Not long after that insincere Futch had exchanged a few meaningless pleasantries with Annie and left smugly—perhaps less than twenty minutes later—Edgin, Simon, Holga, and Doric finally reunited. After fighting their way through the maze, they reached its very center just before the competition was about to end. There, they found a special metal cage welded with row upon row of spikes, clearly designed to keep those terrifying predators at bay.
By then, more than a dozen people were already inside the cage.
Now, all they had to do was climb in and lock themselves inside, then wait and hold out until this round of the maze was over. There was no doubt they would win the competition!
Well, this round, at least.
But...
As Edgin's teammates cheered in relief and he reached out to open the cage door, ready to step inside, he suddenly stopped and furrowed his brow, lost in thought.
"??"
"What's wrong?"
"Edgin!"
Simon, Holga, and Doric were taken aback. They walked over to him, puzzled, ignoring the confused looks from the contestants who had reached the cage ahead of them.
"No!"
"This isn't the way out!"
"That's not it!"
As the three gathered around him, Edgin let go of the cage door and exclaimed under his breath. Then, while they stared at him in confusion, he explained:
"Think about it!"
"What are we here for? To stop Futch's scheme and bring that bastard down, right?"
"But just now!"
"Doric said she saw Futch loading countless treasures onto a ship with her own eyes, while the treasury in Neverwinter was empty. What does that tell us?"
"It means there's a conspiracy here in Neverwinter!"
"That bastard Futch is going to run!"
"If we go inside, all we'll have done is barely survive this round of the