Enter the left room.

Ignoring the voice for now, your party cautiously steps into the room so crudely opened, and you soon see what Niki was just talking about. The first thing you notice--

Before you can think further, the narration cuts you short and does the work for you. "After entering the chamber so brazenly, the enemies inside are not taken by surprise, though neither are you. The room is quite large as sixty feet by eighty feet, though the farther end is raised by twenty feet, only accessible normally by a flight of stairs on the far opposite corner. You see a number of goblins. Twelve to be specific, eight of which are down below wielding scimitars and shields, with the remaining four up above with shortbows."

Eva's eyes dart about. "I don't see anything she's describing."

"Look there," Snow points out.

All around the room are weapons laying on the ground--no goblins at all. Though the colour Niki first spotted was all the powder covering the floor. It looks like sand, but of all different hues, mostly collected in piles near where the weapons are resting. Though as the voice speaks, said sand begins rising up into dust devils of mostly green, and humanoid shapes are gradually formed.

"But that isn't all," the narration continues. "Above the rest, in the back, stands a man in charge. He's a bugbear, clad in a loosely fit leather helmet and wields an axe in both hands, with three more slipped into a leather belt. Next to him is a wolf even larger than himself. Its eyes shine red, and drool pools beneath its snarling maw as it gazes down at the five star meal that just entered its territory. It's a dire wolf, and all it awaits is the command to kill."

And as the explanation finishes, you see all that's described. The sand has formed completely into animated, life-like recreations of monsters. You can barely tell the difference. They even emit sounds like the real deal. Up above, the bugbear steps near the edge of the raised upper area and points the head of his axe towards your party. He's much taller than a goblin. In fact, he's likely taller than you. His yellowish brown body is covered in thick fur, and his arms are both lanky and bulging with muscle. It doesn't look like he's much smarter than the others, but he's certainly meaner.

"What do you do?" asks the voice.

This is way too familiar. Too suspicious. Somebody is messing with us. I don't know if they've turned this dungeon into an accurate recreation of an RPG on purpose or by accident. I can never tell with this world. But either way, there's some tomfoolery going on here.

You raise your sword. "We fight!"

"Haha, yeah!" Niki shouts before sprinting towards the nearest pack of goblins.

Though as she does, the bugbear gives his command. He says something in another tongue, and his ravenous companion leaps from the upper area, not at all caring the distance he has to drop. It lunges down towards the party, and seeing that, Niki shifts her direction. The goblins swing at her as she pivots, but two of the scimitar strikes miss, and the last hardly leaves a mark on the back of her leg. She throws her weight up and forward, and tackles the dire wolf right into the side of the staircase.

An arrow bounces off the tile next to Xiaoqing's feet. She runs forward, right in the middle of the goblins, and swings her sleeve over in an arch across the area in front of her, and as she does, a trail of solid ice trails in her wake. It forms a wall, just tall enough to block line of sight for the archers above. Then just as one of the nearest goblins tries to cut her down, she narrowly dodges the attack, and plants a boot straight into the monster's face.

"I've got you." Before she can regret her decision to place herself in harm's way, you weave through the goblins like a dancer, striking out with precision at a few before even reaching her. You slip by their shields, and drop them to the ground. They sink down as piles of colourful sand yet again, with weapons clattering to the ground. Three down, five to go, with Niki distracting the beast, and the boss lurking up ahead with his four archers, all unseen behind the wall of ice.

That is until an axe comes crashing through. It's thrown with such might that while it doesn't obliterate the entire wall, it does carve a path down the middle. Amara's eyes widen as the weapon hurdles towards her, though the hair on the back of your neck stands straight, and you feel a rush of adrenaline heighten your senses. You speak the word, "Shuffle," the moment you step over the piles of discarded weaponry.

After swapping places with Amara, you parry the throwing axe. It spins off to the side with a loud clank against stone. Meanwhile, you stare the bugbear chief down from below.

"I can't... With everyone already in there, I can't use my lightning to fry the group," Eva says. The goblins above take advantage of the cracked ice. An arrow flies through, but before it can hit, Eva raises her carrot and shouts, "Ward!"

"Perfect reaction," Snow says. She slides right up to the bunnyfolk and aims her bow. The second the ward spell dissipates, she unleashes a shot, and then another. Two goblins fall, and they begin thinking twice about making themselves visible after all.

"Crazy shooting as always."

Just then, the entire ice wall collapses. It isn't from the bugbear, or any of the goblins, but Niki's wrestle with the dire wolf. They tumble through, crushing a goblin on the way, and then land right in the center of the encounter. The beast's massive maw chomps own over the entire right half of Niki's body. Teeth dig in. She grunts, but merely taunts back with, "Wow. That actually hurts. Too bad it won't last." She then grabs hold of the wolf's snout, and with her superhuman strength, turns and takes the creature down with a booming thud.

"Do you guys have the floor down here?" you ask.

"Got it!" Snow sinks an arrow into one of the lower goblin's shields, but pierces through the head of the one next to it.

You nod and then sprint forth, on your feet like normal at first, but then start to tense your legs and prepare to leap. First you point your sword up towards the bugbear chief. You speak the magic phrase, "Entangle Bolt". A shadowy power pulses down the blade of your weapon. Then, it fires like an arrow.

