[center][h2][color=#b3ccff]Esben Mathiassen[/color][/h2][/center]
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With Selene scouting everything ahead, alongside the advance warning from Zacharias and the [i]immediate[/i] one from the immolated Sahuagin, the Kirins were blissfully unthreatened by the traps that awaited them. As they came close enough that they could make out the details on the puzzle at the end of the gauntlet, Esben was given the chance to peruse it and whatever its ultimate pattern was meant to be as the others made their way past the hazards laid out—though not without turning away, and this time, [i]covering his ears[/i] as Miina set off the magical explosives in their path.

Luckily he hadn't been too close to the flash bomb that Chisato had thrown out among the Sahuagin, but it had still left his ears ringing uncomfortably coming right after Miina's thunderbolt. No doubt he'd have gunfire to contend with soon, but for once, the party's loudest member was remaining among its quietest, and he'd try to enjoy that as long as it lasted.

As Galahad freed his weapon from where he'd jammed the last of the blades' mechanism, he strode forward, stopping in front of the block puzzle.

Stared silently at it for a moment.

[color=#b3ccff]"How many steps do you think, Rudolf?"[/color] he asked, not bothering to turn at the sound of the footsteps that came up next to him. About the only two he [i]wouldn't[/i] easily recognize from their walk at this point would be Miina and Chisato, and only because they could both be whisper quiet if they put their minds to it. [color=#b3ccff]"Fastest solution, what's your guess?"[/color]

[color=c0392b]"Twenty-six."[/color]

[color=#b3ccff]"Oh? So many?"[/color]

Rudolf's face remained stoic and expressionless, the only clue that he was taking a closer look being the faint tightening at the corners of his eyes as he peered more closely at the pattern. [color=c0392b]"I took the long way. Brute force, but it'd get us there. The actual minimum...nineteen."[/color]

Esben nodded appreciatively. [color=#b3ccff]"You're close,"[/color] he congratulated. [color=#b3ccff]"But you're still five over how many we actually need. The entire pattern as it's [i]shown[/i] is unsolvable."[/color] He stepped up to the puzzle, starting to slide the blocks around. [color=#b3ccff]"If I had to guess, the only ones that actually [i]matter[/i] are the four with Leviathan's face. The rest are just meant to distract, the formless chaos of her roiling coils...And given that, there may be something else to this..."[/color]

Sure enough, as he moved the carved tiles, he could hear the faintest metallic clicks in the four he was focused on as he moved them around. Once he'd slid them into place, each popped out slightly, free to pull away from the rest of the puzzle. He passed them off to Rudolf beside him, only to reveal, where they'd released themselves from—a keyhole.

A rather large one, owing to the size of the puzzle, but still. A further obstruction that Zacharias had not mentioned to them, nor provided a key to use. [color=#b3ccff]"Eos. Your light, if you would?"[/color] The green fairy hovered up, shining into the lock. Brighter and more direct than a simple torch would be, revealing the details within far better than Esben might otherwise have hoped for.

Designed like a simple warded lock, easy enough to make a skeleton key if they had the materials, but the hole for the post was nearly the size of the grovemasters' staffs. At the deepest point, something metallic reflected the green glow. Below it, however, there was more, a separate mechanism. No telling for [i]sure[/i] what it was, but if he had to guess...

He glanced up once at the rest of the tiles. Perhaps one final security mechanism for the unwary, before the crystal's guardian itself. If they could see through the tile puzzle, then they might find the oversized keyhole, make an oversized key for it, trip some sort of explosive, shatter the tiles into shrapnel that would rip through whoever had made it so far.

[color=#b3ccff]"Clever,"[/color] he mused. [color=#b3ccff]"Not exceedingly so, but at least a little cunning. The rest of you, stand back and at the ready—Chisato, I want you to have another of those flash bombs in hand. Éliane, Galahad's halberd may be just a bit too wide to fit the top of this—could you poke whatever is at the back of it with your rifle? Be careful not to let it droop too much, I don't want to be picking stone out of my, your, or anyone else's face before we get in there."[/color]