Burr looks about the room in obvious curiosity, but doesn't dare taking so much as a step toward anything to investigate further. He shoulders a rather large pack laden with supplies that should easily last a two-day journey into the Great Underground Kingdom of Moltpaa – possibly longer.

A gray Skreek carefully funnels the last bit of alcohol she has into a small bottle that fits into the palm of her hand before tucking it away in her pack, hopeful that if she does run into any of the reptilian Gorts (or whatever they're called) they might have an aversion to the cold sensation much like the selona lizards did – and if not, her staff is kept close at hand as well as every throwing dagger she could scrounge. She's let Burr carry the bulk of the supplies, bedding, extra lamp oils and sparkers, plus some torches should the lamps suffer some ill fate, as well as food and some of her medical supplies. To top it off she gave the cheetah a stone pickaxe to use both for digging and if things get hairy below. She carries a lamp as well, with a smaller "spare" dangling from her pack that's been stuffed with ropes, a smaller shovel, an extra change of clothes (as hers have a habit of getting torn) and a supply of medical potions and herbs geared towards more instant use.

A coil of wire-like material rests in her belt, as well as some tobacco, her knives, and a few herbs.

Burr adjusts his pack a bit, then looks askance to Willow.

"Too heavy?" Willow chitters, tightening her belt a little.

Burr shakes his head in the negative.

Burr looks around the room, glancing at the monster heads … then quickly looking away and taking an interest instead in his own feet.

The Skreek pats herself down, pausing to look at the creatures on the walls. "It looks like we're set then. And remember, if something happens to me you drop everything, grab my unconscious hide and run like lightning to the exit. Got it? Er… drop everything except your lantern, that is."

Burr nods, then nods again.

Willow rubs her chin and follows the gaze of the mounted heads on the wall towards the trophy case. She presses her snout against the glass and peers around inside.

The fireplace's light reflects in the glass of the trophy case, and in turn in the glass eyes of the mounted monster heads above the mantle. One of them is definitely a grook (and it's one that doesn't have glass eyes to reflect fire-light in), while another one looks reptilian and possibly is that of a Gort. Another one looks like a caricature of a fish head, with piggish little eyes and a round mouth that is open just enough to reveal a fearsome set of fangs inside.

A fourth head looks like a twisted version of a human head, with oversized ears, a bulbish nose, sharp fangs, big round eyes, blue skin, and an expression frozen into a stupid grin. What's especially curious about it, though, is that the scale of the head is such that this creature, assuming human proportions, would be no more than a foot tall.

Hanging above the trophy case is a sheathed short sword (not much more than a dagger, really), while a brass lantern sits atop the case itself. The case sports sliding glass doors and a latch with a keyhole. Inside can be seen several odd curios – a torch made of Bromthen ivory, a Chronotopian egg decorated with inlaid pieces of Lapis lazuli, a wind-up canary of similar origin, and a few other knickknacks.

The Skreek's tail whips from side to side as she eyes the sword. Small enough for a rat to use. "Hey Burr, do you think Prince Kiri would mind if I borrowed his sword for our little trip?" She gives the lamp a sniff and a look over as well to try and see if it still might be functional.

The large cheetah just shrugs in response to the question. As for the lantern, it is of very curious design. It doesn't have any obvious place to put oil into it. In fact, the only obvious external feature would be a switch in the base, that can be flipped one way or the other.

The sword sports some fairly fancy work on the grip, pommel and the scabbard, and the grip is wrapped in leather of deep blue. (It doesn't appear to be dye.)

Her curiosity peaked, Willow carefully takes the sword off the wall and places it in her belt before giving the switch on the lantern an experimental flip.

Willow is almost blinded by the glaring light that fills the room, making the fire-light seem positively dim by comparison. Burr stumbles in surprise. Where the beams of the lantern fall, it is as if sunlight is projecting from the glassy filament in the heart of the lantern.

"Bwaaaugh! Scruddy… " the Skreek fumbles for the switch to shut it off again.

The light flickers a bit, but once Willow flips the switch back, the light blinks out instantly … leaving a few ghost-spots on Willow's eyes to fade away more slowly.

She takes a few moments to rub her eyes before carefully picking up the lantern by the handle. "This is obviously magic, so I'll carry it – but this is too useful to not carry along." She looks down at the sword and gently pulls it out of the scabbard to study the blade.

It's metal. Steel, evidently, but with a bluish tint to the metal, suggesting something other than just ordinary carbon used to strengthen it. There are runes inscribed through the length of the trough of the blade, and the weapon is perfectly balanced.

Willow holds the weapon up and squints at the runes, trying to place the language.

It's not a language that Willow can read, but her general knowledge of languages hints that it might possibly be Aelfin, or something closely related to it. Of course, if it is Aelfin, then this weapon is a long way from home.

"A slick little sword at the very least. Goodness knows I don't plan to contest another blade in my possession." She slides the sword back in its scabbard and secures it to her belt. "As for the lantern, well at the very least if we're surrounded by Gorts this might hold them back. I think I'm as ready as I'm going to get. Open the door, Burr."

Burr looks about the shadows of the far corners of the chamber, then gives Willow a helpless look.

Come to think of it … there's no door visible in the room at all. Just the doorway that opens back to the staircase that goes back up to the rest of the castle.

The Skreek frowns slightly and perks her ears up, sniffing at the air and listening to the noises around her. She starts to circle the room and knock on the bits of wood paneling every foot or so.

Behind the paneling appears to be nothing other than stone … though a few of the warped parts crack at the knocking, or burp out some rotten bits. A vermite is scared out of its hole and chitters angrily as it scurries across the floor in search of a new hiding place.

As Willow sniffs the air, she mostly gets a mixture of smells from the burning of the fireplace, water-damaged paneling, musty stone construction … and … a whiff of pollen? It was really very faint, at the level of maybe just being a trick of the mind. But an odd association to make in this dungeon-like room.

"Hmm. There's got to be an entrance in here somewhere. Burr, check behind and under the furniture while I sniff out the fireplace." Willow peers inside the hearth for any signs of an entrance underneath or beyond the flames.

There's a bit of soot, but not enough to conceal anything. With some imagination, it might be possible to scurry up the chimney … but if that's the entrance, it would be going up, and Burr wouldn't have a chance of getting through.

Burr, meanwhile, tips the couch and the chair over, investigating underneath each. He slides the trophy case to one side, but there's nothing behind it. Just for good measure … overcoming his second thoughts … he tries moving the monster heads as well. Doing so, however, doesn't yield anything unusual.

"Well piffle." Willow chews on her lip as she tries to see if there's anything she might have missed. Her nose sniffs at the air again, trying to find the source of that pollen smell and the location of it. "Did that butler say anything about how we got into the scruddy cavern to begin with?" She lifts up the corner of the rug and peers underneath it.

As Willow lifts up the rug, she spies a stone floor … and something different set in it. It looks like a trap door set in the floor, hidden under the rug.

"Ah!" The Skreek's whiskers perk up at the sight of the door. "Let's get this thing open, Burr."

With Burr's help, the rug is fairly easy to roll up, making the trap door more accessible. The trap door appears to be made of multiple plies of wood – the upper layer appears to be made of thistlebark, but there are a few places where bits have splintered off, revealing a more sturdy core of ironwood underneath.

The trap door opens with a loud creak, and a gust of air rushes into the room, carrying with it moist … flowery odors? Yes, it smells like a forest or a garden, not a musty, dank, dingy cavern. Peering into the opening in the floor reveals a spiral staircase leading through a vertical shaft, and a faint glow indicates that, somewhere down below, there is already a source of light.

Willow hesitantly steps down the staircase, nose quivering at the odd smells. "Close it behind us. There's probably some unpleasant things that might want to climb out of here."

Burr nods, then carefully follows … shutting the trap door as soon as he's low enough to have room to duck his head.

