Prompt: A crumpled skeleton fills this chamber, bones still loosely arranged in the shape of a great and alien being. Its enormous skull blocks your advance. As you seek a way through, the glint of metal catches your eye; a blade is wedged into the fatal split in the skull’s brow. Perhaps if you could finish what it started…

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“I’m fine, really,” Paladin told the group.
“I can confirm, there are no serious injuries. Just some little scratches. I’ll clean them, cover them and then we can be on our way,” Cordula added.
Jin nodded.
“Very good.”
Majesty just sighed, partially in relief and partially out of annoyance. Somehow Paladin had fallen for the same darn monster twice now. She worried about the fate of their current campaign into the dungeon. She turned to watch the pacing courser-like creature.
It’s skull chattered, only stopping when it grumbled quietly to itself about the wretched coursers ignoring its pleas. It wanted to explore, wanted to join them, wanted to lure them to… something… Majesty couldn’t quite catch that part but it made her raise a brow. Definitely not something to be safe around and she began to wonder what else was in this dungeon that the monster would want to lure them deeper in like some kind of sacrifice.
“Alright, scratches are clean and covered,” Cordula piped up, pulling Majesty from her thoughts.
Paladin had a bandage wrapped around his upper front leg to cover some scratches and prevent infection. Even if they were just small scratches, they didn’t want to risk anything down here.
“Thank you, Cordula,” Jin said.
“Yes, thank you,” Majesty added.
Majesty walked up to stand next to Paladin who was sitting on his butt and pouting. He knew very well he had done something at least a little dumb.
“What do you say, Paladin?” Majesty asked him, giving his shoulder a nudge.
“Thank you, Cordula,” Paladin mumbled.
“You are very welcome. Just no more approaching suspicious grates, okay?”
“Okay…”
“We should get moving again. We have not yet found a way out and it would be best to find a new exit before we run out of supplies,” Jin said, referring to the medical supplies they had just used.

They began to backtrack through the tunnels. Coming to the previous chamber they knew the path they came from was the one right across from them. There were two options to their left and two to their right. They had a suspicion the two on their left led back to grates connecting to whatever tunnels the courser-like creature lived in, just due to the general direction the tunnels went compared to where the grate they just found was and where they believed the cistern to be. The tunnel would have to cross that entire span.
They took the far tunnel on the right. With Jin in the lead, followed by Cordula, Paladin, and Majesty in the back. Majesty kept a close eye on Paladin to keep him out of further trouble while Jin and Cordula discussed their current situation and what they would need to do if they could not find an exit ahead somewhere. The tunnel slanted downwards, taking them deeper into the dungeon. They began to wonder if they found a way down to the base level of the main chamber. It would be excellent if that were the case.
Eventually the ceiling above them began to rise, the tunnel walls expanded outwards and widened. The subtle increase in the size of the tunnel stopped when it ended at a large chamber. It was much larger than the previous chamber they had entered, second only to the main chamber. The walls glittered around them as the light of their lamps bounced off shiny specks embedded in the stone. Luckily this allowed the lamps to light up the entire chamber, revealing the skeletal remains of the large creature.
“Wow!” Cordula exclaimed.
“That does not look like the other skeleton we found. Pretty sure this thing is at least three times the size,” Majesty commented.
“Look! Another sword!” Paladin remarked, almost a little too loudly.
“Someone must have been going through here and just slaying everything. Kinda funny they keep losing their swords though,” Majesty chuckled.
Jin approached the skeleton to get a closer look.
The body of the skeleton was quite whale-like, but that is where the similarities ended. The face was flatter and full of sharp teeth. Leg bones revealed it had six legs that were most likely quite thick to carry the weight of this thing as the bones were thick and heavy themselves. Along the spine were large spikes that curved slightly towards the tail. The ones near the shoulders were medium in size and got larger towards the middle before getting smaller towards the tail end. The way it was placed made Jin believe it had been sleeping when some dungeoneer snuck up on it and killed it with a sword to the head. Unfortunately the sword had gotten stuck and was therefore abandoned. This also means that the path was blocked with no way for said dungeoneer to move the creature. Its head laid before the entrance, pressed against the wall. The group could only imagine how heavy it must have been when it still had flesh.
“Sooo… how are we getting past? Or should we backtrack again?” Cordula asked.
“I say let's give it a shot. We’ve improved since our last attempt and this feels promising,” Jin replied.
Hopping up, Jin tied a rope carefully to the handle of the sword. Looking around he then had the idea to loop the rope around the nearest back spike. Once Jin rejoined the others, they lined up to begin pulling on the rope. Paladin took the front with Cordula right behind him. Jin was third in the lineup, picking up the rope, and Majesty was in the back.
“Three… two… one… PULL!” Jin called.
Together they pulled on the rope. At first it did not move.
“One more time.”
They pulled again. This time a sharp sound rang out, like a blade scraping against something metal. The sword moved just a bit from what they could see.
“Again,” Cordula said this time.
They all pulled, all felt the determination to free the blade from its skull prison. They were certain they could free it. It moved again, more quietly, but also more visible. The progress grew with each attempt and so they tried one more time.
“And again!” Jin signaled.
One last pull and they could see the majority of the sword now sticking out from the top of the skull, leaning toward the spike they had wrapped the rope around. Paladin approached and leapt up, planning to use his might to pull it free. Biting down on the handle he could feel all eyes on him as the group watched with anticipation. Bracing himself by spreading his legs enough to create a more stable pose, he pulled on the handle.
Paladin had nearly put too much force behind his pull. As the sword slipped free from the skull the stallion nearly stumbled backwards off the skull and right into the ribcage. It would not have been a pleasant fall, but his bracing prevented him from stumbling back too far. He posed triumphantly on top of the skull as Majesty rolled her eyes and the other two just chuckled.
“Excellent! Now to see if we can use that to either crack the skull… or we could use it to try and move the skull? Use it as a lever?” Jin went over a few ideas. “Do you think you can manage either?” they asked Paladin.
“I can give them both a try!” he replied.
Paladin got into position, ready to try and widen the crack in the creature’s skull. Lifting the sword, he brought it down upon the skull with all his might.