The tendrils did back away from the seeds as they came near, but once they hit the ground, any opening closed back up again, once the immediate heat was no longer present. But it didn't quite matter, as he wouldn't have been able to run.

The tendril creeping along the floor had circled his leg and now tightened, attempting to pull him into the massive swirling barricade of vines.

The smell of singed material hung in the damp air. You have your seeds, but how many of the almond sized bits do you have? The way before you lit at least a bit by your fireseeds, you see a fork in the cave. To the right, a cacophony of sound echoes off the walls, its source yet unseen. The dischord crescendos and speeds before disappearing from notice. It then begins again. To the left, a partial cave-in and silence. If you linger too near the left, however, a foul smell reaches your nostrils. It is pungent: the kind of smell that sticks in your head.

Choose your way carefully. There is no telling whether you can retrace your steps.

Vlad swore loudly, first at the sight of the opening, well... closing, and then at the feel of something around his leg. With cat-like reflexes, Vlad moved the branch so that it was pressing up against the tendrils, and he cupped the seeds he still held with both hands, making it look like he was brandishing the branch like a sword.

He could feel slight warmth on his leg from the branch, but it was nothing too bad yet; he wanted this plant to let go before he thought about anything else.

Vlad KNEW he should have gone for the fire approach first.

Seven seeds weren't going to cut it. Danika knew that, but if they cooled down too quickly then she'd have no light at all.

But now...she had two choices, so it seemed. One, her hearing being disturbed by the sounds. Two, her sense of smell messing with her head. And which one was best? None.

The girl thought (not for long) what would be best in case she got no light at all. Hearing things that you couldn't see seemed the most disturbing of the two, and in any case, she could hold her breath before thinking if she got to the left.

On the other hand, it was a cave-in. What if it collapsed on top of her? The sounds weren't looking so bad, were they? But, a cave-in? She was already in a cave! Everything could collapse any moment now.

Silence and foulness it is. So she went ahead to the left side.

With the branch that close, the tendril immediately released the leg and slithered back into the mass of vines. If plants could look agitated, that's what you would see when you looked at the swirling mass of vines, recently annoyed by the heat and light of the fireseeds.

You have to go through them, somehow.

As you walk, the source of the smell sticks to the bottom of your shoe. Rotten vegetation and the unpleasant excretions of the mimbulus mimbletonia: stinksap. Harmless... unless you are of a weak stomach.

As you proceed further through the tunnel, you find that it’s become packed with several leafy, non-threatening plants. Your surroundings look normal enough, until you come across a fully grown plant enclosed in a soundproof box. As you walk a little closer and get a good look at the plant, you see that the root of it is acting quite strangely. You can see its little mouth opening and closing, and you can tell, although you can’t hear, that it is screaming. Beyond this screaming plant is a solid, transparent barrier that you must pass... but how?

The branch was warm, and adding extra dirt to it helped to keep her hand from getting burned. That was good, she certainly did not want to have her soft, beautiful hands burned.

The heat from the seeds, however, were still hot on her hands. Casting aside the thoughts of what she would do if she had her wand, she covered her hands in the dirt. That would hopefully protect them from the heat until she was able to find another light source.

Both hands covered in dirt and gripping the branch, she ripped at the branch until it was detached from the rest of the plant. Careful to not to knock off any burning seeds or put out the fire. Holding it far from her face with one hand as the heat was burning her face. The woman patted extra dirt on the hand holding the branch with her free one.

There. She had light.

Vlad nodded and glared at the plant as if to say 'yeah, you back away'. He wasn't letting a plant get the better of him. But there was no time to waste; earlier it had moved super fast back to normal.

Stepping forwards again, Vlad brushed his branch against the creepers blocking his way straight ahead, wincing as if anticipating the ones falling off. Well... he still had the few in his hand.

Once again, Vlad was ready to run and duck through any gap he made. Oh he hated being large.

It was a sickening snap when the branch detached from the bush, but separate it was.

