The door was not locked.
This fact would become important approximately three seconds too late.
“Wait,” Paul said.
Jo Mama kicked it.
The ancient stone door exploded inward with the deep, satisfying BOOM of several hundred pounds of architecture suddenly reconsidering its purpose.
Dust rolled through the corridor.
Something metallic clattered in the darkness.
Everyone stared.
Jo lowered her foot.
“Open.”
Paul closed his eyes.
“Yes, Jo.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“It is now extremely open.”
Behind them, the GM looked down at his notes.
Then at the door.
Then back at his notes.
“The door wasn’t locked.”
Jo turned.
“What?”
“It wasn’t locked.”
Jo looked at the remains.
Then at the GM.
“Didn’t know.”
“There was a handle.”
Jo examined the rubble.
One chunk of stone still had a perfectly functional brass handle attached to it.
Jimmy picked it up.
Paul pointed.
“No.”
Jimmy turned it over.
“Good handle.”
“No.”
“Could need.”
“We do not need a piece of the door.”
Jimmy removed the handle from the stone.
“Door stuff.”
“Jimmy.”
“Put it in the bag.”
The handle disappeared.
The GM wrote something down.
Paul looked concerned.
“What did you write?”
“Nothing.”
“That was writing.”
“Nothing important.”
Jo peered over the GM’s screen.
He covered the page.
“Jo.”
“Hmm?”
“You could have tried the handle.”
Jo looked back at the destroyed door.
Then at the GM.
“Foot handle.”
The GM stared at her.
Jo smiled.
“Worked.”
The chamber beyond the door smelled like wet stone and old water.
Galagog stepped through the opening.
She wore a blue dress that had somehow survived the journey with considerably more dignity than the rest of them. Her long whip rested at her side.
She tilted her head.
“Room moist.”
Paul opened one eye.
“Yes.”
Galagog considered.
“Very moist.”
From her side came the polished, theatrical voice of Snitch.
“A devastating analysis.”
Galagog looked down at the whip.
“Quiet.”
“Merely appreciating the precision.”
Jo sniffed the air.
“Smells wet.”
Paul looked at the ceiling.
“I am surrounded by scholars.”
Madison stepped carefully over the broken stone.
“You chose to come.”
“I continue to question that decision.”
The Paladin followed.
“You say that every week.”
“And yet nobody interprets it as a warning.”
Ellie Bobnobbin crouched near the threshold.
“Hold up.”
Everyone stopped.
Jo stopped halfway through a step, her boot hovering over the floor.
Ellie pointed.
“Trap.”
Jo slowly moved her foot backward.
“Good rogue.”
Ellie smiled.
Then remembered what came next.
“Oh, no.”
The GM placed a die in front of her.
Ellie stared at it.
“Do we have to?”
“Yes.”
“I found the trap.”
“You still need to disarm it.”
Ellie picked up the die.
“Come on.”
She rolled.
“Of course.”
There was a click.
Paul looked at her.
“Ellie?”
“Move.”
The walls fired darts.
Everyone moved.
Mostly.
Jo grabbed Paul by the back of his robes and lifted him.
“HEY.”
A dart passed through the space his head had occupied.
Jo set him down.
Paul stared at the dart embedded in the wall.
Then at Jo.
“Thank you.”
Jo grinned.
“Saved wizard.”
“Yes.”
She opened her arms.
“No.”
Jo lowered them.
“Okay.”
Jimmy picked up one of the fallen darts.
The Paladin saw him.
“Jimmy.”
“Emergency dart.”
“No.”
“Could need.”
“No.”
Jimmy looked at Jo.
Jo looked at the Paladin.
The Paladin crossed her arms.
Jimmy put the dart down.
Then waited until she turned around.
Ellie watched him pocket it.
She said nothing.
Professional courtesy.
Beyond the trapped passage stood another door.
Jo raised her foot.
Seven voices said:
“NO.”
