Squeezing past the gargoyles that failed to spew fire, like the first we encountered when we arrived in the dungeon, we leap over the edge to a nearby wall and begin to work our way across a series of collapsed archways and pillars that form a rugged path. I’m tentative to make the last jump as looking down, I can see the fall may kill me, but also I’d be forced to rerun the spike trap gauntlet we narrowly avoided. I can still see the corpses of those crippled by the spikes, lying at the base of the pillar.
Feeling mercenary that we’ve left them to die, knowing we could have resurrected them, I quickly shake any feeling of guilt and jump onto the final pillar that leads me up towards the safety of a large stone platform.
To the left is a wrack of burning torches and ahead, down some stairs, is nothingness; a pitch black cave with the torches as our only light source.
‘Have you got your torch?’
‘Yes. Are you ready?’
My friend nods tentatively and we slowly walk down the stairs into the darkness. Our torches gently illuminate the gloom only centimeters in front of our paths. Working our way forwards, with the cold stone wall to my left I lose my footing and fall through a gap in the floor landing on some stairs beneath.
‘You ok?’ my friend asks, peering down on me.
‘Yeah fine, I’ll run back up’.
Stepping to the edge of where I just fell, I throw one of my torches forward and illuminate a platform for us to jump onto. Landing safely my friend throws another torch that highlights a path to our right. Teetering carefully on the thin walkway, we arrive onto the opposite side where a row of gargoyles block our path. Rolling forward, the gargoyles spring to life and spew fire on me, sending me burning and tumbling to the ground beneath. Landing with a thud but with torches still in hand I manage to find my way back to the staircase, clumsily weaving through pillars and past ghostly spirits.
‘Back with us then?’ my friend says smugly, still in the same place I left him in after I rolled over the edge covered in fire.
‘Yes, and thanks for asking.’ I reply, feeling a little bruised.
‘Why don’t you Blink across?’
‘Do you think it will work?’
‘I don’t see why not, it’s going to be tough to get past four gargoyle heads. Try it’.
Before I even think about it, I’ve used Blink and teleported straight past the gargoyles. The grotesque stone heads are motionless as I turn to wave at my friend, now feeling exceptionally smug myself.
‘Your turn?’ I ask.
Rolling forwards, my friend mistimes his movement and gets caught on the last gargoyle who covers him in fire. As he disappears into the darkness below, I throw a torch over the edge to find a route for us. Seeing several platforms that split into two directions I jump down and turn right.
‘Are you alright down there?’
‘Fine, fine, almost with you again. I’ll ride the lightning across this time.’
‘I hope this statue I’ve found isn’t something we’re going to encounter down here.’
‘What do you mean?’ my friend asks curiously as he appears on the platform behind me.
‘Look.’ I say, as I lift my torch aloft.
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