It's somewhat cramped going for Burr, but quite roomy for Willow. The odd smells are most certainly real now … and coming from below.

The Skreek's hand rests on the hilt of her newfound sword while the other braces against the stone wall of the staircase as she slowly descends. "Plants… light… I wonder how?"

The spiral staircase eventually breaks free of the stone shaft, now descending through a large cavern chamber, though little can be seen of the walls, which are covered with clinging vines and a strange green moss that glows distinctly, filling the room with an eerie twilight glow. Below, a forest of giant mushrooms and strange twisted trees covers the cavern floor, which appears to be fairly level. A crystal-clear stream cuts through the room on a diagonal, emerging from a large crevice on the north wall, and disappearing into a larger one to the east. Barely visible in the tangling brush is a wooden rowboat beside the stream, and a couple of paddles.

Also visible, near the bottom of the staircase, is a wooden sign.

"Now doesn't that beat all?" Willow hurries to the bottom of the stairs and peers at the sign.

Near the base of the staircase is a large sign that reads, in Krozite: "Do Not Disturb the Dragon". Emphasizing the point are numerous broken bones scattered about, some of them looking slightly singed, and there are scorch marks visible on a few bare spots on the cavern walls here and there.

Burr steps down onto the mossy carpet that covers the ground, and peers at the sign. Given that he hasn't shown any ability to read Rephidim Standard, he's probably no better at reading Krozite.

The charred bones are enough testament for her, and Willow quickly presses a finger to her lips in a "shush" motion for Burr. ( Think you can quietly put boat in water?) For once she's grateful that she can talk to the slave without making any noise.

Burr nods, and tiptoes through the mossy carpet toward the boat to the east. There are enough gaps in the trees and mushrooms that he can still be seen beside the stream. However, the foliage thickens to the south and the west.

The Skreek follows the cheetah's lead and carefully tiptoes across the moss. Right now the river looks to be the best means of escape, although it might be one way as far as she knows. She quietly sneaks around the chamber and looks for any other tunnels that might lead out of the room as well.

From the side of the stream, it can be seen that the water flows southeast, disappearing into a wide crack in the eastern wall of the cavern. There's another crack in the north wall, that the water comes out of, narrower – and possibly getting narrower the further one goes in.

There's also a tunnel visible through the mushrooms and trees, in the middle of the southern wall of the cavern. There might be more tunnels, but that's all that can be seen from here.

Willow sneaks over to the cheetah and taps his shoulder. She points to the south tunnel and then makes a "follow me" gesture. ( I might try the boat later, but for all I know it goes into a completely different cave and I'm not quite ready to try swimming upstream and soaking my gear to get back. )

Burr nods, then follows after Willow. Actually, the squishy moss carpet does a pretty nice job of softening footsteps, making the passage rather quiet. And giant mushrooms don't leave much in the way of undergrowth to get snagged on, twigs to step on, and the like.

As the twosome head southward, a chiming noise reaches Willow's ears, from the southern tunnel. It looks like there is some light from beyond as well, though the hue is a light blue instead of the green of the chamber.

Also, as they head along southward, Willow suddenly sees something large and conspicuous out of the corner of her eye.

The Skreek quickly clamps her hands over her muzzle as though she didn't trust her own mouth to be quiet, and ducks into the tunnel as rapidly and silently as she can.

Burr zips after Willow, and the two of them leave the larger chamber, ducking under a rocky "archway" … and entering a much smaller chamber that still has a very tall ceiling.

Willow's ears perk as she tries to focus in on the source of that chiming noise.

The room is filled with a faint bluish glow that comes from above, though there are still patches of the green glowing moss on the walls here and there. The mossy carpet dies away here, revealing mostly bare rock on the floor. However, a tunnel headed to the southeast has more of the carpet of moss picking up again, and a greenish glow and bits of giant fungus hint at another mushroom forest.

The chiming noise comes from above – as does the bluish glow. Looking up reveals clusters of glowing blue crystals of varied sizes – some as small as Willow's fist, some larger than Burr's entire body – hanging down from the ceiling.

There is also a stone staircase cut into the rock, meandering up a sloping tunnel to the southwest. It appears to be darker in that direction, with no signs of the glowing green moss that way.

The chimes at first sound no more organized in their sounds than chimes blown by the wind. Still, there's an odd order that seems to follow some of the individual strains … but the overall effect is almost like a whole store full of Chronotopian music boxes, all playing at once.

"Burr, are any of the crystals low enough that you could snap one off? Maybe if we could listen to one individually… or at least maybe a bit will serve as a last-ditch lantern." She fumbles with the brass lantern and peers up the stairs, listening for sounds from above. She doesn't quite feel like ascending into a nest of Gorts, but stairs are a sign that people walked this path and made it instead of it being a natural looking cave formation.

Burr nods, sets down his pack, and starts clambering on the irregular rock wall, trying to work his way up toward the crystals.

"Now you be careful. The last thing I need is for you to get hurt when we've just started." Willow nervously watches the cheetah's climbing.

Actually, it looks like Burr knows what he's doing – for once, perhaps. He takes his time working up, and makes it to one of the lower-hanging crystal protrusions. Carefully, he repositions himself, now perched on a rocky outcropping, and tries to ready his stone pickaxe, which he had slung over his back.

Pondering for a moment, Willow struggles out of her pack long enough to fish a blanket from it. She hesitantly sets it below the cheetah in hopes of muffling the noise should one of the crystals fall. "Go lightly. We don't want to break your digger either," she whispers up.

Meanwhile, the faint sound of … singing? Yes, singing, high-pitched voices can be heard somewhere distant, through the tunnel to the southeast. It can't be made out what they're singing, though.

"Burr, keep it up. I'm going to check on something. If I'm not back by the time you finish, then come and get me." The Skreek points down the Southeast tunnel and then ducks down it, trying to find the source of the voice.

Burr finds he really hasn't enough room to get a good swing with the pickaxe … so he grabs it up near the head, and uses it like an unwieldy pick, hammering on one of the crystals. Ting, ting, ting, ting … *BAP* Ooo. Looks like he hit his thumb. That's got to hurt. He shakes it, then sucks on it for a bit.

As Willow heads down the southeast tunnel, it's quite clear now that there's another "underground forest" cavern that way … though with a denser collection of mushrooms, and far less in the way of the strange twisted trees.

Cautiously, Willow draws pulls out the small blade and listens quietly. "Amazing, and it doesn't look anything like Vrixt's chambers. Could this be influence from Bosch, or could whatever happened back in the other caverns have missed here?"

The small blade flashes an eerie blue light, though it's barely discernible compared to the bluish glow from the crystals back in the "chime room".

Willow's keen ears pick up another "*ting ting ting ting BAP*" from Burr's direction. Sounds like he's having a rough time of it.

The singing is definitely coming from within the large chamber, meanwhile … and by the acoustics, it sounds like it's larger than the first. Willow can also pick up the faint sound of running water, though with the echoing, it's hard to place its location.

Of the voices, it sounds like there may be five to seven of the singers, and they definitely sound high-pitched. It doesn't sound like they're singing in any foreign language, really. It just seems to be a nonsense repetition of a single syllable, in a repetitious melody that they're singing together, over and over, and over again.

( Mental note: don't let Burr hammer any broken planks down when we get back to the ship. ) She grins at the glowing blade, a rather useful little lantern as well really, and magical to boot perhaps. If only she had something like this when the demon attacked her tent in Darkside. Frowning, she shakes the thought from her head and walks forward, hoping that at the very least if she's in the middle of the chamber that she'll be able to focus in on the source of the singing a bit better.

As Willow takes a few steps in, something odd catches her eye. There are several smaller mushrooms – though still large by any standard, at maybe two to three feet tall – that sport … windows and chimney-stacks. They are clustered together toward the middle of the chamber or thereabouts, and the singing seems to be coming from within the middle of the circle.