Jo lowered it.
Paul walked over.
He tried the handle.
The door opened.
Jo stared.
“Huh.”
Paul stepped aside.
“Observe.”
Jo walked through.
“Wizard magic.”
“That was not magic.”
“Door magic.”
“Also not magic.”
“Paul very powerful.”
Madison laughed.
Paul decided not to continue.
The corridor beyond sloped downward.
Water trickled between the stones.
Old carvings covered the walls.
Fish.
Waves.
Ships.
Figures kneeling beneath something enormous.
Paul held up a hand.
“Wait.”
Jo stopped.
This time without kicking anything.
Paul approached an inscription. The letters glowed faintly blue beneath his fingers.
“Ancient Aquan.”
Jimmy looked around.
“Treasure language?”
“No.”
“Warning language?”
Paul read silently.
His expression changed.
“Yes.”
Jo leaned over him.
“What say?”
Paul translated.
“BEYOND THIS THRESHOLD LIES THE SUNKEN SANCTUARY.”
The Paladin stepped closer.
Paul continued.
“LET NONE DISTURB THAT WHICH SLEEPS BENEATH-”
Jo brightened.
“Sleeping thing.”
Paul stopped.
“No.”
“Could be friend.”
“No.”
“Ancient friend.”
“Absolutely not.”
Galagog studied the carvings.
“Large.”
Paul looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed to the kneeling figures.
“Scale.”
Paul examined them.
Then the carving above them.
His face became less pleased.
“Yes.”
Jo grinned.
“Big ancient friend.”
Paul turned.
“Stop improving it.”
Dark water stretched beyond the reach of their lanterns.
In the center rose the broken remains of a temple.
Half its pillars had collapsed.
The roof was gone.
A narrow stone causeway once connected it to the shore.
Once.
Most of it now rested beneath the water.
Madison looked across.
“That’s where we’re going?”
Paul checked the map.
“Yes.”
Ellie looked at the missing causeway.
“How?”
Jimmy opened his bag.
Paul heard the sound.
He turned.
“No.”
Jimmy pulled out a folded bundle of canvas.
Paul stared.
“What is that?”
Jimmy unfolded it.
Wooden braces dropped into place.
Canvas stretched.
Jo gasped.
“Boat.”
Jimmy nodded.
“Emergency canoe.”
There was silence.
The Paladin looked at Paul.
Paul looked at Jimmy.
Madison looked at the canoe.
Ellie looked inside Jimmy’s bag as though reconsidering several fundamental laws of reality.
Galagog nodded.
“Useful.”
Jimmy looked pleased.
Paul pointed at the canoe.
“How long have you been carrying that?”
Jimmy shrugged.
“While.”
“Why?”
“Could need canoe.”
Paul gestured toward the underground lake.
“I refuse to give you the satisfaction.”
Jimmy smiled.
“Need canoe.”
“No.”
Madison nodded.
“Multiple trips.”
Jimmy held up a second paddle.
Paul stared.
“Of course you have paddles.”
“Boat stuff.”
“Of course.”
The first trip carried Paul, Ellie, Jimmy and Jo.
This was already too much Jo.
The canoe drifted away from shore.
Paul held the map.
Jimmy paddled.
Ellie watched the water.
Jo also watched the water.
For different reasons.
“Anything down there?” she asked.
Ellie peered over the side.
“Probably.”
“Cool.”
“No.”
Jo leaned farther.
Paul grabbed the back of her tutu.
“Do not capsize us.”
Jo sat upright.
“Jo helping.”
“You were trying to look into bottomless black water.”
“Could be treasure.”
Jimmy nodded.
Paul pointed at him.
“Do not encourage her.”
Jimmy paddled.
They reached what remained of the causeway.
The gap between the last intact section and the temple platform was wider than it had appeared from shore.
Paul estimated.
“Twenty feet.”
Jo looked at him.
Paul felt it.
“No.”
Jo continued looking.
