Aries Floor 4, The Emperor’s Ascent - 10:07 AM

  There was no need for anyone other than Mercury to rest between the stealth floor and the next, so we headed to the next one without much fanfare. Not a complete absence of it, though; the enthusiasm for this one came from an unexpected place.

  Kayla was trying to stay calm, but she was almost vibrating with excitement by the time I opened the door to the puzzle floor.

  The mountain disappeared and we arrived in a long barn. There were pens full of normal sheep with different colored markings on them on either side of the walkway that went through the middle of the building, and to our immediate left was an area for tools and a desk with several small, locked drawers built in. The only door was at the end of the hall and was guarded by a black and white border collie that was laying down, but its attention was clearly on us.

  Corwin took a few steps forward to sniff the air, eyes on the other dog, but didn’t run off. He was too well trained for that, and we knew he wouldn’t do anything to put Bethany in danger, either.

  Kayla’s aura finally burst out as she looked around, her excitement at having a puzzle to solve finally breaking through her usual self control. She walked to the desk seconds before the quest text box dropped.

  <<<>>>

  [[Emperor’s Ascent: Aries Puzzle Room]]

  Players: 7

  Maximus Canis, the good boy that he is, is an exceptional sheep dog. He spends every day making sure the flock doesn’t wander where they don’t belong, that they’re safe from threats, and that they’re back in their pens by nightfall. Maximus takes his job incredibly seriously.

  Whether by mistake, design, or some slight twist of fate, you have also been herded into the barn along with the flock. However, the rules are clear: no one leaves until the farmer comes to let the sheep out to pasture.

  Maximus takes his job incredibly seriously.

  That’s not to say that you are stuck here. Inside the desk is a bag of Maximus’ favorite treats, something that he’ll drop everything for. The farmer knows this and makes sure they’re safely locked away. To make sure he doesn’t forget the combination and allow his poor dog to suffer, he’s set out a series of clues to remind himself how to open the final drawer to get the goodies inside.

  This border collie will do anything to eat just one more treat. If you want to get out, then you’re going to need to find a way to get into this secure stash to bribe the guard dog with. The first clue is on the desk.

  You have 4 hours before sunrise and the farmer comes for his sheep.

  Objective: Bribe your way out of the barn.

  Reward: 1,000 points, Maximus’ favorite treats.

  <<<>>>

  “It’s just an escape room?” Mercury asked, scratching his head.

  “It’s an escape room!” Kayla confirmed, her voice higher pitched than usual. Her eyes went wide as she looked at everyone who turned to face her, and her cheeks turned red. “I mean, it’s just an escape room. No big deal.”

  “Go on, Kay,” Jeff urged, gently pushing her towards the desk.

  The normally reserved librarian allowed herself to be moved before running to the desk. She shook her head and swiped away something the moment she got there. “I saw ‘the combination is’ and stopped reading, Skuld,” she said to the roof, addressing her Patron. “No handouts. If you want to make a quest for it with a time limit, feel free, but I’m not going to let this chance pass up.”

  “You will if you’re not quick about it,” Ash muttered. She had been eying the sheep, but shook her head. “These are just regular animals. Damn Aries guy isn’t even letting us put those godly shears to good use.”

  “Oh, I’ll be quick about it…” Kayla replied before she trailed off. Then, she gave a decisive nod and started picking through the documents. “Ten minutes. Could be doable, so I’m trusting you that it is. Mercury, I’m going to need you.”

  The ninja started for a moment before walking towards the desk. “Yeah? What can I do?”

  “You’re the fastest one here, so I’m going to need you to gather information,” she explained absently as her eyes scanned the papers. “I could make Ant do it, what with his aura and telekinesis, but he doesn’t want too much credit for whatever reason.”

  “It’s because I’m basically using you all as pawns to make myself look better,” I said without shame. “You know, if y’all are awesome, then how awesome must I be?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Kayla mumbled. Her eyes flicked towards the different papers she was holding. “Also, Skuld seems to think you already know the answer, so involving you would be cheating. I get extra points if you don’t.”

  “I’ve got an inkling of a solution, sure,” I confirmed with a shrug, eying the bottom drawer of the desk where I could see the bag of treats with my aura. It was indeed locked up tight, but I was confident I could have gotten in there without a key. Not through brute force, mind, but with finesse.

  “Exactly. Alright, Mercury, I’m going to call out some pens, and I need you to tell me if there are any weird shapes in them. Got it?” Kayla asked.

  “Got it, Queen Kayla,” Mercury responded quickly with a sloppy salute.

  Her aura didn’t change at the title, and she pointed without looking. “Third one from me, fifth one on the other side, fourth one from me, and second to the last on the far side,” she ordered. With a nod, he disappeared only to reappear at the first one she mentioned and started looking around. “You’re looking for things like stars, triangles, and the like. I’ve got a combination lock using them instead.”

