The flickering rainbow lights of the dungeon portal faded away, depositing Kat in a stone room with three exits. A half second later, Kaleek appeared behind her in a flash of multihued light.

She frowned, walking up to where Dorrik stood, one of their upper arms stroking their chin thoughtfully while contemplating the three wooden doors. They stood for a moment in silence until Kaleek ambled up to join them.

“There aren’t supposed to be three doors,” he said conversationally, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Dungeons aren’t mazes, they’re supposed to be a straight line where you kill monsters and collect rewards.”

“That’s not true,” Dorrik replied absently. “Labyrinth dungeons are designed as exploration and endurance tests. Most of their monsters aren’t as hard to fight as a normal dungeon of a similar tier, but there are more of them and exploring the entirety of the maze before the participants wake up is part of the challenge.”

“But this isn’t a labyrinth dungeon, is it?” Kaleek asked, nodding toward the doors.

“No,” Dorrik said with a sigh. “I do not like the drawn out nature of labyrinth dungeons so I try to avoid them. This was supposed to be a normal dungeon, albeit one that is in flux. Inconclusive reports have come back about the nature of the opponents and the boss from at least three different teams.”

“Did any of them report multiple doors?” Kat questioned. “That seems like the sort of thing that would have stuck out in an intelligence report.”

Dorrik sighed, crest flattening unhappily. Finally they turned back to Kat and Kaleek, the hint of a frown on their muzzle.

“You are correct Miss Kat,” they responded. “This is something new. Unfortunately, I have neither a solution or an explanation for the oversight so I must apologize.”

“Don’t worry about it too much,” Kaleek said, waving the lokkel off as he walked toward the passages. It’ll make your scales dry and your mother will worry. All we have to do is open a door and figure things out from there.”

It took Kat a moment to realize that he was serious, her eyes widening as the heavily armored otter sauntered over to the far left door. Time seemed to slow as he reached for the unassuming doorknob set in the perfectly nondescript wood.

“Wait!” She shouted. “It might be a tra-”

Before Kaleek could touch the door, its edges blurred, growing teeth as long as Kat’s forearm. He tried to jump backward, but the doorknob darted toward him, attached to the creature by a sickly pink rope as big around as her fist.

The tentacle curved through the air, altering its trajectory to loop around Kaleek’s waist as the warrior frantically tried to draw his greatsword. As soon as it had a solid grip on him, the door yanked the desoph toward itself.

Kat broke into a sprint, beginning a casting of Gravity Spike and aborting it as soon as she saw how easily Kaleek had been captured. He dug his heels into the dungeon’s floor, but the smooth stone didn’t give the desoph much purchase as he was dragged toward the open maw of the monster.

Her target shrank in size, the top of the doorway flopping forward while the bottom curved up to create what looked like a giant clam with teeth. The monster still looked vaguely like the door- its outer shell was the same texture and color of the dungeon’s stone while the interior of its mouth was filled with dark brown, heavily grained wood.

She cast Dehydrate, aiming for the base of the monster’s mouth, Shadow Step speeding her movement. Kat had no way of knowing whether or not the creature even used moisture. After all, there were plenty of foes in dungeons that were entirely made from magic steel and stone. Still, the tongue coming from the creature looked sticky, and that implied some sort of moisture

Another yank from the door pulled Kaleek off balance and face first into the monster’s maw. He led with this sword, unable to get a proper angle for a swing as he tumbled forward, Kaleek instead opted to use his weight to drive his blade deep into his assailant’s mouth.

The door’s jaws slammed shut on Kaleek just as Kat arrived, leaving the desoph’s legs and tail kicking free as its fangs tried and failed to puncture his heavy armor.

It shuddered, whether it was from Dehydrate doing damage or the angry otter ramming his sword deep down the monster’s gullet, Kat couldn’t quite tell. Rather than worry about it, she put her knife to work. It flashed in the dungeon’s dim light, dancing agilely as she stabbed and pried at the monster’s tongue.

Kaleek’s armor hissed under the pink tendril, excreting a thick brown liquid that burned and clung to the plates of metal. Kat was careful not to get any of it on her hands. None of the acid had worked its way through the magically reinforced armor yet, but by the looks of things, it was only a matter of time. She suspected her skin would fare much worse.

Dorrik tore into the monster’s side, their four arms erupting into purple light as they empowered them. Both of the lokkel’s blades slashed through the creature’s thick, stone-like skin, sending a splash of the brown substance flying through the air.

Some landed on Kat’s forearm, and her mind went white with pain. Her fingers fumbled, the grip on her knife slackening for a half second before she managed to finish cutting through the monster’s tongue.

A second round of attacks from Dorrik finished the monster, cracking through its shell and stabbing deep into the light pink flesh beneath. Kat barely noticed. Instead she was staggering backward, ripping off an acid covered gauntlet and throwing it to the ground.

