Dice Roll: Medusa, imp, prisoner, cage, beer, tower, labyrinth, market stall, Olympus

Serina hissed under her breath as she strained against the chains connecting her to the wall. The snakes of her hair all hissed with her. A few links of chain clinked out of the hole in the wall, letting her move a little farther into the room, closer to the cage sitting on a table in the middle of the room.

"Try harder!" the imp in the cage encouraged, his dark, clawed hands gripping the bars as he watched the snakewoman pull on the chains.

Serina groaned and slithered backward, the chains clinking to the floor as they became slack. She stood, one hand resting on the wall, as she caught her breath.

"Don't give up! You only need a few more chain links to reach my cage!" the imp shouted. He turned a baleful glare to the statue near Serina. "You fool! Thought she didn't have her ancestress's powers did you? Never dare to capture one of Medusa's line!" The imp spat in the direction of the statue, spittle landing well short of its intended mark.

"It'ss jussst too bad he only had the key to your cage..."

"But luckily he was fool enough to hand it to you! Or it'd be just another lump of stone forever held in the stone of his pocket!" The imp cocked its head at Serina. "What'd you call that trick you used on him? That convinced him to hand over the key?"

Serina blinked her double-lidded eyes at him slowly before answering, "Enthrallment. But it didn't work right." She hissed angrily and glared at the statue. "If it had, he would've gone to get my key and delivered it to me, too. Insstead, he jussst awoke from the charm very angry and I had to petrify him."

"Weren't you planning on doing that anyway once you got out?" the imp asked.

"No," Serina snarled around her venomous teeth. "I might have bit him as a warning, but I don't kill people unlesssss they dessserve it."

"Well, unless you free me so I can get your key and free you, we're both stuck here until we die, now," the imp complained. "Now that our captor is a statue, no one even knows we're here!" He waved one hand at Serina, gesturing her closer. "Come on. See if you can pull the chain out some more. You only need a few more links."

Serina took a deep breath, then lunged forward, straining against the chains once more.

Her breath came out in long, low hisses as she pulled, her arms extended straight behind her, chains taut.

A small clink warned her just as she fell forward another little bit, one more link having been forced through the hole in the wall.

She leaned forward, snarling, bowing her head toward the imp's cage. One of her snakes, key in its jaws, extended out, reaching as far from her head as its scaly coils would allow.

The imp leaned, shoulder rammed against the bars as it strained, clawed fingers grasping desperately at the brass key in the snake's mouth.

Finally, the claws on the imp's hand slid through the decoratively looped back of the key.

"Ah HA!" the imp shouted with glee as he pulled the key into the cage, then quickly reached around and unlocked his cage. "Thanks, Serina!"

"You're welcome," Serina replied as she leaned against the wall, panting. "Now, pleasssse go get my key and bring it back to me."

"Search for the key somewhere in this tower?" the imp replied. "When every level is full of monsters and magical traps? Do you think I want to die?"

"You promissssed." Serina glared at the imp, who quickly looked away.

"Yeah, well, good luck with that. If I had your powers, maybe I'd have a chance against the wyverns and basilisks and other nasties waiting to stop any escape attempts. But, I can't turn people to stone. I can't enthrall them. Heck, I can't even look cute and beg them to not kill me. I have nothing." The imp scampered down from its cage and ran across the floor, away from the snakewoman. "Except a window." He crawled up the stones and stood for a moment on the window sill.

"Wait!" Serina called. "I promissse, I won't hurt you! Pleasssse, just come back! Pleasssse..."

The imp leapt from the window, disappearing in midair.

Riji stared into the foamy depths of his tankard, his two frog friends happily singing and dancing on the table.

A light breeze blew through the marketplace, making the canvas roof of the open-air bar flap over their heads.

A dark imp landed with a thud onto the table, causing the frog duo to cease their chorus mid-croak.

The imp looked around, then looked up at Riji. "Hey there, wartface. Can I have a sip of your beer? I'm parched?" Before Riji could reply, the imp hopped up to perch on the edge of the tankard and started lapping at the amber liquid.

Riji frowned and plucked the imp from his glass, holding the scoundrel by the scruff of its neck with just his thumb and one finger. "My name is Riji, imp. If you expect people to do you favors, you ought to address them respectfully." He dropped the imp onto the table and picked up his beer, looking at it with distaste. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't punt you into next week after I dump this on you."

"Because then you'll never find Serina."

The troll grabbed the imp in his fist and brought the troublemaker up to eye level. "What do you know about Serina? She's my friend and neighbor, and I haven't seen her all week."

"She and I were prisoners in the tower in the middle of the labyrinth," the imp replied. "She cunningly found a way to let me escape, but I lacked the skills necessary to free her, so I came for help."

"The tower in the labyrinth?" Riji asked, slowly lowering the imp back to the table.

The imp nodded as it brushed itself off, stepping back away from the troll's hand. "Yeah. It's chock full of monsters of all kinds. Nothing I can beat. Especially not alone. So I had to leave her."

"You abandoned her?" Riji growled, glaring at the imp.

"No! I came here to get you, so you can go save her! You're a troll! I bet you can take on a tower full of monsters after you find your way through the labyrinth!"

"Will you show me the way?" Riji asked, crossing his arms.

The imp shook its head hard. "Nope. No way. I get lost easily."

"You found your way out," Riji pointed out.

"I teleported," the imp admitted. "I could do that once I got out of the tower. But, I can't teleport someone your size."

Riji sighed, still looking hard at the imp, frowning. He glanced over at his two friends, also sitting on the table, silent. He looked back to the imp. "Fine. I'll go without you. But then you need to get my friends here to Mount Olympus. They're scheduled to sing for Zeus tonight. If I'm rescuing Serina, I won't have time to escort them there." He looked down at the imp. "You can teleport them, can't you?"

The imp glanced at the two frogs, then nodded up at Riji.

"Good." Riji lifted his flagon of beer once more and dumped it over the imp's head. "That's for spoiling my drink," he said sternly as the imp sputtered. He jabbed his finger at the imp. "I'll forgo kicking you out of here since you told me where Serina is. But only if you bring my friends up to the temple of Zeus on time for their performance and safely get them home once it's over."

The imp nodded its sodden head. "Yes, sir. Two frogs to be delivered to Zeus for a singing recital. Then off home."

"Good." Riji turned to his friends. "I'm sorry. I guess I won't be getting you to the temple, like I promised. I have to go find Serina." The troll stood, mumbling as he plunked a few coins onto the table, "I should go find Tauryn. He knows his way around labyrinths..."

He shouldered his club and ambled away from the marketplace and down the street, first to find the minotaur, and then to rescue Serina.