Not expecting a ranged attack from you, the bugbear is struck on the chest. Then blue tendrils begin enveloping his torso, much to his dismay. Though it's also about to get far worse, as when he gazes down below, you're already gone.

With a Bunny Hop, you land behind him.

Now with Lauo in-hand, you strike forth in a barrage of jabs, absolutely decimating the bugbear's backside. He groans and screams, turning with a frothing mouth. Though one arm is trapped, he flails with his other in a futile attempt to cut you down. Though after parrying it aside, you slash up his body, and then deliver a disrespectful boot to his gut. The moment he disappears off the ledge, you turn to the remaining two goblins nearby. One fires an arrow, but it goes straight over your shoulder. The other is deflected by your blade. With the speed and skill you possess, two ordinary goblins don't chance a chance in the slightest. They fall to sand.

Then, you dive after the chief.

He's laying on his back, hardly moving, but after a sword is thrust straight through his head, he disintegrates immediately. The axes are all that remain, and the remnants of your entanglement dissipate as well.

Bang! Niki's mace deals incredible damage to the dire wolf's head.

Next, it's struck by a Magic Bolt from Eva, and then another. Three arrows sink into the side of its body. Then with one final shield bash from Niki yet again, not only does the creature perish, but it covers her in an explosion of dark sand.

The encounter is over.

Snow investigates as she makes her way across the room to collect her arrows. "It really is just... dirt, but coloured with some sort of paint."

While the rest of the party catches their breath, the voice from before speaks up again. "You've successfully bested the guardians of the room. Up the stairs, on the far wall of the upper level, you see another door. This one has an obvious keyhole below the knob, larger than one would normally be. What would you like to do?"

"I guess nobody could really say this but Kyle, so I'm gonna be the one to do it. This is Dungeons & Dragons, right?" Xiaoqing asks. "We're in some kind of tabletop RPG."

"What's that?" Eva asks.

"It's a game from Earth. Not specifically a video game though. More like a board game I suppose," you answer.

"That can't be right. Unless you think this whole place was designed by somebody from your world."

"Don't know. I guess if the voice isn't going to respond to us, we'll have to keep going to find out."

There's a loud rattling above. You look up the steps as you make your way back up, and see Niki desperately trying to yank open the door but to no avail. If her strength can't do it, you figure it's no ordinary door. You spot the keyhole that was mentioned as well.

She leans down to peer through it.

"What's on the other side?" Snow asks.

"Can't see through it," Niki replies. "Weird."

"It's definitely a magic door," Eva speaks up.

"We probably need to go find a key," says Xiaoqing.

"... Okay, but hear me out." Niki takes a few steps back, and then sprints full **** into the door, shield-first. It doesn't budge, and she falls backwards to the ground. "Oof. Yeah all right. That's definitely a magic door. She's right."

"Maybe I could try and pick it," Snow says.

Eva taps it with her knuckle. "Not if it's magical."

The voice emanates from around the room yet again. For just a moment, you could swear it sounded impatient, though it returns straight back into its impartial, proper tone. "With the doorway ahead being locked, you think that perhaps the key may be found in another room. The only other one you remember is the one back from where you came."

"I actually have an idea," says Eva.

"Go right ahead," you say.

The bunnyfolk drops to her knees in front of the door. Then with a hand on the wall beside it, she aligns her face with the knob, slowly opens her mouth, extends out her tongue, flutters closed her eyes, and gently licks the cold metal. She reacts strangely at first, for obvious reasons such as the metallic taste on her tongue, though very quickly she moves past this and seems to actually be enjoying the process. Eva presses her lips to it, and drags the tip of her tongue around the border of the knob before wrapping her mouth around it as best it can given its size. She places a hand adjacent, and moans softly as she continues. Drool drips down to the stone below. Nobody knows quite what to do while watching this, though she seems to have become entirely lost in her own fantasy.

"... Is she just gonna... slob on the knob?" Niki asks quietly. "While we watch?"

"I trust that she knows what she is doing," Amara answers.

"Mmm," Eva whispers. The taste that was strange before she now enjoys. She begins to devour it like a big piece of candy, lapping it up hungrily now with both hands wrapped around the base. "So good..."

Her eyes shoot open.

It's like she suddenly realized the reality of the situation. When she turns her head slightly to glance at her party, you can see her face is rosy red. With a gasp, she pulls away, wipes her lips, and struggles to her feet. She then swallows hard. "I think I might have done it," she says quietly.

Xiaoqing looks to you with blushing cheeks of her own. "What did she do?"

But Eva answers. "I ate the magic."

Niki can't help but laugh. It isn't to mock, but instead done with overwhelming excitement. She wraps her hand around the bunnyfolk in a firm embrace, and then hurries to the doorway.

"S-Sorry, I kinda spaced out there for a minute," Eva mutters. "I was thinking about someone--I mean something, or uhm... Nevermind."

You approach. "Good job--"

Eva jumps in place. "O-Oh! Kyle! What are you doing here?"

"... We're doing a dungeon together."

"R-Right. Aha, I knew that."

Crash! Niki does as she did before, though this time, the door not only swings open, but it shatters from its hinges and hits the floor in the next room with a reverberating boom. "Well I'll be damned. She totally did it."