"Which way?" Ser Terry asks. He has some blood on his face. No doubt from one of the bats or rats attacking them.

"A moment," Carlyle says, chanting over a long, thin tube, flipping it over to dump its contents of water out. He studies how the water pools, then nods in the direction of the orb's chamber.

Deciding impulsively that I want to be in the chamber, I slip back into the passage ahead of them and quietly rush in. I take the right corner of the wall where the passage comes from and wrap my cloak carefully around me, making sure all my clothes match the colour of the surrounding monotone stone. Should be more than enough for my concealment spell to work with.

They come in one by one, Ser Terry leading, take a quick look around and nod seriously to each other.

"It looks like the same set-up as the first one." Ser Terry comments.

Carlyle shakes no. "Looks like, but it's not. About as complicated, but the approach is completely different. Also, the handwriting is different and…" he has the look of someone inverting the Eye. "Ok, scratch that. This is way more complicated."

"Problem Carlyle?" Clara asks with a slightly gloating tone.

"Eh, maybe." He scratches his head. "It has a few dozen three dimensional symbols buried underneath."

"Three dimensional?" Ser Terry asks. "I didn't know that was a thing."

Emily answers. "They're more complicated, and much more powerful. There was an item in the exam that used it, but only one symbol was used to tie regular ones together. Even that was probably the most powerful magic effect I've ever seen."

Huh, I don't remember seeing one in that test. Did I just not look? I cringe a little at my mistake, but whatever. I got high points anyways and it didn't end up mattering.

"Yeah," Carlyle agrees. "The security for that other orb used some too, but only a couple. This is going to be a lot more difficult."

"Can you do it?" Ser Terry asks.

Carlyle shrugs. "It was made to be broken, just to be super hard."

"What will happen if you fail?" Ligryn asks suddenly, having been looming in the background.

"Um, you know, it'll activate. Possibly catastrophically. Worse than just trying to step over."

"So," Ligryn says flatly, "is there a reason why we shouldn't just find a way to disarm it remotely and retrieve the orb after? It's not like the orb would be damaged, right?"

Carlyle stares at her dumbfounded. "Has anyone ever told you you're crazy?"

"Occasionally. Why?" She says, face completely void of emotion.

"Because I just told you the set up uses three dimensional symbols. We don't know what a safe distance might be. Might be off this hill. Even if we found it, good luck getting the orb afterwards. It'd be the same as handing it to the Princep since he has the resources to dig it out and we don't."

Ligryn crosses her arms sternly. "Then I suppose you'd best get to work disarming it properly."

Carlyle stares at her as if he wants to say something, but instead turns away muttering to himself. "Come on Emily, I'll need your help diagramming all the relations. Might take a few hours."

It takes two. They start by taking out two large sheets of paper and copying all the symbols down on them. It's a bit tricky with the buried symbols as using the Eye to spot them is blurry, so Carlyle is forced to deduce what they probably are from the surface ones. Eventually though, he exclaims excitedly and confers with Emily, who concurs with his assessment.

They move over to the indicated spot, and the group collectively holds their breaths as he scratches out a single symbol with his dagger. A humming intensifies, as do the lights. The others all look nervously among each other and take a few steps back, only for the humming and the lights to suddenly stop. Or at least the lights on the security circle. The symbols on the walls and ceiling continue to glow.

Carlyle laughs. "What was that nervous look for? Didn't you trust me, Terry?"

Ser Terry gives him a look that's half scolding and half exuberant smile. "I swear, you somehow made that more dramatic on purpose."

"What? You think we figured out a different solution and didn't use it because it wasn't exciting enough? I admit, you do know me, but I don't think Emily would have put up with taking even longer."

"Enough banter," Ligryn says, stepping through the security array towards the orb, but not taking it. "Grab the orb and let us leave."

Ser Terry makes a holding gesture. "What about these other symbols. They aren't part of the security?"

"Um… yeah, they are, but not directly." Carlyle gestures to them. "Chimera lures and the like. Meant to maintain a defensive ecology."

