Dungeon with Too Many Doors

Note: This story involves riddles. If you want to try them yourself, stop reading after you see the asterisk (*).

The dark and the cold were the only things that surrounded me. I blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the darkness, but I couldn’t see anything. The chill cut through my body, and breathing the humid, cold air left me with goosebumps.

“Is anyone here?” A woman’s voice nearby startled me. I took a few deep breaths, trying to slow my rapid breathing and steady my pounding heart. Should I answer? A woman hiding in the dark sounds like a trap.

“Yeah, I’m here,” I heard another voice, a man’s this time. “With this, it should be better.” The bright light came from his direction, blinding me again. Great, the darkness was probably better.

I closed my eyes for a moment, then blinked to adjust to the sudden light. I saw a man in a purple robe holding a pulsating ball of light in his palm. He seemed familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen him.

“Have we met before?” I asked bluntly, completely ignoring the two other people standing nearby. He shrugged. “It’s possible, but I don’t remember you, sorry,” he answered. “I’m Merlin,” he introduced himself. Maybe I don’t know him after all.

“Taran,” I told him my name, then finally looked at the woman and the other man I had ignored earlier.

“I’m Rhea,” said the woman. She was dressed in shades of brown and khaki, wearing a long hooded cloak. What caught my attention was her elegantly carved longbow and a leather back quiver.

“Warren.” The man introduced himself. He was huge, especially compared with the tiny Rhea beside him. His muscular body was covered in light armor, and he held a two-handed greatsword, resting the flat of the blade on his shoulder.

“Okay, pleasantries are done. Now we can focus on what’s important. Where the hell are we?” asked Merlin, looking around, confused. I did the same.

We were standing in a dungeon. It was completely empty except for six stone animal statues with their mouths open: three on the left, three on the right. There was only one door, and it was closed. On the door, I noticed a large deer carving. I took a few steps toward the door and tried to open it, but it was locked.

“No clue, but this is probably the only way from here.” I took the lockpick out of my pocket to try to open the door. But when I touched the door with the lockpick, I heard an odd click. I instinctively jumped back just in time to dodge the axe swinging down from the ceiling.

“Nice reflexes,” said Rhea, partly admiringly and partly amused, and I just shrugged. Lockpicking would be too easy, I guess.

“The key is probably in one of the statues’ mouths.” Merlin pointed at them, and we all moved closer to examine the statues. They were a viper, a squirrel, a goat, a wolf, a cow, and a hare. *

“Fine, so we just need to search them all one by one.” Warren shoved his hand into the first statue, the viper.

“Wait!” The rest of us yelled in unison, but it was too late. The viper’s mouth clamped shut, biting Warren’s hand. He groaned in pain, then yanked his hand free.

“It bit me!” he bellowed in anger. All he saw was red; he began beating the statue with his fists, but the statue remained unharmed.

“Easy, big boy.” Rhea touched his hand soothingly, trying to lead him away from the statue. He calmed a little, allowing Rhea to tend to his injury.

“Okay, so viper is out; five remain,” said Merlin, slightly amused. “It’s obvious the animal has to be linked to deer in some way,” he continued, stroking his chin pensively.

“Maybe it’s a goat,” I proposed. “It looks similar, and it’s a herbivore like the deer,” I explained.

“Even a cow looks kind of similar, and it’s a herbivore, too.” Merlin shook his head.

“Maybe it’s a hare. It’s a herbivore that lives in a forest like the deer,” said Rhea, but Merlin shook his head again. “The squirrel mostly eats plants too and lives in the forest as well.”

“I think it’s a wolf,” said Merlin finally. “He is the only one who hunts and eats deer, so having the key in his mouth seems logical to me,” he explained.

“There’s no way I'm sticking my hand into the wolf’s mouth,” I refused resolutely.

“You are no man.” Warren looked at me as if I were a coward, then shoved his hand into the wolf’s mouth without hesitation.

“At least I have both hands unharmed,” I remarked to him, amused. He looked daggers at me, and I immediately regretted my comment. But then he smiled, pulling the key from the wolf’s mouth. He handed the key to Rhea, and she opened the door easily.

