Update: Not eaten by Orcs after all!

Geez, I haven't updated since September? I knew I was behind, but not THAT behind!

Alright. Just wanted to make a note saying we're not dead and neither is the adventure. I've just been a very bad editor/updater. Naughty naughty Bel. I've got a backlog of about 5 episodes (and we're currently playing a 6th) to proofread. Hopefully, the posts will start again before the New Year, but if not... Hey, that takes care of my New Year resolution then, huh?

- Belinda

Character Profile - Dorhi Bilimah

Name: Dorhi Bilimah
Race: Dwarf
Occupation: Long-Distance Courier
Age: 31 yrs
Hometown: Tuli Village
Family: One brother (name unknown)

Physical Traits:
- 4'1”
- 103lbs
- Blue eyes
- Lacks a Dwarven beard!
- Quite slim for a Dwarf

Personality Traits/Mannerisms:
- Polite
- Complimentary
- Overcautious
- Cowardly

Description:
If not for Dorhi, our Heroes may not still be traveling this world on their adventures. As hard as it may be to believe, the cowardly Dorhi saved our Heroes from their fate at the clutches of the Grick of Vadhat Forest by leading them through a narrow passageway that would eventually lead them to their exit from the underground caves of the forest. On their way, our Heroes discovered that while Dorhi cowered in front of every beast and enemy they encountered together, the Dwarf has ambitions to someday quit his job as a courier for Bront, the Duke of Tuli, and become a great adventuring warrior, like our Heroes. While Locke and Lilanei realize that might be a tad too ambitious for their small friend, they made a promise to him that they would have their mentor Akorrin teach him in the arts of combat. . . if they ever find him.

Enemy Profile - Tanz (Deceased)

Name: Tanz
Race: Goblin
Class: Goblin Commander
Age: 25 yrs (Deceased – defeated in Episode 7)
Hometown: Vadhat Forest (By way of the Toct Kingdom in Wormsmoor)

Physical Traits:
- 4'0”
- 97lbs
- Black eyes
- Bald head
- Long, pointy nose

Personality Traits/Mannerisms:
- Talks with a high pitched voice
- Power hungry
- Obnoxious
- Can be cowardly

Description:
A young Goblin struck down before he had much of a life, all Tanz knew was the oppression of the Orc Empire from a very young age. As the Orc Empire began to build its forces and first made its way from the underground labyrinths of Wormsmoor, the Goblin Kingdom of Toct – located in the west of Wormsmoor – was the first empire to fall to the might of the Orcs. Taken in by Orochi personally at a young age, Tanz was coached and raised from a sniveling Goblin peasant into a Commander of the oppressed Goblins under the Orc Empire. While Tanz was pleased with the power he held over his own kind, he dreamed for the day he could slay Orochi's own leader, the Orc King, and make Toct a free empire once again. However, this day will never be realized for the young Goblin met his end at the might of Locke's sickle blade. He will forever be remembered as a typical Goblin – one who will prey on those weaker than he and cower before those who are mightier.

Enemy Profile - Blurlo

Name: Blurlo
Race: Orc
Class: DAKOR Menace Guard
Age: 30 yrs
Home: Vadhat Forest (By way of the Wormsmoor Nation)

Physical Traits:
- 5'7"
- 310lbs
- Small eyes
- Large forehead with an orange mohawk
- Blue-tinted skin
- Round body with wide shoulders and big arms and legs

Personality Traits/Mannerisms:
- Lumbering
- Somewhat innocent
- Slow witted
- Affectionate (At least to “Raina”)
- Speaks with a dumb sounding voice

Description:
A somewhat innocent minded Orc from a cruel and twisted country, Blurlo isn't held in high regard by his leader, Orochi the Brute, nor any of the other members of the DAKOR Menace. While most Orcs aren't noted for their intelligence, Blurlo is, to put it bluntly, stupid compared to most members of his race – or as Blurlo says in his slow sounding voice, “I can't tell me arse from me elbow.” However, while Blurlo might lack in intelligence, the Orc is blessed with being one of the most physically imposing Orcs of Wormsoor. He might not be as tall as his leader, Orochi, but Blurlo has been described as being as wide as a wall and is indeed as hard to knock down, which is why Orochi tolerates his stupidity and usually uses him to guard the perimeters of one of his many camps. This might be something Orochi decides to change, however, as Blurlo seems to soften to a pretty feminine face – as was the case when Blurlo came across a certain servant girl named Raina. . .

Enemy Profile - Orochi the Brute

Name: Orochi the Brute
Race: Orc
Class: DAKOR Menace Leader
Age: 45 yrs
Home: Vadhat Forest (By way of the Wormsmoor Nation)
Family: Glorak the Big (Deceased)

Physical Traits:
- 5'9"
- 250 lbs
- Bald head
- Black eyes
- Dark green skin

Personality Traits/Mannerisms:
- Intelligent (For an Orc!)
- Brutish (Obviously!)
- Cunning
- Always guarded
- Speaks with a gravelly British accent

Description:
Hailing from the evil Orc Kingdom of Wormsmoor, Orochi the Brute is one of the Orcs responsible for turning the once peaceful multi-cultural nation into a cruel and twisted Orc nation, leading the Orc armies from the underground to their victory. As one of the highest ranking generals in the Orc Empire, Orochi the Brute is highly guarded by his men as our Heroes, Locke and Lilanei, find out much to their distress when his personal army squad, the DAKOR Menace, capture them and present them to their leader. Orochi had come to Murrad to find his brother, Glorak, and have him join him the DAKOR Menace – only to find out his brother had been slain by our Heroes. Giving them a punishment he felt fit the crime, Orochi had them banished to the underground of Vadhat Forest and the mercy of the Grick laying below! Fortunately for our Heroes, they were able to escape, but they found Orochi was no fool. With Lilanei trying to disguise herself as a servant girl named Raina, the DAKOR Menace Leader needed only but one whiff of her familiar scent to know her true identity and trap her. While Orochi's group failed to slay our Heroes in the final battle that ensued, Orochi vowed revenge and retreated with the DAKOR Menace to regroup. He vows it will be a dark day indeed when our Heroes see the DAKOR Menace again – a day that, to him, can't come soon enough. . .

Character Profile - Amun

Name: Amun
Race: Flaming Skull
Age: ???
Hometown: ???
Family: ???

Physical Traits:
- Floating skull!
- Flowing green flames
- Bright jewels for eyes
- A constant skeletal grin

Personality Traits/Mannerisms:
- Easily amused
- Enigmatic
- Vague
- Cackles constantly, with what sounds like “kekeke”
- Talks in rhyme

Description:
Locke and Lilanei first encounter Amun unwittingly in front of the Golden Ruins of Avandra – after agreeing with the Mayor of Reedshire, Marven, that they would vanquish the monsters inside. Amun immediately reveals his name and nothing else, choosing instead to speak in very peculiar and vague rhymes. One thing is made clear though: he seems to know more about our Heroes than he is willing to admit, including their names. In any case, Locke and Lil then realize Amun's great magical prowess when he successfully switches their bodies! Throughout their journey through the ruins, he continually reappears up until they fight the great Ice Archon in the final chamber of the ruins. After defeating him, Amun reappears – this time, teleporting them back to Reedshire as well as returning their bodies to normal; however, once back in town, they find they have been missing for a week! Coupled with the fact Amun promised they would all be “together forever,” what could the mysterious skull truly be planning?

Episode 9: The Spirit of Adventure (Part 8 of 8)

Trying to make the first move, Locke quickly draws upon Lilanei's spellbook once more. He opens the book and holds it in one palm as he holds his free hand aloft in the air; however, as he finds the incantation he wishes to use, a gust of icy wind blows from his and Lilanei's west, causing the pages to flick towards the beginning of the book just as Locke was beginning to form a flaming sphere in his palm. Without being able to finish the incantation, the sphere simply flickers and dies. Roaring in his deep native language, the Ice Archon then begins to march forward across the room quickly, his upper body seemingly extending from his lower body, a pillar of ice which slides beneath it – in essence giving the Ice Archon the appearance that he is sliding across the ground towards our Heroes. In moments, the Archon charges directly at Lil, or rather the wizard in the rogue's body, before it raises its mighty ice hammer in the air and smashes it downwards onto Lil's left shoulder. The force of the blow forces Lil to grab her shoulder in pain as, all of a sudden, she feels an intense chill run through her body as she begins to violently shiver on the spot.

Lilanei's teeth chattering due to the intense cold, she nevertheless reaches behind her and grabs Locke's crossbow. Slowly but swiftly, she then brings it forwards and aims the weapon at the Ice Archon before her. With her arms shaking in the intense cold, Lilanei tries to keep her focus as she squeezes the trigger of the crossbow, sending off a bolt which flies towards the massive monster. Immediately after her first shot, she fires off two more bolts, which all fly directly at the Archon as well. The first bolt hits the Archon bluntly in the face, followed by the second and the third – causing the Archon to roar in pain as it grabs its face with its free hand. With the Archon distracted, Locke uses the time to once again refer to Lil's spellbook. This time, without a violently chilly wind to blow on the book, Locke opens the book to the appropriate page as he raises his free palm towards the Ice Archon and begins to mumble incoherent words. Within seconds, a flicker of flame materializes behind the Ice Archon before exploding into a fairly large ball of flame – the heat radiating from the sphere being so intense as to cause the Ice Archon great pain and discomfort. As the sphere roars with fire, ice begins to melt into water slightly on the ice pillar on which the Archon stands.

Despite the roaring fire behind it, the Ice Archon's determination to fell his opponents is unwavering and he continues to set his attention on Lilanei – who he perceives to be the male, therefore the dominant of the pair, because of her appearance. Although he cannot see due to his blinded state, he swings his hammer in a sideways motion, attempting to cause the hammer to collide with anything it can; however due to his blinded state, the Archon's hammer hits nothing but air. Sweating bullets as the hammer sweeps just inches from her face, Lilanei attempts to shift her position. She finds that her feet are almost frozen to the ground due to the Ice Archon's surrounding ice trail, but nevertheless, she manages to slowly shift herself a good fifteen feet away before once again pointing the crossbow at the Ice Archon and attempting to deal another blow. She fires off another bolt, but ultimately misses the Ice Archon as the bolt collides with an icy wall some distance behind it.