Willow also has a better view of the chamber now, which extends far to the south. She's closer to the north wall, at the moment. The west wall pulls away at a diagonal such that she can't really see its features from here. The east wall appears to have no breaks in it, save for a tunnel that leads off from the northeast corner.

There's a larger break in the south wall, that must lead into yet another cavern … and in that direction, Willow catches a glimpse of something white through the mushrooms.

( ???!!!??? ) The Skreek just stares at the little mushroom houses oddly before shrugging and moving closer. She kneels down a bit in front of one and carefully raps on one of the doors with the flat of the sword blade.

The door is a little more than a foot tall. It pops open, and a little blue creature looks out, dressed only in trousers and a floppy hat. His head looks just like the blue head that was mounted over the fireplace! He has vaguely almost-human features, with cartoony proportions, and looks out the door, then up at Willow. He starts shouting something in a strange, harsh-sounding language, and he keeps repeating the word "Schlumph".

Suddenly, it makes sense. It's … Bosch! He's speaking very quickly and in an odd accent, but it seems he's saying something along the lines of, "Hey, Schlumphs! There's a really big'un right here, nice and juicy! Isn't that Schlumphy? Let's GET 'ER!"

The sword is now flashing blue violently.

"Eh-heh. Er… hi there. Just looking for… NOW WAIT A MINUTE!!!" The Skreek drops into Bosch, "Anyone who tries to make a meal out of me ends up as a blue splat under my foot, you got that?"

The little blue creature ducks back into the mushroom house … and meanwhile, the sounds of singing draw closer. "La la, la la la la, la la-la la laaaaaa!" A bunch of little blue imps come charging at Willow, their little floppy hats bobbing up and down, and they look quite friendly, except for the pointy-looking weapons they carry, which look like sharpened bones serving as pole-arms or spears for their size.

It looks like there are six of them, not counting the one that just ducked back into the mushroom house.

Willow backs away a little to hopefully give her time to get her sword back in its place while her other hand yanks her walking staff out. "You little buggers are just begging to take a flying lesson from Sawtooth, aren't you?" She waits for the right moment when the most of the creatures are in range and then tries to sweep the metal-studded head of the staff through them as hard as she can.

The staff sweeps down … but it looks like Willow aimed just a smidgen too high. Six little floppy hats get knocked off of six little blue bald heads, and land on the ground. The Schlumphs shriek, "AIEEEE! We're INDECENT!" and they drop their weapons and rush about, covering their heads as they dash for their hats.

Meanwhile, though, more doors pop open on the mushroom houses. No telling how many more little blue people live in this village.

Willow decides that at the very least she doesn't want to come back here without some backup, and hastily turns and dashes back towards the tunnel she originally entered this room from.

A mad dash into the tunnel, and Willow leaves the little blue people and the mushroom village behind her. There's a *tink tink tink tink* noise above the rat, giving away Burr's position.

The Skreek takes a moment to catch her breath before looking back up towards the cheetah. "Any progress?"

The cheetah looks down at Willow, shakes his head and frowns.

Several chimes echo, "*tink tink tink tink*", and then it goes back to the usual chiming cacophony.

"Well if you keep hitting your thumb more than the crystal then give it a rest. Meanwhile I'm going to wait a few moments for the natives in there to calm down whilst I see what's above. Maybe if I'm lucky there's a big rock I can push down on those little blue sputs." She rubs her hands together and grins before pulling out the lantern and climbing up the stairs.

Burr just blinks, giving Willow his typical confused look.

The stairs lead upward along a meandering passage that looks like it was roughly hewn out of the rock, widening some sort of natural fissure and expanding it. There's none of the moss here, so Willow has to rely on her own light source once she's out of range of the blue glow from the room of chiming crystals.

The tunnel gently curves to the left, until there's a hint of a greenish glow, and the tunnel looks to be widening out into a wider chamber – a ledge that overlooks the mushroom forest, it seems!

A stone podium stands before the edge of the ledge, and there is a short wall built up of stones that prevents an accidental fall should someone blindly blunder this way.

The Skreek peers down over the ledge and tries to spot the area she'd emerged from earlier as well as what that white shape she'd seen earlier might be.

Due to the angling of the west wall and the irregularity of the cavern, she can't actually see the tunnel she emerged from earlier … though she can see the spot she came out in, and the tunnel must be right around the corner. More immediately, over the ledge is more of the mushroom forest, but a bit further along, where she earlier saw a gleam of white, she is able to see what looks like a hedge maze – fashioned out of some strange sort of purplish subterranean plant, instead of standard bushes – with a white gazebo in the center.

The gazebo appears to be Skreek-sized, not Schlumph-sized.

Willow pokes her head back down the tunnel. "Burr! Forget about the crystal and go fetch me a big leaf from the plants outside the other tunnel. And if you run into any blue things, squish them! And hurry!" She studies the maze for a bit before focusing on the pedestal, trying to figure out if it has a purpose of any sort.

The maze appears to have no purpose other than to confuse someone going into it. The hedges are tall enough that Willow would not be able to see over them, and thick enough that it's doubtful that a Schlumph could crawl through them. However, a movement catches Willow's eye … it looks like, in some of the dead ends of the maze, there are some largish plants of a similar purple hue as the hedges, but they look like a variation of Xenean Man-Traps.

Off toward the north in the main chamber, the mushroom village can be seen, and many little blue people in their floppy little hats, marching around and singing, waving their bone spears in the air.

The ledge is barren of anything except for the pedestal, and a few stones that have dislodged from the ceiling, the protective wall, and the sides of the chamber. The pedestal is of crude rock, with the exception of its top, which is tilted slightly at an angle off of the horizontal, toward Willow, and is glossy smooth and dark – unlike the color of the rest of the stone here.

Curious. So many of the little guys, and not a single female amongst them, by all that can be told. They continue dancing around, and waving their bone spears in the air. There's no sign of any activity from Burr as of yet, but thankfully it looks like the Schlumphs haven't bothered to head toward the tunnel leading to the blue chiming crystal room.

The Skreek snatches up a few of the rocks and keeps her ears focused on the noise below, just in case she hears any of the little imps taking an interest in the cheetah's direction. Meanwhile she carefully rubs a hand over the surface of the pedestal and furrows her brow. ( It looks a bit like a crude mirror; black probably is more reflective than white. ) Her gaze shoots upwards as she looks for any shaft of light or odd formation that might be worth reflecting.

There's nothing above … but as Willow's hand touches the smooth surface, it begins to glow faintly. An image forms within the black rock, slowly focusing…

It looks like a view of the sea, the horizon hidden by fog … except that the sea typically doesn't have more water hovering over it where the sky should be, and isn't typically surrounded by sheer rock walls with countless waterfalls pouring down as tributaries.

Willow tenses, ready to leap away in case this happens to be a trap, but as the image forms clearer she relaxes just a little. Her finger taps the black rock again to see if more images might form as well.

The image on the pedestal fades, and is soon replaced by a majestic-looking hallway, like the interior of a castle. In fact, the architecture looks vaguely similar to that of the underground city that King Vrixt's palace was in. Two grand statues of Skreeks stand, one to each side of the hallway, holding ceremonial hammers. Smaller doorways branch off of the corridor, while great double doors are visible at the end.

A little blue guy in a floppy hat, holding a bone spear, can be seen walking into the chamber. Most of the time, only the top of his hat can be seen, as he wanders about, as if searching for someone.

As soon as he walks past the two giant Skreek statues … they spring to life!

A hammer comes crashing down … then the other … then the first … then the other … and several hammer-blows fall down on the little blue Schlumph!

They then stop, resuming their initial stance. There's nothing but a little blue smear on the floor.

( Ow. Okay, I need to try and avoid those. The question would be exactly how I plan to do this. Hopefully the original Prince Naochi left some kind of clue. ) She curiously taps the black slate another time.