Part of her wanted to use Water Jet to clean the wound, but half remembered chemistry lessons screamed warnings at her about mixing water and active acid. Instead, she ripped a strip from the shirt she wore under her armor and frantically rubbed the small amount of brown gunk from the wound it was slowly melting into her arm.

Once again, her vision dimmed as the pain threatened to rob Kat of consciousness. She’d been hurt before, hurt badly even, but for some reason broken bones and massive open gashes had nothing on the marble sized hole melted into her flesh.

She scooped the liquid out of the divot, throwing the rag aside as soon as it began dissolving as well. Kat shook her head to clear it as the pain began to subside. Dorrik had already wiped down their armor and was beginning to help Kaleek out of the dead monster’s maw.

Kat half choked when she saw the desoph. He was glowing softly red, and great swathes of his fur were missing where he had been exposed to the monster’s acid. Worse still, layers of skin and muscle had been stripped away, leaving a ghastly sight after only ten or so seconds of conflict.

“I’m using Nerve Control to turn my pain off for the moment,” he said shakily, “but my hit points aren’t in great shape. I’d be grateful for a quick heal before the mimic’s digestive juices dissolve my lungs or something.”

Hurriedly, Kat began mouthing the words to Cure Wounds II as Dorrik procured a rag from somewhere to wipe their companion down. The golden light of her healing magic warred with the red light of Kaleek’s martial skill as her mana began to fight the acid burning through his skin.

Flesh healed just as fast as the digestive juices burned it away, leaving the desoph in a painful limbo as the thick dark brown liquid hissed and bubbled. Slowly, Dorrik wiped the acid away and Kat began to make progress, her spell knitting muscle together faster than the remaining corrosive vestiges of the monster could damage it.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

FInally, after about twenty seconds, Kaleek and her collapsed at the same time, both gasping to catch their breaths. Kat’s mana was almost empty, and the desoph looked absolutely exhausted, a logical outcome of him spending most of his stamina on a skill to keep himself from collapsing in pain.

Kat sat down on the ground, careful to avoid any of the splatters where the acid continued to merrily burn through the stone. She looked up at Dorrik shaking her head at the lokkel as they gazed worriedly at the one pace indentation where the ‘door’ had been.

“What in the name of Adam Smith was that?” She asked, jerking her head toward the dead monster. “We’ve fought a lot of crazy things in here, but nothing on that tier.”

“It was a mimic,” Dorrik replied, voice distracted as they walked from the dead creature to look at the remaining two doors. “A creature that can assume almost any shape in order to lure travelers close. They aren’t particularly mobile, but their entire body is incredibly acidic making them tough opponents. Most teams challenging them make sure to have plenty of acid resistant gear and spells on hand.”

“I visited the spell merchant in the adventurer’s hall to round out my protection magic before I left. I have Resist Fire, Resist Cold, and Resist Electricity, but nothing for acid,” Kat responded with a shrug.

“This is an architect damned mimic dungeon isn’t it,” Kaleek said with a groan. “Inconclusive reports from the teams visiting it. Changing monster arrangements. That all sounds like mimics to me.”

“Indeed,” Dorrik replied. “As we have not made proper protections, we shall just have to be careful. No more prodding inanimate objects simply because you are impatient.”

Kaleek rolled his eyes, but didn’t respond, content to stare at the ceiling while his stamina replenished. Any objection he might have would be hard to take seriously given the massive patches of fur burned off by his previous bravado.

Just shy of a half hour later they were all standing once again, mana and stamina pools restored. Kaleek edged toward the center door, his sword in hand as both Kat and Dorrik stood on either side of him, prepared to drown the passageway with spells if it turned out to be a mimic.

The warrior extended his sword outward, point first, poking the door. The first poke was exploratory, fairly gentle and seeking a reaction. The second he put force behind, jamming the tip of his blade a finger length into the wood.

“Looks safe to me,” he said with a shrug. “Unless there’s a kind of mimic that just ignores attacks, I’m pretty sure we’re dealing with an ordinary door here.”

Kat glanced at Dorrik and they shrugged. “Maybe you should give it another jab just to be sure,” the lokkel said. “We don’t have to pay to replace broken doors. You might as well make sure.”

Kaleek returned the shrug, switching to an overhand slash and brought his sword down with all of his might. Wood planks shattered into splinters as the blade crashed through the barrier revealing another room beyond.

“Door,” he said with a nod stepping away from the half ruined barrier.

“So it is,” Dorrik replied.

Kat snorted, walking past the two of them. She turned the doorknob but the entire fixture was stuck after Kaleek had damaged it. After a brief pause, she gritted her teeth and put her shoulder into the fractured wood.

It groaned for a second before the frame and hinges broke, sending Kat stumbling into the room. She went with the motion, dropping into a roll as she fell through the destroyed doorway, coming up into a half crouch, knife at the ready.

The room was empty other than an exit and three vases, each the size of a small person, standing directly in front of it.

