"If only we had soy sauce..."

I let out a sigh.

Traps.

It's not so surprising, in some respects, but how exactly was anyone supposed to descend when it's so well-defended?

At least, well-defended in the eyes of most observers. I'm not an engineer, but I can comprehend how the mechanism of the swinging blades must work. Presumably, there is some form of gears that turn, and thus cause the blades to swing across the path at an irregular pace. The slots in the ceiling must also be wide enough to allow them to swing unimpeded.

And thus, the path to disabling the trap becomes obvious.

I clean the blood from my sword and smoothly sheath it, as I approach the first of the blades. They swing endlessly, back and forth, vanishing into a slot in the wall before re-emerging. The pace is too fast for most intruders to adequately evade. The gaps between them, too narrow.

Indeed, most would be cut apart and become little more then gore and stains on the stone floor.

---I am not such a person, but as long as my aim is true then that won't matter very much.

I am no engineer, but sabotaging mechanical things is hardly out of the range of my skills. And this is a very simple mechanism in the end, each blade is linked to all the others in order to keep the timing consistent and virtually inescapable.

First, a test.

I can see the slot through which the lengthy neck the first blade is attached to emerges from.

The mechanism must be there.

So, I draw one of my kunai, and carefully take aim---

It leaves my hand and hurtles upwards, vanishing through the gap.

A dull, metallic thunk.

The blade stops. So do the others, a sound of metal straining filling my ears for a few moments---

And then with an unpleasant grinding noise, they swing again.

My hypothesis on their functions was correct. While the kunai jamming the gears wasn't enough to stop them, it has demonstrated the rough expected strength of the metal used to fashion them as well as their location.

So I know that this should work.

The kunai on its own isn't enough, so I'll add a little something extra.

This time, a surge of heat flows into the edge of the kunai.

Then more.

Then more.

Even more.

I pour magical energy into the kunai, along its edges, more and more and more, searing heat radiating from the blade and starting to distort the air around it.

Then---

I take aim, drawing my hand back---

And throw.

It becomes a bolt of light as it rockets from my hand, burning the air as it hurtles upwards and disappears into the darkness.

The sudden injection of heat to the cold gears---

The sound that fills the air is quite different from the dull metal thunk from before, a screech filling the hall.

The first blade swings down and comes to a halt.

Then the next.

And the next.

And the next---