Rising out of the gloom at the end of a long tunnel was an unremarkable wall. It was quiet, filthy, and inscrutible.

"A dead end," said Dag, coming to halt before it. He thought—not for the first time in their gruelling trek below—that he had been mistaken to agree to campaign with this particular group again. The last time, he had been soundly beaten by a shadow with no sense of sportsmanship. Sir Averny, who purported to be a knight, hadn't stepped in. His squire had been too nervous; the doctor too frail. Why'd he come down here with them when he could've been with Grindhouse and Triomphe? Coursers who knew how to stop him from making his impulsive, self-assured decisions. "Ugh."

Maybe the dead end was a blessing in disguise. Maybe they could simply turn around, go back to the surface, and—

"Hm... How strange," said Doctor Howell, his pale velvet nose lowered to the ground. Puffs of breath from his nostrils cleared away centuries-old dust. Mother of pearl and marble gleamed back at him. A mosaic. "A corridor so bland as this one—to have such an intricate floor... And for it to be so well-hidden, so deep underground! We've been descending at a considerable angle for hours now."

"There must be a reason." Sir Averny took the bait and joined the doctor in sweeping away the dirt.

"Maybe they spent all their money on the floor," Dag groused. "Didn't have enough left for the walls." (At least Hildebrand had laughed at that.)

"I do believe... if we were to press these symbols in the order in which the life cycle of the plant depicted plays out—" Howell was growing excited, now. Lively. He paced the room feverishly, giddy, Sir Averny keeping pace.

"Yes! Brilliant, Doctor. Marvellous. Will you do the honours?"

"The correct order should be—"

"D'you think we should help?" Dag shot Hildebrand a sidelong look. The squire shook his chesnut head.

"Aha!"

Practically glowing with triumph, Doctor Howell stamped a hoof onto the final symbol, and the corridor gave a mechanical groan. The walls trembled, sending down sifting snowfalls of dust and cobwebs. Grinding, slow, a door slid back from the dead end's wall, just big enough for a Courser to pass through.

"Great work, Doctor!" Averny hooted.

"Yeah," Dag huffed sullenly. "Great."