Locke decides to draw upon his memory once more as he raises his palm towards the Ice Archon again. This time, an orb of magical force appears within his palm which he immediately hurls towards the Ice Archon, but unfortunately, just like Lil's attempted shot with her crossbow, Locke's orb flies past the creature's head and collides with a stalagmite – sending shards of sharp, large pieces of ice flying across the room. As the orb collides with a stalagmite behind it, the Ice Archon suddenly appears to regain its senses as its gaze seemingly shifts and rests upon Locke's girlish figure. With a deep and sinister laugh, the Ice Archon begins to glide forwards across the ground, all the while swinging its large and frigid ice hammer in the air and towards Locke's lower torso. The hammer collides with Locke's lower torso with a harsh blow, forcing all the breath out from Locke as a sharp, cold pain surges through his body and causes the young rogue turned wizard to shiver uncontrollably. Unable to move, he continues to shiver while the ground around him turns to jagged ice due to the creature chilly aura. Now staring down the creature's back in her position across the room, Lilanei excitedly attempts to fire off another bolt into the Ice Archon's unguarded back; however she is deeply distraught when the crossbow merely clicks and does nothing else.

"Erm," Lil murmurs aloud nervously. "Locke, is it broken?"

"N-no!" Locke gasps through the cold. "Reload it!"

"Reload? Oh. . . right!" Lilanei cries as she reaches swiftly into Locke's holster to retrieve a new magazine for the crossbow, which she then begins to reload.

The Ice Archon ignores what he believes to be the male behind him and instead he looks down his icy snout at Locke, emitting a mocking chuckle at Locke's shivering little body. With no mercy, it then brandishes its icy maul which it swings violently once again into Locke's torso. The hammer collides with Locke's new feminine body causing more damage than before as Locke is unable to move in any way to cushion the blow. Instead the hammer hits Locke's body with full force; the impact of the hammer causes Locke to immediate spit up a pool of blood which splatters onto the icy floor, forcing Locke to double over in a crouched position below the large Ice Archon. Shivering violently as more blood spurts from his mouth, Locke reaches into Lilanei's bag and withdraws one potion which he weakly opens and drinks from – all the while his body continuing to shiver uncontrollably. Immediately, the potion's effects come into play and Locke stands up once more, feeling slightly refreshed as the icy sensation he felt in his body disappears. Quickly raising his palm in the air, Locke calls forth the flaming sphere which floats across the room and lands floating on the Ice Archon's rear – the flames of the orb once again eating away at his ice covered body. The Ice Archon roars in pain as his body begins to shrink due to the fact the ice pillar which makes up its lower body is melting from underneath him.

Extremely agitated that its form has begun to melt, the creature seems to give off a loathsome glare as it grasps its hammer tightly with both hands and slams it down upon Locke – hoping to give him one last deadly blow. The hammer slams straight into the top of Locke's Elven head, forcing him to collapse to the floor as blood begins to drip down from the top of his head – giving his new green hair a blood-red tint. Locke begins to clutch his head tightly with his palm as he remains on the floor, pain violently surging through his body. In the meantime, Lilanei busies herself in the corner of the room as she grumbles angrily, her hands fumbling as she attempts to reload Locke's crossbow. Just as the magazine clicks into place and she emits a sigh of relief, she notices the ring which Locke wore on his left hand begin to emit a slight glow. Blinking, Lilanei looks up she notices the very distraught figure of Locke as he crouches on the floor and cradles his head in intense pain. With a sense of urgency, she re-holsters her frustrating crossbow and instead withdraws Locke's double sword, before she charges across the room and around to the Archon's right side, stumbling slightly as her feet make contact with the very icy ground around the creature.

Pointing one of the double sword's ends at the Ice Archon, Lil then cries, "I'll show you what Kingdom you belong to. . . Snowflake!"

Immediately following her version of Locke's motto, Lilanei slashes violently for the Ice Archon's melting pillar base, causing many shards of ice to fly into the air and create a snow-like mist. The Ice Archon lurches forwards from the pain, its seemingly organic-looking upper half now crouching and merging with its pillar-like base. Seeing her opportunity, Lilanei ducks under the Archon and swiftly appears around it before then leaping into the air. Once she is a good six feet in the air, to her surprise, she kicks her feet violently out into the side of the Ice Archon – the force of her dropkick causing the creature to slide five feet across the room.

Locke meanwhile crawls away from the Ice Archon and Lilanei and plops down weakly on the floor some good ten feet away from the action. Dizzily, Locke grabs Lil's spellbook and reads another spell from it. No colours of magical energy or flames fly from his hand, but his hand, which rotates in front of him, seemingly begins to entrance the Ice Archon who now looks down at him from his position in the room. As Locke continues to wave his hand towards the Archon, the creature's movements become slower and slower. With the spell taking effect, Locke uses this time to take another potion which he quickly drinks to regain his strength. The Ice Archon's body begins to waver to and fro as he feels the effects of Locke's spell taking hold. He attempts to shake it off; however the sleepy sensation is too much for it to withstand and its head suddenly droops forward as it falls asleep standing up. Lilanei, unconcerned for the Ice Archon who now sleeps soundly, instead looks to Locke who continues to gush blood from his head. Reaching into Locke's ruck sack as she moves across the room, she kneels next to Locke as she uncaps the bottle she now holds before presenting it to him.

With a frown of concern, she simply exclaims, "Drink!"

Locke complies, opening his mouth and swallowing the glowing blue liquid from the bottle. He gasps and sits up as the blood begins to clot in his green hair before he wipes the excess blood from his face. Standing up, Locke quickly waves his hand and in an instant the flaming orb which has just sat in mid air away from the battle floats over and behind the Ice Archon – who is too immersed in his sleep to notice the flaming orb which continues to melt away at its pillared base.

"Its body is beginning to melt badly. . . Maybe we can finish it off before it wakes up," Locke weakly points out between breaths.

Just as Locke speaks, however, the creature's head snaps up and it cries with pain as the flames which continue to eat at its body cause it to wake up. Weakly murmuring as the fireball continues to melt away at its ice body, the Ice Archon slowly shifts to his left, away from the ball of fire and directly in front of Lilanei. Weakly shifting itself as it begins to lift its hammer into the air, it attempts another harsh attack at Lilanei's person. Nonetheless, in its weakened state, Lil's figure appears to flicker in front of it in a blur – its vision impaired from its weak and dazed state – causing the hammer to simply breeze past her. Lilanei slightly lurches to the side as the hammer swooshes past her body and to the floor. Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, she once again brandishes Locke's double sword which she attempts to thrust forwards into the creature's melting body. Unfortunately, as she makes her attack, the section of the Archon's body which she attempts to hit recedes as it melts, Lilanei's blade just falling short of its target.

Withdrawing Lil's dagger, Locke ducks and walks under Lilanei's arm, bringing himself in front of her as he holds his dagger high at the Ice Archon's face and, with gritted teeth, cries, "Chew on this, Frosty!"

With that, the tip of Locke's dagger glows brightly before a beam of magical white light flies from its tip and collides violently with the Archon's face, forcing chunks of ice to fly from it and leaving a haze of frost and water hanging in the air – blocking Locke and Lil's sight of the creature and what damage Locke inflicted upon it. As the haze fades away, Locke's purple eyes widen as he realizes the Ice Archon's face is partly demolished, a whole half of its head and face now completely gone from its body and simply melting on the ground beside it. Heaving and breathing heavily, the Ice Archon grabs Locke by the collar, lifting him into the air and to his "eye level" as he roars deeply in his native tongue. Despite the fact Locke cannot understand its language, the creature finishes what appears to be a taunt before raising its opposite hand in the air, which now brandishes his massive hammer. Swiftly, the Archon brings the blunt and frigid end of the hammer down in a violent swing as it collides with Locke's body – the Ice Archon letting him go just in time as the hammer hits his body, much like a bat and ball. He immediately flies across the room upon impact and lands in a heap some twenty feet away from Lilanei and the Archon, Locke no longer moving as he groans in pain. Lilanei's gaze widens as she watches Locke fly across the room like a mere rag doll. She then looks angrily to the Ice Archon and cries out as she charges the five feet between herself and the creature and attempts another strike; however, in her anger, she slips on the melting ice that is the Ice Archon and misses completely with her strike.

Lifting his head, Locke gazes wearily at Lilanei and the Ice Archon before drawing all of his concentration to the flaming sphere, which he directs to the back of the creature once more – before his head drops onto the icy floor with a thud. The flaming sphere continues to eat away at the Ice Archon, who now begins to shrink down to a mere six feet of its previous ten feet height. Its head drooping as its body melts, the creature notices Lilanei's prone body on the ground as she lays dazed on her stomach. With an evil growl, the Ice Archon weakly raises his maul into the air before slamming it down into Lilanei's back with tremendous force, causing Lil's head as well as her limbs to spasm and thrust up in the air as she cries out in pain and coughs up blood. Her limbs twitching, she attempts to push herself up from the ground to face the Archon, but her weak states causes her palms to slide underneath her and across the floor, which forces her body to fall to the ground in a heap.

Locke as well continues to lie on the ground motionless, and the Ice Archon looks to both Locke and then Lilanei before raising its hammer high into the air in what it believes to be victory. Nevertheless, the flaming sphere behind it continues to eat away at its icy body in the meantime. The lower half of its body, which was a pillar of ice, melts away completely and now the heat of the flames lick fully at its upper organic-appearing body. Letting out a large howl of pain, the Ice Archon begins to melt further and further, shrinking more and more, until finally all that is left – as Locke once again looks up – is the neck and half of the Archon's head. With a final cry, they also melts into the puddle, the Ice Archon's mere hammer being left behind as it floats slightly in the melting pool of water. The flaming sphere flickers away into nothingness as Locke begins to now weakly turn onto his stomach and crawls slowly towards Lilanei. Once he's within arm's reach of his companion, Locke places a hand on her shoulder and gently nudges her.

"Lilanei," Locke breathes, “are you alive?"

Groaning slightly beneath her breath, Lilanei begins, "The next time. . . a town asks. . . for our help. . ." She pauses before her head slowly snaps up as she looks to Locke with a vicious glare and continues, "leave me out of it!"

"Glad to see you're okay after all," Locke replies weakly with a smile; he then looks over to all that remains of the Archon, the single ice hammer, before he says, "I can't believe it. . . That thing packed such a punch. . . It was a miracle we survived."

Shifting uncomfortably due to the cold puddle which dampens her clothes, Lil grumbles, "Well, it did mention that it defeated some kind of Godly master. . . He obviously wasn't just any run-of-the-mill monster."

"And yet we beat it!" Locke groans as he weakly raises his fist into the air, which quickly drops back down. "What does that make us?"

