THE LORD OF DREAMS
In the dark Dungeon depths of level three, Mona and her allies have become separated. Will they be able to reunite and succeed in their quest to find the elusive Lord of Dreams?
"You can't eat me" Mona challenged. She knew that the colour of this dragon meant that he was not friendly. "I'm a vampire and as such invulnerable to your teeth and claws."
"Oh really?" smiled the dragon smugly. "But I don't suppose you're protected against this."
He blew a jet of flame up into the air. Mona said nothing.
"You can't just waltz into the lair of Bhal-Shebah" he went on in a deep voice. "By doing so, you threaten my territory. I HATE people threatening my territory."
"Frightfully sorry I'm sure" returned Mona brusquely. "I really didn't mean to come here."
"That makes no difference to me" Bhal-Shebah shrugged. "Vampire or not, you're fair game now. I suppose you'll just combust if I roast you, won't you? There won't be a scrap left for me to eat. Perhaps I'd best remove your head instead."
"I might suck your blood if you try!" Mona threatened.
"Oh, please!" scoffed Bhal-Shebah. "Your puny fangs could never penetrate my scales. I've killed a couple of vampires in my time, you know. The first was..."
As he droned on, Mona considered her options. She didn't have enough energy to use her vampire bolts and this beast was invulnerable to her fangs, as he had said. But then something unexpected happened.
"Then I met one in Transylvania..." Bhal was saying in his deep voice, but interrupted himself in a softer, quieter voice.
"Do stop gloating! Are we going to eat her or not?"
The voice belonged to Shebah, Bhal's reluctant bodily companion. Bhal-Shebah suffered from an extreme form of schizophrenia, and believed himself to be two dragons trapped inside one body. What was more, Bhal and Shebah hated one another.
"In a minute!" Bhal snapped. "I'm just..."
"I don't care what you're just" Shebah interrupted. "If you're going to eat her, do it."
"I've told you not to tell me what to do!" snapped Bhal.
"You're scared of her, aren't you?"
"No, you are!"
"Well, I don't really think we should eat a vampire," admitted Shebah sheepishly.
Mona was astonished to see Bhal-Shebah apparently talking to himself.
"You're a coward!" Bhal accused.
"I'm just cautious!" Shebah retorted.
"I'm going to eat her!"
"Bet you're not!"
"Excuse me, Bhal, but you should listen to that voice of reason" Mona said, grabbing the opportunity. "You don't know just how dangerous I can be, but I see that this softly-spoken sage is wise enough to do so. You are indeed lucky to be graced by his presence."
"Thank you, little vampire" said Shebah, pleased. "It's nice to know that someone appreciates me."
"I don't need you, Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes!" Bhal roared. "Our stomach would be full now if not for you."
"You couldn't survive without me!" Shebah scoffed.
"Wanna bet?"
"Yeah?"
"Okay, let's go!"
Bhal-Shebah started writhing about as he tried to separate himself, which was, of course, impossible.
"Get out!" demanded Bhal. "It's my body."
"No, it's mine!" Shebah disagreed.
The two personalities argued so much that they ended up trying to cast eviction spells against one another, and Bhal-Shebah disappeared in a large explosion.
"Most satisfactory" Mona muttered as she searched for an exit.
It appeared that the only way out was the pit, so there was no choice but to jump down it. She bravely leapt and fell for a long time before landing with a bump in a long corridor.
Meanwhile, Charley and Fang were having problems of their own; the cave they were in was filling up with cavernwights. These carnivorous sub-humans had no speech, sight or hearing but an acute sense of smell. Even now they were identifying Charley and Fang's scents as those of a potential meal.
"I don't think these are friendly," said Charley nervously to Fang as the creatures shambled towards them. "Why are they moving so slowly, do you suppose?"
Fang mewed and jumped onto the nearest wight's head. The creature was confused and started flailing its arm wildly.
"Of course, they're blind!" Charley realised. "But there're so many of them! How are we going to escape?"
Obligingly, one of the wights screamed as it fell down a pit in the middle of the cave. Others followed, as they had no way of knowing that the obstacle was there. However, there was still a large group closing on Charley.
"We've got to get to that pit" he mused. "They're using their sense of smell, right? Hmm, I wonder..."
He took out one of his zap guns. It was filled with a disgustingly smelly cocktail he had made which he reckoned could cause any foe to retch in disgust. He sprayed the wights and they swooned and keeled over. He cleared himself a path to the pit. Grabbing Fang from the head of a nearby wight, Charley leapt into the pit. After a few seconds he fell into a corridor, and landed on top of Mona.
Lily stared around the cavern but could see no exits. A loud roar came from the shadows in front of her and she began to shake in fear.
"Who's there?" she squeaked. "Please don't hurt me."
A huge hobgoblin, armed to the teeth, shambled towards her.
"Eek!" she screamed, and fell to the floor as she blacked out.
The hobgoblin lumbered over and roughly tried to haul her to her feet. He was surprised to discover that he could not.
"What's wrong with you?" Lily screamed in terror. "I'm no match for you; look!"
She aimed a kick at him with both high-heels and he went shooting across the cave and made a large dent in the far wall.
