Go around the corner.

You step quietly down the hallway. Dim torches illuminate the path. The air grows colder, and the atmosphere becomes heavy with tension. You bend the corner carefully, peaking around in case of danger.

You quickly take in the strange sight before you. A gorgon, a descendent of Medusa, stands post at the end of the hallway just before the entrance to another room. No ordinary guard, the monstrous woman is strung up and bound around a tall pillar in the center of the hall. Like the mermaid at the end of a ship's mast, the gorgon is precipitously hoisted up into the air against the column of stone. Sturdy chains bind her body and legs to the column, which is at a slight incline. While her body is bent forward, her arms are wrenched up behind her, held tight by thick shackles. Matted green hair forms two thick braids that run down each side, past prominently displayed cleavage-- her chest is thrust forward by position of her arms. Her eyes shine a dark malevolent light, illuminating the passage in a sickly purple glow.

Over a dozen grey figures are staggered towards the end of the hall. These statues are all previous victims of the monster.

You jerk back around the corner swiftly, realizing how close you were to your doom. Your clan has dealt with such creatures before. The original Medusa was a victim of an unjust God, but her descendants are wicked. For centuries, you have hunted their kind. But even a well-prepared hero can fall to such a monster. It must have crossed the wrong vampire, winding up imprisoned here.

You remember what you were taught... the light emitted by the gorgon's eyes is a perilous danger, capable of swiftly turning a person into stone. Besides their petrifying gaze, you know especially powerful gorgons have the ability to enthrall prey with their voice. Mesmerized victims are beguiled into matching the creature's gaze.

A truly lethal combination of powers...

"I need to play my cards right. No one would create such an potent trap if not to protect something vital..." you think. "Perhaps the creature can be reasoned with. It doesn't seem to be here willingly... If I can reach the statues, I could use them as cover." From your bag, you grab a spare cloak and a short span of rope. A gorgon is helpless with a gag in her mouth and a covering over her eyes.

Before you can finalize a course of action, you hear her voice. It echoes down the hallway, "Another monster hunter? I can smell your stench... Your kind reeks of the blood of my ancestors! I'll be well rewarded for your capture, a hundred years off my sentence!" She laughs gleefully. You note the reptilian quality of her voice, raspy and sinister.

Her tone of voice shifts. "What are you afraid of? Come forward... I don't bite... " Her voice before was raspy, but now it is smooth. Even Sultry...

It is the most beautiful voice you have ever heard...

You should listen to her...

Suddenly, you snap out of your stupor. You panic, realizing that you have moved forward into the hall, your gaze transfixed on the chained gorgon. You raise an arm to block the beasts glare. You stumble forward, using the cover of a petrified statue to protect yourself.

"HOW??" The gorgon hisses. The gorgon is furious, the chains rattle at her thrashing. Her voice has lost all it's charm. "No fair!".

Somehow you broke free from the charming spell... the rose? You feel in your pouch. The rose is heavy now, petrified to solid stone. Just like she promised...

You made significant progress down the hallway. The gorgon is just a dozen feet in front of you. She howls and hisses wildly. Now is your chance, before she regains her senses.

You close your eyes, dashing forward instinctually with the agility of a trained warrior. While running, you prepare the cloak and rope. The shocked gorgon clears her throat, ready to try another charm. You reach the gorgon in a moment. You unfurl the cloak, it billows over her head.

"Stop!... Do as I--mmph!"

The serpents hex is interrupted by a thicken rope run through her open mouth and around her head, securing the cloak over her head and muffling her voice.

You admire your completed work, turning to the end of the hallway.

You focus on the solid stone wall in front of you. It is a circular door, and on it are large hand-sized runes. They glow various shades of dark red and purple.

You hear chuckling behind you. "Thoo donph efen no tha paffword?"

A password...

"But you know the password..."