Lil slightly chuckles as she says, "Besides stupid fools?"

"Yes," Locke replies with a weakened groan. "That, but we must also possess the power of a God!"

"Or maybe we were just lucky," Lil grumbles in her usual grim fashion.

"Well, whatever," Locke pants. "We defeated it. . . That's all that matters."

"I suppose," Lil says with a weak smile.

Eventually, Locke stands up and after a few moments, he manages to pull Lil to her feet as well. From there, the two rest against each as they begin to weakly limp away from the Ice Archon and towards the door of the room. Locke stops for a moment and looks back at the puddle that remains of the Ice Archon.

Feebly, Lilanei looks down to Locke and says, "What is it?"

". . . Didn't Marven request proof or a trophy of the beast's demise?"

Lilanei appears to think for a moment, before exclaiming, "Oh yeah! Jeez, it would have been a real pain to go through all this and go back with nothing to show for it. . ."

"Exactly," Locke replies. "Which is why we'll take its hammer back with us."

Locke walks over to the hammer and grasps its large handle tightly with his feminine hands; however as he strains to lift it, he eventually gasps and sighs, "It's too heavy. . ."

Sighing, Lilanei steps forward and takes the handle from Locke, lifting the hammer but an inch from the ground before it drops back to the floor. Lilanei then grumbles, "Nrgh. . . I guess I'll just have to drag it out."

Leading the way, Locke begins to march towards the large ice doors which lead back to the underground lair, but just before they reach them, the doors slam shut with a loud “BOOM!”

"What the?" Locke asks weakly as his eyes widen at the doors.

Lilanei drops the hammer behind her and cries, "Argh! Please don't tell me—"

Suddenly, the two hear a light titter coming from the other side of the room, as the familiar image of Amun appears from behind a tall stalagmite.

"Amun," Locke sighs. "What now?"

"Now? Now, now, you tell me how," Amun rhymes.

"What?" Locke asks, almost breathless.

"Tell Amun how you got the job done!" He simply replies in his childish fashion. "Most zero heroes would have froze when facing such a foe! Amun must know how you arose from utterly obnoxious egos to ones of heroes."

"We caused it to melt!" Locke shouts weakly. "Now, are you going to be useful for once? How about getting us out?"

"Out?" Amun asks with a slight frown. "You make Amun pout."

"Come on," Locke breathes with exasperation. "We're tired, beaten up, and very weak. We need to get out. . ."

"Amun's zero heroes would leave him alone on his own? That I cannot condone! He would be quite blue without you two! For you provide much joy to this old boy."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Locke snaps angrily. "Sit around in here forever, playing cards?"

"Yay! Stay and play!" Amun loudly exclaims as it appears to smile.

Lilanei interjects as she slightly smiles and says, "Well, maybe if Amun didn't live in a cold pit in the ground, we would stay," she pauses before angrily frowning and crying, "but he does! And we don't have the sort of constitutions to put up with such hellish conditions! Let us go!"

"For s-hoo'!" Locke begins before sneezing and wiping his nose.

"Bless you," Amun titters, before continuing, "Well, Mr. Achoo, heroes must do as heroes do, that much is true! Amun supposes he can let you through, but," Amun pauses as a sinister cackle emits from its skeletal jaw, “this does not mean Amun will stop playing with you."

Locke rolls his eyes and shakes his head as Lilanei cries, "Please! Just let us go home! And while you're at it, switch us back!"

"Yeah, Amun," Locke echoes. "At least do us one favour and put us back in our correct bodies! I've heard about the 'troubles of the woman' once every blue moon and I don't wanna go through with it."

As Locke completes his statement, he notices Amun has disappeared from the end of the room; he begins to speak, when suddenly Amun's skull head swiftly appears in front of his face as the skull cries, "A woman's troubles cause many quarrels! Amun must see as it would quite please me!"

"Back off!" Locke roars as he musters the last of his energy to swat his arm at the skull in front of him.

The skull titters as he simply hovers backwards before he begins to swiftly float around our Heroes in a circle, crying, "Amun and zero heroes will be friends forever! See the world, we will, together!"

As Lilanei groans loudly and prepares to make a retort, she is suddenly taken by surprise as Amun's form begins to glow with a vibrant white light, his spin seemingly becoming faster and faster as he spins around them. In mere seconds, they are engulfed in light, much like in the beginning of their journey to the temple. Overwhelmed by this power, Locke and Lilanei both feel as their bodies are swiftly swept into unconsciousness. . . It is unclear to them how much time passes when they finally awake. Feeling a cool breeze sweep across their bodies as their eyes open, Locke and Lilanei find themselves blinded, not by Amun's light, but the sunlight from the giant flaming orb which now hovers high in the sky.

Locke sits up, groans, and after a moment suddenly cries, "We're free!"

". . . And I'm me!" Lil shouts with joy as she looks up at her raised, feminine hands as she lies on the floor.

"Oh, thank the Lord," Locke sighs. "I thought I'd never get out of that hell hole. . ."

Snapping her head forward as she sits up, Lilanei cries angrily, "What do you mean, hell hole? Surely, it wasn't that bad being in my body!"

"Erm. . . Who says I was talking about your body?" Locke asks. "I meant the temple."

"Oh," Lilanei slowly mutters as she looks away.

"I wonder how long we've been in that place for," Locke wonders as he looks around, seeing Reedshire near by in the distance. "At least that blasted skull made the journey back a little easier."

"I suppose," Lil grumbles before adding, "but I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again."

"Please, don't threaten me," Locke says with a disgruntled look on his face.

Grinning mischievously, Lil says, "You really don't like him, do you?"

"No!" Locke snaps. "He's so annoying. I never, ever want to see him again!"

As Locke utters this, Lilanei widens her eyes as she stares behind him and cries, "Oh no!"

"What?" Locke gasps, jumping as he snaps his head back and looks behind him.

As he does so, Lilanei merely titters as she says in a childish fashion, "You must stay and play!"

"Yeah, yeah," Locke grunts in annoyance. "Where's the ice hammer? Did that stupid skull bring it?"

"Oh!" Lil cries as she looks around the area; as she does so, she notices the hammer resting on the ground just behind her as she then says, "It's right here. . . I suppose we should bring it back to town."

"Yeah, let's get to it," Locke announces before finally standing up.

As Locke stands, he suddenly hears a slight twinkle as something falls from his vest pocket and lands in the grass before him. Locke kneels down in the grass and inspects the object that fell from his pocket to find that it is a blue crystal-like jewel.

"Huh. . . I wonder what this is," Locke ponders as he looks at the jewel.

Lilanei gazes across to the jewel which Locke holds it in his hand before she rises to her feet and states, "Maybe Amun liked you so much, he gave you a present!"

"Well, if he did, I'm thankful," Locke announces as he places in his pocket. "Maybe I'll get a good price for it."

Lilanei shakes her head before walking over to the hammer, which she attempts to lift. However, she is slightly surprised when she finds she can no longer pull the heavy object.

"Let me do that," Locke announces before walking over to the hammer, which he lifts and begins to drag. "Come on, let's take this to Marven."

Pursing her lips, Lilanei mutters, "Fine. . ."

Despite the heavy hammer prolonging their trip, the walk to town is quite a short one. Soon, they find themselves strolling through the gates, across the bridge of water which protects the town.

As they enter the main road in the front of town, Lilanei glances around before bluntly stating, "So. . . Where is Marven?"

"I'm not sure," Locke pants, dragging the large hammer behind him. "Let's ask someone."

Lilanei glances around at the busy main road which no longer contains festival game stalls, but instead contains booths and tables which sell various merchandise. Her gaze traveling down the long length of the road, it finally rests on a familiar table where an equally familiar Elven woman currently sits. Leaving Locke behind with the hammer, Lilanei trots forth to the table.

Smiling, she meekly inquires, "Erm. . . Hello, ma'am! I was wondering if you might know where the mayor resides at this time."

The woman looks up from her wares and with a bright smile, she says, "Well, aren't you a familiar face? If you mean Marven, he resides in the town hall across the bridge in the center of town, nearby to the Reedshire Inn which he owns."

"Thanks," Locke grunts as he slowly walks past Lilanei and the Elven stall keeper.

Lilanei blinks as the Elven woman's concerned face follows Locke and she whispers to Lilanei, "I sure hope he didn't try to put that in his bag of holding. . . Surely, it would have ripped it!"

Lilanei smirks as she whispers back, "Don't worry. . . He can barely lift the thing, never mind put it in a bag!"

"Oh," the woman meekly smiles, with a slightly bemused expression.

"Well, in any case, thank you!" Lilanei replies as she bows to the woman.

The woman waves happily as Lilanei then darts behind Locke who continues to slowly drag the hammer up the busy street. Eventually, Locke manages to drag the large hammer over the equally large bridge after some time, which leads them to the Reedshire Inn and ultimately the town hall. Slightly frustrated by Locke's slow pace due to the hammer he drags, Lilanei simply shifts around him and darts to the front entrance of the town hall, which she enters through before begrudgingly holding the door open for Locke.

"Why, thank you," Locke spits sarcastically, almost out of breath, as he continues to drag the hammer – now dragging it through the door and into the large reception room.

As the ice hammer's blunt end drags against the marble flooring of the town hall, a cry emits from the back room as a familiar voice exclaims, "Hey! Mind the newly polished floors there!"

Locke stops in his tracks and with a look of pure fury, lifts his head and shouts, "Never mind the damn floor! I've just bought this stupid hammer all the way here to prove to that coward of a mayor that I have slain his so called "fearsome beast!" Bring him to me!"

Lilanei blinks before nervously inching away from her infuriated partner, as the voice calls out again, "Now, now! Is that any way to—“

Soon, the figure of a small Halfling man emerges from the back of the reception hall – our Heroes instantly recognizing the face of Marven, the town mayor. He looks to our Heroes with a slightly bewildered expression, before slowly realizing at whom he gazes upon.

Raising his hands in the air, he cries, "It's the two brave ones! If I had known it was you, I wouldn't have been so. . . so harsh! Please, come in!"

"But. . . we're already in," Locke blankly replies.

The Halfling grins as he says, "Not only brave, but smart too! Now tell me, how did you find the ruins? Hopefully, our troubles did not cause you too much trouble!"

Locke bites his lip as his cheeks go red for a moment and he opens his mouth, but instead of shouting, Locke simply sighs and announces, "Marv, it was bloody awful. I hope this hammer will be of worth to you, because I never want to venture into that place again."

