The Eighth Trial

Technically I cheated on this one. Technically, I could not have survived without said cheating. They allowed the bombs with the Hyrda, but they never found out about my changes to the coffin in this one. But I should begin at the begining.

My Eighth Trial was to break out of a coffin sealed in triple layered steel chains and buried eight feet under the dirt at the bottom of the river I had dammed earlier. A drawback to my earlier non-combat intended Trials, which forced them to acknowledge my willpower, resourcefulness... and sheer luck. I was respected (in general) on the scale of a Clan General, which meant that what little opposition remaining had all the more reason to set up a trap humans should not have been able to survive. If I didn't know better I would think they were trying to kill me or something. So since no amount of acrobatic ability or skill with a blade could save me from my watery grave, I *altered* it somewhat beforehand when a acquaintance rooting for me informed me about the nature of the test.

The solution was simple enough, but not easy; I investigated every spare coffin without a current resident and cut out the felt interiors, making more space for me to move about on the inside... and altering the volume enough that the chains would be somewhat loose when or if I broke free of one of them. The water volume compressing the hollow wood of the box would hinder me somewhat in this endeavor but it could not be avoided. I also took one of the ten vials of the Hydra acid I had milked out of the creature with me and subtly sabotaged some of the links when the day came to finally climb into the casket. Luckily for me they noticed neither the chains nor the altered box in the dark gloom of the riverside caves. I still had the almost full vial when they stopped digging under the still water and threw my box in. It was dark, cramped, and the air was bad. I stilled myself and hurled the vial's contents at what I hoped was the roof of the coffin or whichever side was pointing up towards the cavern above. If I was extremely lucky in the darkness it would burn through the top and then I could swim like hell to the surface. If it didn't, at least the acid would be faster than asphyxiation. I would gain nothing from fear, and I placed it behind me to calmly and carefully to enact my scheme.

My tactic worked. I am a tall man, but of trim build, and wriggling out of the new hole proved quick and easy. I was able to swim up eight feet to the mud at the bottom of the river and then swim the four or so feet up to the surface. I was not even breathing hard, and I 'lost' both altered coffin and vial of acid at the bottom. They simply shook their heads and walked me away, not even bothering to check the evidence. At this point they really didn't care how I had escaped- only the escape mattered. I still had nine vials of valuable blood and got to live with only mild guilt to plague me, and they got the joy of picking out two more trials. I have had more moral issues over killing rabbits then I did in trying to absolve myself of surviving, if you want the truth, and in a puzzle that Houdini would have had to have cheated on, my actions were necessary. Thus ended the Eighth Trial, proving once again that intelligent killers and cheaters prosper in an unfair world like ours. I spent three weeks afterwards quietly trying to re sew coffins before I accepted the next task.