  “Is all this really necessary?” Ash complained, leaning against one of the pens. “Couldn’t we just bust open the desk for the treats?”

  “You’re not allowed to destroy any property in an escape room unless otherwise stated,” Kayla replied offhandedly, not taking her attention off of the desk. She had picked up a small case with a built in combination lock and was spinning the dials. “Plus, this is Patron made. You could probably blow up this whole room and all you’d lose is access to the means to unlock the drawer.”

  “Okay, sure—” the Monstersmith continued, only to get interrupted.

  “Triangle, square, star, circle!” Mercury called, standing up amongst a bunch of black sheep. There was hay clinging to his garb, but he brushed it off.

  Kayla quickly inputted the combination and opened the drawer, revealing a hand-sized wheel handle. She grabbed it and threw it like a frisbee to the ninja before returning to the case. “Find a use for that.”

  “On it!” he yelled, diving for the item before it could hit a sheep in the head.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Or, we could just fight the dog,” Ash offered. “I mean, it’s just a little border collie. I’m sure Corwin can take it.”

  “None of us are fighting the dog,” Jeff stated, crossing his arms as the Evolution Hound perked up at the sound of his name.

  “Honestly, we shouldn’t,” I agreed. “I mean, I don’t want to kill a dog just doing its job on principle alone, but it’s also bad for ratings and there’s a good chance that the dog treats will buff Corwin somehow. Maybe temporarily, maybe permanently. It’s hard to say until we’ve got it.”

  “Yeah, and you wouldn’t want to take anything away from poor little Corwin, would you?” Jeff asked, squatting down to pet the Evolution Hound. “No, because he is the bestest boy, yes he is. Yes he is!”

  “Fine, I guess we’ll just wait,” Ash complained, pushing away one of the sheep that started sniffing her arm.

  “Found it! Turning the handle now,” Mercury called.

  Water fell from pipes lining the ceilings and into the troughs of each of the pens. It wasn’t just liquid, however, as we were met with the sound of metal hitting on metal ringing out through the barn. A few things that were decidedly not liquid had landed where they didn’t belong.

  “Find those!” Kayla yelled.

  “On it!” Mercury replied.

  “If it makes you feel any better, Ash, Kayla’s a whiz at puzzles and brain teasers,” Jeff said proudly, watching his wife work with a smile. “Ant, you know that escape room that opened up last year in Etson? On college road just outside of town?”

  “Yeah, they had a couple of horror ones and some magic school, right?” I asked, barely remembering the place he was referring to.

  Mercury appeared beside us with four pieces of black metal. “3D puzzle,” he said.

  “Ash, you got that?” Kayla asked.

  The Monstersmith eyed the pieces before grumbling. She must have decided it wasn’t worth fighting because she snatched them away from Mercury one at a time. Even though the puzzle had only been pulled apart into four pieces, it was still rather intricate, requiring them to be placed in a certain order with at least two pieces needing to be in specific places before the next one could go in.

  It wasn’t an issue for the greatest smith in the land. It took her only twenty seconds to assemble the puzzle into its final form, a sheep. She tossed it to Mercury, who was quick to bring it to Kayla.

  “Thanks, Ash,” the Double Agent said, pushing it into a slot that was perfect for it. The sound of one more item dropping into the troughs filled the barn, but this time it was easy to tell where the thing fell. Mercury rushed off.

  Jeff continued where he left off. “Yup, you got it. Well, we went there for the wizard school one not long after it opened, right? And we just go the two of us because she’s too good,” he said, and I could tell from his aura that he wasn’t just boasting. “She solved the whole thing in, like, seventeen minutes with just a little bit of help from me. I’m no good at ‘em, personally. But we walked out of the door of the second room, expecting there to be a third, and there was the owner with this nervous smile on his face saying we were done.”

  “Green shears!” Mercury announced, holding up a pair that was still dripping wet.

  Kayla glanced at the sheep throughout the pens. They all had different colors on them, which was usually used by farmers to know who the animals belonged to, but here it was definitely a clue. “Shear the green paint off of the sheep,” she commanded. “Tell me if there’s anything underneath.”

  “On it!”

  “Sounds like a waste of money,” Jamie stated, clearly bored. “Those are usually set for an hour, right?”

  “An hour, yeah, and that’s what the guy was worried we’d say!” Jeff said with a laugh. “She was a little disappointed, but also really proud of herself. You know, as is proper.”

  “You know that gushing over your wife like this means that we’re probably going to get harder puzzle floors later on, right?” I asked, watching as Kayla found a key and opened another drawer.

  “Promise?” the Double Agent asked, sparing me a quick glance before turning her eyes on her husband. “Brag away, Jeff. You have my full permission. So long as there’s no life or death stakes I’m absolutely up for harder puzzles.”