With that, Locke drops the large hammer on the marble floor, the marble cracking under the intense weight that such a weapon suited for a ten foot creature would possess. Marven cringes slightly as he watches the floor crack beneath the weapon; nevertheless, he swiftly strolls to the weapon's side, his old eyes glancing over the enormous object.

He cries, "Why, this was more than I ever expected! That creature was even mightier than I had heard! You two must be true heroes for vanquishing such a beast!"

"Well, I am pretty great there," Locke sighs as a smile returns to his face. "Tell one and all, and all and one, that Locke the Herculean slayed the fearsome Ice Man and now the ruins can once again be used as your protégés' proving grounds once more."

"Brave, smart, and brash!" Marven cries as he laughs aloud; he then looks to Locke and Lilanei with a wide smile as he says, "Well, for your great deed, Reedshire will never forget you. And to ensure this, the day of the pilgrimage – the last day of the Adventurer's Festival – shall be named after you two! Now, what would you like it to be called?"

"Kallidin's Killer Krusade – spelled with a K!" Locke announces, holding his hands up as if framing the words.

Lilanei suddenly turns, having sheepishly remained to the opposite side of the room until now, as she cries angrily, "Hey! That's not very fair! I helped too, you know!"

"Okay, what do you think it should be called?" Locke replies with a sad look on his face.

"I. . . I don't know," Lil meekly mutters as she twiddles her fingers together. "If that's what you really want it to be called, then I suppose I'll let you—"

Locke frowns and walks over to Lil before putting an arm around her as he looks to Marven and says, "How about 'Akorrin's Trial?' After our Master?"

Marven mulls this suggestion over, before finally saying, "Well. . . it's not quite what I had in mind, but you are the heroes – so be it! The final day of the festival shall be known as Akorrin's Trial – starting next year!"

"Sounds good," Locke replies with a smile before then saying, "Now, where's our celebration? I expect a lot of rum, a lot of women, and a lot of pies."

As Lilanei glares at Locke, Marven looks to Locke with amazement as he cries, "Boy! Don't you realize? The festivities ended almost a week ago!"

"A WEEK?" Locke cries in surprise. "A bloody week?"

Lilanei's eyes widen as she cries, "You mean. . . We were gone for a week?"

"Why. . . yes. Didn't you know? I was starting to worry about you two, as you had not returned after so long," Marven replies.

"Erm. . . No," Locke answers. "I suppose we just took a long time getting around."

"It didn't feel like a week," Lilanei softly whines as she looks to the floor, trying to comprehend the time lapse.

Marven simply smiles as he says, "Well, I'm afraid the festivities are over. But I promised you a reward, and a reward you shall have."

"Really?" Locke asks hopefully. "What might that be?"

Laughing, Marven smiles again and says, "Wait here, and I shall fetch it for you."

Swiftly, the Halfling mayor disappears once again into the back room before Locke and Lilanei hear much shuffling, shifting, pushing and pulling as well as the jingling of many small metallic objects. Some more noise can be heard before Marven finally emerges from the back room, dragging a large – at least to a Halfling – sack behind him, which he presents to our Heroes.

"Now, what is this?" Locke asks as he opens up the bag, his eyes immediately lighting up as he sees 10,000 gold pieces glittering within the sack and he cries, "Wow-wee!"

Lilanei looks over his shoulder and cries, "Oh, my! Really, you don't need to give us all thi—"

"But it's very much appreciated!" Locke chimes in quickly as he closes the bag and slings it over his shoulder. "Pleasure doing business with you, Marven."

The Halfling man simply grins as he says, "Brave, smart, brash and thrifty! It's my pleasure, young Heroes. . . Usually, this gold is spent on our children, who venture yearly to the temple. However, seeing as how their journey could not be made this year, it seems appropriate that these funds be used on the two who saved our peoples' ancient tradition."

"Well, Marv," Locke begins. "As I said, it was a pleasure. Perhaps one day, you could allow us a home here," Locke adds, turning to Lil. "We rather like it here."

Lil sheepishly smiles as she agrees, "Indeed. . . It's such a lovely town."

Marven chuckles as he responds, "Well, of course you two are welcome! In fact, until you wish to settle down here, the Reedshire Inn will always be open to you, for free! So please, come back to visit every now and then. . . I'm sure the townsfolk would love to hear your stories! After all, they too are aspiring heroes."

"We'll be sure to do that," Locke replies with a smile.

"Good!" Marven exclaims, before adding, "Well, I shan't hold you up any longer. . . Good luck on the rest of your journey, and be sure to drop by again one day."

"Thanks," Locke says as he turns to the door, before looking back to Marven and adding, “and good luck finding a place big enough to mount that hammer. See you later, Marven."

With that, Locke turns and begins to walk for the door, with Lilanei following close behind him. The two leave the town hall and stop in the middle of street as Locke looks to Lil with a smile of success.

He then announces, "Job done! Whatcha wanna do now?"

Lil smirks slightly, before she finally says, "Rest."

"Well, why don't we spend another day or two here before we get back on our way?" Locke asks. "I'm sure Akorrin will hold up without us and the world won't end if we take a couple of days off for a change."

With a wistful sigh, Lilanei responds, "I agree. . . And I'd quite like that."

"Well then. Consider yourself a lady of leisure!" Locke replies with a smile.

Episode 9: The Spirit of Adventure (Part 7 of 8)

"Lilanei!" Locke cries through the sheet of ice before he then drops to his knees and begins to plunge the blade of his dagger into the ice to try and break through it with the blade; however, it merely scratches the surface. As his tension and frustration mounts, he hears a sudden "kekeke" echo throughout the room.

"DAMN YOU, AMUN!" Locke roars with his new feminine voice. "If I find you, I will turn your ugly little head to dust! Release my Lilanei at once!"

The skull's usual cackle echoes a short while longer before Amun finally titters, "Turn Amun to dust if you must, but my actions are quite just!" Amun then pauses for a brief before tittering again, "You do quite nice when facing ice, but will you pay the price when ice strikes twice?”

"Stop with your stupid rhymes!" Locke cries, now slamming his free fist onto the sheet of ice.

Amun merely cackles as his voice suddenly appears to grow further and further away. As it does so, Locke feels the ice beneath him begin to feel damp as it wets his green skirt. Locke looks down and sees the ice begin to melt, which he reacts to by springing off his knees and landing in a heap on solid ground beside the sheet of ice. As he does so, he watches as the large and thick slab of ice turn to nothing more but water as it begins to melt at its center, before the outer layer of the ice follows in a ripple-like fashion.

"Lil," Locke breathes as he anxiously crawls to the edge of the pit and dangles his hand down it. "Lil, if you can, try to jump and grab my hand!"

However, despite an opportunity at freedom, Lilanei simply stands in the pit of ice water and trembles violently as she holds herself, with her arms wrapped around her torso. Grunting, Locke then retrieves his staff and lowers one end of it down into the pit.

"Can you grab this?" He calls down to her.

Gritted teeth now chattering as she shivers due to the frigid cold, Lilanei glances up at the staff before very slowly and weakly reaching for the end, which she grasps tightly. Feeling Lil's weight on the staff, Locke leans back so he now sits on his backside as he digs his heels into the ground as best as he can in his foreign body and pulls on the staff with a loud grunt, which lifts and therefore elevates Lilanei out of the ice water. Locke then continues to slide backwards, causing the staff and Lil on the end of it to finally emerge from out of the pit. Immediately, once Lil is out of the pit, Locke crawls to her and hugs her tight, his hands running up and down what strangely is his own body as he tries to warm her back up.

Shivering wildly from the intense cold, Lil looks to Locke and stutters, "T-t-thank. . . y-y-you. . ."

"Think nothing of it," Locke replies as he hugs Lil tightly once more. "Are you going to be okay?"

As Locke hugs Lil tightly, she hisses very slightly due to the pain of her very stiff and cold limbs, before she shivers again and stammers. "Fire. . . Please. . ."

Withdrawing the spell book once again, Locke flicks through the pages and finally comes to what appears to be a fire spell. Resting the book on the floor in front of him, Locke begins to wave his hands in a circular motion next to each other and after a minute, a spark ignites in the space between his hands. The spark then grows into a flicker and the flicker grows into a ball, which pulsates further and grows into a large sphere of fire. Locke lowers his hands causing the flaming sphere to rest on the ground beside Lil as the heat begins to radiate onto her body.

Curling herself in front of the fireball close enough to warm herself, but not enough to cause herself harm, Lil grins through her gritted teeth and stutters, "You're. . . n-not so. . . bad at t-that."

"Well, I've watched you do it enough times," Locke replies as he sits in front of the fire ball, putting the spellbook away as he does. "Rest a while and then we'll carry on. If that monster's anything to go by, we're really going to need all the strength we can muster."

Still shivering, Lilanei nods before slightly shuffling over towards Locke and resting her damp head in his small lap as she curls into a fetal position on the ground and attempts to keep warm in front of the fire. A few hours pass as our Heroes rest on the frosty floor and recover from their ordeal thus far. Locke remains seated in front of the fire ball while Lilanei still lies curled up with her head on his lap, every so often almost falling asleep; however due to the intense cold, Locke remembers what Akorrin taught him about how dangerous it is to sleep in such a situation and therefore coaxed her to stay awake each time. During their long rest, fortunately, they do not see or hear anymore monsters in the area – a mere gust of wind flowing through the room and the hall behind them being the only recognizable noise they hear.

Finally, Lilanei shifts slightly in her curled position, before saying, "I think. . . I'll be okay now."

"Let's carry on then, if you're strong enough," Locke replies.

Weakly, Lil takes her head from Locke's lap and pushes herself back so that she is now sitting up, before she sniffles and says, "Okay. . . I think I – achoo!"

"Bless you!" Locke replies with a laugh.

With a groan, Lilanei wipes her nose and says, "Ngh. . . I can't wait until we switch bodies again. Then I won't have to deal with this horrible cold – you will!"

"Oh great!" Locke says sarcastically. "And there was me looking forward to getting back into my own body."

Lil meekly grins before saying, "Aw. . . It can't be that bad being in my body. Your body isn't too bad, either. I must admit it's nice to have a bit more strength."

"Glad to see you enjoy it," Locke says with a grin. "Feel free to enjoy it just as much when we've switched back. On cold winter nights quite like this, you could keep me warm that way."

After sneezing again, Lil smirks and slightly chuckles as she says, "We'll see. Now let's keep going."

