Prompt: After an exhausting descent, your party reaches what seems to be a dead end. A seamless wall blocks your path, but walking across the engraved tiles before it produces the sound of an ancient unseen mechanism rumbling to life. Perhaps the artwork on the floor is the key…

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Paladin’s crossing had not gone so well. The bay tobiano had been doing his best to copy the others. Moving slowly, one hoof at a time, trying to step lightly. None of which were easy for the stallion as he was naturally a heavy courser and had less self-control than the others so moving slowly and carefully was hard. The other four watched with worry, muscles tense and ready to act if they needed to. So focused was Paladin on his movements that he did not notice one of the bones in his path. One careless step and a rib bone was sent careening across the cave floor, clattering. He froze.
The creature was in no way quiet as the shifting sound of its body moved against the stone floor to sit up. Claws clacked against the floor as it stood. Teeth chattered as its mouth opened and closed. Then it sniffed the air and its head turned towards the side of the cave in which Paladin had been sneaking across. It caught his scent.
“RUN!” Jin yelled.
The sound caught the creature’s attention before it could charge at the bay tobiano. Turning towards the entrance of the cave it began to lumber towards where Jin was running across the opening to the other side of the opening.
“No, no! OVER HERE!” Cordial yelled.
The yellow courser ran in a different direction, confusing the creature for a moment. The two coursers bounced their calls back and forth, running around sporadically to confuse the creature. Majesty waited in silence as Paladin scurried towards her, trying to be as quiet as possible. If the creature turned around and made its way back into the cave he knew he would not be able to get out. At least out in the open and among the pools of goo they stood a chance to escape or trap the creature long enough for them to find a way out.
“JIN! SWAP!” Paladin yelled once he was out of the cave and a distance from Majesty who was confused why he had passed her.
Jin was also confused and nearly stumbled, but Paladin’s call had already drawn the attention of the creature. Jin and Majesty then realized Paladin was giving Jin an out to work with the gray chestnut mare to find them a way out while him and Cordula distracted the creature. Upon realizing this the chimeric ether wasted no time in hurrying, quietly, to Majesty and the two began to search for a way out.
The two found a ramp leading upwards and back to the entrance above. They had not seen it from the platform above but they could see it now. Luckily between the exit and the creature were multiple pools of goo and thin crossings perfect for coursers.
“OVER HERE!” Majesty yelled.
Cordula and Paladin took off like bullets, taking different routes among the pools to confuse the creature who quickly turned to follow. It did not take it long to get stuck in one of the pools. The creature roared as the team of courser escaped up the thin ramp, too thin for the creature to follow and too high for it to reach.
“Well, we survived,” Cordula panted as they stopped outside the tunnel to the dungeon section they had left behind.
“Maybe we should find a different dungeon, thoughts?” Majesty asked.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“I’ll look into it,” Jin added.
They left the dungeon together, excited to rest and to clean up, especially after the slime slide they had ended up on earlier as the slime was beginning to dry.

Outside of the dungeon, Jin searched for a new dungeon for them to explore, coming across one that apparently was challenging to get into. He found it intriguing and so he asked the team and they decided to give it a try.
“So… there is supposed to be a dungeon here?” Majesty asked with a hint of sass.
Jin looked from the map to the smooth, seamless, cave wall before them.
“Yep, there is supposed to be something here,” Jin replied.
Cordula walked up to the wall and lifted a hoof, tapping it against the wall. It sounded solid, so she took a few steps forward and tried again. She continued to do this as Majesty and Jin looked over the map and discussed.
Paladin wasn’t sure what to do with himself so he began to wander around, walking circles around the chamber they were in to distract himself from boredom. As he was walking he was looking down at the ground and noticed some very old engravings on the floor that were becoming worn with time. The engravings showed different shapes set in squares. He stopped and decided to step on one.
CLICK!
Everyone froze.
“What was that?” Jin asked.
“I stepped on a funny shape…” Paladin replied nervously, frozen.
“Do not move,” Majesty added.
In their heads Jin and Majesty thought it was a trap. They looked at Paladin, Cordula was looking at the wall right next to her. The sound had come from the wall, not from where Paladin was currently standing.
“I think there is a hidden door,” Cordula said.
“What makes you think that?” Jin asked.
“The clicking sound, it came from the wall when Paladin stepped on that square. It’s a puzzle!”
“Okay, but how do we solve it? Has anyone seen anything that looks like a clue?” Majesty asked.
“Can I move?” Paladin interrupted their thoughts and questions.
“Oh, yes, give it a shot,” Jin said.
They all waited tensely as Paladin moved.
CLICK!
“Oh, that puts the piece back in place it sounds like,” Cordula said.
“So we have to find the right combination and stay put on them,” Jin added.
Looking around, they searched the walls for any sign of what the combination might be. They also began to record all the markings on the floor to better track the information they found. All of the tracking and brainstorming was done in a journal Jin had with him.
“Hey! Found something on the back of this boulder!” Majesty chimed.
All of them trotted over from where they had been searching to look at the markings on the boulder. There were four symbols; a sun, a bird, a door, and a set of three squiggly lines they assumed was meant to be water. Underneath were the numbers; three, one, four, and two.
“Maybe we have to press them in that order?” Cordula suggested.
“Let’s give it a try,” Jin chimed, earning nods from the others.