An underground forest fades into view, a spiraling staircase rising upward from the center. It's obviously the same chamber that Willow used to enter this strange underground place, but viewed from another angle. A serpentine green dragon is visible, his scales glistening as if carved from jade, or covered with a thin layer of ice. A very large cheetah can be seen timidly sneaking along, and heading for a tree.

The Skreek winces. ( That moron! I said the other tunnel. Does he think I'd send him to pluck a leaf with a scruddy dragon a few feet away?) Scowling, she heads down the stairs to get the Savanite.

The pedestal fades to black, and Willow's way down the tunnel is not met with any encounters with little blue people. She makes it through the chime room, and back into the first underground forest room. There's no sign of the cheetah. The dragon, glimpsed barely through the trees and mushrooms, hasn't moved an inch from where Willow saw it earlier.

Swallowing, Willow sneaks back into the larger chamber and tries to make her way towards the cheetah.

As Willow moves along, she gets a better look at the big reptile…

Through the trees and mushrooms, a curious and fearsome sight presents itself: A huge reptile with scales like pieces of jade is curled up in the center of a clearing. The body is serpentine in proportions, with four stubby legs that sport large, nasty-looking claws. The head is elongated, vaguely non-reptilian in its proportions, sporting two horns that shoot back out over the skull and gently curve backwards slightly toward each other. One eye is closed, while the other is peeking open, revealing a baleful, yellow eye.

However, the dragon shows no signs of moving, for it is encased in an irregular cluster of ice. Or, at least, it looks like ice. There's a cold feeling in the air near the ice, but there is no sign of any moisture on the surface, or any puddles of half-melted ice on the ground. The jagged facets of the ice break up the dragon's image, and make it hard to pick out details in places.

Burr, meanwhile, has gone up to an odd tree with big black leaves – the biggest leaves to be seen around here – and is scaling up the trunk, reaching out for one of the lower-hanging branches.

"Burr," Willow whispers, "if you can hear me, stop whatever it is you're doing and freeze. Don't move a muscle." The Skreek similarly stops moving.

The cheetah freezes. His tail bristles.

Willow quietly hunches down and tenses, trying to look as small and insignificant as she can while putting herself in a position where she can bolt fast if need be. ( Thaaaaat's it, Mister Dragon. Nothing interesting here. Gooooo back to sleep now… )

The dragon doesn't move a bit. The one open eye doesn't blink, the pupil doesn't move … Nothing.

"Burr, climb down slowly and come back here. Keep it quiet." She glances at the broken bones, and swallows.

Amongst the bones, Willow spies a little skull. It looks like it ought to belong to someone about a foot tall.

Burr slowly, carefully climbs back down the tree, retreating from the black leaves.

A glimmer of an evil idea starts to form in the Skreek's mind, but she files it away for now until they're back in the crystal chamber.

The cheetah sneaks over toward Willow, his ears flat back, and his tail puffed out. They make it back to the crystal chamber without so much as a tick of movement from the green dragon the whole while.

Burr puts his hand to his nape in a "Sorry" sign, then adds, "Me do stupid?"

Willow looks about to growl but shakes her head, "I should have been clearer. I hope you don't think I'd send you tiptoeing past a dragon's snout for a scruddy leaf do you? Maybe if the leaf was made of gold or something But … bah. Nevermind. I want to you get your pickaxe and stick it in the ground by the handle in front of the entrance into here, so that anyone walking in can see it, understand? I've got a wild idea."

Burr points toward the tunnel to the southeast, leading into the mushroom forest (and the Schlumph village), and gives Willow a questioning look.

The Skreek shakes her head and points to the north entrance. "Stick it so that anyone coming from that direction," she points southeast, "will see it when they walk into this chamber. When you finish, join me up top." And she heads back up the staircase.

Burr nods, and walks northward with the pickaxe.

Willow is back up at the ledge. The podium's surface has returned to its glossy black state.

Nothing seems to have changed in the mushroom forest. The little blue guys are still dancing around and singing and waving their bone spears around.

Willow folds her arms over the ledge and looks down at the dancing little imps. When Burr shows up, she grins and cups her hands over her mouth and shouts in Bosch, "Hey Schlumphs! You want a really juicy treat? Or are you too much of a Mama's egg to go for the challenge?" ( Hopefully they won't be able to locate my voice precisely like I wasn't able to locate theirs until I was deeper in the chamber. )

The Schlumphs stop from their singing and dancing, and start looking around. One of their number looks slightly different – he's got a beard, unlike the smooth skins of the other creatures. He holds some sort of wand, and gestures toward the tunnel leading to the crystal chamber. The whole troupe starts charging off that way!

Burr, meanwhile, hunches down at Willow's shout, and gives her a What are you DOING?!? sort of look.

The little monsters start singing their battle cry of "La la la-la-la laaaa, la la-la la laaaaa!"

"C'mon ya pansies! I've even left my weapon in the chamber I'm hiding in so you can find me better!" Willow shouts down.

The voices can be heard coming through the tunnel that leads up to the ledge … but, no, they're not coming this way, apparently! There's something about the acoustics of the blue crystal chamber, because the chiming picks up in volume enough that Willow can hear it even up here on the ledge. The chimes seem to be resonating with that "La la la" melody, and building up some sort of reverberation effect … but it dies down again as the Schlumphs pass through and presumably dash into the first forest room – the one with the dragon.

The chiming noises slowly quiet again, until they can no longer be heard from the ledge.

Willow turns around and taps the black slate again, trying to call up the image of the dragon's chamber.

At the first tap, the strange ocean pops up … the second yields the statue hall … and the third shows the dragon's forest. Several vicious little blue guys are dashing about, apparently taking orders from the bearded Schlumph with the wand. They're running about, in plain sight of the dragon … who still hasn't budged an inch since the last time Willow saw him. Indeed, that one eye is still open, just barely visible through the thin layer of ice covering the giant reptile.

The bearded Schlumph pauses a moment, looking at the dragon, then cackles, and tauntingly waves the wand in the dragon's face. He then continues running about, issuing orders to the other Schlumphs.

Burr leans in closer to the pedestal, then turns to Willow, signing, "Little blue guys in rock thing?"

The dragon, as viewed through the pedestal, still doesn't budge. It doesn't even blink, and its eye doesn't move from just staring balefully at empty space.

"Hmm, apparently the dragon isn't as easy to wake up as I thought," Willow ponders and then looks down at the lantern. Well, if anything would wake up that dragon, although the trick might be to make sure that she doesn't get sighted as well. "No. It's from the dragon's chamber. Can you copy the maze ahead on something while I'm busy below? Use a piece of cloth or scratch it into the head of my shovel with a rock if you have to." She hands the cheetah her shovel and then sneaks quietly down the stairs.

As Willow passes into the blue crystal chamber, the chimes are still reverberating with the "la la la" melody sung by the Schlumphs, though it's dying back into the usual cacophony of the crystal chimes. In the chamber beyond, the Schlumphs can be heard shouting and running about, and occasionally singing their insipid little repetitious tune.

The towel, incidentally, is still lying on the ground where Willow left it earlier.

Willow's brow furrows. As much as she'd like to squish each and every one of them, she'd also like to get out of here as quietly as she can. She peers up at the crystals and curiously starts humming the first tune that comes to her mind – that odd song that she remembers from the river where she found the baby basket. She quietly creeps out to retrieve the pickaxe and cloth while she hums.

At first, there's no noticeable effect … but some of the chimes seem to fall into the descending tones of the autumn melody. And then others. Yes, there is definitely an effect.

( I wonder what the point of that is? It's a shame Burr couldn't get any of those loose; they might make a nice lullaby toy for a child. ) The Skreek gathers the towel up and sneaks towards the axe, her lantern in hand just in case she needs a quick distraction.

None of the Schlumphs spot Willow, and the autumn melody slowly dies away once Willow stops humming. She has the towel, and an easy chance to grab the pickaxe.