On that note, our two Heroes stumble to their feet and stiffly make their way through the chamber, as the fire ball which warmed them up until this point slowly disappears. As it does so, Lilanei retrieves the last of Locke's sunrods from his ruck sack on her back and lights it, after which slipping it into the belt around her waist. With caution, they turn the bend and find themselves looking down a primitively dug slope which appears to lead to a lower level.

"Well, only one way to go now," Locke announces. "Judging by the shoddy workmanship here, I'd say the beasties dug this tunnel."

With a grimace, Lil responds, "Well, for our sakes, I hope there aren't too many more 'beasties' down below."

"Let's find out!" Locke announces again before making his way down the tunnel.

As they emerge on the other side, they find themselves facing a very thickly fogged room. Due to the heavy, cold fog, they can only see a mere five feet in front of them and nothing more. As they glance around the room, Lilanei gasps suddenly as she sneezes with a shrill squeak. As she does so, the two hear a sudden rumble before they see a large stalactite drop down from the ceiling and crash a mere few feet in front of them, sharp shards and debris hurling just in front of their feet.

"I think we need to keep the noise down," Locke says, whispering to Lil. "This room seems sensitive."

Simply wiping her nose as she sniffles, Lilanei nods in agreement. Slowly, Locke and Lilanei walk forwards. Every five feet they walk, they stop so that they can try and get their bearings through the dense fog. The two eventually reach what they believe to be the middle of the room; however as they do so, the pair begin to hear a faint moan which comes from the sides of the chamber, causing our Heroes to perk up in alertness. They slowly move forward five more feet, and as they do, Lilanei's nose twitches before she lets out another shrill sneeze. The sneeze echoes through the room causing an unseen stalactite to shake on the ceiling and break off as it plummets to the ground on which Locke and Lil stand. It crashes into them both, the weight of the object dealing them a harsh blow. As the stalactite shatters around their bodies and the faint icy dust clears away, our Heroes groan from the painful blow before pausing suddenly as they hear the faint moaning grow slightly louder.

"We're not alone," Locke points out.

Feeling a strong sense of urgency, Locke and Lilanei quicken their pace and traverse the next fifteen feet of the room, until they see a passage leading out of the fog. Quickly the two pass through it, Locke's heartbeat thumping strongly from the sense of urgency he felt to get out of the room. As they rush into an adjoining hallway, which is clear of the deep fog, they hide against the walls and listen behind them as they hear the moans begin to slink away slowly.

"That sounded eerily familiar," Locke notes. "The zombies from earlier made the same type of sounds. . ."

With a grimace, Lil quietly cries, "Then let's get out of here before they find us!"

"Right," Locke replies.

Without hesitation, the two rush through the hallway until they emerge in a very massive room. They slide to a halt on the slippery ground beneath them as they realize that they stand on a ledge made completely from solid ice. After the ledge lies nothing more than a massive pool of ice water; small broken blocks of ice float about the water serenely as our Heroes notice many larger blocks, almost like stepping stones, also float in the water. The two watch as one of these large blocks floats away slowly as they realize that they can only see about ten feet in front of them, due to another deep and cold fog.

"How are you at hopscotch?" Locke asks as he watches the stones float in the water.

Lilanei frowns and asks, "What's hopscotch?"

"Never mind," Locke replies with a slight sigh. "We're just going to have to get across this pool by jumping from stone to stone."

Lilanei sighs and mutters in frustration, "Why don't we ever have it easy? I just wish that one day we could go through one of these ruins, or caves, or what-have-you and NOT encounter something stupidly dangerous or hazardous to our healths!"

"That would be too easy," Locke simply replies with a smile. "We need the challenge, so let's do it!"

As the two debate on how to cross the pool of water, their senses are alerted as they notice a quiet clicking sound coming from one of the floating stones.

"Oh no," Locke says slowly and ominously.

Bobbing slightly in the air on one of the floating stones, Amun appears as he cackles and says, “Why so scared? Aren't you prepared?"

Locke slaps his forehead and runs his hand slowly down his face in annoyance as he sees Amun bobbing in front of him, before he shouts, "Get lost!"

"If Amun gets lost, you'll pay the cost, as you'll freeze in all this frost!" Amun replies in a sing-song voice.

Lilanei groans and cries, "What is your problem, Amun? Are you helping us, or what? I can't tell whether you're on our side, or if you want to kill us!"

"Why, killing us would be frivolous, silly sniveling wuss!" Amun announces.

"I don't have to take that from you!" Lil exclaims angrily with a growl.

"Listen, bone head," Locke then begins. "If you're not going to help us, you don't need to be here. I don't know if you're the caretaker of this place, but you're really getting on my last nerve."

"Helping you could be the right thing to do, but Amun would be blue to merely aid you! Heroes true must do as they do; fight evils askew, and rewards will be brought to you!"

"Well, a stone's about to be brought to you, bone head!" Locke announces as he picks up and throws a nearby stone at Amun. "Get lost!"

Amun merely dives out of the way of the rock before cackling and crying almost in annoyance, “If that's how you'll play, then cursed shall you stay, from this very day until Amun has his say!"

Locke growls and then shakes his head with a sigh as he announces, "We're going to get nowhere if we just talk to this bone head. Let's just cross this pool."

Finishing Locke's sentence, Amun adds, "That would be cool!" as he cackles and appears to jump away towards the back of the room.

"Argh!" Locke cries. "I hate that skull!"

Grumbling, Lilanei adds, "He is quite strange, isn't he?"

"I can think of better words," Locke says with a snarl.

"Well, in any case, let us continue. . . It doesn't seem like Amun is going to leave us alone any time soon, so we'll just have to deal with him as he comes," Lilanei simply says with a sigh.

Holding hands, Locke and Lilanei then ready themselves, and in unison, they both jump – leaping over the pool of ice water before landing on the stone to their far left. In front of them through the fog, they now see two stones which bob up and down as they calmly float in the water. Locke points to the stone closest to Lil and together they leap forwards and land on it safely. After hopping to the next stone, they can only see one more stone appear in front of them as they immediately leap forwards and land on it.

"Which way now?" Locke asks as he motions to two floating stones.

Lilanei ponders over the two options, before her gaze centers on the rightmost stone as she whispers, "There's something. . . gleaming on it."

Locke looks over to the stone and exclaims, "You're right! Let's check it out."

Our Heroes then leap forth and land on the rightmost stone. As they land on the stone, they hear a light tinkling as a bottle of potion begins to roll towards the edge and towards the pool of water. As the potion begins to roll away, Lilanei quickly reaches down and swiftly snatches the bottle from the ground, which she immediately places in her ruck sack.

"Good catch," Locke praises. "Let's take the stone right ahead."

Lil nods and complies before the two leap across yet another stone and find themselves faced now with a stone which floats to the left and one which floats directly in front of them.

"Let's keep going forward," Locke suggests.

The two leap and land on the next stone which was ahead of them so that they now can see two more stones, one floating off to the right and the other floating off to the left. Tugging on Lil's hand, Locke prepares to jump over to the left stone which they both do successfully. As they leap to the next stone, which teeters slightly under their weight, they realize it is a bit wider and larger than many of the other stones that they had crossed. Suddenly, they hear a slight squeak which is quickly followed by many squeaks, as from the fog they notice several rats swarm and begin to emerge towards them viciously.

"Vermin!" Locke cries as Lilanei simply shrieks girlishly with her new masculine voice; grunting with annoyance, Locke adds, "Must you do that?"

Growling, Lil replies, "Shut up, and kill them!"

Following her own advice, Lilanei immediately reaches for the double sword on her back which she slashes towards the swarm of rats with a disgusted cry. The slash hits a part of the swarm, knocking some which climb on the backs of others off and into the main swarm of rats that continue to scurry about around them. As the rats continue to rush them, Locke grips his staff tightly and takes a violent swing at the cluster of rats, sweeping a fair few of them off their feet and knocking them violently back as they land in a heap on top of each other. As Locke then retracts his staff, he realizes many of the rats now cling to the end and begin to rush down the staff and towards his arm. Distracted by these rats, he fails to notice that the rest of the swarm gathers at his feet and bite viciously at his legs as the rest bite his arms.

"Argh! Get off me, you parasites!" Locke cries in frustration.

"Ew, ew, ew!" Lilanei cries in fear and disgust as she watches the rats swarm Locke's, or rather her, body.

With a sour grimace, she begins to swat at many of the rats around Locke; however they merely keep coming. Still biting at him, the rogue – or the rogue in the wizard's body – becomes angered and thrusts his arms outwards, knocking some of the rats from him.

"You like eating things? Chew on this, furballs!"

With that, Locke holds his palm out to a conglomerate of the swarming rats in front of him before an orb of white light appears and pulsates in his hand. He relieves the tension in his fingers, allowing his grip to loosen as the orb shoots from his palm and collides with the rats, knocking them dazed as they now appear very weakened. With another growl, Lilanei once again brandishes Locke's double sword, which she slashes at the swarm wildly – allowing both blades of the sword to carve and swipe into as many of the rats as she possible can. Blood from some of the now dead rats covers the stone beneath them as dead little bodies lie at their feet. Other rats weakly squeak as they try to retreat; however with nowhere to go, they are subject to our Heroes' full fury, as both Locke and Lilanei kick the remaining live rats off the rock and into the freezing waters below.

"Vermin," Locke spits.

Groaning, Lilanei adds, "I hate them. . ."

"Me too!" Locke exclaims before looking ahead.

Beyond the rock on which they stand, Locke sees an even larger ice rock floating beyond and points to it, before the two leap across and onto the rock. Once they gain their footing on the large stone, the pair look ahead and see a small pile of what appears to be bones. A skeletal hand protrudes from the pile of bones as it clutches a single bottle of potion.

"I'll take this!" Locke exclaims as he leans forward and snatches the potion from the skeleton's dead hand.

Immediately, Locke removes the top, throws the cork into the water, and drinks the entire potion. Feeling refreshed, Locke tosses the bottle away into the water, which then begins to bob and float away. Her eyebrows cocked slightly at Locke's hastiness, Lilanei looks around to see no more floating stones are ahead – merely the one behind them.

"I feel like we're going in circles," Lil groans with a sigh. "I wonder how big this room actually is?"

"Let's not waste time and ponder," Locke responds. "Let's just get out of it."

With that, our Heroes leap back two stones, returning to one they had previously been on. From there, Locke leads the way and they leap to the stone on their left. After doing so, they see that only one stone appears in the fog before them. They leap onto it, and from there Locke and Lil see a ledge that resembles the one they entered the room from. On the ledge, they notice a slope which curves downwards, which to their reckoning is the exit.

