“Okay, okay, I see something… blue!” Sable said with a smile, the courser trying to keep the mood up until something actually happened. Sable had the most successful experience in the dungeon, and knew that keeping spirits up was important. 

Fird hummed.

“Is it… Cave moss?” He asked.

“Nope!”



“Ooh!” Limestone skipped to keep up with the other two. “Is it… Squish’s shell?”

Fird glanced at the fourth horse’s pet tiny snail. The invertebrate usually was stuck to Magna’s face or neck, and sure enough, had a bright blue shell that reflected the lantern light.

“Nope! But closer!” Sable was looking quite smug, but then again, she was the best at this game.

“Is it… a mushroom?” Limestone tilted their head.

“Nuh uh!”

“Is it… uhhhh...” Limestone trailed off as they thought.

“Would you three cut it out?” Magna huffed angrily. Which was his base state of being so none of them took it all that seriously.

But… that did give Fird an idea.

“Is it Magna’s eyes?” He asked with a snicker.

“BINGO!” Sable, Limestone, and Fird laughed together as Magna grumped at the others.

A screech from Trout 2 interrupted anything he might have said though.

The doorway that they wrestled approaching finally lead somewhere that wasn’t the same general dungeon hallway, but instead a massive cavern.

Fird stopped with the rest of his party as all four horses gawked at the size of the room. Suddenly, a groaning grinding roar echoed through the room as the lanterns blink out from the sudden wind.

“Woah! What happened?” Limestone yelped.

“Don’t move!” Fird shouted.

There was a moment of silence, absent of hoof falls or talking, but still full of the noise of movement, coming from the now active floor.

Instead of being a solid platform, it was instead made up of many, MANY moving, falling, pieces.

“Okay, Fird, do you have any ideas?” That was Sable, always trusting in Fird.

“Uh.” Was it just him or was the air getting thinner, the darkness closing in on him, were the walls moving too? Crushing all four of them, they would never escape, they would never be found-

Limestone shuffled to his right before a light shone out again. Of course, Limestone carried more materials to light lanterns, the draft often jumped into water without a second thought, which is why they carried multiple sources of light and multiple ways to light them.

Trout 2 cawed before swooping out of the darkness and alighting on Sable’s thick wolf pelt they carried around their neck for that reason.

Limestone gently went around and relit all of the other courser’s lanterns while Fird got himself back under control.

Sable leaned against his side comfortingly.

“Well, I suppose we could just jump from platform to platform.” She suggested.

“Ugh.” Magna tossed his head, nearly dislodging Squish who was on his jaw. “It’s mechanical isn’t it? Even if it is controlled by magic, it had to be triggered by something and therefore can be stopped by something. Not to mention, it was still and solid before we came in. Its natural state is solid, therefore there is a way to stop it.”

“Hm. Good point Magna.” Limestone nodded. “Unless that trigger is on the other side of the cavern.”

“Well in that case,” Sable gave one of her smaller lanterns to Trout 2 “could you go check it out bub?”

The osprey nodded before clutching the lantern and soaring off into the darkness, the lantern a tiny blip of light that got smaller and smaller.

“It could be a test of courage or bravery, if we step on it, the platforms may form a bridge that we must trust in to get to the other side.” Fird had found his voice again, and was now going over similar traps or tests that he had encountered or read about. “That is, assuming that it is a test. As a test, there would also be symbols, or a puzzle we may have to solve. If it is a trap though, then there may be a key, or a hidden passageway we need to find.”

Sable nodded against him.

“Well, if that’s the case then we might as well start looking.”

Limestone immediately lowered their head to the ground and started investigating the rocks on the ledge the horses had found themselves on. As a geologist, they would have the most success finding any oddities with the rocks or walls scattered around.

Magna also wandered to the walls, looking for symbols or keys as he was an aficionado of cryptology.

Fird heaved another breath, pushing all the panic from the last couple minutes down, before also looking at the walls and floor illuminated by the lanterns.

Sable meanwhile went to the edge of the ledge, waiting for a moving platform to come into range.

Trout 2 swooped back down onto Sable’s back, caching his lantern onto the hook made for that purpose.

“Anything over there buddy?” Sable asked the bird. Trout 2 shook his head clacking his beak sadly.

“Woah hey guys! I think I found something!” Magna called out.

The three other coursers crowded around where Squish was stuck to the wall, Magna holding onto their shell to pull the rock away.

“A hidden message?” Fird looked at the hidden etchings.

“I don’t recognize the symbols though…” Magna furrowed his brows as Squish oozed their way up his muzzle.

“I do!” Limestone shouted in Fird’s ear, causing the other to shy away. “It’s not a message, or well, not a coherent one! There are some hidden runes around here though, I’ll bet this is the order that we should press them! Oh but…” Limestone’s face fell. “There’s a lot of rubble and very little light, I’m not sure if they are all intact still.”

“That’s alright! Let’s still try find them all, and.. uhh… put some cave moss by them all so we know where they are! Maybe… less by the early ones and more by the larger ones?” Sable suggested pulling cave moss out of their own bag.

“Good idea! We may be able to complete any that are broken or marred if this system is based on magic.” Fird bumped his head on Sable’s before turning to Limestone.

“Now what do these runes look like?”