A long corridor, lit by torches, stretched ahead of us. We heard shrieks and footsteps approaching. I gulped, terrified, and instinctively drew my dagger. Rhea took the longbow from her back and nocked an arrow, ready to fire.

Then I saw them. Four skeletons with oddly blue bones were running toward us at incredible speed. Rhea fired an arrow at one of them, but it passed through the skeleton's body.

“Nice shot,” I said, irony in my voice, as she nocked another arrow. She fired, striking the skeleton in the head. The skeleton fell to the ground, its bones cracking. Merlin cast the light ball, knocking the second skeleton next to the first.

“I want the remaining two.” Warren grinned wildly, gripping his greatsword. He charged at them and then killed them both with a single swing.

“Wow, Taran, you were very useful.” Rhea looked at me, amused. I just shrugged. “I don’t like fighting.”

I noticed a small sack of coins on one of the skeletons’ belts. I took it, along with a necklace from the other skeleton. Rhea shot me a disapproving glare.

“They are dead; they don’t need it anymore.” She didn’t look pleased with my explanation, but she chose to ignore it, so we continued walking down the corridor.

At the end of the corridor, we found a door leading into a new room. We stepped inside. The room was quiet, and our footsteps echoed softly on the stone floor. Another closed door stood before us, but what really caught our attention was a small pedestal in the center, with a red lizard lying on it. The lizard tilted its head, looking at us with interest.

“You can’t pass unless you answer my riddle,” it said, and we stared at it in disbelief.

“Or we can kill you and pass through anyway.” Warren gripped his greatsword with both hands, slowly approaching the lizard. The lizard hopped off the pedestal and suddenly transformed into a huge dragon.

“Put that sword down,” the dragon roared, igniting the fire in his throat.

“Calm down.” Rhea took Warren’s hand, guiding him to put his sword away. The dragon seemed satisfied and turned back into the lizard form, hopping back to the pedestal.

“What’s the riddle?” Merlin asked, and the lizard smiled.

“I have scales, yet I’m not a fish. I have wings, yet I’m not a bird. I can roar, yet I’m not a lion. What am I?” *

“Are you serious? It’s literally you. A dragon,” I said partly in disbelief, partly amused. The lizard just nodded.

“At least give us something more difficult.” Rhea started laughing.

“Fine. I have another one, but this one is really hard,” it said proudly. “Let me breathe, and I will live. Give me food, and I will grow stronger. Give me water, and I will die. What am I?” *

“A fire. How about a riddle that is not you-related?” Merlin asked, bored by the lizard.

“You know what?” the lizard asked angrily. “No! I’m not paid enough for this!” It jumped down from the pedestal. “I’m leaving. You can pass.” With that, it walked away.

We opened the door easily, revealing a staircase leading upward. After climbing the steps, we emerged into another long corridor. At the far end, a cluster of strange purple mushrooms with pink spots huddled together. As we approached, I noticed one of them start to move slowly.

“The mushrooms are moving,” I alerted others, but when the mushrooms heard a voice, they quickly turned to face us. I started to shake slightly when I noticed their pink, piercing eyes.

“They are so cute! Look at their tiny arms.” Rhea swooned over them. The mushrooms began to growl, revealing their sharp teeth.

“Yeah, very cute,” I said ironically, grabbing my dagger again.

“Are you going to use it this time?” Rhea asked me, provocatively pointing at my dagger.

“Only if you fail,” I smirked, taking a few steps back and hiding behind her.

Warren looked at me disapprovingly, but he didn’t say anything. He grabbed his greatsword and took a few steps toward them.

“Wait,” Merlin shouted, pointing at the purple dust the mushrooms were releasing. “I think it’s poisoned,” he explained, and he began channeling the magic into the air, blowing the dust away.

“I will cover for you; go,” Merlin told Warren. “With pleasure.” He smiled, then ran toward the mushrooms. Rhea fired an arrow at them, killing one with the first shot.

Warren was occupied fighting six mushrooms; five slipped past him, running toward us. Rhea shot two of them before they got too close; she couldn’t fire another arrow.

“One is yours,” she barked at me, putting the bow away and reaching for her dagger.

I gulped, terrified, gripping my dagger tightly. I slashed at the mushroom with my dagger, but it dodged with ease. It lunged at me, trying to bite my leg.