Willow grabs the axe's handle and pulls. ( That's right… keep playing around in there. I might be hiding up the dragon's nose for all you know. )

The axe doesn't pull up. Burr must have stuck the axe into the ground good! It'll probably take both hands to wrench free.

The Skreek grinds her teeth and carefully attaches the lantern to her pack. After she's sure it's secure, she grabs the neck of the pickaxe and starts pulling it, wiggling it around in the dirt as well to try and work it loose.

With a bit of effort, the pickaxe wrenches free … and Willow avoids anything so undignified as falling on her tail or any such thing.

This done, she hastily heads back up the stairs again to the cheetah.

Back up at the ledge, Willow finds Burr carefully circling the pedestal, facing it warily. He tentatively reaches toward the pedestal … then pulls his hand back … then he reaches again … then pulls back … then he reaches out … taps the pedestal … and as the image changes, he leaps back!

"Did you copy the map, or have you been playing with the slate the whole time?" The Skreek leans against a wall and shakes her head.

Burr jumps at the sound of Willow's voice, and spins around to face her. He looks to the pedestal, then back to Willow, then back to the pedestal, then to Willow, and signs, "You were – " he points at the pedestal. "You get back out, big again? How?"

"Burr, I'll explain later. We're probably short on time right now." Willow rubs her chin as she tries to come up with an alternate to pencil and paper. She finally opts for laying a section of the blanket on the ground and trying to use some of the solid fuel for the camping stove as a piece of charcoal to try and copy the map down.

Meanwhile, Burr shows Willow the shovel, and a bunch of scratch marks on the back of it.

The Skreek rolls her eyes and packs the blanket and chunk of fuel back away. "Thank fires. Now let's hit that maze before the little blue monsters come out looking for us."

Burr nods, and shoulders up his pack again.

Willow quickly sneaks back down the steps with the pickaxe in her hands and heads back towards the southeast chamber.

No Schlumphs block the way, thank goodness. Willow and Burr make it back through the southeast tunnel, and into the mushroom forest. They easily navigate their way to the rim of the purple hedge maze. Burr studies the back of the shovel.

The Skreek stands on her toes and peers at the scratches as well. "All right, let's find the easiest way to the center."

The maze appears to be symmetrical, consisting of essentially two hemispherical mazes that terminate in the center at the gazebo.

There appears to be a fairly simple pattern to going through the maze – at least, working one's way in: Any time you reach a choice between turning or going straight, turn.

Heading out would be a little less simple in terms of procedure, but it would be a case of tracing steps already taken … or heading through a mirror image of the same path on the way out.

Some of the chimes resonate with the sound of the "la la la" song.

Willow hands the cheetah the pickaxe and draws the sword out again. "Time's a wasting. Let's go… " The noises behind her encourage this course of action even more and she quickly ducks into the maze.

Burr's notes prove to be sufficient, if a bit crude. The two of them wind their way through the maze … and avoid any run-ins with the purple people eating plants in the dead ends.

At last, the rat and the cheetah come to the center … and the white gazebo.

The "la la la" song of the Schlumphs is more audible. One of the purple plants can be seen moving about, as it dips over. A Schlumph shrieks out, but to no avail. *glumph*

The white gazebo is octagonal in shape at the base, with two entrances – one at the fore, and one at the aft – corresponding to the entrances to the two halves of the hedge maze. Flowering vines cling to the latticework walls of the gazebo, and work their way up to the roof.

"You know, I'd expect something like this to be in Gallis and not underground here. Oh scrud – they're following us, albeit probably less than before. Best hurry." She circles the gazebo for a moment just in case there's anything about it that might be useful or interesting.

Nothing really seems to be particularly intriguing about the gazebo, really, other than the fact that there's actually one here in the middle of an underground mushroom forest … and that someone would actually take the time to trim the hedges. (Given that another Schlumph has just gotten eaten by a purple plant, maybe they're not the gardeners.)

There is a table in the center of the gazebo, and some chairs, but other than that, the gazebo looks to be devoid of any interesting features.

The Skreek shakes her head. "As interesting as this is, I don't think it's Naochi's throne room or the stone table that the butler mentioned. C'mon spottyfoot, let's get out of here."

It's a little slower going, but Burr and Willow manage to find their way through the south half of the maze without encountering any big hungry plants on the way. At last, they pop out, and find themselves at the far southern end of the mushroom forest chamber.

To the south, and a little off to one side, there is a large opening to another cavern chamber, this one more irregular in shape, and about half as large.

It looks like there's a park of some sort beyond – there are several bushes sculpted into the shapes of creatures, and in the center of the area is a fountain, surrounded by statues.

It, too, has lots of that glowing green moss, providing an eerie light.

Willow's grip on the small sword tightens a little as she cautiously walks forward, studying the bushes and statues to see what type of creatures they resemble. "Watch it, Burr, I've already seen one area where things have popped to life."

The topiary bushes resemble fanciful beasts, chimera-like combinations of different creatures: Drokars, krenns, Dromodons, rakhtors, serendips, and others. It would be hard to classify each of them.

The fountain in the center is still functional. The statues around it look like noble Skreeks – as if that were possible – in ceremonial outfits.

The Skreek swallows a little and hesitantly steps towards the fountain to study the statues a bit closer. "I wonder if these are members of the Naochi family or if they're part of the entire underground empire?"

They're Krozite Skreeks, all right, some male, some female – but most of them male. One of them, with a bit of imagination, might possibly look like Willow. At least since it's done in stone, coloration isn't an issue.

There's a rustling noise from the bushes.

Willow whirls around, sword at the ready. "Who's there?"

Willow turns just in time to see a thorn-covered vine whip out from one of the topiary bushes toward Burr … and wrap around him! The cheetah has barely enough time to struggle before another vine whips out from the next bush, pulling him in the other direction.

"Scruddy… " Willow rushes forward and tries to hack at the vines with her blade.

Willow's blade tears into the vine. With a bit of hacking, she might be able to cut it free.

"Get out of here, Burr! Hurry!" She saws at the other vine.

Meanwhile, Burr struggles with the vines … then braces himself, flexing his muscles … then he yanks his arms inward, causing vines to snap and rip free! They tremble where they hang from Burr. For the moment, he's free … but he's got quite a few thorns digging into his flesh. And the topiary bushes are still rustling. Burr looks like he's about to grab Willow … then looks at the thorny vines still clinging to himself.

"RUN! I'm a big girl – I can take care of myself." Willow eyes the bushes and starts to back away.

Burr gives Willow a helpless look … then dashes back for the rocky arch leading into the chamber. A few vines launch after him, but fall short of the mark, as he's already out of range. The vines slowly retract, sliding into the topiary hedges.

The Skreek swallows and keeps her sword up. "I think… you're not going to go after me, are you? Guess rats taste too bad, eh?" She doesn't quite sound like she believes this. "Burr, once you're out of range of the vines I want you to park yourself and don't go another step until I come out, got it? Bah, blasted quiet spotties… I'm going to assume you just nodded your head."

The topiary bushes settle down. No more launching vines. Burr peeks around the rock wall, peering into the chamber, and waves to Willow.

The Skreek exhales and takes a moment to study the statues in further detail, trying to see if they or the fountain might have writing on them. ( I wonder if King Vrixt is here?)

No, no King Vrixt. After all, King Vrixt looked like a normal Skreek. These look like plantigrade Krozites … the sort that weren't supposed to be around until after the fall of Moltpaa.

"Hmmm, so I wonder why this place wasn't destroyed?" She walks back to the statue that could have been her twin and studies it intently.

The fountain and the statues have a number of runes on them, but nothing readable – at least, not as far as languages go. Rather, they have the look of "stonework" about them, according to that book from the library.

As for the statue that faintly resembles Willow – it's no exact match by any means. It looks the most like Willow simply on account of being female, plantigrade, and roughly the right body build.