"What the...?!" Lily wondered as she stood up. "How did I do that?"
The hobgoblin rushed at her again and she raised her hand in an involuntary gesture of defence. Again, he ended up crashing into the far wall.
"It must be my giant strength" Lily realised. "Ooh, good!"
She marched up to the hobgoblin and slammed him against the wall again. He jittered in rage and fear, then let out a piercing scream as he fell backwards into the hole he'd made.
"The rock must have been hollow" Lily reasoned. "Good; it looks like I've made myself an exit."
She jumped through the hole and fell into a corridor, landing on top of Charley and Mona. They all stood up on the rubbery floor. Fang rubbed himself against Mona's legs.
"Thank goodness we found each other" Lily breathed.
"That stupid gargoyle!" complained Charley. "I guess it was part of the challenge."
"Well, we're together now" Mona reasoned. "Looks like we were all up to an individual challenge, which was doubtless what the Dungeon was testing us for. No one used any spells, did they?"
"I don't even remember what we've got!" realised Charley.
"Well, we've got DOOR and REVEAL from Merlin" Mona remembered. "And BECKON to call Smirkenorff. We still haven't got one to release his firestone, though."
Then, suddenly, the floor began to move. The walls of the corridor rushed past them.
"It's a conveyer belt" realised Charley. "It must be taking us further into our challenge."
"Shh, what's that?" Mona hushed them as a loud buzzing sound came to their ears.
All of a sudden, a huge buzzsaw blade came into view, shooting down the corridor towards them. Mona was in its path and had no time to dodge as it cut into her midriff. It sliced right through her, but she was not harmed, as bone, flesh and cartilage regrew instantaneously to heal the wound.
"God, are you all right?" exclaimed Lily.
"I guess you can't saw a vampire in half" Mona said, feeling the area which now bore no sign that it had had a large blade cutting through it. "It feels weird, though."
"Look, more!" exclaimed Charley, pointing.
"Quick, lie on the floor in the centre of the belt!" Mona ordered. "They'll miss us completely!"
Sure enough, the blades all passed overhead and left the companions unharmed. The conveyer ground to a halt and a portal appeared in the right-hand wall.
"What a horrible trap" Mona said as they stood up. "Ah well, here's the door."
"What's this?" Lily wondered, pulling down an object from a hook above the exit. "Look, it's a paint brush."
"I guess we'll need it for something" Charley ventured.
"More than likely" agreed Mona. "Right, let's press on."
They walked through the door and into a large, green room.
"There's magic here" Mona told them. "I can sense it."
"What sort of magic?" asked Charley.
"I'm not sure" Mona said. "But I bet we need it."
"How about using that REVEAL spell to try and find it?" Lily suggested.
"Good idea" agreed Mona. "Spellcasting: R-E-V-E-A-L."
The effect was disappointing to say the least; all that happened was a small section of the far wall turned blue.
"Sorry" said Lily. "I guess it wasn't such a good idea."
"Yes it was!" Mona exclaimed. "It's a clue. Level three is the toughest challenge, so we are made to think a bit more than we have been doing. How about using that paint brush? It seems the obvious thing to do to me. Green cannot live with blue, so that wall needs repainting!"
Lily went over to the blue patch. As she stroked the brush over it, most of it started to become green again, but some of it remained blue. When she had finished, Lily stood back to see that a word had been revealed.
"It says THAW" she said.
"Is it a spell?" Charley wondered.
"Yes!" exclaimed Mona excitedly. "The sort of spell that might, say, release a firestone from a block of ice, for instance."
"Oh excellent!" Charley beamed. "I thought we'd never find it."
"Well, we have now" Mona said. "And something tells me we'll need it really soon."
They went through the right-hand door, onto a snowy field. There was a portal up ahead, as well as a block of thick ice, from which a red glow radiated.
"Yes, there it is," Mona breathed. "Spellcasting: T-H-A-W."
The ice melted away to leave the firestone free. Mona bent to pick it up.
"Zapman, the spell!"
"Spellcasting:" Charley proclaimed. "B-E-C-K-O-N."
A thunderclap sounded overhead, and Smirkenorff flew down to land beside them.
"Ah, you have called me at last" he said. "You have the firestone, I hope."
Mona held the large red jewel up to him and he took it in his mouth and ate it in one gulp.
"Oh, thank you, my friends" Smirkenorff smiled gratefully. "My powers are restored and I can escape Winteria, but not without first redressing the balance. Your path out of Winteria, towards the Lord of Dreams, lies by the left-hand door in the room through that portal. Aesandre will try to stop you, of course, and you will need your wits about you to defeat her."
"How do we do that exactly?" asked Mona.
"Well, you'll have to figure out the details for yourselves" Smirkenorff told them. "However, I will give you a spell to help. It is called FIRE. Now, I must go. Good luck!"
The dragon took to the air once again and was soon lost to view.
"Ready for the final encounter?" Mona asked her companions.
They nodded cautiously, and Fang clung to her shoes.
"Then let's go!"
They stepped boldly through the portal, and into the final chamber of Winteria.
What horrors does Aesandre have waiting for the intrepid adventurers? Will they reach the Lord of Dreams? Read the final chapter of this story next time.