The way before you lit at least a bit by your fireseeds, you see a fork in the cave. To the right, a cacophony of sound echoes off the walls, its source yet unseen. The dischord crescendos and speeds before disappearing from notice. It then begins again. To the left, a partial cave-in and silence. If you linger too near the left, however, a foul smell reaches your nostrils. It is pungent: the kind of smell that sticks in your head.

Choose your way carefully. There is no telling whether you can retrace your steps.

A few fire seeds dropped to the ground, but that was barely noticeable as the tendrils immediately in front retreated to the sides, creating an indentation in the mass. It wasn't a clear opening all the way through, but a start. So long as the heat and light remained, the tendrils stayed away.

Well wasn't this extremely dangerous. Vlad's anger management was getting a good test, but he stayed calm.

The young man inched forwards so he was nearly inside the indentation, and brandished the branch ahead of him once more, eager to get through this. Suffocation was probably his one and only fear... and it was an intense one.

Oh, this was only awfull, just awful. She'd rather face a dragon. The smell, the little light, the cave, it was...a task, indeed, especially without a wand.

How necessary was magic? Clearly not so much.

But then. The scenario changed. Danika was still unsure if it was for the best or for worse. Oh, for all Herbology! Nikolai would be wonderful to have around at the moment. What was that thing doing? Screaming? Huh.

Danika walked closer, eyes on the roots, but she still didn't recognize the plant itself, she only knew she had to get past it. This won't be solved by just running away from the plant...unless...no, well, apparition was not permitted, was it?

Maybe if she placed something in the mouth, then the plant would focus on something else other than Danika? But she couldn't, because it was enclosed in a soundproof box. But the roots, one had to mind them. Taking 4 seeds from the branch, she placed them in her pocket and poked the box with her shoe. Taking it away almost instantly, she only wanted to see if the box could be moved, and perhaps the plant would be moved with the box?

"I hate Herbology noe!" she said, almost in a whisper.

Cold.

A new adjective Nikolai used to describe the cave.

As the entrance way to the outside squeezed shut, he turned his head slightly, watching until there was no trace of light at all. As soon as the light was gone, he closed his eyes, in hopes of them adjusting to the darkness faster, and with his hand still pressed up against the wall as a guide, he turned his head forward and started to walk. It would do him no good to stand there, no good at all.

Cold and very, very dark.

After a few moments of slow walking, Nik peeked his eyes open, and was in complete shock as he spotted the faint glow of something. He had not thought he'd see light so early on, but there it was. Upping his pace a little, he continued to hold onto the wall until he was standing right in front of a bush that he recognized immediately; a fireseed bush. He knew about them, but he had no wand to deal with it. Of course, if he had his wand, he wouldn't have to deal with it.

He circled the bush a few times before sitting himself down next to it, his hands searching to ground for something useful.

Holding her branch out in front of her, she continued deeper into the cave. Only to stop when coming to a fork.

Glancing down each tunnel, she again attempted to see anything in the distance, and again saw nothing. But there were sounds.....coming from the right. Sounds that could possibly lead to her wand?

Taking a step to the left instead, holding out her torch she looked to see if there was anything more than just sounds that could lead to her wand. All she got was a foul smell.

Her nose scrunched up in disgust and she turned back towards the right tunnel, following the sounds. a foul smell would not lead to her wand or a exit from the cave. Sounds, however, would lead to both.

She hoped.

The tendrils in front of you continue to part, but as you proceed further, the tendrils behind you close in the gap.

If you continue to walk, you will notice that you stop feeling the hard ground beneath you and, instead, the squishy tendrils of the plant that, nudge and threaten to loop around your feet if the light gets too far away.

The box shifted slightly on the platform at the poke of the shoe, spurring the root to scream even more forcefully, though, still silently.

The light was very dim, with several seeds now in a pocket. But even still, there was a nearly imperceptible glint on the barrier ahead.

The ground was firmly packed dirt with no small stones. Several large rocks were protruding near the cave walls, but all were too large to move without magic.