Excitedly, Lil cries, "I guess I spoke too soon! Finally, we can get out of this place!"

Locke and Lilanei then leap from the stone to the ledge, their feet slipping slightly in their hastiness. Wasting no time as they regain their footing, they then follow the slope out of the room. As they complete their descent down the long and winding slope, they find themselves in a medium sized room which they can see through the sunrod Lilanei has conveniently kept in her belt. Glancing about the large chamber, they finally realize it leads to nothing but a black abyss.

"Heh," Locke mutters. "What do you suppose this is?"

With wide eyes, Lilanei cries, "A dead end! I thought there was supposed to be a big nasty bad guy around here or something!"

"Maybe there this," Locke responds quietly as he walks forwards to the abyss.

Following behind him, Lil whines, "It's just a big black hole. . . and I'm not jumping down it!"

Locke looks into the abyss and kicks a small rock near his foot into it. He then waits, and waits, and waits – before finally hearing an extremely faint tap as the stone reaches the bottom of the pit.

"Well, I don't think we can jump down there," Locke muses as he then begins to look around the room to see if there's anything else they may have missed; seeing nothing, Locke grumbles and shouts, "So where are you now, Amun? No stupid rhymes or riddles to go with this absurd room?"

Just as Locke completes his challenge, he hears the extremely grating sound of teeth clicking against teeth as he snaps his head back and sees Amun floating just behind them.

"Explain this!" Locke says, gesturing with his hand to the abyss.

The jewels in Amun's skeletal eyes simply twinkle slightly as he cries, "This? This – this is an abyss!"

"We were told that there was a monster to be defeated in these ruins," Locke explains, ignoring Amun's sarcastic response. "That's why we came here. . . Where is it?"

Amun simply bobbles in mid air as he cackles and says, "Monsters lurk deep in the frosted dirt, but first one must brave the turf!"

"What?" Locke utters with a grimace.

Immaturely, Amun titters, "What, what? Owlbear butt!"

"I'll tear you a new one if you don't be clear!" Locke grunts.

With an exasperated sigh, Lil then says, "Please. . . I'm cold. This place is terrible, and smelly, and cold – and I just want to go home! Where is this stupid beast so that we may leave this horrible place?"

The floating skull tilting slightly to the side, Amun cackles, "Kekeke. . . If you wish to face the evil in this place, first you must cross with grace! For Heroes. . . you two seem like quite big zeros! But Amun helps you, for it is the fun thing to do!"

"Argh!" Locke cries as he takes Lil by the hand. "Let's just jump!"

Amun simply cackles again and cries, "As brave as a naive, with screws as loose as a Goose! His life, Locke will surely lose! Zero heroes, I bid you adieu, as for an appointment Amun is due, kekeke."

The skull then turns and hops off merrily up the slope, as Lilanei shrieks with wide eyes, “You can't be serious! Please, don't make me jump!"

"But Lil, where else is there to go?" Locke asks in frustration.

"Home!" Lil howls as she tries to pull her wrist away from him. "You might be crazy, but I'm not – despite the fact I'm in your body! I think I'd rather stay switched than do something as stupid as jumping to my death!"

Releasing her wrist, Locke simply turns back towards the abyss and with no hesitation walks onto it. Immediately, he is taken back in surprise when he does not fall or even lurch forward – a slight shine rippling under his feet as a single silver floating stone appears beneath his step.

"Lil!" Locke announces. "I haven't fallen – this must be some kind of path. . . or a bridge! Let's go!"

Gritting her teeth, Lil whines, "But. . . is it safe?"

"Have I fallen?" Locke asks.

"Well, you might!" She snaps back. "You don't know if there are any more stones up ahead. . ."

Shaking his head, Locke takes three steps forwards as each steps causes a new stone to materialize beneath him before he calls back, "Come on! It is safe. The sooner we find what we're looking for, maybe we'll be changed back!"

With that, Locke rushes across the rest of the bridge. Grimacing, Lilanei daintily places her foot on the first stone before pressing her full weight onto it. Once satisfied that the stone will not collapse beneath her, she hesitantly but quickly rushes behind Locke and across the bridge-like path. Once the two complete their crossing of the bridge, they find themselves on solid ground once again as they peer around another large room. Nothing lies in the room; however, they can see in front of them two large doors made of solid ice.

"Let's knock," Locke announces as he walks forwards, takes Lil's quarterstaff, and taps the orbed end of the staff lightly on the door.

The quiet knocking echoes through the room for a few moments, before the door in front of Locke appears to merely give way slowly as it quietly creaks open. As it does so, they see a bright glow begin to emit through the open passageway.

"Let's go," Locke softly says to Lil as he walks through the door, undaunted, with Lilanei following.

As the two finally enter the room, they are met with the beautiful sight of many crystal-like stalagmites and stalactites which protrude from the ground and ceiling above them. These crystal-like structures appear to give off their own light, as they glow and twinkle in the room in a wide array of colours.

"Oooo," Lil softly whispers. "Pretty. . ."

"Yeah, but not exactly what we were looking for," Locke bluntly replies.

The two then step a bit further into the room, before they are met with the sound of a loud crack of ice. As they stop in their tracks, they see a massive shadow loom from behind one of the stalagmites before they see the blunt end of an ice hammer poke out from behind this structure. In moments, their eyes widen as what appears to be a large man made completely from ice emerges into the center of the room.

"Whoa!" Locke cries as he looks up the ice man. "What is that?"

"I. . . I don't know!" Lil states in bewilderment.

The faceless man looks across the room to our two Heroes as it begins to utter something deeply in a strange tongue.

"What's that noise?" Locke asks.

Lilanei simply gulps as she says, "Erm. . . I don't think we're very welcome here."

"Do you understand that. . . thing?" Locke asks again.

As the man utters a few more unintelligible words, Lilanei gulps again and attempts to translate as she says, "Despicable mortals. . . I do not. . . erm, take kindly? To. . . intrusions by. . . lowly creatures!"

"Oh yeah?" Locke asks. "Well, you tell that thing we're here to evict it!"

Before Lil can speak, the ice man continues to utter strange words; Lil immediately translates, "I. . . managed to. . . defeat my Godly master. . . so two puny mortals. . . will not stand. . . in my way! This land. . . shall be my, erm. . . kingdom?"

"Not for long!" Locke replies as he lifts his staff. "One way or another, we'll destroy it – his Kingdom and all!"

The man now roars loudly as he thrusts his ice hammer forwards and roars deeply in his strange language. Lilanei slightly steps back as she cries, "Puny mortals! I will. . . destroy thee. . . and ensure the survival. . . of my kingdom! A little female and her ugly friend. . . shall not vanquish the mighty. . . Ice Archon!"

"We'll see about that!" Locke replies. "Come on! Let's see what you've got, Frosty!"

Episode 9: The Spirit of Adventure (Part 6 of 8)

As our Heroes walk into the large temple, they find immediate relief due to the fact that they are now shielded from the cold winds blowing outside. As they warm their newly acquired bodies, they glance around the inside of the structure to find that they are inside of what appears to be the remains of the church which no doubt lay here before the temple was destroyed. Benches and altars lay scattered in ruin as an eerie glow pierces through the collapsed roof, causing the moonlight to illuminate every corner of the chamber.

"Well, I guess Sunday Service is over," Locke remarks, looking at the wasted church. "I wonder how this happened."

"It must have been that giant rock Marven was talking about," Lilanei responds, as her eyes concentrate on a large pit which lays in the ground at the back of the room.

"Do you think the giant rock bought the monsters with it?" Locke asks.

"Maybe," Lilanei states. "But speaking of which. . . I don't see any of these monsters! I wonder where they're all hiding."

"That's a good question," Locke says. "Let's go and find out."

Locke then steps forward and looks around, trying to spot something if anything that may be of interest, but he sees nothing. As Locke busies himself searching the room, Lilanei simply walks forward to the large gaping pit at the end of the room; however, before she can reach it, the ground beneath her slightly quakes. Suddenly, the ground gives way as a large hole opens under her new body, and with barely a squeal of fright, she disappears into the darkness.

"Lil?" Locke asks as he turns around to see that his friend has gone; running towards the spot she was standing on, he cries, "Lil! Where are you?"

As Locke approaches the hole in the ground, he hears Lilanei moan, "Ow. . ."

"Lil, are you okay?" Locke cries, still feeling strange that his words echo with Lilanei's voice down the pit.

Lil grumbles, before painfully saying, "Yeah. . . I think so. Luckily your large butt cushioned my fall."

"Yours would've provided ample padding," Locke retorts with a smirk as he pats it.

As he does so, he hears Lil cry angrily, "Don't you dare touch it!"

Locke stops and grumbles, before finally asking, "What do you see down there? Is it just a hole, or does it lead somewhere?"

After he asks, he hears some shuffling down in the pit before a loud crack sounds from below. Locke then notices a bright circle of light appear in the hole, as he can now see Lilanei standing on solid ground on the bottom of the pit.

Lilanei looks up to Locke before saying, "It's a long hallway! It's really strange, too. . ."

"I'll come down," Locke states. "Can you catch me?"

"Erm," Lil mutters hesitantly. "I'll try."

"Okay, here goes," Locke says before he, in Lilanei's petite body, closes his eyes and jumps down the pit.

Locke falls swiftly and lands initially in the arms of his former body; however Lilanei is surprised by the weight and not used to performing such a feat herself, and so both Locke and Lil fall violently to the ground.

"Owww," Locke grumbles as he rubs the green haired head of his new body before he looks to Lilanei who lies on the floor on her back, looking very dizzy, as Locke says, "I thought you'd be able to catch me since we switched bodies."

Lil blinks, before muttering, "Yeah, well. . . You surprised me, is all."

"Oh well," Locke says as he stands and then offers Lil his hand; Lilanei blinks again and takes his hand as Locke pulls her to her feet, after which she stumbles slightly before dusting her clothes off.

"You know," Lil begins, "if anybody saw us this way – they'd have quite a laugh."

"Heh, I suppose so," Locke chuckles. "Well, let's forget it and just get moving."

"Alright," Lil simply responds as she holds her sunrod aloft and down the long and wide hallway.

As the sunrod shines down the hallway, they notice that the walls are very peculiar – as they are made of solid blocks of ice, which reflect their images back at them much like mirrors.

"This is weird," Locke notes, his new feminine voice echoing throughout the hallway. "Either this underground passage has frozen, or we're no longer inside the temple."

"This must've been formed by the monsters, I suppose," Lil guesses as she glances to her reflection, grimacing slightly.

