The axe wielding minotaur rages below them, ordering them to leave, and frustrated at the missiles piercing his flesh, plucks a javelin out of Llewelyn’s body and heaves it back at Fareena. The point bites deep but she stands. They are shaken a little by the monster’s rage. Troy finishes the other arrowhawk that is already pin-cushioned by several missiles, and hesitates, longsword poised. How to stop that flapping fiend? Reaching desperately for the only weapon he has that will reach, he lashes out blindly with the cast-off spiked chain recovered from that strange fighter girl they met in the ruins the first time. Amazingly it’s a glorious hit and the monster lurches back hurt, but not in the right place. Troy catches his breath, it’s an illusion! Meanshile, Drucilla is determined that Llewelyn won’t go the same way as the hapless Droog and sends her faithful bat Vince down to release an efficacious magic. The Minotaur sees it coming, reflexively swings his axe and connects with the frail familiar with a stomach-churning slap. Vince whirls broken to the floor, close to death among the caltrops. Troy gets his breath back and shouts a warning to the others about the apparition. Drucilla turns gaseous and floats down to Llewelyn as Wanda’s arrows crunch into the big Minotaur. Troy suddenly remembers that he knows ‘feather-fall’, and casts the spell, allowing Clint seconds later to make a heroic leap behind the horned beast, flipping neatly to avoid it’s reflexive back stroke. Clint’s blade pierces deep into a vital organ wounding the creature severely. It staggers. A final searing bolt from Fareena crisps through its fur, filling the air with the stench of scorched flesh. They watch breathless, as the massive monster topples backwards and crashes to the ground. It’s all over, and the naked maiden continues to sing.
Though momentarily stunned, the party rally rapidly, and with Troy’s help, throw themselves headlong into space, feather-falling to the ground clear of the caltrops. While Drucilla tends to Llewelyn, the rest rush to the right hand entrance to see where Droog’s body was taken. There is a wall of stone blocking the way. Dashing back across the room they charge up the stairs into another space, and onwards into another. A long corridor stretches to yet another room in the distance and, Clint, Fareena and Gwayne’s (with his dog Trigger) charge forward. There is a feint click in the gloom and the walls of the corridor crash together in pairs from the far end, each closer than the last. They throw themselves back in panic, avoiding crushing annihilation by a hairs breadth as the final pair slams at their heels. The way is blocked and there are no other exits. Clint scouts about and eventually finds a panel in the floor. A switch? He tests it, success!, As the blocks fly open again he jams the pad with a spike. They rush up the corridor once more, mindful that every moment sees their foe further away. This time the walls stay put, and they disable another panel at the other end for good measure.
This room appears to be a stonemason’s workshop from which a single exit leads up into another smaller space. A hole in the roof of this place runs up through a central bath with an illusionary water effect and they stare down a set of stairs into another space! This place is a labyrinth. Strange smells waft up the stairwell, but they can’t hear anything and there are no tracks. They double back and Drucilla deploys her wand. A Secret door is quickly detected in the far side of the larger chamber, and carefully they trigger a wall pad to open it. A plain niche-cut but otherwise empty store-room meets their gaze. It is remarkably clean. They can discern no secret exits by magical means and decide without further searching, that this is a rather odd dead end.
Returning a little forlorn to the chamber where they fought the battle they are amazed and disheartened to find that the big minotaur has disappeared with his axe. How did the foe get past them? How did the minotaur recover? Was he healed? Did he regenerate? Where did Droog’s body go and who created that wall of stone? Why didn’t they cut the minotaur’s horned head off? What are they going to do now?
