The Elixir

~Obstacle

"Do we even know where we're going?" Lysabel asks from the back.

"No." Xara admits. "But it can't be too large. We'll find our way."

"I bet it's trapped down here." Owain grumbles gloomily. "I would've had to go through that for nothing."

"Then why are you even here?" lashes Vieva. She turns to Xara. "Send him back up. Now. We don't need this kind of energy."

"Guys, enough," says Derald evenly. "We need all the eyes we can get." He nods at his roommate. "Can your magic help us out in any way?"

Lysabel shrugs apologetically. "The moss is the only thing I've sensed. And I can't work with moss."

Owain twists his lips.

They tunnel deeper, and Xara notices that the slope of their path has started downward. Whomever had carved this safe hadn't done it so evenly. She even slips a few times, only caught by Derald, much to her embarrassment.

The smell incenses her. She can't pinpoint what it is, but it's nowhere near pleasant. It's probably better than she doesn't know.

Vieva sends her fire again, watching it jump from once abandoned torches.

"How did you-"

Before anyone can even breathe, the ground breaks in two. And they're falling....

.... Falling

.....falling

....falling

Until they land in a pile of sticky goo. Xara's mind shifts into survival, and she writhes around. It only makes the goo suck harder at her skin. Any contact her skin comes into with the goo, she's unable to unattach herself. It's like a spider's web, but stickier.

"What is this stuff?!" screams Vieva, who thrashes and bucks wildly. The goo has begun to creep over her ornate dress, spreading fingers around her waist. She screams again, kicking, but the goo catches her legs, holding her in place. Derald and Owain have both gone deathly silent, and pale, while Lysabel searches their surroundings in short, ragged breaths.

"Stay calm!" Xara calls to them, craning her neck as far as she can go without getting the goo stuck to her cheek. The whispers in her head increase in volume, laughing wildly.

A fly is caught in the trap, a fly is caught in the trap...

They sing and sing again and again until Xara wants to tear them from her head.

Vieva sobs once. "Let me out!"

With one final kick, the goo begins to wrap her in a cocoon, spinning her around and around. Vieva wails as her hair gets stuck to the goop. As Xara looks around, she sees similar things happening to the others. Crazy as they may be, the five of them truly look like flies, ready to be devoured by the awaiting spider. Xara gulps nervously. She hadn't expected such an elaborate trap. But one consolation comes to mind: how will the Warlord get past these sort of obstacles?

Don't underestimate him, Xara. That is his biggest weapon.

An acrid smell wafts from the left, and Xara coughs. "What is that smell?"

She looks over, and has her answer. Fisted beside her body, Vieva's hand is smoldering with flame. She's trying to smoke herself out. Somehow, the spidersilk holds fast. If they weren't trapped in it, Xara would've wanted to study it. Now, she never wants to see it again.

"It's not working!" pants Vieva frantically, letting her fire die off.

"I don't think anything will break it." Xara says, leaning back with a sigh. Her mind works furiously. There has to be some loophole, something that will let them through.