Liminal Spaces and Missing Persons, part three

The stairs went down for maybe thirty yards before they reached a landing; there were doors on either side. They grouped up and then checked them, two to each door. 

"Clear," said Antoinette. 

"Clear," answered Sherri."Empty concrete room, a couple of pipes along the back wall."

"Same over here," said Antoinette. "All right, we keep going down." 

They'd gone another ten meters when Sherri stiffened and said, "Ah, there we go."

Chris, still following the trail of the missing man, felt his shoulders tense. He couldn't smell anything because of the phrase Sherri had laid on him, but it probably didn't matter. There really wasn't any other way that Adam Davis could have gone.

"What?" asked Antoinette. 

"The rooms changed once we passed them," Sherri said quietly. "Likely something's about to chase us further down. Do we run and pretend to be helpless, or take it out and risk alerting whoever shaped all this?"

Chris considered, and found that he didn't like either option. Destroy the threat here and risk alerting their real enemy? Or run, and risk meeting their enemy with this threat still at their back? He knew what he would do, but...

Antoinette met his eyes, and glanced back at the doorways. 

He nodded. 

"Clear them out," she said, and Chris took four more steps down the stairs. That, apparently, was enough to trigger the trap.

Something hissed behind them, the sound filling the stairwell. Chris waited, watching the steps below, as Antoinette fired off a couple of shots before cursing quietly -- and Sherri rattled off a series of phrases that bathed the back of his neck in heat and cast his shadow far down the stairs. 

"We're in the Grey now," Sherri said quietly when it was done. "Use magic."

"Duly noted," Antoinette answered drily. She must have been using a phrase to keep the noise of her gun down to a soft pop-pop-pop; otherwise, in this enclosed space, they'd all be deaf. Antoinette was frequently better-prepared than Chris expected, though.

"If we're done," observed Thorin, "we should be moving."

Chris took that as his cue and continued down the steps. He hadn't drawn his pistol yet; he was keeping his options open. In the Mundus, with an effort, a Wolf could still sharpen his fingertips into claws. Here in the Grey...

He couldn't smell anything, even now, and he didn't like it. Their target had to be down below, but without the scent he still felt unsure. 

Then the lights flickered, just briefly, returned to full strength... dimmed... returned to full strength again... and then went completely dark for a moment before returning to full strength again. 

"Well," said Thorin, when they'd stayed lit for half  minute, "we all know those are going to go out completely, right?"

Chris nodded. "Magus Sherri, would you pull this spell off me? I don't want to be scent-blind when that happens. It's disorienting."

She hesitated, then nodded and gestured, and suddenly he could smell things again. 

"The scents have changed," he said quietly, and knelt down. He didn't think anything else would change until they moved again -- but if they'd alerted whoever built this place, that might not be true anymore. "I can still smell Adam--" He could smell the man better than ever, in fact. "--but that weird mix of flowers and decay is gone." A faint hint of smoke drifted down from above. 

"He started running?" asked Antoinette. 

Chris grimaced and walked a few steps further down. "Yes."

"What did he run into?" she asked, and glanced back at Sherri, who nodded. 

"Go cautiously. I think whoever made this passage enjoys scaring people. There may be more surprises."

Chris nodded. He'd begun by being wary, then concerned as the tunnel had taken them in; maybe even a little frightened at learning that the nature of the place could change as they progressed. He didn't like being afraid; it made him want to kill things, want to force a confrontation. Unwise, he reminded himself, and took a deep breath, released it, and took another. When he was calm again, he started forward.