"What kind of monsters?" Locke asks curiously.

"I don't know!" Lil exclaims as she looks back at Locke in her body. "I'm just making assumptions right now. . ."

"Well, maybe we'll find out soon enough," Locke replies.

Undaunted, our Heroes continue their walk, being careful not to slip over on the frost which coats the top of the dirt ground. After about ten feet, Locke feels a neck-tingling sensation that someone is following them. He stops and snaps his head back to look behind he and Lilanei with a concerned expression on his face.

Lilanei stops walking, looking to him quizzically as she asks, "What is it?"

"I," Locke begins before he turns around to face his front once more, “just got the feeling we were being watched."

Lil glances to the ice mirrors which line the hallway and mutters, "It's probably just that ice. . . It's giving me the creeps."

Locke murmurs and carries on, leading the way for our Heroes despite the fact Lilanei holds the sunrod which illuminates their path. After about the same distance as before, the neck-tingling sensation returns as Locke shivers. He stops once more and this time glances all around the hallway – not just behind them. Lilanei stops walking and glares at Locke slightly as Locke's eyes rest finally on the glass-like ice, which lines the hallway.

"You know," Locke says. "Call it. . . well, female intuition I suppose, but I get the feeling we're being watched. What you said about it being the ice could be very true. . . I think something is behind this – quite literally."

Lil looks to the ice and shivers as she cries, "Can we just stop messing around? It's—it's scaring the willies out of me! It looks like our reflections are. . . watching us!"

"Maybe they are," Locke whispers as he stares at his reflection.

Locke walks up to the ice mirror directly in front of him and stares at it even more intently than before. As he does so, he notices a very slight ripple begin to creep across the mirror as an extremely deep, low moan begins to emit from beyond the ice.

"That's. . . not normal," Locke announces, raising an eyebrow.

Lilanei begins to slowly step back, the moan seeming to grow louder and louder, as she cries, "What is that sound?”

"Let's shut it up!" Locke screams as he kicks violently at the plate of ice in front of him; however, he howls in pain as Lilanei's sandaled foot which he now controls collides with the hard ice and Locke steps back, limping slightly.

Lilanei growls and cries, "You buffoon! Stop it, before you break my – eek!"

"Stop it!" Locke cries in frustration. "You're making me sound so girlie!"

As Locke turns his head angrily at Lil, his eyes widen as he notices a slightly skeletal, moldy, and icy hand gripping Lilanei's shoulder. The hand protrudes from the ice and before Locke can respond, he hears a very loud moan from behind him as a frosted corpse slowly steps out from the ice he had just kicked. Snatching out Lilanei's spellbook from her ruck sack immediately, Locke quickly fumbles through the pages before his eyes set on a spell he has seen Lilanei use in her own body before. He thrusts his free hand out and begins to read the text from the book, attempting to call forth an orb of power to throw into the zombie he faces. A small white orb forms in the center of Locke's palm, and to his surprise, the orb begins to grow. Nevertheless, after a couple of seconds, the orb ceases to grow and simply cancels out – breaking into a shower of small white sparkles.

As Locke's magic fails, he hears Lilanei emit a low cry as the zombie continues to grasp her shoulders tightly, the cold which flows like an aura from its body causing her to shiver wildly, drop her sunrod to the ground, and become immobilized. His concentration locked on Lilanei, Locke fails to notice when the zombie behind him begins to move forwards; however, the zombie merely stumbles on its own dead legs and makes no ground, forcing Locke to pay it his full attention once more.

Meanwhile, Lilanei continues to shiver wildly as she stutters, "L-L-Locke. . ."

Sensing the urgency of the situation, Locke skips a few pages of Lil's spellbook and comes to another spell he has seen her use many times. Once more, he thrusts his palm out in front as he reads the ancient text from the book. Yellow energy begins to build on the floor of the hallway, illuminating the frosty floor with a warm yellow glow. The energy begins crackle and spark violently until it forms into a whip-like shape, and much like a whip, it lashes out at the armless zombie which threatens him – albeit the attack being executed in an unsteady and clumsy fashion. The energy strikes the zombie successfully in the chest, causing it to fly backwards into the ice wall it once came out from and forcing the zombie to moan further.

The other zombie which stands behind Lilanei, who is still currently frozen in place, continues to emit a deadly cold aura from its body – forcing Lilanei's own body temperature to continue to drop and drop. As this happens, Lil feels blood trickle down from Locke's nostril and her eyes widen as she feels the skin of Locke's former face begin to crack and peel from the intense cold. Blood begins to freeze to her cheeks and as Lil begins to whine in pain, Locke hears the armless zombie from behind him emit a loud moan as it slowly begins to march forwards once again. The cold chill which flows from its body causes Locke to shiver and feel a sharp pain inside Lilanei's body.

In the meantime, despite the cold which lashes out at her, Lilanei feels a brief sense of relief as her body begins to regain its range of movement and she clumsily stumbles forwards quite a distance into the center of the hallway. She turns stiffly to the Zombie with a vengeful glare before withdrawing the crossbow from her back. Lilanei rests the crossbow awkwardly in her hands and points it towards the zombie which stands in front of her. With her mostly inexperienced aim fixed, she squeezes the trigger of the crossbow causing a bolt to fly out from it which flies through the air and strikes the zombie in its undead chest.

Still holding the spellbook in his hand, Locke steps back about ten feet away from the zombie in front of him, until he feels his back press against Lilanei's so they now stand back to back with the zombies either side of them. Flicking the pages some more, Locke comes across another familiar spell; he then points his finger out towards the zombie facing him before mumbling an incantation. Within moments, energy begins to form around Locke's index finger before quickly shooting off as a bolt of energy which collides with the zombie's chest once more, injuring it further as the creature moans in pain.

Leaning back against Locke's more petite frame, Lilanei continues to glare across the hall and to the zombie which looms ominously near the ice wall. It begins to step forwards, but as its right foot meets the floor, the zombie's decayed knee collapses underneath it temporarily as it fumbles. Meanwhile, the armless zombie on Locke's side of the hall attempts to step forwards, but its own foot slips on the frosty floor causing it to fall backwards into the ice wall once more. Finally, Lilanei returns the large crossbow to the holster on her back before her hand reaches for the large double sword which she grasps nervously in her hands. With slight trepidation, Lilanei emits a cry before she dashes towards the zombie and slashes the double sword in a sideways motion. As the left-most blade collides with the zombie's side, it stumbles to its right as the blade cuts away much of its moldy frozen flesh.

With his frustration mounting more and more from the daunting battle, Locke feels a burning rage spark inside him. His eyes, which are actually Lilanei's, violently flash very quickly before Locke raises his hand and motions it towards the armless zombie in front of him. The zombie stands motionless for a moment before it then grits its teeth and lets out a loud moan of pain as suddenly its body becomes engulfed in flames. As the fire takes hold of the zombie, flesh begins to melt and drop from its body and the zombie's moans of pain become louder and louder.

Now seeming quite enraged, the frigid zombie which battles Lilanei suddenly turns, and with a frightening moan, it rushes to Lilanei's side and slams itself into her body. Within an instant, the coldness which envelopes its form seems to rush from its body and engulf Lilanei's figure in intense cold – causing Locke's former slightly tanned skin to immediately pale and turn blue. Lil shivers for a moment and lets out a choked breath of air as she finds she can no longer move just as before, as more blood seems to drip from her nose and broken skin on her face – the breaking in her skin now spreading to her neck.

Meanwhile, the the armless zombie begins to stumble towards Locke, the fire which engulfed it having since been extinguished, as charred flesh hangs on to some parts of its body while other parts are completely exposed – the creature's innards displaying freely. It moves forwards and into close proximity with Locke, who begins to shiver violently from the cold aura which surrounds the zombie; however, the instant Locke feels the pain inflicted by the cold, the zombie once again moans as it is once again engulfed in fire – the flames now more intense than before as the fire eats away at the zombie's flesh until it becomes nothing more than pieces of the frost floor. The instant these pieces fall to the ground, they combust and explode in a splash of ice and flesh; nonetheless, acting quickly in his petite frame, Locke leaps away from the explosion and avoids any damage that may have resulted from it.

Gaining confidence from vanquishing one zombie, Locke turns and sets his sights on the zombie which continues to stalk Lilanei. Taking the spellbook once more, Locke flicks to a page he was currently viewing and holds out his palm before he begins to read the incantation – a bright ball of energy immediately beginning to form in his palm. After a few moments, the orb grows and shoots from his hand, flying through the air and colliding with the zombie's skull – the force of which causes chunks of flesh to fly from its head. Now turning its head, which drips with flesh and melting ice, the zombie moans towards Locke before rushing at him, as quickly as a zombie can possibly rush. Immediately, Locke finds himself being thrust into as the zombie headbutts him in the chest. Locke feels an intense cold take over his body as he becomes frozen on the spot and he feels a stinging pain surge through his body due to the intense cold.

While frozen on the spot, Lilanei's face twitches as her arm slowly begins to move, the effects of the intense cold which enveloped her, or rather Locke's, body beginning to dissipate. Eventually, Lilanei regains full mobility in her arms, even though her legs are still trying to thaw out. Slowly, she holsters the double sword and withdraws the crossbow once more. With only her arms mobile, she raises the crossbow and immediately fires it at the zombie's upper back, a bolt flying through the air and colliding with its back as flesh rains due to the impact of the bolt. Moaning in great agony and fury, the zombie does not turn to Lilanei, but instead attempts to attack Locke once again. It begins to rush towards Locke in an attempt to slam its body into him; however as it does, Locke somehow regains mobility through his frame and is suddenly able to move as he dips out of the way of the zombie's path. As the zombie stumbles forward, Lilanei immediately rushes behind it before she slams Locke's crossbow violently into the creature's skull. As she does so, the creature's body falls to the ground before erupting in a great explosion of flesh. However, as it does so, Locke grabs Lilanei by the arm and drops the ground, forcing the pair of them to crouch on the floor to protect themselves from the resulting explosion.

Locke finally looks up from the ground first as sees the charred remains of the two zombies lying scattered about on the floor. He lets out a chuckle of victory before attempting a spit at the nearest zombie; however his saliva simply freezes due to the cold aura that remains in the air from the two monsters. As Locke grumbles, Lil suddenly emits a loud sneeze, which is muffled due to her face being buried in the frosted ground.

"I'm glad that's over," Locke sighs.

Finally mustering the strength to push herself up slightly, Lilanei wipes her bloody nose with her right hand before saying, "If all the monsters in this place are like that. . . I want out."