“Are you kidding me!” Kat shouted, slamming her knife into her sheath as she stepped out of the doorway and crossed her arms.

A second or two later, Kaleek followed her through. The destroyed entryway. As soon as he saw the room’s setup, he immediately began chuckling.

Dorrik joined them, crest flat against their head as they observed the vases, frowning. They walked a couple of steps to the side, one hand on their chin as they tried to tune out Kaleek’s growing, almost maniacal laughter.

Finally, the lokkel shrugged, a sinuous motion as all four of their shoulders rose and fell in sequence.

“I’m sorry,” they admitted, “I don’t have the faintest clue whether one or all of the vases is a mimic. They all look identical to me and even their scent and infrared signatures are exactly similar. It’s like the dungeon cloned the same object twice.”

“I can’t tell either,” Kaleek replied, wiping a tear from his eye before drawing his greatsword once more, “but I do have the solution to this problem.”

“Wait,” Kat tried to cut in, her eyes widening.

“Real or not,” he continued with a smirk, “it doesn’t really matter to a sword.”

Before she could stop him, Kaleek swung his weapon in a horizontal slash. The blade easily shattered the ceramic vase. Shards sprayed toward the door, bouncing off the back wall of the dungeon and for a half second, Kat thought that he was going to get away with his impulsive actions without any sort of punishment or repercussion.

Then she noticed a faint mist in the air. Kat couldn’t know for sure, but whatever it was didn’t look like dust or detritus from the destroyed vase. Without waiting to think her actions out, Kat cast Water Jet, hosing Kaleek down and hopefully dispersing whatever powder or mist he had unleashed with his attack.

The desoph sputtered, reaching up to wipe water from the patchy fur of his face. Before he could compose himself to respond, Dorrik darted forward, shooting Kat a nod as they grabbed the otter by his wrist and pulled him away from what remained of the cloud.

Kaleek let himself be dragged away, confusion on his face as Dorrik held him still, one hand checking the otter’s pulse from his wrist while he reached up and pried the bewildered warrior’s eye open and peered closely at the pupil.

“What are the two of you doing?” He asked, a hint of worry leaking into his voice. “I just broke a vase.”

“You also have an erratic heartbeat and dilated pupils,” Dorrik replied, crest fluttering in agitation despite their calm words. “Based on the smell of cinnamon on you, it seems like you received a dose of stracharine powder. Luckily Miss Kat acted quickly or it might have been a fatal dose.”

“I don’t feel any different,” Kaleek responded, panting for breath between words. “Maybe a little light headed, but I don’t think I got poisoned or anything.”

“And now erratic breathing,” Dorrik said, their voice resigned. “Please sit down Kaleek as you’re likely to lose your balance, and possibly your consciousness soon. Miss Kat, if you could heal the big oaf it would be helpful. Cure Wounds II won’t cleanse the poison, but it will keep his lungs from shutting down as the powder attacks his nerves.”

“Wha-” Kaleek began, wobbling slightly before dropping onto his butt with a loud thud.

Kat hurried to his side, helping Dorrik steady the desoph as she cast Cure Wounds II on the reeling warrior. The bare patches on his face began to pale even as Kaleek’s eyes lost focus.

He managed to stay upright, each of his companions holding one arm and the golden light of Kat’s spell flickering up and down his body. Even as the magic worked on his body, Kaleek’s hyperventilating got worse, leaving him a twitching mess gasping for breath.

“Will he be all right?” Kat asked worriedly.

“Yes,” Dorrik replied, reaching around Kaleek’s back to steady the otter. “Stracharine powder can be deadly, but it usually requires prolonged exposure. You acted quickly enough that he only got a partial dose. Enough to disable him in combat, but not sufficient to cause death or lasting damage.”

Kat nodded, biting her lip as she continued to pour mana into her shaking friend. At some point Kaleek’s mouth had opened and he had begun drooling mindlessly.

“We’re going to have to go slow through this dungeon, aren’t we?” She asked, her voice quiet. “It sure looks like our only real option is to attack every object from range.”

“Caution is the watchword for this dungeon,” Dorrik agreed. “Every room will be an exercise in ranged attacks and then recovering mana and stamina. I hope we can finish it before we wake up once again, but between the mimics and traps, it would be foolish of us to move quickly.”

Kaleek stiffened, eyes rolling back into his head as he yelped in pain.

“Now Miss Kat!” Dorrik shouted, “hold him tight through the seizures. The powder is attacking his nerves and we must make sure that Kaleek does not hurt himself!”

She clamped down, gaze locked on her friend’s twitching form as he tried to torque his body to the right. A sense of helplessness washed over her.

Even with all of her reflexes on alert, eight levels wasn’t enough. One mistake, and one of her best friends had almost died. Climbing the tower meant walking a path down a knife edge. One misstep and she wouldn’t just get cut. There was a very real chance that she would end up suffering a painful and messy end.