RAVEN'S GAMBIT | Part 25: The Frictionless Chamber
The door creaked open with groaning hinges and a whisper of unseen danger.
They stood at the eastern edge of a long, twenty-foot-wide chamber—polished smooth, shining like wet ice.
Another door waited across the way on the far western wall.
"No cracks, no seams..." Kaela Virell muttered."Not even a scuff mark," Elias Finch noted with unease.
“Ya’ll are takin’ all the fun,” said Bran ‘Brick’ McGraw, tying a rope around his waist and handing the other end to Hachiro Noboru.
“This looks like a good ol’ fashioned floor trap.”
Hachiro’s brow creased. “There may be something we haven’t seen yet. Remember the music.”
No sooner did Bran step foot inside than the singing began.
A soft, feminine melody—seductive, hypnotic, cruel.
Hachiro’s face paled.
“We don’t have our bard to counter it anymore.”
Then, Hachiro dropped the rope and took a step forward—entranced.
“NO!” Theron Blackroot lunged, grabbing the samurai and hurling him into the wall with a thud. “Snap out of it, fool!”
The music grew louder. Enchanting. Entrancing. Devouring.
Elowyn Mosswhisper. Kaela Virell. Dr. Elias Finch. Kaelen Firebrand. Thalia Emberbranch. Trix Vorn. Shino of the Whispering Leaves. Kael 'Fingers' Vire…
All began to move, mesmerized, toward the frictionless chamber.
Khopesh, immune to enchantment by virtue of undeath, sprang into action—tying Hachiro up first.
The others, blinking through the fog of charm, fought to resist.
They succeeded.
Each one snapped out of it, just barely, and with quick thinking and mutual restraint, no one else succumbed to the siren song.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun—the singing stopped.
With the danger seemingly passed, Marcus ‘Tank’ Rourke took the rope from Hachiro and held fast as Bran re-entered the frictionless room.
He walked carefully—eyes locked ahead—until he reached a wide-open pit lined with poisoned spikes.
He leaned over, grimacing at the sight, then took a few steps back.
He holstered his pistol, then drew it again, breathing slowly.
Bran charged and jumped—his boots landing cleanly on the other side—but his momentum caused him to slide.
“I CAN’T STOP!” Bran shouted as he flailed.
Tank yanked the rope taut—halting Bran’s momentum—but the cowboy began sliding backward toward the pit.
“S**t!”
Suddenly, Tessa ‘Quickfingers’ Vell tumbled across the pit, grabbed Bran, and rolled with him to bleed off the momentum.
They stopped at the edge of the next pit. One more inch and they would have fallen in.
Bran gasped, “Thanks.”
They untangled themselves and stood. Close. Very close.
They said nothing.
Bran leapt. Tess tumbled.
They landed on the final ledge, near a door in the north wall.
Bran pulled his end of the rope taut. Marcus mirrored him from the other side. They were now anchors for the others.
Hachiro Noboru crossed next, hand over hand along the rope. Marcus and Bran held tight.
Tessa, watching the door, noticed a shimmer along the western wall.
Something about it looked...wrong.
Illusory.
Suddenly, a harpy burst through, shrieking.
Tess spun and drew her rapier, just in time to catch claws across her arm. She missed her riposte.
Hachiro quickened his pace, but the rope walk required patience.
The harpy screamed again and clawed at Tess, who backstepped too close to the pit behind her. She lured it in, then struck—cutting a line across its abdomen.
Still it came.
Hachiro met Bran’s eyes. A silent understanding passed.
The samurai dropped flat, spreading his limbs to avoid sliding.
Bran spun, pistol in hand.
BOOM! The Colt Dragoon roared.
The bullet hit home, staggering the harpy, but not stopping it.
It clawed Tess again—this time slicing deep. She dropped, blood spilling.
Still conscious, she grabbed her fallen blade and stabbed upward from the ground, piercing the harpy’s torso.
It leaned in for the kill—
BOOM!
Its head exploded in a red mist.
The chamber went still.
Bran holstered the pistol and reset the rope.
Hachiro got across and ran to Tess, pulling his last potion from his belt and pouring it into her mouth.
She gasped—and her wounds began to close.
One by one, the others crossed the chamber, each using the rope.
Some crawled. Some shuffled. One leapt and prayed.
Marcus was the last across.
He and Bran lingered—guards and anchors—before finally joining the others.
The whole group, minus Marcus and Bran who held position, moved through the northern door and followed a short passage until it forked into a T-junction.
"North or south?" Thalia asked.
Hachiro Noboru, eyes cold and certain, pointed.
"North."
And so, they followed.