"Same here," Locke agrees. "But we've got a job to do, I suppose. Let's just hope it doesn't get worse from here."

Sniffling as she pushes herself onto her backside, Lilanei reaches into Locke's ruck sack and retrieves two potions, which she opens and drinks consecutively without hesitation. Locke mimics her, withdrawing a potion from Lil's ruck sack which he wastes no time in drinking as well.

Emitting a loud sigh of relief as her cracked skin stops bleeding, Lilanei sniffles and mutters, "I suppose we'd best get this over with."

"Yep," Locke says with a sigh. "Let's keep going."

The two stumble to their feet, bones chilled thoroughly as they then begin to walk stiffly down the hallway – Lilanei making sure to retrieve the still-functional sunrod she had dropped during their encounter. Illuminating the hallway, our Heroes take great caution as they march down its long and slowly narrowing passage. Finally, they come across a large archway which leads them into another chamber. As they step into this chamber, they stop to observe their surroundings and notice that it appears to be no more than an empty room with a hallway leading out of it – around a bend to the upper right corner of the room. They pause in the room for a brief moment before then attempting to continue forth; nevertheless, they stop when they hear an all too familiar clicking and the echoing sound of a “kekeke.”

"I know that noise," Locke growls.

As he utters his angry words, Locke notices the familiar floating visage of Amun as he drifts into the room from around the bend, teeth clicking together erratically in his usual fashion; seeing the creature, Lilanei appears to perk up as she cries, "Great! Maybe he's going to switch us back now!"

"He'd better," Locke grumbles in irritation.

Nonetheless, as they stare across at Amun, he simply floats in place, cackling quietly to himself.

"Hey!" Locke finally cries out. "We've had enough of this. Change us back at once!"

"Enough of what, obnoxious tot? Do you not understand the lessons taught?" Amun finally responds with a cackle.

"What lessons?" Locke hisses.

"Lessons, he says with a serpent tongue! Rewards are not gained until the job is done. An evil creature remains to be fought, and for his neck, I thought you sought!"

"We do, but not like this!" Locke shouts. "I don't wish to remain in Lilanei's body anymore! Change us back!"

"Not like this!" Amun cries. "From the two who shared a kiss, long ago in tremendous bliss!"

Lilanei blushes as she mutters, "He sure does know a lot for a dead guy. . ."

"He'll know pain if he carries on like this," Locke whispers to Lil, before turning to Amun and stating, "Stop with your rhymes and just change us back. Or I'll crush your head into dust!"

"Tut, tut, tut. You're rather stuck, for Amun is in a tremendous rut. An evil creature haunts these features and to it, you must be its teachers! To oblivion, you must send him, or your curse will be never ending."

"You're no real help," Locke sighs. "Just go away."

"Away? Away? But, Amun must play! Just a few more moments, you must stay!" Amun mutters before he cackles with a "kekeke" and turns as he rushes down the hallway.

"What did he mean by that?" Lilanei exclaims worriedly.

"I'm afraid to ask," Locke replies ominously.

The two then suddenly hear Amun cackle once more as the ground beneath them begins to rumble. Our Heroes look to each, and before either of them can react, the ground beneath them begins to crack and separate as a large pit suddenly opens up beneath Lil's body just as before – and with a scream, she falls down a deep ten foot hole.

"Lil!" Locke cries. "Not again!"

Locke immediately attempts to jump into the pit, but before his feet can enter the hole, a large and transparent slab of ice suddenly materializes between the pit and Locke's feet, causing him to land hard on his toes.

"Argh!" Locke cries in anguish before his voice echoes throughout the room as he shouts, "What? Lil!"

As his eyes widen down through the slab of ice, he notices Lilanei begin to look very distraught as the walls of the pit appear to begin to seep with water. As he begins to emit a cry, Locke stops suddenly as he hears a large stomping begin to sound from around the bend in the corner of the room. His head snaps to the side and as it does, he catches the massive shadow and figure of an Owlbear as it begins to emerge into the chamber.

"Lil!" Locke cries again as he slams his foot against the sheet of ice that traps Lilanei in the pit.

His anxiety intensifies as he realizes that water continues to trickle into the pit. With no luck smashing the ice open with his foot, Locke takes Lilanei's staff from his back and tries to smash the ice with its blunt end, but again the results is the same – the ice seems unbreakable.

"Damn!" Locke howls as he turns around to see that the Owlbear continues to walk towards him; conflicted, Locke decides he would be much better to Lilanei alive rather than dead and therefore he opts to fight the creature as he shouts, "Come on then, Beastie!"

Keeping the staff out in his hand, Locke – either through pressure or good memory – quickly mumbles the first spell that comes to his mind. As he does so, the orb that is mounted on top of Lilanei's staff begins to pulsate with a white light. The white light gets brighter and brighter until a force of white energy seems to surround the orb. With his attack ready, Locke tilts the orb tied to the top of the staff towards the Owlbear which causes the white orb of energy to fly out from the staff and collide with the Owlbear's face. With its face being violently snapped back by the blow, the large creature emits an ear piercing roar before it begins to quickly advance towards Locke. Lumbering before the youth's tiny figure, the Owlbear instantaneously shifts its weight into its back legs until it stands and towers high above Lilanei's body which Locke's mind now possesses. With another roar, the Owlbear raises its right paw high into the air and attempts a deadly slash for Locke's upper body with its sharp talons; however Locke simply leaps back, avoiding the slash which only proves to further irritate the creature.

During this time, although Locke cannot hear her, Lilanei emits a cry within the pit as a gush of water suddenly seeps from the walls, filling the hole quickly with ice cold liquid up to Lilanei's, or rather Locke's, ankles. The water is very frigid and causes Lil's feet to begin to numb, as pins and needles seemingly prod at them painfully.

Now holding his free hand out towards the Owlbear, Locke once again remembers another incantation he noticed in Lilanei's spellbook. Within seconds, a purple hue takes to Locke's hand and with every second that passes after that, the purple hue grows darker as the colour forms into another ball of energy – this one a dark purple colour which begins to crackle with purple energy. Locke winds his arm back a little bit and then thrusts it with forwards, causing the orb to fly out of his palm and collide with the Owlbear's stomach who now stands towering above him. The cold force tightens the Owlbear's skin underneath its large fur coat, and as it moves from pain, the skin splits causing blood to flow and mat up in the creature's fur.

As the creature cries out in anguish, its sinister eyes rest upon Locke's small figure before it slashes both of its upper legs up into the air. It attempts a sweeping downwards slash attack as its body drops towards the ground; however once again, Locke uses his natural agility to leap back and avoid the Owlbear's deadly strike. In the meantime, Lilanei's mind rushes as she attempts to figure out a way to escape the cold and hazardous pit. Seeing that the walls in the circular pit are slightly damp, Lil manages to sink her mostly gloved hands deeply in the surrounding ground, and flexing her new masculine muscles, Lilanei lifts herself from the ground at the bottom of the pit. As her head and shoulders rise over her hands, Lilanei then digs her feet into the sides of the pit also and slowly pushes herself up further with her legs before she quickly lets go of the walls with her hands and digs them into the pit walls a couple of feet higher. The pit still continues to fill underneath her as she stops to look back down at the gathering water on the pit floor.

Once again, Locke continues on his string of good luck as he begins to recite another spell from Lil's book that he had used earlier against the zombies. A faint humming is heard in the room as yellow energy begins to bounce very slightly up and down off the floor. With each second that passes by, the energy grows and begins to form whip-shaped lines on the ground until Locke thrusts his hand up into the air – causing the energy to flick out at the Owlbear in a whipping-like motion as it strikes the bear in the head with a tremendous crack. The force of the attack disorientates it as it stumbles backwards. Now greatly enraged due to the attack, the Owlbear nevertheless shakes the effects of the whip off before it charges forward, its massive body causing the ground beneath it to rumble slightly. As it lumbers forward, it suddenly raises a paw in the air and slashes it sideways at Locke's abdomen. Despite not tearing flesh from Locke's new body, the Owlbear does tear some of the clothing from Locke's body – the paw leaving a large bruise in its wake as a cold wind begins to bite at Locke's side. Locke clutches his side with his free hand and shivers due to the intense, freezing cold.

The pit seemingly begins to quicken its filling as the water continues to rise higher and higher beneath Lilanei's body. However, she remains a safe distance from the freezing water below and with laboured breathing, Lilanei remains in her position as her muscles begin to shake and tremble – the stress of the weight she carries beginning to strain her muscles. Shivering, Locke stays in his position, his legs extremely rigid due to the intense cold which eats away at his person. Placing his staff back on his back, Locke then withdraws his dagger and with laboured breathing due to the cold air enveloping his body, Locke aims the tip of the dagger at the Owlbear. The tip begins to glow a bright white colour.

Panting, Locke looks to the Owlbear and cries, "Suffer my the fury of my magical blade, Beastie!"

With that, the orb flies off the tip of the blade – the orb now turning into a bolt of energy which collides once again with the Owlbear's head, cracking the bear's head open as blood runs from the top of its head and covers its bird-like features. The Owlbear roars, now quite painfully due to the blood which seeps from its wound and down its face. Nevertheless, it musters enough energy to stand on its hind legs once again as it weakly slashes its left claws forwards and across Locke's chest area. As the Owlbear strikes with its claws, Locke feels another sudden shock of cold run through his body, forcing him to stay immobilized for a few seconds – but thinking of the peril he and Lilanei face, he immediately comes out of his shocked state and rubs his injured chest.

As the water further fills the pit, Lilanei has a lapse in concentration as her hands suddenly slip away from the muddied walls, causing her to slide swiftly down the pit with a cry and back into the frigid water as her waist becomes completely immersed in the ice cold water. As she hits the ice water, her body goes into a shock-like state as her blood pressure begins to drop from the cold and her breathing becomes heavy and swift as she begins to hyperventilate from the cold and the panic of her situation. Locke immediately looks to the Owlbear and wastes no time in charging the tip of his blade once more and preparing for another magic attack. In seconds, another orb envelopes the tip of the blade before it shoots off the weapon and the bolt of energy collides with the Owlbear's already bloody body, the energy digging into the Owlbear and stabbing it much like the dagger Locke holds in his hand. The Owlbear stumbles back before then very slowly teetering forwards and collapsing as it drops to the floor, dead – the force of its drop sending a loud “boom!” through the room as ice breaks away from various corners of the room and the room vibrates. Wiping his brow, Locke then turns and rushes back to the sheet of ice to see Lil immersed in the water.