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Description
The corridor they had just entered was even bigger and more obnoxious than the last one. Marble statues adorned the walkway, and the walls were painted in beautiful swirls of gold and silver. Jay snorted at this, feeling completely and utterly out of place but nonetheless, they had done it! There was a door up the end and Jay could only assume it lead to the book! After all, Isolt had confirmed that this was the prize at the end of the tunnel. She noticed a plaque on the wall and upon reading it, it seemed to confirm what she already thought to be true.

“Beyond this door lies the knowledge that you seek.”

“This must be it!” Finder yelled, jumping in the air and quickly grabbing Jay’s hand and dragging her toward the end of the corridor. “Finally I get to learn what secrets Isolt decided to put in this book for me!”

Jay had never seen Finder so excited, I suppose it was somewhere between the promise of such rare information and the delirious exhaustion after doing so many of those trials, all of which were both physically and mentally taxing in some way or another. They felt entitled to this book after everything they had done and honestly, Jay thought that was completely fair.

They had gone through so much to get to the end of this temple and they definitely deserved some kind of pay off, they had almost been drowned, eaten by bugs, trapped in a library and attacked by a beast. They definitely deserved this ruddy book!

Finder got to the door first, and reached toward one of the four bolts, planning to open it when suddenly they jumped back.

“Are you okay Finder? What’s wrong?” Jay yelled.

“The… The door zapped me?” They replied, shocked. (Pun not intended.)

“What the…?” Jay queried, looking closer at the door.

When she saw it she gasped, unable to believe her eyes. There were animals, but they were moving… There was a horse, a dog, a snake and a panther. What on earth was going on? They looked as if someone had carved the door around them, as they stuck outward from the door, and seemed to be patrolling their own habitat.

Jay pulled out Isolt’s diary to see what she had to say, but clearly no one had consulted her as the next page was blank. Jay let out a yell and placed her forehead to her hand.

“Isolt didn’t know about this one… There’s no information… They must have sensed something odd and added this one without her consent…” Jay exclaimed and Finder looked extremely distressed.

“I-I suppose we have to work it out for ourselves then…” They commented and the two began to examine the strange door a little more closely.

There were things attached to each bolt. The top one had a plough, that looked perfectly sized to that horse, the next had a stick, that Jay thought the dog might like, the third had the snake tied directly to it, a rope like thing around its neck, and the fourth had a large circular thing, with a pawprint in the centre that looked as if the panther’s pawprint would fit perfectly.

Jay continued to look confused for a few seconds before the penny dropped in her head and she let out a gasp. Finder picked up on this immediately and their head whipped around to face Jay. They had utterly no idea on what to do, but Jay seemed to. They trusted her a lot and hoped to all the gods of this religion (couldn’t hurt to hope that in their temple) that she had the solution.

“Right, so we can’t touch the bolts, we have to get the animals to move them!” She explained.

“Have you gone mad?!” Finder queried, before seeing Jay approach the door.

With one of her hands, she distracted the snake’s mouth. It snapped at her but couldn’t seem to reach, when suddenly she grabbed it by the tail and yanked it. Finder, firstly, couldn’t believe her nerve and courage with this bitey creature, and secondly, couldn’t believe that she managed to grab it from the door. To their shock, the bolt slid open, no electrocution, nothing!

“See, animals can move them, we can’t!”

She then took to encouraging the happy and playful little dog to go and play with the stick, giving it soft pets and telling it what a good doggo it was. Finder still looked at her like she was insane, but was beginning to understand that perhaps Jay knew what she was doing a tad. They were still rather afraid of the prowling pather.

Eventually, Jay coaxed the little dog to grab the stick, and they managed to pull the bolt across to open the second one. Just the horse and the panther left.

Jay had expected the horse to be difficult but was pleasantly surprised when it was easily lead toward the plough. She supposed that she had always been good with horses, they seemed to like her in general and perhaps this also went for strange horses engraved on doors of weird temples.

I mean there was no shock there honestly.

The panther was of course going to be the hardest one.

“How are you going to get this one to work?” Finder asked.

“Well, this bolt seems to go the other way, I assume it needs to be pushed, and that the panthers paw will do that somehow…” Jay said thoughtfully.

“Oh no, you have to trick it… You’ve got to let it hunt you…” Finder realised suddenly. “Please let me do this one? You just got an arm back, and don’t want you to lose it… The snake was dangerous enough!”

Jay eventually and begrudgingly agreed to let Finder do it. They tried to make their hand look as much like a small animal as it could and then lead the panther around for a bit. Jay waited, her breath held, watching as Finder lead it to the paw print. It was ready, it was going to pounce…

It pounced! Finder just moved their paw out of the way and the panther pushed the bolt all the way out of the door! The animals all froze in place and Jay yanked the door open. Beyond was what must be an exit leading back to the start and a pedestal with a book on it. Finder grabbed it but then let out an almighty groan.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” She asked.

“It has locks…” They groaned.

