Try the other door.

"After besting the Prison Princess and valiantly rescuing her captured victims, you return to the fork in your journey, though only one way remains. You make your way down the hallway towards the door, and..." For some reason, the narrator's voice trails off into confused mumbling. Though you can't see the Dungeon Master's face, you sense her annoyance.

Then you turn to the sound of gargling and dripping water.

Eva is tilting back her head with the Decanter of Endless Water pouring straight down into her mouth. Much of it is running from her lips and down to soak her body, though she's gulping plenty of it down like somebody found lost for days in the desert. Upon realizing everybody has stopped to look back at her, she brings it back to her side. It continues to pump out for a moment longer before she corks the tip. "What?" she asks before licking her lips. "It's so refreshing! I have infinite water now... or nearly infinite?"

"Hydration is important," says Amara.

"That's true," Niki agrees. "One of the biggest killers of adventurers is lack of drinkable water. You can hunt all the wild game you want, but if you run out of water, you're done."

"Can't argue with that. I don't know how much dungeon is left either," you say. "Are you all ready to continue?"

After receiving various iterations of, "Yes," you squeeze the handle of your sword in its scabbard and cautiously approach the door at the end of the hall, along with Niki closely beside you. As it's been, Xiaoqing remains close, while both Amara and Eva as the casters of the party stay safely behind all but Snow who watches the party's back, ready at a moment's notice to draw an arrow if trouble arises. You don't hear anything on the other side, and neither do those with keener ears. So Niki grabs the knob, and shows the passage forward isn't locked by swinging it open more abruptly than was meant due to her alarming strength.

The next chamber's grid is thirty-five squares wide, and twice that long. There's a chasm cut through the middle, ten feet wide, though a bridge the width of a single square provides passage through the center. For a moment you think you see a door on the opposite end, but nothing is that simple. It's actually the outline of one, perhaps to denote a sealed passage. You're not sure yet. Through it would make sense given the circuitry of pulsing magic wrapping from that end of the room all the way to the walls to your left and right--embossed lines of glowing cyan.

Several thin metal tablets are scattered near your feet. Each one has a different pattern, and while they aren't lit up like the rest, they resemble chunks of that circuitry. You're starting to understand that this is likely some sort of puzzle room. To both your sides, there are large rectangles cut into the walls no deeper than the tablets are thin. The correct ones need to be found, and lined up to complete the trail of magic in order for the exit to reveal itself.

Unfortunately, several more are laying on the other side of that bridge. They aren't all nearby.

You hold up a hand as you slowly draw Lauo yet again. Your Kitty Sense is going wild. "Yeah there's no way we're just here to solve a jigsaw puzzle. There's gonna be more."

"Aw man." Niki crosses her arms. "The one time I was with a party, and we found a dungeon, and there was a puzzle room, I couldn't figure it out at all. I got frustrated and broke the thing, and we couldn't continue. They kicked me out before we could even get back to town. It was so awkward."

"There six of us here, Niki," you say. "And we all have our specialties. I don't need you to solve a puzzle anymore than I need Eva to sneak around and shoot a bow, or Amara to swing a mace."

Amara chuckles. "That is a funny thing to imagine--"

A loud sound echoes out from the opposite send of the room, like heavy stones being aggressively scraped together. A hole in the ceiling opens. Then, something streams out from within, though not water--not a liquid at all. The noise is almost like a xylophone. Dozens and dozens of bones clatter all over the other end of the bridge, though moments after hitting the ground, they slide completely on their own towards one another, as if they were magnets.

Then almost as swiftly as they came, the fragments snap together at the joints by dark magic. They don't resemble the skeletons of any creature you've seen before--a bit shorter than even Eva, though they stand with a hunch, so they may actually be closer to your height, but their heads are more neanderthal than modern human. Long, deadly fangs protrude from otherwise fractured teeth. And as soon as they're fully formed, their sockets radiate with a sickly green glow, and a viscous ooze drips from their maws. Their bony feet rattle against the hard stone tiles as they march slowly towards the only passage from their end of the room to yours.

"The clock is ticking now. We gotta grab the tablets meant to fit along these walls before more stuff pours in," Xiaoqing says. "Are those some kinda undead?"

"Are those--" Amara puts a hand to her lips. "I have only ever heard of them, but I believe they are called rotghouls. Powerful, dangerous undead who are not only tricky to kill, but under no circumstances should you allow one to bite you. It is not just regular venom, but a sort of magic necrotic slime that causes one's body to... Well, it is in their name."

Eva holds up a tablet in either hand. They don't seem to be all that heavy. She looks between them, confused and panicked. "Uhm. All right. I admit, they didn't teach this at Redbloom Academy, and even if they did, I probably wouldn't have been paying attention."

Xiaoqing places her hand upon the back of one. "Allow me to help. I actually really like puzzle games."

Niki raises her shield. "I'll hold them off--"

"Not yet," Amara cuts her off. "Even with your Aegis ability, it is not worth the risk until it is necessary." Without waiting for an argument, the elf sprints towards the edge of the bridge, right as the rotghouls step foot on the opposite end.

"What are you doing?!" Niki calls out. "I'm supposed to be the reckless one!"

"Demons, undead, and other creatures of dark malice are my specialty. Anyway, I have a lot more mana than you do. Allow me to keep you all safe." Then she takes a deep breath as she grips her silver staff high--an orb of light manifesting above her head--and as she slams the blunt end down into the stone, she calls out, "Beacon of Warding!" And as she does, the orb bursts outward into a barrier that may be hardly visible, you can feel the warmth and comfort it offers as a refuge of safety against the nightmares outside. The glow extends out for twenty feet in every direction, not only blocking the rotghouls from crossing over, but pushing them back as well. At least for the time being, they're struggling to enter her domain for more than a second. Her potent magic keeps them at bay.

Speaking of the strength of her spells, despite the fact that her staff now remains upright on its own like a proud standing flag, she grips it tightly still to keep on her feet. Her knees wobble as the extensive use of her mana causes an immense rumbling between her legs. She tugs on her choker--sweating now, with red in her cheeks, as she fans herself off. She then turns back to you with a subtle bite of her lip and whispers, "N-Now all you must do is win this game."

"Haha, yeah!" Niki grabs the elf by her shoulder, causing her to shudder. "I'll stay by your side, just in case."