[quote]"No. I think I'll take my chances out here."

"Which God are you anyway?"

"I've made a deal like this before y'know. Usually these things don't shake out too well for us mortals."[/quote]

The self-declared god flickered and staticked at the far side of the gaping, crumbling, jagged, machinery-filled chasm that used to be the mosaic floor. Its sharded eyes glowed round and white, it grinned like hot melted plastic. Its eyes followed Nali round without any need to turn its head.

[i]I AM RSHALOGG, HUNGRY ONE.[/i]

Rshalogg stretched out its thin arm over the edge of the crumbling chasm, and it unfolded its sharp staticked fingers: in its dark palm glimmered a small trove of precious gemstones: diamonds, rubies, sapphires.

Nali would find her pouch to be empty.

Rain stood at the opposite end, her back to the god -- now that the floor had fallen through, there was no safe way to reach the rotted front door. The only way out was up -- or past the god and into the hallway that led toward the ogre. She found that the rubble from the roof had created a steep but climbable pile of rock and wood and plaster that led up to the top of the ruined wall -- but once the top of the wall was reached, it was a significant drop to the muddy ground below.

[b]"Well why don't ya just [i]blast[/i] 'im?"[/b] Rigby roared at Rose, having finally swallowed the banana peel. He hopped like a little blue monkey on the bone-strewn remains of old caskets, casting his hateful eyes between Rose and Rshalogg. [b]"Yer a witch, right? And ya just said you've got a commune with a demon or somethin, right? So [i]blast[/i] 'im! Kapow!"[/b] He swung his fist in the air so hard he nearly lost his balance. He was so completely and utterly focused on the idea of blasting their way out of every situation that he failed to notice Nali's changing eye colors or Rshalogg's widening grin.

[b]BOOM[/b]

A small explosion rumbled at the other end of the hallway, and the walls of the Stone trembled.

The woman's voice once again began to sing -- fainter, weaker, but determined to sing to her dying breath. The floor under their feet began to crumble at an alarming rate; the gears at the bottom of the chasm below began to creak and hiss and churn. Soon, the floor would turn to little more than sand, the rubble of the roof would drop into the chasm, and the only way to avoid being dropped with it would be to cling to the uneven stones of the walls. There were moments to act: to dart into the hallway where the floor was intact, to traverse the treacherous path to the broken front door, to climb the wall, or to accept the help of the grinning god.

Outside the wall where Rain stood, the sound of shuffling and grunting could be heard. The explosion had been the sound of the ogre escaping the room at the end of the hall. It had walked around the castle, and now stood wet and muddy on the outside of the wall, peering up with its ugly face, a person-sized hammer slung over its shoulder.

The song filled the Stone.