Finley pushed the door open with one hand. To no one's surprise, another gray room made of nothing but stone. But this time there were a few skeletons lumbering around. They looked like they could fall apart with how slouched their posture was. The monsters roamed around like your typical zombies; arms stretched out in front; jaws wide open while their bodies swayed from side to side. 

"Don't let their stance fool ya, lad," Finley said with a whisper. "Their danger comes in numbers. On their own they’re not much of a threat, but once they start piling around you is when you're in serious trouble."

"I'm only counting three in here," I whispered. "Is that enough to overwhelm me?"

"If it's your first gauntlet, then yeah. You ever use a claw like that in your life back on Earth?"

I looked at my weapon and gave it a thorough examination from all possible angles. "Can't say that I have."

"Then it's best to let me lead the way then." Finley walked through the door first, his staff held tight in both hands. He angled it downwards so that the ball at the top pointed towards the closest skeleton in the room. It turned its head with a pair of bright glowing red eyes looking right at us. The monster made a loud groan before heading right towards Finley.

The ball on his rod started to glow a bright yellow. The next moment an arc of electricity jumped from his weapon right to the skeleton's chest. The enemy fell backwards, collapsing into a pile of bones on the floor. 

"That simple, huh?" I said from the safety of being behind the cleric. 

"For now, yes. But don't expect every monster to be such a breeze." Finley stepped to the side, putting me in clear view of the other two monsters in the room. "Why don't you give combat a try for yourself?"

I stepped forward, claw raised froward in front of my body to protect myself. One skeleton was about halfway across the room while the other was all the on the other side, blocking the next room. After seeing Finley down the first monster, I was filled with confidence. A single strike was enough to take it down. Shouldn't have been a problem to do the same. 

I ran forward, claw raised above my head. The closest skeleton waddled towards me as if it had no concern for its well-being. I slashed the monster across the chest, the sharpened prongs of my weapon stopping once they hit the top of the ribcage. The monster staggered back from the slash, its loose jaw clattering as it stumbled away from me.

"Hit it again!" Finley shouted out from behind. 

I took no time to attack again. I wadded my hand into a fist and plunged the tips of my weapon right into the skull's eye sockets. There was a weak rattle as my enemy fell backwards before shattering into a dozen pieces on the ground. I paused for a moment to look at my work until Finley walked up behind me and gave me a pat on the back. 

"Nice work, lad. Glad you listened."

"Wasn't that hard." I flicked the soreness out of my weapon-holding wrist.

"I know. But at least that means you're not the kind to hesitate. Gauntlets aren't the place where you want to be second guessing yourself. One wrong move or a moment of indecision could be mean certain death."

"And that's why I acted when you told me to." I kicked the bones to the side. Something was glowing underneath all the cracked bones. I reached down and picked up a shiny red feather. "Is... this something that skeletons usually keep on them?"

"Ya got lucky." Finley leaned forward and squinted at the long red feather in between my fingertips. "You found yourself a Flurry Lark Feather. Put that in your bag. It'll give you an increase to your agility stat for as long as you're in the current Gauntlet. Finley looked at the last skeleton as it hobbled closer towards us. "Hurry up and stash it away in your pouch. There's still one more enemy we've got to deal with!"

I pulled the drawstring to the bag open and quickly put the feather inside. Once in, I tightened up the pouch and got into a combat stance. The skeleton lunged forward, trying to grab with its bony fingers. I stepped back, avoiding the grab altogether. Now that the skeleton was close enough, I slashed at the neck with my claw. I felt the connection between its neck and spine start to snap with my first hit. With the monster hurt, I executed it by snapping the already weakened connection point that kept the head attached to the body.

Like all the others, the skeleton crumbled into a harmless pile of bones in front of my feet. I took another look around the room, relieved that there were no more enemies in sight. Finley gave me a jab in the arm, almost startling me. I flinched with my claw raised for a strike. 

"You act like ya just saw a ghost."

"I kinda did. Three of them."

"Right. Fair point." He rested his hands on his hips and admired the destruction. "So. How are ya feeling after your first taste of combat?"

I relaxed a bit and let my arms dangle by my sides. My heart raced so intensely I could hear it. If Finley was just an inch or two closer, I'm sure he could have too. "It was a rush."

"If that got your blood boilin', just wait until you see what we come up against when we reach the forty-five-minute mark. Really is 'life or death' at that point."

"Is it wrong to say that... I kind of enjoyed it?" I asked. I looked down at my weapon and admired how the sharpened points glistened despite the dim lighting. "Felt like I was in one of those therapy sessions with a school counselor, except this time I actually managed to get my anger out." I slashed at the air a few times, pretending that there was another skeleton in front of me. "I... want to keep going!"

"Cathartic ain’t it?" Finley put a hand on my back and guided me towards the door to the right of the hallway. "Yeah, it's good that you actually enjoy combat, seeing as how it's gonna be your job from now on. Would have been a real shame if you were one of those pacifist folks that got dragged into all this."

Finley opened the next door but lingered at the entrance. On the other side was another door, right past a long wooden table. A single chest lay on top, except this time it was still shut tight. 

"You eyeing that chest?" I asked, pointing into the next room. There was a skeleton on the far side, but it hadn't noticed us yet.

"You can take it," he said. "But be careful. Remember me mentioning traps earlier?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there's always a possibility of a chest being rigged. Either it'll damage you when you open it, or it will give you a debuff that will carry over throughout the rest of the Gauntlet."

"Damn. That'll make me think twice about opening up those things."

"I wouldn't stress it too much. There are items you can buy to negate the effects, and a higher luck stat means you're less likely to run into a trap. And if you're really fortunate, you might even come across a skill or spell that lets you check chests before opening them."

"You're telling me to be patient this time?"

Finley just shrugged. "It's up to you. I don't think there's something dangerous in that chest, but I don't want you acting surprised if you get hurt when you open it."

I looked at the lone skeleton across the room. "Let me discuss it with our friend over there."