"Not much of an ecology," Clara says with a raised eyebrow. "We only encountered, what, a half dozen of them? Not really something you would expect to keep more than the odd lost soul out."

Carlyle shrugs. "Nobody said the ancients were perfect. Remember, this place is hundreds of years old. They probably had something robust before, but a flaw in the physiology probably manifested slowly over time.

"But those howling sounds we've been hearing," Clara protests.

Carlyle rolls his eyes. "Just the wind going over some small openings or something. Come on, let's do this. I think it's my turn to do the dramatic lifting, no?"

However, Emily has already walked towards the pedestal and is reaching towards the orb. Carlyle makes a sound of protest, but Emily stares transfixed at the sphere. She wraps her fingers around the metal ball and lifts it up with a jolt. Nothing happens, so she stares at it silently for several seconds before looking up.

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"It's um… It's a strange thing," she says, to which Ser Terry makes an agreeing nod along with Ligryn.

"Come on, let's go," Ser Terry says and heads for the exit passage.

I slip out ahead of them and into the chamber. Waiting in the dark on the far side of the chamber is Bart accompanied by a dozen crossbow wielders and a man in his early thirties who seems to be a mage, judging by the robes which were in style for denoting such a few years ago and the fact he is otherwise unarmed.

Bart is grinning ferally in anticipation, his gaze unflinching at the passage his prey is about to emerge from. He has goggles whose lenses are cold black, which I assume provides an effect similar to my heat vision. His hand rests on a light item strapped to his waist, like the ones his subordinates used for signalling, and is waiting to activate it.

I tense knowing that Ser Terry is walking into a trap, but it's not time to help yet. My plan needs for both groups to be aware of each other for it to have the best chance of success. I have other methods if I need them, but I'm hesitant to provide any more clues to my presence. Fortunately, Terry realizes the trap by himself before coming out, as his footsteps stop and I hear him whisper, "No sound." Indicating a silence field Bart's mage has erected.

There are several seconds of delay before Ser Terry bursts around the corner. Bart's light flares to life, causing Ser Terry to flinch for a brief moment, and half of the dozen crossbows shoot at him. Ser Terry expected this though, and dodges back the moment the light hits him, though still takes a bolt to the gut.

At the same time, Clara and Carlyle peek around the corner and attack; Clara throws a dagger and Carlyle somehow shoots something from his hand. However, both attacks hit an area shield on the way to the target. It penetrates, as such effects are usually permeable, but the force is robbed to a degree that the projectiles clatter uselessly on the floor before reaching.

Before even seeing this, Ser Terry retreats back round the corner. There's a grunt of pain as he yanks the bolt from his stomach followed by Carlyle casting a spell that seems to be an advanced form of my wound closer.

"So, we meet again, Ser Presley," Bart shouts gleefully, "and once again you discover that there is nothing that you can gain that I will not be one step behind to take. Give us the orb, Ser Presley, and we will let you and your friends leave."

"Why would we believe that?" Emily shouts back, scoffing clear in her voice.

Bart smiles, strangely amiable. "Is that a new voice of protest? The fair Lady Salhal, I would guess. I had heard you joined Ser Presley's lot, but I do not believe I have yet had the pleasure of making your acquaintance. It would be a pity were you to die before I have the chance."

"I…Is he always this dramatic?" Emily asks her friends.

"Only when he has us beat," Clara remarks dryly.

Bart continues as if the two have not spoken. "To answer your question though, Lady Salhal; why should I not let you go when you have been so useful to us? We have already taken one orb after you worked so much for it. Taking this one would be a pattern that I would not want to end."

Ligryn speaks in a whisper. "If you try to give him the orb, you will have to kill me."

"Bart isn't the only overly dramatic one, it seems," Clara mutters, somehow audibly rolling her eyes.

Ligryn explains, still in a whisper. "If he takes this one, he will have at least four to our two. If he takes any more after that, he might have enough to do the ritual, and we won't have enough to stop him."

Ser Terry sighs. "Don't worry, I had no intention," he whispers, "but I could use some suggestions."

