After escaping whatever monster had hunted them through the cistern - and unfortunately missing whatever treasure vault Alaric had previously found - the group wound their way through the dungeon, the passageways they followed leading them subtly but inexorably down into the depths. Thankfully, no monsters hounded their steps here.

Bandit, Alaric’s wolf, suddenly paused in his trotting and stared straight ahead, ears swiveling. Alaric stopped too, his own ears pricking to try and hear whatever his wolf heard. “What is it, boy?”

But it was Nadira’s wisp that answered his query, instead. It appeared before them all, pointing down the path they were one. “There’s something up ahead,” Nadira spoke up, verbalizing what Whisper was trying to tell them. “Not a monster, but something.”

“What kind of something?” Kaira asked as she stepped up beside the mage, trying to catch her pale eyes — but Nadira merely shrugged her shoulders in response.

Alaric let out a soft snort and continued walking forward. “Only one way to find out, then.” The others followed after him without complaint.

And then, one by one, they heard it: a faint ticking sound, echoing down the passageway. None of them said a word as they walked toward the source of the sound, something about it making them all feel uneasy. It was too rhythmic and perfect to be some kind of organic creature, so what was it?

“What is it?” Kaira asked, voicing what they were all thinking, as they rounded the corner. Some kind of massive, mechanical thing was built into the opposite wall, moving and creaking beneath the incessant ticking. Lanternlight glinted off its metal teeth as they ground together.

Alaric approached it first, staring up at it. It must’ve been at least six coursers tall, if not more. “I’m not sure. Nadira, Corvo — any ideas?”

“I sense some magic to it,” Nadira murmured as she, too, walked towards the metal monstrosity. “But magic is not running it.”

Corvo joined her, staring up at the thing with undisguised wonder and curiosity. “Looks old as hell. Metal, mechanical — must’ve been built before the war.”

“What does it do?”

“Dunno, but it—”

All at once, every single gear in the machine halted. The ticking stopped. The grinding, the noise, it all went deathly still and quiet.

Until something came crashing down far behind them, echoing down the passage and shaking the ground beneath their hooves.

“A trap?! Shit—”

“What do we do?!”

“Whatever’s making that noise fell when the machine stopped — Corvo, can you get it working again?” Alaric asked, smoothly taking control before the others could fall too deeply into panic. “Maybe that’ll stop whatever’s heading this way.”

“Uh, sure, yeah. Lemme see—” Not that he’d ever messed with mechanical things like this before, of course, but he could at least try. Especially if it’d save their hides. It was kind of difficult to pilfer and steal things when you were dead.