It fell to Kaldalis to pull the chain that opened the gate. He did his duty with only mild grumbling.

Even though they already knew the gears wouldn’t be retrievable, Balrim still poked at the gearbox after the gate was open to make sure before moving on. They were completely out of gears now, and so they’d need to be extra vigilant in the upcoming rooms.

On the far side of the gate, there was another of those strange mechanical cylinders. However, it seemed that this time it was connected to the same mechanism that Kaldalis was operating to open the gate. As soon as the way was open, so was the makeshift loot chest.

“Ah, so there is boss loot,” Myrin observed, trying not to be obvious about how fast she was walking to the chest. “I was wondering if it was all going to be locked behind hidden puzzle doors.”

“Don’t be greedy, now,” Balrim said, even as he was wiggling the gears in the gearbox to try and retrieve them. Kaldalis was sure the irony was lost on the talsar. “You got an upgrade already.”

“Let’s see what it is before we start name calling,” Kaldalis said. “Besides, there has to be some kind of need or greed roll system, anyway, right?”

“I didn’t see one when we picked up the other thing,” Myrin said, giving a shrug. “But you’re right about seeing what it is first. If it’s not a DPS charm, I don’t need to get into a fistfight about it.”

“And if it is?” Balrim asked.

Myrin cracked her knuckles one finger at a time. Her grin was mirthful, not malicious, though, so Kaldalis figured it was just more banter between the two of them.

Myrin reached into the little chest and pulled out a pair of charms.

The first one was an oblong piece of metal about two inches long, with three spheres of wood set into it along one side, and a little loop of twine hanging off of the bottom of it. The other was a bleached leather square about an inch long on each side, studded with tiny brass rivets. Myrin examined them, and abruptly took on a very guarded expression, holding the oblong charm a little closer.

“What is it?” Kaldalis asked. “Is it straight attack?”

“Maybe,” Myrin said. “Why? Looking for a fistfight?”

“What’s the other?” Balrim asked.

She tossed the little square of studded leather to the talsar. “It’s obviously for you. Light affinity is only good for healers, right?”

“And for tanks,” Kaldalis said, even as Balrim was already equipping the charm, “but I’ve got my item level seven HP charm, so Balrim needs the upgrade more than me.”

“I won’t fight you on that,” Balrim said, though he turned his attention to Myrin, “but in that spirit, the new charm should go to Haldir. You just got an upgrade out of this dungeon already.”

Myrin grimaced, but slowly held the charm out towards the vathon. “You’re right. I don’t want to be too greedy.”

“Actually, you should keep it,” Haldir said. He opened his mouth again to explain why, but Myrin was already putting the charm on, and instead he let out a bark of laughter. “No, don’t try and change my mind. I’m positive you keep it. No, really.”

Kaldalis and Balrim shared in the chuckle, and Myrin didn’t even try to look embarrassed by her behavior.

“I know Myrin won’t ask,” Kaldalis said, “but I’m curious. Why let her have it?”

“My charms range from level five to nine,” he explained. “While the dungeon gear is likely an upgrade for my weakest charm, Myrin’s weakest charm is one of the level threes Balrim made yesterday. For the group as a whole, replacing a level three charm is better than replacing a level five.”

“Faultless logic,” Myrin said.

Her hand floated in the air and Kaldalis watched as the little oblong charm moved around over her armor as she tried to figure out where she liked it. It reminded Kaldalis that he wanted to experiment with the placements of his own charms; right now they were all on his belt just to keep them out of the way. He resolved to maybe fiddle with them later, once they were out of the dungeon.

Myrin eventually settled on the oblong charm hanging from her neck like a pendant. Once it was placed there using her character page, she reached up in the physical world and tucked it under her shirt.

Meanwhile, Balrim was following Myrin’s lead and trying to find a place to put a swatch of studded leather on his outfit.

Because this was obviously the best use of their time.

With an exasperated huff, Kaldalis elected to peek around the corner and into the hallway beyond to see what was to come.

Despite the stone gate that separated the swarms of moss-eating beetles from the space beyond, the moss was patchy here, with more of the stone covered with green lichen than moss. There were even a few spots of bare green-gray stone. The air was not as wet as it had been thus far, and Kaldalis wondered if they might eventually find an entirely dry interior, where the ruins would be unmarred by water damage or plant life.