The bush pulsed with light and heat.

As you walk, the source of the sound eventually makes itself apparent. Honking daffodils. Noisy, to be sure, but harmless. Unless, of course, you value your eardrums.

As you proceed further through the tunnel, you come across an area that is thick with massive plants in the shape of an umbrella. Plants with long, swaying tentacles are growing in large quantities on the walls of the tunnel. The plants closely resemble Devil’s Snare, but as you get a little closer, you can clearly see that those tentacles don’t belong to a Devil’s Snare but to something that looks almost just like it. You can see fairly well, but as soon as you take a few steps forward, the pathway begins to drop sharply into the dark, and you can no longer see the bottom of the cave floor. To proceed forward, you must go down---but how? Just jumping will result in broken bones.

Vlad had to fight hard to regulate his breathing, and he was doing well with it so far. He also realised he was walking ON devil's snare, and made it a point to crouch as he walked, slipping some of the seeds behind the tied laces of his boots so he could ward stuff off as quick as he could. Now he was crouched, the light illuminated him better and the young man quickened slightly so he could get out quicker and so the snare wouldn't have anymore cause to get him.

Okay. Think.

She needed to get past this plant in order to head to that barrier. There was no way she could past unless she dealt with the plant. The unknown-to-her plant. The thing seemed to be screaming, but she didn't hear anything.

Still, the girl placed the branch on the ground and torn some part of her sleeve, a very small part of the fabric, that was torn into two pieces. Those were for her ears, because it was time to act, and the thing reminded her of those mandrakes that when they scream and you listen you pass out? Yeah, she didn't want that.

That's why the torn fabric was making an effort at acting like earplugs. The box was to be removed. Hands on, Durmstrang, because there are no wands. The girl removed the box, waiting for the scream? Or something else? She eyed her feet, not wanting anything to grab her she needed to focus on that, while walking around the plant.

The branch on her left hand was seedless now. The seeds on the ground.

Torch leading the way, the woman continued down the path. Not faster than before now that she had light, but still at a moderate pace in case something decided it wanted to jump out at her.

Merlin's shiny ear rings that noise was annoyingly loud. Frowning as she got closer, her eyes eventually fell on the source as she quickly passed it by. Damn honking daffodils.

Soon after passing the daffodils her eyes caught glimpse of something else in the fire light. Devil's Snare? Surely they wouldn't put such a plant in the cave. No. Her eyes were mistaken. That was another plant that she was unfamiliar with.

Sandra had intent on passing by this plant as well, but halted when realizing that there was a drop. She needed to get down, because she wasn't turning around and going down the foul smelling tunnel.

Maybe...

Walking back over to the tentacles, she put her torch closer to them, making sure not to ignite any of them. Was it possible to use one of these as a rope to get down the drop and deeper into the cave. With her free hand she picked up one of the tentacles and gave it a couple of sharp tugs, testing its strength.

The snare stopped wriggling when the Champion put the seeds in his laces, but only a moment.

After that moment of reprieve, the vines below him separated, looking to escape the heat and light, leaving a hole to fall through.

It's a short fall. It'll hurt, but at least you won't break anything.

Unless you'd rather grab a vine and stay in the snare?

As soon as the box broke contact with the base, the mandrake's cries filled the tunnel. It was loud and echoed in the tunnel, perhaps too loud for just pieces of cloth in the ears. But maybe not. Are you feeling woozy?

As the sound echoed, the barrier behind the plant began to shake from the vibration, the tiniest of cracks in the top corner.

A few tugs was all it took for the vine to separate from the cave wall. It was still in one piece, but it was no longer attached to the rock. There were more tendrils, though, to be sure, littered about on the walls, on the ground, everywhere.

The light bounced off the piles of vines and the overly large umbrella flowers, casting odd shadows in the tunnel.

Hmmm... suffocation, or an unknown hole.

Possibly squeeeeshed to death, or falling to your doom?