Sure enough, there were five locks adorning the book and clearly you needed to find all the keys to unlock it…

(1118 words)

Description
The corridor they had just entered was even bigger and more obnoxious than the last one. Marble statues adorned the walkway, and the walls were painted in beautiful swirls of gold and silver. Jay snorted at this, feeling completely and utterly out of place but nonetheless, they had done it! There was a door up the end and Jay could only assume it lead to the book! After all, Isolt had confirmed that this was the prize at the end of the tunnel. She noticed a plaque on the wall and upon reading it, it seemed to confirm what she already thought to be true.

“Beyond this door lies the knowledge that you seek.”

“This must be it!” Finder yelled, jumping in the air and quickly grabbing Jay’s hand and dragging her toward the end of the corridor. “Finally I get to learn what secrets Isolt decided to put in this book for me!”

Jay had never seen Finder so excited, I suppose it was somewhere between the promise of such rare information and the delirious exhaustion after doing so many of those trials, all of which were both physically and mentally taxing in some way or another. They felt entitled to this book after everything they had done and honestly, Jay thought that was completely fair.

They had gone through so much to get to the end of this temple and they definitely deserved some kind of pay off, they had almost been drowned, eaten by bugs, trapped in a library and attacked by a beast. They definitely deserved this ruddy book!

Finder got to the door first, and reached toward one of the four bolts, planning to open it when suddenly they jumped back.

“Are you okay Finder? What’s wrong?” Jay yelled.

“The… The door zapped me?” They replied, shocked. (Pun not intended.)

“What the…?” Jay queried, looking closer at the door.

When she saw it she gasped, unable to believe her eyes. There were animals, but they were moving… There was a horse, a dog, a snake and a panther. What on earth was going on? They looked as if someone had carved the door around them, as they stuck outward from the door, and seemed to be patrolling their own habitat.

Jay pulled out Isolt’s diary to see what she had to say, but clearly no one had consulted her as the next page was blank. Jay let out a yell and placed her forehead to her hand.

“Isolt didn’t know about this one… There’s no information… They must have sensed something odd and added this one without her consent…” Jay exclaimed and Finder looked extremely distressed.

“I-I suppose we have to work it out for ourselves then…” They commented and the two began to examine the strange door a little more closely.

There were things attached to each bolt. The top one had a plough, that looked perfectly sized to that horse, the next had a stick, that Jay thought the dog might like, the third had the snake tied directly to it, a rope like thing around its neck, and the fourth had a large circular thing, with a pawprint in the centre that looked as if the panther’s pawprint would fit perfectly.

Jay continued to look confused for a few seconds before the penny dropped in her head and she let out a gasp. Finder picked up on this immediately and their head whipped around to face Jay. They had utterly no idea on what to do, but Jay seemed to. They trusted her a lot and hoped to all the gods of this religion (couldn’t hurt to hope that in their temple) that she had the solution.

“Right, so we can’t touch the bolts, we have to get the animals to move them!” She explained.

“Have you gone mad?!” Finder queried, before seeing Jay approach the door.

With one of her hands, she distracted the snake’s mouth. It snapped at her but couldn’t seem to reach, when suddenly she grabbed it by the tail and yanked it. Finder, firstly, couldn’t believe her nerve and courage with this bitey creature, and secondly, couldn’t believe that she managed to grab it from the door. To their shock, the bolt slid open, no electrocution, nothing!

“See, animals can move them, we can’t!”

She then took to encouraging the happy and playful little dog to go and play with the stick, giving it soft pets and telling it what a good doggo it was. Finder still looked at her like she was insane, but was beginning to understand that perhaps Jay knew what she was doing a tad. They were still rather afraid of the prowling pather.

Eventually, Jay coaxed the little dog to grab the stick, and they managed to pull the bolt across to open the second one. Just the horse and the panther left.

Jay had expected the horse to be difficult but was pleasantly surprised when it was easily lead toward the plough. She supposed that she had always been good with horses, they seemed to like her in general and perhaps this also went for strange horses engraved on doors of weird temples.

I mean there was no shock there honestly.

The panther was of course going to be the hardest one.

“How are you going to get this one to work?” Finder asked.

“Well, this bolt seems to go the other way, I assume it needs to be pushed, and that the panthers paw will do that somehow…” Jay said thoughtfully.

“Oh no, you have to trick it… You’ve got to let it hunt you…” Finder realised suddenly. “Please let me do this one? You just got an arm back, and don’t want you to lose it… The snake was dangerous enough!”

Jay eventually and begrudgingly agreed to let Finder do it. They tried to make their hand look as much like a small animal as it could and then lead the panther around for a bit. Jay waited, her breath held, watching as Finder lead it to the paw print. It was ready, it was going to pounce…

It pounced! Finder just moved their paw out of the way and the panther pushed the bolt all the way out of the door! The animals all froze in place and Jay yanked the door open. Beyond was what must be an exit leading back to the start and a pedestal with a book on it. Finder grabbed it but then let out an almighty groan.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” She asked.

“It has locks…” They groaned.

Sure enough, there were five locks adorning the book and clearly you needed to find all the keys to unlock it…

(1118 words)