on her next, cratering her body into the stone.
“Keep firing!” Marcus “Tank” Rourke roared.
Bran ‘Brick’ McGraw aimed true and fired again with his Colt Dragoon. The bullet tore through the beast's shoulder—but it didn’t stop.
Brother Tetsuro struck the golem in its side, slicing a thick gash across its back.
Kara Dhex, face grim and hands steady, took a knee and lined her blaster rifle’s barrel.
“Hold it still.”
The golem raised its fist toward Brick.
A blinding flash and shrieking pulse—Kara Dhex pulled the trigger.
The blast struck its chest, detonating with a white-hot burn. The golem staggered, groaned—and exploded into smoldering pieces.
Steam hissed off the chamber floor as silence returned.
Blood pooled. Eight of them lay dead, including the paladin.
What remained of the combined force stood in numb silence, breathing heavy, covered in gore.
A sealed door at the back of the chamber slowly creaked open.
A short passage with stairs rising out of the murky water in front of them. Up the stairs and round the bed to another door wide open.
Inside, the passage is seated calmly on the floor sat Agent Marcus Virelli and Lira Valesong. Neither looked surprised.
Marcus stood. “Took you long enough.”
Lira gave a tight smile. “You're right on schedule.”
The surviving adventurers stood there, weapons still in hand, too stunned to speak.
The Citadel’s game was far from over.