I jumped aside, barely making it. It lashed out at me again, so fast I couldn’t dodge in time.

It bit into my leg, and I cried out in pain. I gritted my teeth and stabbed the mushroom in the head, taking advantage of the fact that it wasn’t moving. It loosened its grip on my leg and fell to the ground, dead.

“So you can be useful after all.” Rhea looked at me, a little proud, as she pulled her dagger from the mushroom’s corpse and let the body fall beside the other. I looked at Warren to see if he needed help, but he had already killed all the mushrooms.

“Let me see the injury.” Rhea stepped toward me, examining my leg and taking salve and bandages from her satchel. I let her tend my injuries while I looked away, not wanting to see the blood.

“Shall we continue?” Merlin asked, and we all nodded. As I passed the corpses of the six mushrooms Warren had killed, I noticed a gold bracelet on one of their tiny wrists. I took it and put it on my finger as a ring, admiring it with a smile. I could feel the disapproving glances, but no one said anything.

We continued down the long corridor. We moved cautiously, half-expecting more monsters to appear, but the way stayed clear.

When we reached the end of the corridor, there was a closed door. On the door, the words “Just be nice” were carved.

“Look, the door knows you,” Rhea said to me with a slight smirk.

“The same goes for you,” I said, trying to open the door, but it was locked. *

I took a lockpick from my pocket to unlock it.

“Don’t.” Merlin grabbed my hand, blocking me. “You have to be nice to the door,” he explained.

“What should I do then? Ask it nicely to open?” I asked sarcastically, but Merlin just nodded, looking very serious.

“Could you pretty please open?” Rhea asked the door in a really sweet voice, which sounded more like teasing to me. But the door probably didn’t notice she was making fun of it because it really started to open.

Behind the door, there were stairs leading up. We climbed them and stepped into a small room. The room was empty, but an asymmetrical floor caught our attention.

It was built from seven rows of rocks; each row had seven stones. The stones in the second row were larger than those in the first. The stones in the third row were larger than those in the second, and so on. The seventh row had the largest stones. Each stone had a carved animal. In every row, there were a hare, a mouse, a bear, a fly, a deer, a fox, and a wolf. *

Rhea, Merlin, and I stopped, looking at the floor, but Warren decided to ignore it and stepped on the stone with a bear. I heard a click and instinctively pulled him back just before several arrows flew past him.

“Come here and face me like a man,” Warren shouted angrily at the wall, gripping his greatsword with both hands.

“It’s just a trap; no one is there,” Rhea tried to calm him. “Another riddle we have to solve,” she added, and Warren sighed in disappointment.

“I think I’ve just solved it,” Merlin smiled, pleased with himself. “Taran, step on the fly.” I looked at him in shock. “Why me?” I objected.

“Because you are the fastest and can sense the trap sooner than the rest of us,” he explained, pushing me forward. I did as he said, stepping cautiously onto the stone with the fly; nothing happened.

“Now the mouse, then the hare.” I stepped on each stone very slowly, holding my breath, but no trap was triggered.

“Great.” Merlin nodded. “Now the fox, then the wolf, then the deer,” he continued, giving instructions. I did as he said, relieved with each right step.

“And finally, the bear.” I took a deep breath before taking the last step. The bear was the right choice.

“I did it, I’m alive,” I exclaimed happily. “You are a genius,” I said to Merlin, and he just nodded.

Everyone followed me, going the same way I did. Ahead of us was another door. I grabbed the handle and tried to open it. The door wasn’t locked. As I opened it, the daylight blinded us for a moment.

I blinked a few times to adjust my eyes, then stepped outside, followed by others.

Before us, a big sign appeared.

“YOU WIN!”

“That was a really boring game,” Merlin sighed, disappointed. The way he said it made me realize we had actually met before.

“I know where we met,” I exclaimed happily. “We beta-tested a game together.” Merlin looked confused, not remembering me at all.

“The game was set at a tea party, where the goal was to drink the most tea,” I explained. Merlin finally remembered.

“Okay, the tea party was the most boring and weirdest game I’ve ever played. This one isn’t so bad after all,” he said. “Thank you for the game,” he added, then logged out.

“Bye, everyone.” I logged out as well, removing all my VR accessories. What a strange game!