DOOMPLZ!

Not wanting to stay in this plant any longer, Vlad kept hold of the branch and seeds, though he feared they'd be useless soon, and gave a little bunnyhop into the hold, dropping at an odd angle.

Whatever happened to this being a triWIZARD tournament.

Well... if the tri- was gone, may as well go the whole hog, right?

Hands to the ears! Hands to the ears! And the fabric all pushed together seemed to work, even if she was feeling as if her strength were to vanish some time soon.

Danika was pretty much held up by the wall next to the plant. Eyes up at the barrier. It was cracking. Zitnik was in her head again, she HAD to be strong for this right, even if her ears started to bleed from all the pressure she was applying she didn't care, because she wasn't going to let this silly plant let her strength go away.

If the barrier was cracking...what was the hardest part of the human body? Maybe she could break through it if the plant continued to scream. The plant wouldn't hurt her if the pressure applied to her ears didn't let the sound go inside them. She couldn't let that happen.

Imagine what Zitnik would think of it. Yes, poor girl. Never mind that she could get hurt, she only cared about what Zitnik would think if she fainted. That would be the worst tragedy ever.

Walking around the screaming plant...she tried to help the barrier break a little, the elbow sort of hurt, because she was already with her arms up, the branch sadly forgotten...not that it would help, anyway.

She tried to kick the barrier, help it a little more, whilst the unheard screams could ease it to a breaking point.

Frustrating!

Nikolai could feel nothing that would help him with this fireseed bush except for the large rocks protruding near the walls. They were no help to him, though, since he could not move them. Not without his wand at least. Sitting himself up straight, he stared at the bush, watching as it gave off light. He could just forget about the light, but the bush had to be there for a reason. Whatever was further down in the cave, he must have needed light to get passed it.

Okay.

Standing up, he kicked off one of his shoes. Picking it up by the heel, he leaned over the bush, making sure neither his arm or face would burn, and started tapping the closest branch with it.

Hopefully, it would drop some seeds?

Maybe a branch?

Well....she was glad she tested the vines before attempting to use them as they remained attached to the wall. The many bones she would have broken.

Her mind racing with ideas, the young girl used the vine that was in her and and neatly pooled it to the floor, covering it in dirt and sticking her torch in the center. A mighty fine torch holder it made. The dirt did well of preventing the vine from burning.

She still needed a way down though. The vines were long, but where they long enough to get her down the drop. Grabbing a bunch of vines, she began to tie them together, making a long rope. Once she had five of them tied together, she paused in her rope making to toss the rope down the drop, keeping half of one of the tied vines with her.

If it hit bottom, then she only needed something to attach the vine rope to, if it didn't she still had to make it longer.

One your way down, one last vine gave you a bit of push, turn your hop into a fall. Dust kicks up off the ground as you land, seeds fall from your branch to the ground. Time to move on?

Well, you're still alive and if you've still got fireseed for light, the next turn in the cave should be visible. The passage narrows somewhat, the light bouncing off what look like fairy eggs nestled in the crevices. But as soon as they're noticed, the passage opens into a huge cavern, the light reflecting upward, if not outward. The gentle sounds of water lapping at the shore can be heard, but not yet seen. Along the back wall of the cavern, near where you stand, plant life of all sorts presses up against the stone. Nascent trees crawling with wood lice. Alihotsy plants mingling with angel's trumpet. Slimy bundles of what look like green rat tails nestle against gurdyroots. Deathcaps press up against their muggle counterparts. All ignorable, so long as you aren't anxious for a snack.

When you finally come to the shore, you can see what appears to be a lake - though the far side if obscured from view by the dark. What is apparent, however, is that the other two sides have no shores - just sheer rock faces. There is nowhere to go but across the lake. Giant lilypads float on the surface, some appearing close enough to leap one to the other. Gravity resistant trees hover above the surface, again appearing to, at least at the start, be close enough to travel one to the other. As for the water, it seems calm if one simply wanted to swim. There's no telling what lies beyond the limit of your sight, but you have to start somewhere.