As it was, this was probably a giant bunker, or maybe storage facility, so he didn’t expect to learn much about whoever had built these ruins, but seeing them in an intact, natural state might be informative.

While looking around, Kaldalis froze.

About twenty feet down the hallway there was a creature.

This wasn’t a pack of mobs, though.

It was small and furry, with a beige face and a black tail. An enhydra.

Even as Kaldalis watched, it was turning a small object over in its hand-like paws, looking slightly like a racoon as it sniffed at the object it held.

From here, Kaldalis could see it was a little sphere of wood with rings of metal embedded in the surface.

Another charm.

Kaldalis couldn’t tell on sight what attribute it would give, but he knew it was likely higher level, like the one he’d gotten from the enhydra in the seaside cave.

Regardless of what else was on it, the base stat increase would be substantial.

Kaldalis carefully leaned back out of the hallway, trying to process how to tell his friends that the critter was there without spooking it. He wasn’t sure why it wasn’t already bolting after they opened the stone gate and then started talking loudly right next to the chest.

He just had to hope their luck held for a moment longer.

If they could chat, he and his friends could form a plan to catch the thing. Maybe he could get Myrin to climb on him piggyback and see if his Jump cooldown could get her close enough for her Aggressive cooldown to finish the job.

The enhydra’s nose wrinkled, and it looked up from its prize. Its beady little eyes met Kaldalis’, and for a moment, time stood still. He wondered if there was even the most remote of chances that the critter would stay put to see if he actually approached before it bolted.

It turned out there wasn’t.

The creature bolted.

“Enhydra!” Kaldalis yelled, and took off running after it. It was the only thing that made sense to do. He needed to find whatever bolt-hole it hid in if he wanted to wait and ambush it like the last one.

Kaldalis couldn’t let it break line of sight or else he’d never see it again.

“What?” he heard Myrin ask as he took off.

But he couldn’t spare the time to stop and say more. He only hoped Haldir had understood him and was able to explain.

Kaldalis didn’t see what happened to the charm the creature had been holding, but as he ran past the spot the enhydra had been crouching, he noticed it wasn’t on the ground.

Sure, fine. As expected, he needed to catch it if he wanted the loot.

Unlike the previous halls, this part of the ruins appeared to be something more like a functional space. There were stone frames that looked like they may have once held doors or curtains. The openings branched away, some into rooms, and some into other halls.

Kaldalis ignored them, though, having eyes only for the enhydra scurrying across the stone ahead of him, not even paying attention to the turns he was following it down. He could hear his friends running behind him, and so he wasn’t too afraid of threats to come; if he blundered into a pack of enemies, they would have his back.

The enhydra’s current speed was just a hair slower than Kaldalis’. He wanted to activate his Jump ability and close the gap, but since he was gaining ground, he decided to wait until he could make the perfect pounce to get on it before it could bolt away at the speed of sound, like he knew it could.

His focus on estimating his pounce distance was so great, that he didn’t even notice the trap until he tripped over it.

The enhydra took a sharp turn and shot through a stone archway to the left. Kaldalis found himself depending on the extra balance afforded by his tail to take the turn just as sharp, keeping his eyes fixed on the fuzzy critter to avoid losing track of it.

As he stepped through the archway, though, something caught his ankle.

At his current all-out speed, not even a tail could save his balance, and the world flipped sideways on him. The air filled with the sound of metal scraping against stone, and for a misguided moment, Kaldalis thought it was the sound his armor was making as he slid across the floor. His focus shifted from tracking the enhydra to getting an arm in front of his face so that his armor protected him from losing a layer of skin across his cheek.

He skidded to a stop after about five or six feet. He scrambled quickly to his feet, trying to spot the enhydra to take off after it again. But before he could pinpoint it, there was a metallic slamming sound behind him and he whirled.

Kaldalis expected to find an enemy.

Some sort of horrible spider creature that had laid the tripwire in anticipation of an overeager adventurer in these ruins.

What he saw was somehow worse.

A metal portcullis had dropped down behind him.

The slamming had been Myrin ramming her shoulder into it.

A quick glance around the room told him there was no lever, switch, or chain visible in this room to let him open it from this side. His friends would have to-

“Kaldalis!” Balrim yelled through the metal bars. “Look for a lever, switch, or chain over there. We don’t have a way to open it from this side.”

Or, it turned out, he could just inadvertently split the party. That was a fine plan, too.