Tuesday and Nîmes discussed the matter of the coursers on the dungeon tiles for quite some time, examining each tile closely and considering their placement throughout the room. Evangeline listened to them talk with growing restlessness.

“So have you figured out the puzzle yet?”

“Well, we think that maybe the direction each courser is pointing indicates a path around the room that needs to be followed in order to open the way forward.” Tuesday answered patiently, and Nîmes nodded along. 

“What are we waiting for, then? Let’s do that.” Evangeline said, trotting back to the entrance to the room to follow the path indicated by the coursers on the tiles. 

“Wait-” Tuesday was cut off by the rumbling of the ancient mechanism as Evangeline stepped on the first tile. Then, she followed the direction the courser on the tile pointed until she reached the second tile to step on, and so on and so forth, until she’d walked all the way across the room, stepping on every courser tile along the way. There was a moment of silence.

“...Did it work?” Evangeline asked, turning to face the wall that blocked their way. It remained a wall. Finally, the mechanism in the walls rumbled a final time.

Suddenly, holes opened up in the walls, and a volley of arrows began to fire from them. All four mares whinnied with fright, stampeding back out of the room in the direction they’d come from. When they were safely back in the previous chamber, Tuesday took stock of the situation. Nîmes looked badly rattled, and Aeneid was glaring daggers at Evangeline. Evangeline for her part, was staring at the ground, looking humiliated. Everyone was in one piece, at least. Tuesday sighed.

“Well, I guess there’s nothing left to do but head back to the surface.”

Everyone seemed okay at the moment, but that could change once the adrenaline wore off. They’d need to examine each other for any nicks or grazes from the arrows, and that was more easily done outside the dungeon. The group headed back to the surface with their shoulders drooping.