The stair-house narrows into a choke of stone and old soot. Ahead, a locked mouth grinds open halfway, then jams, as a lithe brown catman works two sets of picks with maddening care.

His wrong turns and right turns land together. The stone lock clicks, then settles open anyway. The hidden mechanism answers at once, and the ceiling slit wakes with a hiss of blue light.

Arcane fireballs spit across the room. Erma and the knights dive into the shadows, the blast washing heat over the floor and the stair lip without touching the clutch behind them.

The catman is left standing in the open, one hand on the lock, the other bracing the door as if he can keep the whole trap from remembering its purpose.

The open passage reveals a deeper bend, marked with Ash Regent ash-sigils carved into the inner stone. This is the road he must use to reach the Regent before the lineage is turned into a tool.

Erma lets the dispel settle into the ceiling slit. The blue tongues stutter, thin, and die, and the chamber answers with a low crack from the hidden teeth above.

The fireball launcher goes mute. One stone iris slumps open, its rune-ring dulled to ash gray, while soot drifts harmlessly into the room instead of flame.

The locked mouth stays open. Behind it, the Ash Regent markings are clear now, and a narrow service notch in the wall is revealed beside the bend, just big enough for a careful climber.

The catman swallows hard and tightens his grip on the open door, looking from Erma to the blackened launcher as the stone house falls into a tense, waiting hush.