“No.”
Jimmy stopped paddling.
Ellie looked between them.
“Oh.”
Paul pointed at Jo.
“No Fastball Special.”
Jo held up her hands.
“Didn’t say.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Can’t prove.”
“I know your face.”
Jo made Paul’s eyebrow face.
Ellie snorted.
Paul ignored both of them.
“We have rope.”
Jimmy held up rope.
“We have magic.”
Paul gestured at himself.
“We do not need to solve every gap by throwing the gnome.”
Jo nodded.
“Okay.”
Paul paused.
He had expected resistance.
“Okay?”
“Yep.”
“No argument?”
“Nope.”
Paul narrowed his eyes.
Jo smiled.
He did not trust this.
The second canoe trip brought Madison and the Paladin.
Galagog crossed last.
She refused the canoe.
Instead, Snitch snapped upward, wrapped around a broken stone support, and pulled her smoothly across the gap.
Galagog landed beside Jo.
Jo’s mouth fell open.
“Again.”
“No.”
“Again.”
“We crossed.”
“Do flying.”
“No.”
Snitch’s voice drifted between them.
“I, for one, found the entrance suitably dramatic.”
Galagog looked down.
“Didn’t ask.”
“Cruel.”
The party assembled on the temple platform.
The underground lake surrounded them.
The water was still.
Too still.
Paul looked at the ruined sanctuary.
“This place has been sealed for centuries.”
Jimmy looked around.
“Good stuff.”
The Paladin pointed at him.
“No.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You were about to.”
“Maybe.”
Jo walked toward the temple.
Madison caught the back of her tutu.
Jo stopped.
“What?”
Madison pointed at the floor.
A ring of symbols surrounded the entrance.
Paul hurried over.
“Don’t step on those.”
Jo looked down.
Her boot hovered approximately one inch above them.
She slowly withdrew it.
“Jo doing good.”
“You are.”
Jo smiled.
Paul crouched beside the symbols.
“Protective seal.”
The Paladin looked toward the lake.
“Keeping something out?”
Paul studied the runes.
Then went very still.
“No.”
The others looked at him.
“Keeping something in.”
The water moved.
Not much.
One ripple.
Then another.
Ellie turned.
“Did anyone else see that?”
“Yes,” Madison said.
Jimmy closed his bag.
This was how everyone knew the situation was serious.
Jo stepped toward the edge.
Paul grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t.”
Jo looked at him.
Something beneath the water passed below them.
Huge.
Slow.
The canoe rocked against the stone.
Galagog watched the movement.
“Long.”
Paul swallowed.
“How long?”
She followed the shadow with her eyes.
“Very.”
“That’s not a measurement.”
“Enough.”
Snitch spoke softly.
“For once, I find her estimate entirely adequate.”
The shadow disappeared beneath the temple.
Silence returned.
Jo whispered:
“Ancient friend?”
“No,” said everyone.
Then something opened its eyes.
Far below the surface, two pale lights appeared.
Ellie backed away.
Jimmy backed away.
Madison drew her weapon.
The Paladin raised her shield.
Galagog’s hand settled around Snitch.
Paul began casting.
Jo stared into the water.
Her grin slowly appeared.
Paul saw it.
“No.”
Jo rolled her shoulders.
“Jo.”
“Yep?”
“Whatever you’re thinking-”
“I have an idea.”
The GM closed his eyes.
There it was.
The sentence responsible for approximately half his problems.
This last point should not be interpreted as a challenge.
Jo looked at the enormous eyes beneath the water.
Paul tightened his grip on her wrist.
“Before you do anything.”
Jo looked at him.
“Ask first?”
Paul blinked.
“Yes.”
Jo nodded.
Then looked back into the lake.
“Okay.”
A bubble the size of Jimmy rose to the surface.
It burst.
The entire temple shook.
Jo’s grin widened.
Paul sighed.
“This should not have been an adventure.”