Willow snuffs though her nose and looks around to see if the Naochi symbol might show up on any of the statues.

Yes, on all of the bases, the five-slash symbol shows up once for each. The "double-X" stonework rune shows up as well. There is no sign of the runes for Vrixt or Stalto.

However, one other interesting feature about this room, now that Willow isn't dodging vines or Schlumphs, is that the southern wall has quite a bit of carving and stonework on it.

"Royal family then. Well, you're all dead and you had bad taste in decorating, so there." Willow shakes her head and cautiously walks over to rejoin the cheetah.

The Skreek glances back over her shoulder at the markings but continues on her way to the cheetah. He's been wounded, after all. "C'mon. Maybe if we go around, and I stay on the side between you and the bushes, they'll leave you alone. Barring that, maybe if I'm touching you they won't attack." She plucks a few of the thorns from the Cheetah's fur and starts tending to his wounds. "Are you okay?"

Burr nods, though his wounds suggest that he probably could use some cleaning up eventually so he doesn't get any infection.

Willow gets one of the cheetah's arms cleaned up as quickly as she can before grabbing onto it and nervously leading him alongside the bushes. "What I'm hoping is that the royal family might have brought guests here. I could be completely off the ball but besides some kind of talisman, this seems to be the only way to get someone through… er… if there is a way. Just get ready to run again if this doesn't work – but try running the other way this time."

Burr nods and heads along with Willow just as nervously. However, despite all the nervousness … no vines launch out. Nothing happens. They get by without any hassle at all.

As soon as she's fairly sure she's through the plants, Willow hastily releases the cheetah's arm and hands some bandages and a bottle of orange looking liquid. "Here, start cleaning yourself up. I'm going to study the walls a bit."

Burr nods, and winces as he feels the sting of the fluid on his wounds … but he does as he's told.

Meanwhile, Willow gets a closer look at the southern wall. For one thing, there are some double doors set in the southern wall, and one of them is slightly ajar. Some of the runes on the walls are "stonework".

The Skreek jams her hands in her pockets and quietly eyeballs the stonework, trying to see if they're all just symbols or if there might be any writing amongst them.

Others seem to be some sorts of slogans or mottoes or words of wisdom. "Without order, there is no peace." "The way to power is through knowledge." Stuff like that.

"Once you're all painted up, we'll see what's behind this nice looking door." Willow cautiously walks over to the slightly open door and gives it a sniff.

It smells like a mixture of incense, lamp oil, dust … fruit and meat. It doesn't smell quite like a dungeon should.

Burr finishes wincing, and pads up behind Willow.

"Let's get this door open. Odd, smells almost fresh in there." She rubs her nose and backs away a little, giving the cheetah room to do what he does best.

Burr gives Willow a funny look, then braces … and PUSHES. The door creaks open, revealing a grand hall beyond … with two giant Skreek statues standing, one at one side, one at the other, and smaller passages branching off into side corridors. Another set of large double doors stands at the opposite end.

Torch lanterns stand here and there, casting flickering light across the hall, and making eerie shadows with the forms of the giant Skreek statues.

Willow nervously steps in. "Oh dear… I remember this place. Those statues came to life and pounded the snot out of one of those blue fellows." She swallows.

There's no sign of the little blue spot on the floor … but Burr looks at the spot where it would have been, and winces sympathetically.

Relief images of mighty Skreek warriors can be seen in multiple levels, waging war and performing heroics on the walls.

Remembering how the plants hadn't attacked her, Willow hesitantly walks towards the two statues. She pauses before she falls into hammer range and studies them for a bit, looking to see if they happen to have the Naochi symbol on them anywhere.

About the bases are more stonework symbols. The familiar stonework rune is present … and that of Naochi as well.

The runes on the bases of these statues appear to be a fair deal more involved and complex than those on the bases of the statues in the topiary garden.

The Skreek swallows, and waves her most expendable appendage – her tail – swiftly into the range of the statues before trying to whisk it back out again.

Nothing happens. Willow's tail is intact.

Becoming slightly more brave now, Willow cautiously sticks a foot in the range of the statues to see what happens.

Nothing. Her toes are still intact. The statues don't move in the slightest.

"Burr, if I become a pancake, please tell everyone I died heroically in battle or something like that." And with those words the Skreek hesitantly steps forward, tensing and ready to spring back at any moment.

Nothing happens as she takes a step forward. Nothing moves.

Willow continues moving forward. "Burr, don't follow me. I have a feeling that they'll only let Skreeks through this part."

Burr just … nods.

Meanwhile, as Willow moves forward, the statues don't move. They stand perfectly still. Not moving in the least. And they're still standing there. And …

… then they start moving.

Willow leaps backwards frantically. "Scruddyblastedstupidfires!!"

The stone statues creak into movement … each freeing a hand from their hammers … reaching out to the south … and they push open the huge double doors.

Burr just stares, agape, his tail bristled out.

The statues move no further … just standing there. Beyond the double doors can be seen an even grander hall, lined with columns supported by Skreek caryatids, with a banquet table set out down the center, and a pair of thrones at the far, southern end.

The Skreek slowly smoothes her fur and tries to convince her heart to stop trying to leap out of her chest. She starts to walk forward again. "I'll hurry as fast as I can, Burr. I don't like being separated any more than you do."

The statues do not respond to Willow's movement. Nothing halts her progress.

Swallowing, Willow enters through the doors. "A banquet table? I'd think any food here would have soured by now."

Music reaches Willow's ears. No, it's not that dreaded "la la la" song. It sounds like playing on a flute, and stringed instruments.

The smell of food reaches Willow's nose … and the double doors swiftly shut behind her.

Before Willow is a banquet table set out, with several Skreeks reclined about it, all of them in fine raiment. There is a Khatta there as well – a black Khatta. It looks a lot like Sebazhan Dack … and, at the same time, like Tyrne Dagh.

What looks like the king of the Skreeks raises a wine glass, laughing with his other arm is thrown around a lady Skreek. "Ah! So glad you could come! Won't you celebrate with us? A new age for Moltpaa!"

Willow's ears flatten. "What do you – " ( Wait. They might be ghosts, or something… ) She nods and steps forward, "A new age? How is that?"

"I love what you've done with the palace," croons another lady Skreek, chittering to the King and Queen Naochi. "It must have taken so much work to make the changes!"

The black Khatta looks at Willow and smiles, raising a glass as if to toast her. "I told you she would be coming," he says to the king.

King Naochi laughs again. "Ah … a new age, a new power, a new time for all Moltpaa! Kroz can have the surface, and we can live in peace here below. If only Stalto and Vrixt had been more open-minded." He crosses his legs and props them up on the table. "I think I can get used to this, really. Yes, quite!"

"If I'm an expected guest then I should be announced before I sit at the table." Willow frowns a little. ( Am I just playing a part in something that's already happened or is this happening right now? )

"Quite so!" responds the King, and he gestures to his servants. "Now now! Announce our guest! Don't be slack!"

The gunmetal gray Skreek folds her arms behind her back and waits.

A Skreek page stumbles up, looking as if he's about to fall over under his own weight. He lifts a trumpet to his lips, and blows on it, making a discordant noise.

"Lady Karia Naochi, Sister of the King, Fairest in the Land, with the Brightest of Whiskers and Whitest of Teeth… " the page rambles on, until he's silenced by the King with a wave of his hand.

"Yes, yes, that will do," grunts King Naochi.

The black Khatta leans over toward the King. "Actually, I believe that there may be hope for Stalto yet. Or his son, at the very least."

Willow relaxes a little, Just shadows. Nothing but shadows. She quietly takes her place at the table and listens. "What do you plan to do to woo his son into joining… er… us?"

The Khatta turns toward Willow. "I think that seeing the example made of Vrixt's kingdom should suffice. And if that is not enough… " The Khatta shrugs. "Who cares? At least we're taken care of."

