Rattling branches drew back, slowly revealing the threat of the room. Sizzle, Kaiage’s serpent, hissed a warning. She reared and leapt back one pace, then two. She flinched as a big vine of ivy took the spot she just stood with a violent lash. It reared like she and her pet snake did as it moved along with her. Her serpent hissed a warning again and she leapt back for the third time. This time she went all the way back to her party’s little circle.

“Done with jumping around?” Helissent asked. Kaiage shook her head. So did Sizzle. “I’m not done yet, just catching my breath.”

Having said that, Kaiage let herself breathe with a long and slow sigh that weighed her down. Here in the salted circle she breathed in and out with the rhythm of her body. Just in time. Steadying her breathing Kaigage did her best to stay calm as the walls began to move back with it. 

“It’s an odd room, isn’t it?” Reaper asked He was the leader of the party this campaign. Reaper, Helissent and Thunderstepper had let Kaiage poke around the room. They had seen plenty of them before so the three experienced adventurers had deemed it safe enough for her to explore. To Kaiage their decision was slowly making sense to her. After all, this was her first exploration.

And so, she did another round of the dungeon’s tamest room.

The stone walls were absolutely covered in ivy and branches. The air was thick with the sense of enchantment that made the golden lines etched into her skin sparkle. As the only magic user in the town, she had done some research and knew this room from her books. Shadows that lined the walls and often flickered to seem alive were a common trick in the dungeon. Illusions, harmless ones but a nuisance nevertheless. Often used to hide doors and other treasures. Shadows also peeked cautiously through a tangle of vines that were almost mesmerising to her. 

A pale light shimmered against the crisp leaves as she set her lantern down. Light scattered like butterflies across the mossy floor, swirling like the branches or like her serpent slithered across her withers. At the same time it felt a bit horrifying. She flinched back when one of the ivy branches lashed out and she rejoined her party. This room was a messy one and she needed time to think.

“The lantern. It’s there.” Kaiage said, and Reaper nodded. That was what they had expected, after all.