<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/6Jh2vbx.jpg)</div><br/>The duo entered the room, ready for the iron door to slam down behind them.  But apparently it wasn't anything that simple.<strong>"Huh,"</strong>Kirsta muttered as she looked around.  Nothing was ever quite what it seemed in the dungeon.  Then a bellowing roar filled the hallway behind them, and Zerxel looked back down the passage.  Even with the dim light of the 'night time' torches, she could see far down the passage they'd traveled to the last turn they'd taken.  There a hulking beast stomped around the corner far away.  Zerxel could only guess at it's size based on the way it hunched over and the distance, but the mountain of flesh in the distance had to be at least seven feet tall and probably closer to eight.  In each of it's massive hands a huge club banded in iron with wicked looking spikes.  The muscular beast turned immediately in the direction of the duo and sniffed the air once before releasing another bellowing roar.  Then putting it's horned head down, it began charging down the long hallway, building speed with each step.<br/><br/><strong>"Minotaur!"</strong>Kirsta gasped,<strong>"Quick, help me look for a way to close this door!"</strong><br/><br/>Indeed Zerxel knew that a minotaur was a fierce creature and even together the two of them probably had no chance to defeat it in combat.  The dungeon had become much more dangerous at nightfall.  The only positive aspect to seeing it probably meant that they were very close to the other counselor's chambers.  Kirsta's fingers were flying over the stones near the archway, searching for some catch or lever, and with a cry of excitement she pushed on a large stone.<br/><br/>The sound of the Minotaur's charge was echoing down the passage way, closer with each second.  But as Kirsta pushed in the stone, the giant iron door in the archway dropped.  With a jolt that rattled the floor, the heavy iron door slammed down into place with a nearly deafening crash.  A few heartbeats later the sound of the mountain of muscle that was the minotaur, crashing into the other side of the door, filled the room they were in.  Then nearly deafening the sound of his metal shod clubs crashing against the wall of iron that had cut him off from his prey.  That continued for several long moments, but even the massive beast couldn't budge the solid iron barrier that now separated him from the contestants.  With a roar of anger, the crashes stopped and the room went silent except for the echoing of his club blows.<br/><br/>Kirsta looked over at Zerxel, her face slightly pale with fear,<strong>"That was close.... I think... I think he's going away though."</strong><br/><br/>Sure enough they heard from the other side of the door his roar again, but it was far off, and muted by the solid barrier between them.  Of course it was in that silence, as the last echos of the Minotaur's assault ended that Zerxel noticed another noise.  A soft sibilant sound, and she looked around.  From the ceiling and the grates on the wall, sand was flowing into the room, filling it slowly.  Not fast enough that it would suffocate them for a very long time, many hours in fact before the sand reached the level of the ceiling.  But it was rising fast enough that the platforms of solid stone would be covered in sand before too long.  Which of course begged the question, what might be hidden beneath the sands?