King Naochi laughs, and everyone around the table takes the cue and laughs as well. Even the page laughs, though the effort is plainly forced. Everyone, except for Willow. Willow doesn't laugh.

The page turns weary, sad eyes to Willow … then slowly turns and walks away, leaving the gunmetal Skreek standing alone in the entrance.

"What brings you here, dear Karia," asks the black Khatta, "if not to join us for dinner? Fill your plate! Eat up!" He pours a glassful of wine for the gunmetal Skreek.

"My brother has been lax in his communication with me, and I've only been hearing bits and pieces of your plans for this great empire. I've heard talk of power and peace, but not precisely how it shall be obtained." Willow flashes a toothy grin. "I wish to be educated, and who better than… " She waves a hand at the Khatta.

The black Khatta gives Willow a knowing smile, then says, "It is simple. Kroz, whether we like it or not, is here to stay. And we've all experienced his dreadful … experiments with the land. By giving up our pathetic attempts at driving him off – We might as well drive off a god! – and casting in our lot with him, we are not only saving ourselves, but opening up so many new opportunities."

"Just as long as you stay on the surface where you belong, Prince," chides King Naochi, playfully wagging a finger at the black Khatta. "I've still got these lands, and the temple is still mine."

"Opportunities such as?" Willow tilts her head sideways, coyly swirling her wine around in her glass.

The black Khatta looks mildly scandalized. "Of course! Of course!" Then he turns toward Willow. "Well, Kroz is obviously a very powerful mage. In Bosch, he is able to turn his very wishes into reality … and he's got a very impressive control over the elements here as well. We could do well to learn from him. He is far better an ally than an enemy."

"Where is the temple, dear brother? I can't seem to remember how to safely get there," she says to the 'king'.

King Naochi laughs. "Now don't you get started on me, too! Now, now, I promise I'll show you there some day. But it just isn't safe right now. The east wing is collapsed, after all, and it's very going to be very dangerous to clear that out without starting another cave-in. And I simply wouldn't stand for you trying to go down the river! You're far too young to deal with such dangers. Why, there's a whole lair of Gorts right along the bank!"

"Not to mention," adds the King, "the fact that the whole temple is flooded, and if you keep going on through … well … I shudder to think of you going over the waterfall! Now, Karia, I simply won't have it.'

"Of course." Willow drums her fingers across the top of the table. "So how do you intend to seal this pact with Kroz? Simply go and shake his hand? Where is he now?"

"Well," says the king, shrugging. "He'll let us know the particulars. He's different, after all. No sense trying to get him to bend to our schedules!"

The black Khatta looks faintly annoyed. "You know, with all this talk of safety, it does concern me, all the traps you've put in the castle since reworking it. It's positively a deathtrap around here!"

The king wags his finger at the black Khatta. "Now, now. All anyone has to do is to have a blooded Naochi to guide the way … or else they can take the servant access, and just make certain not to pull any levers or push any buttons or snatch up any of the trinkets in the alcoves."

"You obviously have no children," comments the black Khatta.

Willow gestures to one of the side passageways. "Are those the service accesses? I rarely use them, after all."

"Oh! Yes, yes," answers the king. "Of course!" He turns to the black Khatta, rolling his eyes. "Just over that way and that way." He gestures toward the smaller corridors branching off from the hall.

Hearing "blooded Naochi" makes Willow feel slightly cold. As much as she'd like to fervently deny who she is or why everyone claims she is… it's getting harder and harder.

That's not all that's making Willow feel cold. It's kind of chilly in here.

The gunmetal gray Skreek hugs her arms around her shoulders and looks into the Khatta's eyes. "And what do you plan to do with your power, Prince Dack?"

"Well, don't worry, Karia. You're back home now. And you've no need to ever leave again, really. You'll get acquainted with the castle soon enough," the King chitters, grinning.

The Khatta looks to the Skreek, and smiles. "Why, I shall honor the memory of my ancestors, of course."

The black Khatta's features seem hard to pick out in the dim light of the hall. "How about you? What would you do with power?"

"How is that? Will you erect great temples to their name? Donate money to their favorite charities? How does one honor a Dack ancestor?" Willow leans back in her chair, pondering over the Khatta's words.

The black Khatta only laughs in response. The chair feels cold, as if Willow were sitting on a stone floor instead of wood.

One of the servants walks over to Willow, holding a tray. He looks to Willow and asks, "Grooook?"

Willow looks at the people around her quietly and shakes her head, her anger boiling up. "What would I do with power? I'd scruddy wipe you and every last trace of both your houses off the face of Sinai if I could! My only regret is that innocents might eventually come out of your family and suffer for this. I'd level Castle Naochi and Castle Dack to the ground before you could hurt another scruddy person!" Her fist slams against the table while her other hand yanks the blade she carries free.

There's a crunching noise as Willow's fist hits the table, like dry, brittle bone breaking. Fortunately, it doesn't feel like her hand is doing the breaking part. As the blade is drawn, it flashes angrily, bright blue. The light of it reflects off of several bony, bird-like creatures, as the brightly lit banquet hall fades away, replaced with a pitch black chamber that serves as a lair of monsters.

A loud *WHAM* *WHAM WHAM WHAM* can be heard to the north. It pauses every once in a while, then resumes.

"GROOOK! GROOK!" A bony bird-thing lunges at Willow with a wing of spiny rib-like growths.

"Like this room ever wasn't a lair of monsters!" She fishes out the lantern and fumbles for the switch. "BURR! Tunnels off to the side! You can get here safely from there, just don't pull any levers or grab anything from the walls or you'll set off the traps!"

The Skreek slashes at the bony creature with her sword. "Back, you."

As the switch flips on, it blasts the room with a bright light like that of mid-day, and the grooks shriek at the sight of it! The grook that was attacking Willow recoils at the lantern, and is caught completely off guard as it is knocked apart by the blue-flashing blade!

The *WHAMMING* noises cease from beyond the door, but the grooks can still be heard in the shadows. Those visible in the light of the brass lantern seem to be disoriented, some of them bumping into each other and then fighting fiercely at the first thing they touch.

The light of the brass lantern flickers momentarily, but it resumes its bright glow.

"I'm heading out, Burr! Watch for the light! I'm going to run down the tunnel to the right… and I mean your right! I don't scruddy need to get directions confused with you again!" And she dashes for the tunnel opening on the left… her left. Her sword slashes at the bony creatures as she runs through.

It's easy pickings, as the grooks are still disoriented by the brass lantern. As Willow makes her way through the winding corridors … she can make out heavy footsteps coming the other way. It's … a big cheetah carrying a lantern! He immediately puts his hand to his nape in another "Sorry" sign.

"Sorry for what? I was half worried you'd gone and mashed yourself under those hammers!" She quickly douses the lantern, wanting to save that light for when it's gravely needed. "Let's just get out of here."

Burr doesn't take much urging … and the twosome bolt for the entrance, taking the way around the stone hammer-wielding statues. Back out in the topiary garden, things look different. The topiary bushes look like, well, overgrown bushes. They don't look as if they're sculpted to look like anything at all. The fountain is dry, and the statues around it are cracked and broken.

Back inside the ruined palace, there's a loud "GRROOOOOK!" sound … and then … *WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM*

"Come on, Burr," she grabs the cheetah's arm and hauls him past the bushes. "I think something's happening here but I've no idea what. It might not be a good idea to stay here though."

They make it back to the mushroom forest. The purple hedge maze is still there … but it doesn't look neatly trimmed. Rather, it looks like it's a wonder that they managed to find a way through. The gazebo is only white in patches, and looks badly in need of repair, the roof mostly collapsed, andthe sides leaning in. The mushrooms, however, are just as they appeared before … and so are the Schlumphs. "La la la-la la laaaaaa!" They brandish their little bone spears menacingly. It looks like they thought to go around the hedge maze. Not good.

