CMO Carter lead the way, the flashlight function on her communicator the only reliable source of light the group had as they continued up the stairs and through the haunted house. Creatures skittered by in the shadows, just outside of view, and Fontaine flinched each time.

“The blasters in the cart would activate about now,” CMO Carter explained. “There are ghosts and goblins that would jump out along the corridor ahead.” She paused and signaled for the group to do the same.

Curian was the first to respond. “Are…Ah, damn. You think there are monsters waiting for us, don’t you?”

CMO Carter offered a half-hearted smile. Her eyes darted to First Officer deCourville and back to Curian. “I would suggest it isn’t out of the realm of possibility,” she replied. “I’m just wondering how the blasters would have worked out given…Well, that we left the cart behind. We could use regular blasters, but Spiral Reach does generally frown upon murder.”

“Generally frown upon it?” Fontaine sputtered. “It’s part of the primary directive given to all who fly the Spiral Reach flag on their vessels!”

Curian sighed. “I’ve got no serious qualms with putting the business end of a knife in someone if it means they don’t get to do the same to me.” She withdrew two daggers from their hilts in her boots and twirled them in her hands as she walked ahead of the group into the dark corridor. A sudden flurry of movement and a rush of air were followed by a sudden shriek. Something popped out of a small alcove to the left

It was fast, but Curian proved faster. She leapt back and brought the daggers downwards in a sweeping arch that cleaved through her attacker with nearly no effort. Its remains landed with a dull thud against the stone floor. Fontaine stifled a shriek, and Professor Everest attempted to conceal a chuckle at his cohort’s expense.

“Odd,” Curian said as she knelt down to inspect the unseen enemy. She retrieved some of its remains. She cursed as she picked part of it up, letting it clatter to the floor.

CMO Carter was the first to reach her. “What happened? Are you all right?”

Curian picked at her finger, then discarded something unseen before she picked her daggers back up. “Sorry, Cleric, it was just a splinter,” she replied. “These dummies are just that. Wooden cutouts. The goblins back home would take issue, though. These are as stereotyped as they get.”

CMO Carter nodded. “Let’s just hope that they’re all as false as that one,” she replied.

The corridor had a gradual slope to it. It followed a slow, meandering turn that wound higher and higher into the haunted mansion. Occasionally the group stopped to address a wooden goblin or sprite, but nothing living appeared before them.

“I shall dispatch the next one, then!” Fontaine said, his sidearm at the ready.

A goblin appeared, short sword in hand.

“Your money or your life!” the goblin shouted.

Fontaine laughed. “This one’s very believable,” he said. “It even talks as it were a living, breathing being.”

The goblin scoffed. “Says the big, boujee bug.”

Curian’s eyes went wide as additional goblins began to appear around them. It was an ambush, clearly.

“Don’t mean to upset a chamber pot on our little party here,” Curian muttered, “but I think I should point out these ones might be the real deal…”