"I would like your decision now, please," Bart calls out, his first group of crossbowers having just reloaded their weapons.

"No deal, Bart," Ser Terry shouts.

Bart shrugs. "Then we will burn away your air. Do it." He gestures to the mage at his side, who begins chanting a spell which I recognize as fire based.

'Attack now,' I command the chimera pack leader through the connection which I have been maintaining the whole time.

There's a howl off in the distance, followed by more coming from all around. Bart and his goons glance about nervously, but the mage continues to chant. Emily also chants, and finishes a second before he does. A wall of ice forms around the passage just before a sphere of flame bursts into being near the same spot.

A brief battle between flame and ice commences that the ice is somehow not losing. I suppose that makes sense. The spell supernaturally reduces the heat in the area, so there's nothing inherently contradictory in it withstanding flame, at least while Emily is actively sustaining it.

How long this can last however is not tested, as several hulking chimeras emerge from the shadows and attack. Bart senses them first and turns about to decapitate the first one with one swing of his broad sword.

"Ambush!" he shouts, "Defensive square!"

His goons fall back to a tight formation, with multiple light items positioned in different directions to illuminate the cave as if day. Half the mercenaries immediately shoot their crossbows at the first targets to show themselves, then toss the weapons towards the others to free themselves and draw swords and bucklers. The other half keep the crossbows and shoot supportively – only taking shots when it seems one of their comrades is about to be overwhelmed, then tossing their crossbow aside to pick another up off the ground and using the self-cocking feature to rapidly ready another shot.

Bart stays out of the formation, drawing attention to himself as he twists about and cut down chimeras with efficient strikes. Meanwhile, the mage is forced to stop his flame attack to add precise bolts of fire to the defence.

Sensing something is up, Emily shatters her ice wall to send razor shards of frost randomly into the chamber. A few hit chimeras, though only wound them, but those that would hit Bart's forces are once again stopped by the area shield.

The five follow the shards out into the chamber. Ser Terry spends a second assessing the situation then shouts for the rest to follow him to one of the side passages. The chimeras, however, see them and move to intercept.

Ser Terry cuts down several himself, while Clara and Ligryn protect the mages in the middle. Emily throws single spears of ice with brief chants, while Carlyle shoots what look like bullets from his hand without chanting. He simply takes them from a pouch with one hand and places it in the other, which is formed oddly so that two fingers are protruding out from the rest in a curved manner. The bullets go between the fingers and then shoot out in a blur, causing spurts of blood from whatever chimera he's aiming at.

It's likely a sustained spell that he can use multiple times with one casting. Very useful in such situations, given the rate of attack and reaction time. I'll have to look up something similar.

It seems that Ser Terry is about to escape down a side passage when a chimera suddenly leaps from the ceiling into the middle of them and knocks the mages down. It lurches at the supine Emily, and I nearly throw a dagger, panicked that my intervention may not have been enough to save her after all, but Clara interposes.

The creature barrels into her, cutting itself on her sword, but not fatally, and bites her on her shoulder. It nearly gets her neck, but she twists out of the way and stabs it in the eye with a dagger. They both go down from the momentum, but Clara quickly pushes the dead thing off of her.

"Clara!" Ser Terry shouts, yanking her to her feet.

"I'm fine. It's not bad. I'll heal in a … aaahhh!" She screams, clutching the wound, nearly doubling over.

Seeing this, Ser Terry picks her up and carries her through the passage. Bart expends a burst of energy to chase after but is intercepted by several Chimeras. He dispatches them with efficient movement, but it's already too late – his quarry is gone. He lets out a single curse, then turns to aid his subordinates – no doubt deciding to let the Viscount he believes to still be stationed at the exits handle it.

I follow Ser Terry out of the chamber, sparing one last glance at Bart fighting the chimeras. A few of the mercenaries are down, but many more of the barely organized chimeras are. I'll have the leader withdraw once Ser Terry has escaped. They'll probably be fine until then. But if whatever toxin that incapacitated Clara is truly as potent as it seemed, then she might not be.

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