Willow clings to the cheetah's arm. "Burr, back up into the bushes. Maybe the magic on them still works and will help take care of the rest of these little devils." She looks through their masses for the bearded leader, fishing in her pocket for a knife.

Yes, the bearded Schlumph grins wickedly at Willow, and it looks like he already has his nasty little wand pointed in her direction.

Burr grabs Willow and dashes back into the bush room, with a crowd of little Schlumphs in hot pursuit!

"La la la-la la laaaa! La la-la la laaaaa!" *FWIP* *FWIP* "AIEEEEEE!" *FWIP* *RIIIIP* "YAAAAAAA!"

"Not polite to point." The Skreek oofs as the cheetah hauls her backwards but her eyes never leave the leader as she starts to take aim with the blade in her hand.

A bolt of icy-cold energy shoots past Willow and Burr, and impacts one of the broken statues. It is instantly covered in a thin layer of glittering ice.

"Yipe! You're dangerous! None of that." The Skreek lets her dagger fly towards the wand-bearing little imp.

It's a good throw … but there are two important factors working against Willow. First, she's being carried about by a madly dashing cheetah who is being pursued by maniacal little blue imps. Secondly, these little blue imps – the bearded one included – are surprisingly agile on their feet. The end result is that, despite Willow's considerable skill, the blade misses, imbedding itself in the ground.

The Skreek hastily readies another blade. "We should be safe from the hammers. Keep going, and try to keep your pace steady!" She focuses and lets the second dagger fly.

A few more vines whip out, rending imps into bits of blue goo … and Burr so far keeps ahead of the group, but there's only so far to go. He makes an end-run … then at Willow's comment, he backtracks, leaps over a couple of imps, and ducks back into the "palace".

Meanwhile, Willow's dagger strikes true … hitting a Schlumph, but not the Schlumph. Maybe one more strike like that, and she'll get the little bearded fellow. He seems to be impressed at the danger, though, and dives behind a broken statue for cover.

Burr pauses for just a moment, looking up at the big smashing statues, and gives Willow a "?" look.

( If he wants to use that wand, he'll have to show his head. C'mon. ) She fishes out a third dagger. "Go! You'll be safe… from the hammers at least. I'm your guide and the statues know it."

Burr swallows hard, then rushes between the two statues, goaded on by a bunch of "La la la"-ing maniacs coming into the palace after him!

The statues start moving … and both of their mighty hammers come smashing down! *WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM* *SPLUTSPLUTSPLUTSPLUT*

Burr seems to be positively amazed to find himself in one piece.

"Aha!" shrieks the bearded blue imp, as he appears in the entrance. "Got you now!" He points his wand at Burr and Willow! Sparks emit from the tip of the wand…

The Skreek hurls her dagger at the little beast. "Go bite a Bromthen!"

The dagger flies true, but with obscenely swift agility, the bearded imp leaps to the side and clear of the dagger. He laughs maniacally, then shoots a bolt of cold energy at Willow and Burr…

Just then, Burr flings Willow to the side … as the energy hits him!

Ice spreads out, quickly covering Burr. The big cheetah stands frozen, literally, in place.

"NO!" Willow screams. She grabs one of her few remaining daggers and hurls it at the little monster. She's unable to think beyond burning anger and revenge.

The bearded imp, gloating over his success, fails to notice the incoming dagger. It catches him midsection, and with a loud *SPLUT*, proceeds to reduce him to blue goop, as his wand clatters to the ground.

Meanwhile, the statues move again…

Willow leaps for the cheetah, shielding him with her own body from the hammers.

A mighty hammer swings down at the cheetah … but stops short.

The Skreek grabs the glowing blade and starts rapidly chipping at the ice around the cheetah's nose and mouth, hoping to get him a chance at some air and hopefully buy some time.

The sword chips off a few flakes of ice, but this "ice" seems to be a lot more durable than a thin shell such as it appears to be.

The rest of the Schlumphs, at the sight of their leader getting reduced to paste, run off, shrieking.

Willow shoves on Burr to get him out of range of the hammers. She can't hope to grab the wand and keep him from getting shattered at the same time after all.

The cheetah-statue falls over and skids on the floor, coming to a stop at the double doors.

Rushing alongside it, Willow digs through the blue goop for the wand.

There it is – a little black wand that feels cold (and a bit goopy at present) to the touch.

Swallowing, the Skreek digs it out and studies it as carefully as she can in her trembling hands.

One end of the wand ends in an ebony snowflake shape. That must be the business end, seeing how the head Schlumph was using it.

There's something about the coldness of the wand. It seems to inspire all sorts of interesting images in Willow's mind. Of her going out and zotting every last one of the Schlumphs. And maybe a few bandits while she's at it, back on the surface. And maybe a few other disagreeable types. This wand holds so many possibilities…

Willow takes a moment to fish out the lantern and sets it next to Burr, turning it on in some feeble hope that the light might melt the ice. After that, she points the wand at the frozen statue. "No. No scruddy way."

The wand seems to be resistant, somehow … as if it might somehow be pleading with Willow, "Isn't it nice this way? Isn't it much better this way? I like it. Don't you like it? Let's go freeze something else, too!"

"You took away the only person who ever gave a howling fire about me! The only person in the world who was willing to risk his life for me! Don't you dare even talk to me!" She shakes the wand. "Reverse what you did… I'll only say it once."

A few sparks fizzle from the wand … and they seem to limp over to the broken statue. The ice sheath cracks and falls away, then dissipates into mist.

Willow points the wand at the cheetah. "Now him… and hurry!"

The wand sputters and sparks, then finally shoots out a few sparks toward Burr. The ice sheath cracks and falls away, dissolving into mist again. Burr's form immediately slumps down to the floor.

The Skreek rushes over to the Cheetah's side and puts an ear to his chest, listening for a heartbeat or breathing.

Yes, he's breathing, actually, and he's got a heartbeat, too. But he's definitely unconscious.

Willow relaxes a bit and studies the wand. "The dragon too. Set the dragon free. I'll probably regret it later, but he's as much of a victim as anyone else."

Maybe it's Willow's imagination, but it seems like the wand is grumbling. A few more sparks fizzle and emit from the wand, sputtering and spitting about.

"Good job." Willow studies the wand for a moment. The prospect of being able to turn people into ice statues does hold a certain appeal… but it would probably feel like her battle with Weatherwax: a hollow victory. No. She always told people that her victories would be won by her and her alone. She won't have her battle won by a toy, and she won't allow it to hurt other people if she can help it, either. She carefully places the wand on the floor and draws out the glowing blade again. Eyeing out the center, the slams the sword down to cut the thing in half.

The wand lets out a pitiful whine in Willow's mind … and then the whine dissolves into a fizzling raspberry as the enchanted blade slices through the wand. The wand, split in half, writhes and wiggles about like … like a black worm rent in half. Actually, it looks like a giant black maggot with writhing feelers and little beady black eyes, and snapping mandibles where the snowflake tip used to be.

The creature oozes a greenish ichor, and a whitish mist rises from its wound. It squirms about … as if trying to rejoin itself.

"Guh! What in fires are you? Another little Bosch critter?" She quickly stabs out at the black thing's head to kill it.

The greenish ichor from the two halves seems to be joining together, as if the creature might heal itself … but as the sword flashes blue again, Willow's attack stabs into the head, ripping it apart. The creature shrieks loudly, thrashing about, spewing bits of green goo in its throes … but its thrashing slows … as it slowly begins to dissolve. The sword stops flashing.

A loud roar can be heard from somewhere far to the north. Little high pitched screams can be heard, and then the crackling of flame and the rushing of air. The aroma of burnt mushrooms fills the air.

As the creature dissolves away, Willow takes a moment to clean the goop from her blade and then drags herself over to Burr, wrapping her arms around his head protectively. "Looks like the dragon is awake."