"The gravitational force is strong in this room." - Me...

Gargavincious rolled over onto his back, panting on the temple floor. A figure materialised beside him. He lolled his head sideways, only to find the Queen looking back at him.

He scrambled to his feet. "You-Your majesty. How did you-"

"I can do many things normal people can't Mr. Gargavincious. And if we're going to be spending time together please stop calling me that."

Gargavincious nodded. "So... What would you prefer to be called?"

The elven woman laughed. "Well, I have been known to answer to my name before."

Gargavious blushed. "Oh. Right, of course. Which is?"

"Eliza."

Before the half elf could speak, Jamus landed beside him, pulling a severed stone hand from his shoulder.
"Stupid gargoyles."

The three turned around. Two dark passageways led into the stone ground, intricate patters carved into the stairs. A faint red glow was visible at the bottom of each one.

"So." Jamus grunted. "Which one do we take?"

Eliza looked down each tunnel.
"General, you and I will take this one, whilst Gargavinci- I'm sorry is there anything else you go by? Your name is very annoying."

The half elf looked at his feet. "Oh... Sorry. I go by G sometimes."

The queen nodded. "Right. You stay guard up here. If we haven't returned by sundown, go and get help."
She grabbed Jamus' scaly wrist and dragged him into the tunnel.

Gargavincious tapped his foot as he stood in the empty temple. After a moment he took out his deck of cards and began to shuffle them, for no purpose other than to keep his hands busy. If he didn't, he seemed to accidentally set things on fire, which tended to get a bit annoying. He looked up at the sound of a faint yelling.

"Yeeehaaaaa!"
The Captain flew directly into his chest, sending both of them tumbling down into the second passageway. A door slammed down behind them, leaving the room in total darkness.

Gargavincious shot to his feet, shoving the captain.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
There was a distance thud as a door slammed over the first tunnel.
He put his cards in a satchel around his waist, and rubbed his hands together. After a moment, they burst into flames, which he quickly harnessed into a small ball.

Light from the flames danced on the stone walls around them. Gargavincious looked over at the Captain, who was staring at the wall, which until now had been a rather large opening.

"How do we get back out?"

"I don't know!" Gargavincious snapped. "Maybe you should have thought of that before you came hurtling out of the-"

The Captains hand closed around the half elf's neck, slamming him against the wall.
"Listen kid. Queeny up there might be getting friendlier with you, but not me. You speak to me again like that, and I chop your block off. Understand?"

Gargavincious made a garbled choking sound, which the Captain took as a yes. He let go, letting the mage drop to the floor. He didn't get up for a moment, the flame dying as he coughed and spluttered. After a moment, his breathing rapid, he brought the flame back and began down the tunnel.

"Where do you think you're going?" Captain called after him.

The half elf turned around, his red hair was the same colour as the flames hovering above his hands.
"Do you want to try and break through the stone wall?"

"But you can't just walk into a dark tunnel."

Gargavincious bit his lip. "Well... It's not dark. I just made a flame for you."
He left the captain and began down the stone corridor.

The Captain jogged to catch up, his bat-like wings rustling against the back of his trench coat.
"You made a flame for me huh? Like don't need one."

The half elf gritted his teeth. "I don't. Elves have the gift of night vision. It helps with tracking and hunting in the dark forest of their homelands."

The Captain scowled in the darkness. "I'm not stupid boy. Elves can do all that tracking stuff. Not hexen-bloods like you."

Gargavincious stopped dead, the flames in his palm disappearing in an instant, sending the room into complete darkness. He blue eyes began to glow, and lightning surged over his chest and shoulders, inching it's way up his neck and into his ginger hair, which stood on end.

"You call me that again, and I will personally make sure that every molecule in your body has been reduced to ashes."
A bolt of electricity sparked off him, hitting the wall behind the captain.
"Do I make myself clear, Captain?"
Gargavinious could see the dragonborn nod frantically in the darkness. The lightning disappeared, and he brought back the small flame.
"Good. Follow me."

After a few minutes of walking through the empty tunnel, the Captain pulled out a small compass from inside his coat. He grabbed Garfavincious' arm.
"What's going on here?"

The half elf looked at the compass. The small bronze arrow was spinning wildly, never settling on a direction.
"Ah. Well that either means that the force of gravity down here is wildly different to the one on the surface, or..."

"Or what?"

"Or there's some very powerful magic resonating from nearby."
Gargavincious kept walking, pulling a knife from his belt.

What seemed like passed as the pair made their way slowly through the tunnel.

"Hey kid?" Captain muttered. "Is that flame of yours getting brighter?"

Gargavincous stopped. The corridor around them was indeed far brighter than the sections they'd previously passed through. He closed his hand, extinguishing the flame. The room stayed lit. Slowly, he took a card from his pouch, and tossed it at the floor in front of them.

The playing card fluttered to the stone floor. As soon as it landed a violent rumbling shook the tunnel, and the floor cracked open. Bubbling magma oozed from the widening gaps, and large chunks of stone floated in front of them. Gargavincious scanned the room quickly. At the end of the trap sat a large, ornate wooden chest, sitting in front of a ledge.

"What do you recon that chest has the power were after?" Captain asked in a hushed voice.

"We have to get there first." Gargavincious sighed. Throwing caution to the wind, he jumped, landing shakily on one of the loose stone slabs. He jumped again, this time nearly slipping off and into the burning lava. Eventually, stone by stone, he hopped across to the other side of the trap. He turned around, just in time to see the captain stretch his wings and glide effortlessly over the trap.

"Show off." Gargavincious muttered, crouching in front of the chest. "It's locked."

The captain rolled his lizard like eyes. "Well can you unlock it, Mr. Magic-Man?"

Grumbling, the half elf held his hand before the lock. He concentrated on moving the pins... And nothing happened.
"Not with magic." He sighed, taking his knife and a lock-pick and inserting them into the keyhole. There was a hiss of pain, and the chest leapt backwards.

Fumbling and dropping the knife, Gargavincious yelled, and almost toppled back into the lava. Two warps in the wood opened up to reveal glowing red eyes, and the chest opened to show a set of hundreds of small, razor sharp yellow teeth.
"Mimic!" He called out to the captain as the monster leapt on top of his chest, pinning him to the ground.

The Captain didn't move, but gazed at the creature disguises as a chest, desperately trying to rip Gargavincious' head off.

"What are you doing?" The half elf yelled, panic creeping into his voice. "Don't just stand there!"

"Well... What did you want me to do?"

Gargavinous stared at the man, wrestling the snapping chest away from his neck, drool dripping into his robes.
"What do I- Help! Kill it or something!"

The Captain gulped. "I can't..."

"Why the hell not?"

"...I had a pet mimic once. His name was-was Snappy."

The mimic bit down on Gargavincious' struggling hand, and he howled in pain.
"I don't care what your monster of a pets name was, just help!"

The Captain balled his fists. "Sorry Snappy!" He screamed as he kicked the mimic, sending teeth and wooden beams everywhere. Gargavincious lay panting on the stone floor, blood seeping from the deep gashes in his hand.

"I. Absolutely. Hate you." He breathed, ripping cloth from the bottom of his robes and wrapping it around his wound.

"The feelings mutual kid."