Why does this adventurer keep braving the dungeon? Honestly, they just really love puzzles.
"Now, far be it from me to tell you your business-"
"Hm?"
"And I'm happy to rest my legs."
"Oh, well it's no problem-"
"But you don't really seem cut out for the dungeon-crawling life."
"Oh. Sorry."
Elora carefully lowered herself down the passage in a harness of magical vines, the rope ladder the others had descended entirely ill-suited for a centaur to use.
"Nah, it's fine, you're doing fine. I mean, you get a little scared- It's not important. You just don't seem like you're having a great time, is all. With the fighting, and the tight spaces, and the ladders."
"Oh! Yeah, no, I'm not."
"Okay. Do you wanna stop? Because I have a portal scroll, for emergencies."
The assassin on her back, Devaedra, was really nice even though she murdered people.
"No, I can keep going. Thank you though!"
"Okay, just tell me if you change your mind."
She trotted down the ancient hall until the two of them rejoined the rest of the party, stalled at a massive door carved out of the stone.
"You know, we'd be making better progress if our door opener didn't want to bring up the rear."
"Not my fault that you're as comforting as a battleaxe. Elora needed me, didn't she."
"Y-Yeah, sorry."
"And besides," Devaedra continued, "if I went ahead and it wasn't a locked door you'd be mad at me for killing everything before you could join the fun."
The stout barbarian grunted. "But there ain't fun. There's a locked door."
"Yes, yes, I'll open it, calm yourself." Devaedra hopped off her back, giving her a gentle pat. "Ugh, that's a long combination lock." She held her long ear to the door, spinning one of the reels. "And I don't hear anything. This could take a while-"
"Feldspar." Elora said.
"Huh?"
"It's a riddle lock, the riddle is inscribed around the door. It's an old dwarven dialect, but I think- Well, it doesn't really translate. But the answer is Feldspar. Just, um, let me-"
She carefully rotated the reels into position, and the door scraped open.
"...Huh. Guess you were waiting for the door opener either way." Devaedra said, shrugging and hopping back onto Elora's back.
"For fucks sake just carry the chest and I'll open it later-"
"Um, can I..?"
Elora sat in front of the chest, sliding panels around swiftly until they formed a complete insignia. The lock popped open.
"Oh. Always been bad at those." Devaedra said.
"This one, uh, it's like a pun kinda. You have to- Here, let me."
"This one is actually just feldspar again."
Devaedra picked at a regular, iron lock.
"I'm sorry." Elora said.
"Why?"
"I'm doing your thing. You're carrying me through this dungeon and-"
"Elora you've literally been carrying me through the dungeon."
"You know what I mean!"
"Elora." She said, popping the lock open. "Heh, still got it. Elora, you're good at puzzles! It's not a bad thing, you're helping a lot."
"Oh! Okay, I'm glad you think so. It's really the only part I'm good at, so a lot of people don't like bringing me along."
"I like having you around. Tell you what, we can be a package deal, people want me to open regular locks, they gotta bring you to do the puzzles. Partners?" She said, offering Elora her hand.
"Partners."
