As the dust settled, the whole adventure bodies shook with fright. The tunnel looked the same as before, except they were missing a member. The trap completely gobbled the rogue Emma up. Only her gear on the floor reminds them of her presence.
They looked to the only firm foundation they could rely on, Tatiana. The rugged fighter woman has always been the cornerstone of the party. Yet, now she frozen in place, staring at a cut rope hoping its an illusion. Her mind working circles around the conflict between her delusions and reality. Sometimes, people need a comforting word from a reliable Oneesan to bring them back to their senses.
"Tatiana, Emma... she is gone..."(Oneesan mage)
The mage places her hand on the fighters shoulder and speaks softly. The whisper of a sound drew her attention enough to have are look the mage in the eyes. The tears in the mage's eyes made it clear. She was devastated by the loss as well.
Tatiana face hardened before she looked at the remaining members of the party. She knew she f@cked up, not a little but enormously. This is the worst-case scenario she envisioned. The sudden and tragic loss of Emma reinforced the fact that continued involvement in this place will lead to more tragedy.
"Collect Emma's gear and prepare to retreat for here. She was right, I made a bad call, and she pays the price. I will not gamble more lives than this. We will return to the entrance and post sentries, while someone will return to the temporary outpost for reinforcements. When reinforcements arrive, we will hit this place hard, and hopefully, Emma is still alive."(Tatiana the guilty)
The others hung their heads in silence after the comments of the party leader. Then without saying anything, they begin to follow the orders. In several minutes, the gear of Emma had been collected, and they began to back peddle the corridor to the exit. Slowly, they made their way to the four-way intersection when something horrible happened.
"W-w-what's this??!!"(one of the members)
On of the girls with a bow on her back, stopped in the tunnel when her torch illuminated a wall that was previously not there. It looked like they walked into a dead-end, something impossible considering the facts. Then, they thought of an answer so diabolical that they collectively wanted to piss themselves. Tatiana gave voice to their fears...
"We not only land in a dungeon, but the dungeon can change its architecture freely. Sweet god!!! How are we to escape now??!!! It doesn't need to do anything but send us around and around in never-ending circles!! It can beat us by attrition."(Tatiana full meltdown)
Tatiana drops to her knees in grief. Never in her career had she made so many blunders. Greed blinded her to the usual caution and fear of danger. Desire overwhelmed her common sense to minimize the risk instead of maximizing the returns. Greed made her impatient for instant gratification instead of patiently waiting for a more favorable environment. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately, there is no cure for regrets. Only the living get to correct bad behavior, probably. Now is not the time to be mournful.
The group regained some composure and began to inspect the walls and floor. Alas, they could not locate anything that would open or remove the obstructing wall. Thirty minutes later, the party gave up getting out the way they came. It means running the gambit of traps that already claimed one victim.
"There is nothing I can say to make up for this failure. When we make it out alive, I will accept a retaliation for my decision. I fully understand Emma advised me against continuing the persuade of the targets. I made a mistake that has and may continue to cost us, but what can I do? What can we do? We are here, crying about the situation with not change the present circumstances. Only action and guts will get us out of this boggle. So, fellow friends, I beg you to please focus on the task at hand and escape this damnable place. Accounts can be settled once we survive this place."(Tatiana the dutiful)
The other members grumbled on the unfairness of the new harsh reality they are facing. Not only are they upset about being lead into a trap, but now they're running the gauntlet. The venture is turning bleaker by the minute in this place. It probably wouldn't take much to cut the last string attached to their sanity.
"Tatiana, we understand you made a mistake, from the situation probably fatal in fact. The fact remains we can't get outgoing backward, only forwards. Everyone needs to focus on the job of safely navigating to the exit. We have to believe that escape is possible, or we will fall into despair. We must fan the flame of courage not to give up even when it seems hopeless."(Oneesan mage pep talk)
The remainder of the party hardened their hearts and put on steely sharp looks. See the resolve, Tatiana leads them back to the first trap location. The party's remaining members contain the knight Tatiana, the mage Hebe, the marksmen Beatrix, ranger Ragna. The group was a responsible party with lots of experience. They may have suffered a loss, but they are not out yet.