  The Queen’s Knight lit up. “Oh, man. Brag away? That’s not something I hear everyday.”

  “Is it too late to go back to the fight the dog option?” Jamie asked, rolling her eyes.

  “Absolutely too late,” Jeff said as he leaned against the nearest pen, resting his hand on a sheep that came up to greet him.

  “S’cuse me,” Mercury said, suddenly appearing beside the knight and shearing the sheep. While he had the green tool, he was using the Princess to get the job done faster, which I couldn’t imagine her taking well. Regardless, he got down to the skin without drawing blood. “Seven, four, five, nine, one! That’s in pen order, by the way.”

  “One moment,” Kayla said, moving to the other side of the desk and inputting the code. A hidden compartment opened, revealing a ram’s horn. She tossed that over our heads to Mercury. “You know where that goes?”

  He caught it easily. “Yeah! I do,” the ninja said, disappearing again.

  “She’s so smart,” Jeff said with an uncontrollable grin. “We’ve got a whole closet of old puzzles. You know, like knot puzzles, boxes that have to be taken apart a certain way, murder mystery stuff. Oh! I got her signed up for one of those things where they send you letters and clues and you have to figure out the culprit and all that. For our fifth anniversary, I hired a professional puzzler to make a scavenger hunt for her. Because I wanted it to be hard and I’d flub it up somehow.”

  “The fuck’s a professional puzzler?” Ash asked, frowning.

  “Someone who solves and makes puzzles professionally,” he answered, raising an eyebrow at her. “Was that not clear from the context?”

  Jamie stifled a laugh, and the Monstersmith rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

  In the ceiling above us, a small hole opened up and a key fell through. Since I was told not to help, I specifically did not reach out and grab it. Jeff, however, was quick enough. He leaned down and snatched the key just before it hit the ground.

  “Got a key, Kay!” he announced.

  “Bring it here, then,” she said, and he left us.

  “That could have been bad,” I stated, brushing away the hay on the ground with my foot. Once it was clear, it revealed a water drain in the floor. It was welded shut, but there was more than enough room for a key to fall through. “That would have added a lot of minutes to our time since I’m not allowed to help.”

  “Guess it’s a good thing I grabbed it, then,” Jeff said proudly, earning himself a kiss on the cheek from Kayla before he was sent back to us.

  “You know, if puzzles are such a big thing in Kayla’s life, why’s this the first time I’m hearing about it?” I asked. “Normally we can’t get you to stop gushing about your wife. You’ve gotten better about it, sure, but I’d think I’d have heard more.”

  Jeff looked surprised. “What do you mean? She solves puzzles every time she goes to a library,” he said as if it were only natural. “Puzzles that you didn’t even know about, I might add. Because you hadn’t solved them. Didn’t she say send her to any library you wanted because they were fun and all that? I figured you already figured out how smart Kay is. She’s the second in command for a reason, after all.”

  I paused, thinking that over, before chuckling. “Yeah, I guess so. I thought it was a librarian thing instead of a puzzle thing. Just didn’t connect the two together, I suppose.”

  “Bit of both. The librarian knowledge leads to the puzzles,” Kayla said as she joined us. With a triumphant smile, she raised a sheepskin bag with the picture of a border collie on it. No doubt it was filled with dog treats. “And done.”

  “Nice work, Kayla!” Jeff praised, raising his hand for a high five. She gave it to him immediately, and he turned to do the same for Mercury when he appeared. “You, too, man. You’re way quicker at this than I ever was.”

  “Oh, well, thank you, sir knight!” Mercury said, putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest. “It’s all in a day’s work.”

  “And now, let’s get out of here,” Kayla announced, pulling out a small orb of meat from the bag. Corwin immediately walked up to her, placing his chin on her stomach as he looked up at her with big eyes. “No begging. You’ll get one during your next fight, I promise.”

  Corwin whined, wanting it now, but backed off. When Jeff and I looked at her, she sent the description to everyone.

  <<<>>>

  [[Item]]

  Sheep Dog’s Tenacity

  Any canine or canine-like monster that eats this treat increases their stats by 30%, their speed by 50%, and their size by 10% for one hour. Animals and docile monsters recognize them as beings of authority.

  <<<>>>

  “And we’ll have four of them after we bribe old Maximus here,” Kayla said happily. “So that’s going to be a nice boost for Corwin.”

  “It sure will,” Jeff agreed.

  “Alright, then let’s get out of here,” I said, clapping my hands together. “After all, your clock is still ticking. Right, Kayla? We haven’t escaped the room yet.”

  She paused for a moment before her eyes went wide. Kayla bolted across the barn, ready to feed a dog a treat so she could get the full rewards of her quest.