Physically attacking the the barrier has no effect, though the screams increased the cracking.

If you could hear, you might notice that it wasn't as intense with the mandrake not facing you, despite the echo.

The mandrake screams on.

The shoe made a hissing sound as the heat came in contact with it. If it were a material that could melt, it certainly would, soon.

But a different branch, around the back of the bush seemed to not be as bright, and then, maybe, not as hot?

The vines made several thumps as it bounced off the side of the cliff, but it was unclear whether one of those bumps was also the ground below.

The light of the fireseeds still illuminated the tunnel, but below the drop, only darkness.

Nothing! The barrier wasn't giving in at the edges she'd kicked!

But it seemed to be cracking only slightly at the top...just from the screams? Maybe if she moved the plant to face the barrier then it would crack almost instantly, but how exactly was she going to do that? And she couldn't just wait for it to crack on its own...how long will it take?

No, she didn't take her hands off her ears, she didn't want to risk it. 'Challenge you in the worst possible ways'. Zitnik's words. But...this was no challenge, unless she only had to wait for the barrier to break before facing the worst part of it all?

She was still standing close to the barrier. Thinking.

Unless...well...she could place the box and move the plant to face the barrier, and then take the box out again.......wait.......the box? Where was the box?

Hands in her ears, the girl made great use of her feet by placing the box (the open part) towards the mandrake, towards the screaming side, sort of like redirecting the screams so they will hit the barrier more directly and with more strength, and therefore, breaking it completely.

Maybe that would help.

... ow.

"Ow!" Vlad exclaimed, finding himself on the floor, fist full of fireseeds and a branch with alot less of the seeds on it than when he started. The young man was ready to toss it aside, but a stick was a stick was a stick and it could be some kind of batting thing, if nothing else.

Vlad brushed himself off slightly though he knew he was probably still filthy; he was in a CAVE for the love of Merlin.

Vlad got more and more grateful for moving further on in the task. He knew that the closer he got to the end, the sooner he would get out of the suffocating dark.

Once he was at the shore thing, Vlad thought he saw something like gillyweed, but he it was still very dim in the cave so he wasn't going to risk eating it... anything in here could be poisonous. Still... he took some of that stuff and put it into one of his cavernous pockets... just in case he was dragged under after falling into the water and had no other options.

'Cause he wasn't swimming. There could be grindylows in the water and he'd prefer to take it carefully. Plus... fireseeds.

Tucking the branch into the back of his belt and holding the seeds in one fist, Vladimir took a careful look around and started his journey, not knowing how far it would be. He could always switch between lilypads and trees... maybe even the water.

To start with, Vlad jumped onto a lilypad, ready to grab onto a nearby tree if something went wrong.

Not one of Nikolai's best ideas, that was for sure.

Hearing the hissing sound, he immediately stopped tapping the shoe against the branch and held it up. The sole was starting to melt, but not a lot. Hopefully he'd still be able to wear is, as he did not want to continue in the cave barefooted. Placing the shoe down, giving it time to cool of, he once again circled the bush.

Maybe a few seeds fell off? Or something better.

Reaching the back of the bush, he leaned in a little, noticing the branch that was not as bright as the rest. If it wasn't as bright, it wasn't as hot, right? Well, he wasn't going to touch it to make sure. One stupid idea was enough. Reaching down, he removed his not dirt clad sock and wrapped it around the dimming branch.

If this didn't work, he'd really be barefoot now, and with that thought, he started to pull.

Aleksandra couldn't distinguish between the thumps of the vine against the side of the cliff and the possible one on the ground. So much for that idea.

Not wanting to risk running short on rope, she tied five more vines to the rope that she already had and began to look around for something to tie them to.

The large umbrella flowers.

They were the only thing she noticed that could possibly support her. Tieing her vine rope tightly around the nearest one, she gave it a sharp tug to see if it would hold or not.