"I guess it's up to me to take point, huh? I'm not as good as Emma, but I have trap detection skills, at least. Regrettably, my crisis detection is not good. Not that I can do anything about now."(Ragna)
Ragna took the lead followed by Tatiana, Oneesan mage, then the rangers in the rear
guard. Apprehensively, they progressed further into the dungeon. The tunnel looking the same as they go, not indicating the sinister devices placed in abound.
They traveled down several long passageways with only single turns left or right. Before long, they came across their first obstacle. Across the entire space, thin wires were hung creatively. The cables span the floors, walls, and ceiling, effectively filled the whole area in the tunnel. The wires sparkled in the light of the torches, casting a mysterious and alarming sight.
"Oh... my!!"(Hebe)
"How are we supposed to get through that? It looks semi-navigable, but going them will restrict our movements to the point of suicide. Maybe we can cut the wires?"(Ragna)
"We can try to cut one and test the strength of the wires. If they are cut-able, we need to be cautious while removing the obstacle. Ragna, let me do it, I'm more expendable than you."(Tatiana)
"Okay, boss."(Ragna)
Tatiana removed her sword from her back. It's a sizeable two-handed type and unbelievably massive. The fact, she wielding it like it's air showed her Herculean strength. Drawing back, she swigs the sword through one wire closet to her. Surprisingly, the wire gave it like it had tons of play. The slack in the cable slowed down the swing preventing the line from cutting. But that was not the only unexpected event. The line triggered another metallic click. From the wall, a dart shot out towards the target. Tatiana adjusted her position and attempted to deflect the dart.
Unfortunately for her, the dart's tip was made out tungsten carbide. The metal alloy was something Sirus purchasers from the store to build traps. The material is adamant to the point of being brittle if miss-handled, but It has one pertinent use. It had ridiculous penetration potential if used in a projectile. The darts themselves would not do any significant trauma to the target, but that wasn't the purpose of using darts instead of arrows.
The dart punches a hole into the armor of Tatiana. She clicks her tongue in annoyance, before retreating to the others quickly. She pulls out the dart from her shoulder then inspects for a few moments before giving the others more bad news.
"This dart was mostly poisoned. I better take a potion to be safe."(Tatiana)
Tatiana's thoughts raced with anxiety. The safe route would be to assume the small projectile was coated in some poison. Tatiana retrieved a small vial front her pack and drank it in one gulp. The potion contained a powerful alchemical compound that neutralizes most toxins.
Tatiana gazed back at the trap zone and considered their options. The trap was devised to limit mobility and trigger other traps in chain reactions. The combination of reducing movements with projectiles was dangerous enough, but if the trap incorporates other sinister traps, they were doomed. The individual that thought these traps up are demons from hell.
"This trap is too dangerous. Frankly, I do not think we will get through this unscathed. It's impossible not to trigger the traps by moving through the wires. Even if we could, we don't know what else is layout inside the kill zone. The creator of these traps is a vindictive bastard!!"(Tatiana feeling ill)
"We can only go forward, remember? It not a question of wanting to go through it. We must go through!! Tatiana, get your act together!! I refuse to die in this place!!"(Beatrix the angry)
Then, ranger Ragna moved towards the wires without saying anything and began to move through the obstacle course. They don't know when, but she removed her pack and excessive gear. She kept her weapons but repositioned them to reduce the chance of catching wires. Tentatively, she moved through one step at a time. She tested the floor before transferring her weight on each stride.
Under everyone's gaze, she disappeared into the darkness well outside the torchlight. The remaining members took one look at each other, before sighed and followed suit. Not one of the group was happy to be in the situation, but no one uttered a complaint. What good would it do anyway? They just stripped down to the minimum and left the rest.
Hebe once hear a story about a starving person that sold his very soul for a loaf of bread. He was that desperate to live, the person in the story did anything to survive. It's ironic, she thought, that they delved into this cave to capture a trapped rat for wealth, only to become the trapped rats. Now, they give up their accumulated possessions without a second thought for a glimpse of a hope to survive.