Maggie knelt, staring at a small glowing flower growing between the cracks of the stone floor.
"Hey guys, did you see—" she started to say, but the sound of a magical whir interrupted her. Turning around, she saw the party vanish along with Grey, leaving her alone outside the magical elevator.
She blinked, looking up at the Elite Guards who were now all staring directly at her. Their hands moved to their weapons, one guard raising a hand and blasting a surge of dark energy that exploded into the ground right next to her.
"Oy, now wot's all this, then?" Maggie stammered, slipping into her strange accent. She fumbled for her short sword but found the leather strap tangled around the hilt. "Oi, one cock-up after another, eh, mate?"
Before she could untangle the sword, one of the Elite Guards leaped at her, its void blade coming down fast. Just as it was about to strike, a flash of steel intercepted it—Bazeel the Bugbear's Sunfall Steel sword. The blades clanged as Bazeel gritted his teeth, shoving the guard back.
"Prison Guards gotta stick together, right?" Bazeel quipped, dropping into a three-point stance. "Even if this is the weirdest first day ever."
Before he could charge, a deafening roar echoed from the pirate prisoners' level. Two cell doors swung open, and a third blasted off its hinges, the gate hurtling toward them.
"Oh fu—" Bazeel started, before the gate slammed into him, launching him over the cliffside and into the caves below.
Maggie's instincts kicked in as she sidestepped the flying gate, narrowly landing on the edge of the rock floor.
She exhaled, but her relief was short-lived. The cliff's edge crumbled beneath her, and she tumbled into the abyss.
In a desperate attempt, Maggie threw her grappling hook, but it bounced off the stone wall. As she plummeted, the hook finally caught on a grate, jerking her mid-fall and sending her swinging into the cracked wooden barrier of a long-sealed tunnel.
She crashed through the cover and tumbled into a dark chamber, landing hard on something solid. The impact knocked her into a narrow space barely larger than a barrel.
Dazed, she gasped through the pain and confusion of the last ten seconds. Slowly, she reached out to steady herself, grabbing a firm object. As she pulled herself up, the object suddenly shifted, lowering with a loud click—a lever.
A whirring noise followed, and a faint purple and green glow illuminated the room.
"Jeez, I wonder what—" Maggie's voice trailed off as her eyes widened in horror.
She was standing on top of a massive construct, its form made from Feywild wood and reinforced with gold. As it came to life, energy pulsed through its body. Desperately, Maggie started yanking on levers and flipping switches, trying to stop the machine from powering up.
"Oy, wot's dis now? Not part o' da plan, I swear!" Maggie cried, her voice panicked. "Please, please, please..."
For a moment, the construct paused, and Maggie let out a sigh of relief. But the light shifted to a deep, ominous red, and the machine let out an ear-splitting roar. Maggie frantically flipped more switches, but nothing made sense. The construct took a heavy step forward, the wooden floor creaking beneath its weight.
With a loud crack, both Maggie and the construct plunged through the floor, crashing into another room below. Maggie screamed the whole way down until they hit the ground with a resounding thud.