| [Noxin #2] Putting His foot Down
Snakes! Noxin had encountered such before, up north, where it was warmer. He didn't fully understand it, but someone had explained to him that snakes liked to live in hot places - NEEDED to live in hot places, even.
It was not hot in this cave.
Slowly... a thought formed.
Maybe... these snakes weren't real.
Maybe... it was magic.
Magic snakes wouldn't need it to be hot.
Pleased with his own cleverness, Noxin sat down and worked at the cuff on his thick ankle. There wasn't a lot of give in the manacle, but he managed to get his fingers between his ankle and the metal with only the loss of a bit of skin. He worked at it for a minute or so, listening to the angry rattle filling the cave, and thinking that they sure sounded like real snakes. Finally the metal cuff sprang loose.
He hefted the chain experimentally. It was crude and awkward, but it would serve to test his 'magic snake' theory. He once more peered over the side of the slab and saw the snakes. They were moving now, though not with any real purpose. He raised the chain in two hands and swung it downward, overhand, like a flail. It drew a spark from the floor when it hit, but he also felt the slight give in the chain that indicated a solid impact with something softer than stone too.
Something... like a snake!
Noxin looked and saw, as he'd suspected, a single snake laying smooshed and unmoving amidst its fellows.
He scowled, disappointed that his clever idea had been proved wrong. But his introspection didn't last long; he was a man of action, not thought. His course decided in an eyeblink, he leapt from the stone slab, landing on the cold floor some distance away and bringing his foot down in a massive Stomp! Shockwaves emanated from the impact and ran through the floor.
Normally, when Noxin put his foot down it knocked people to the ground and shook them up a little. But snakes were already on the ground, so he wasn't sure what would happen to them. He didn't bother waiting to find out, either, but pressed ahead into the darkness with his hands outstretched.
He stumbled into and over another stone slab. He scrambled onto it, moving ahead in the dark and bonked his head against something wooden. He cursed and stood, pressing his hands against the wooden thing. It was a door, he discovered - one of those kind with the big iron bands holding the timbers together.
And it was locked.
He listened then, but could hear nothing but the stealthy rustle of snakes moving toward him in the darkness. | 
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