As soon as the fairy eggs were in place on the branches next to him, Nikolai wiped his hand off on his shirt and moved his arm away from his face. At first glance it seemed like the stick creatures wanted nothing to do with the eggs, but a second later they stopped in their tracks.

He didn't know how long the eggs would keep the creatures occupied, but he knew he only had a little bit of time before the bowtruckles either ate all the eggs or lost interest.

They were the only thing keeping him from his wand. No trees, no lily pads, no bloody bubotubers.

With a shifty look in the direction of the bowtruckles, Nikolia lept forward and stretched out his injured hand for his wand.

The fangs shrink, but they are still as sharp. If anything, they won't do as much damage, but they'll certainly hurt.

A section of the flowers freeze, mid-snarl and snap, near the edge of the cliff. As you try to pass, the remaining flowers nip in your direction, attempting to bite anything as something glints beneath them. They'll bite anything - your clothes, your shoelaces, your fingers.

The lilypad is just as it was the last time, sinking a bit, but providing resistance. Indeed, if you simply retrace your steps, it'll be much like it was before.

You wrap your fingers around your wand just as the bowtruckles tire of your insulting attempt at a gift. They scurry back toward you, fingers ready to strike. The first and fastest reach your arms and dig in, while others head for your face, hands and hair.

As soon as he had made contact with his wand, Nikolai closed his hand around it. It was such a good feeling to have his wand back in his hand, and all the tiredness and pain he was starting to feel was slowly disappearing. He'd be able to make it out of the cave now. Not that he had doubts before. All he had to do was tug and he'd be on his way to the exit.

But, that was not going to happen. Not yet at least.

He didn't feel the bowtruckle on his arm until the creature dug it's sharp fingers into his skin. Howling in pain, Nik's first thought was to remove his hand from his wand and shake the bowtruckle off. But, as soon as his hand would be off the wand, he'd have to reach again, and by that time more creatures would attack him.

HIS FACE WAS IN JEOPARDY!

Using his free hand, she swung his fist at the bowtruckle still attached to his arm, and attempted to pull his wand free.

You know, before the swarming bowtruckles did get his face.

The freezing spell had done its job with flowers near the edge, making it easier for her to pass through. However, there were still some that managed to grab hold of her clothing, tearing her robes and the persistent flowers threatened to shred her shoelaces. Those weren't the ones that she worried about. Clothes and shoelaces can be repaired or replaced.

It was the flowers that managed to grab hold of her skin that bothered the woman. Wincing at the contact, she quickly shot another freezing spell at them. That was when she spotted something glinting.

A slight wince crossed her face again as another flower nipped at her ankle. Instead of casting at it, she simply kicked the plant and preformed the wand movements for the self armoring spell. Successfully casting it over her hand. Quickly she reached for whatever was glinting beneath the plants.

This wasn't over yet.

The icy water didn't particularly help her injures, but the coldness she was feeling on her body felt like home. Just for a moment.

She was still in too much pain. One couldn't deny that. At least the Bowtruckles were out of sight and skin.

But it wasn't dark for long, with a flick of her wrist the wand emitted light from its tip, and she could see the shore...where she had to get to. It was...very much away. Her eyes noticed the lilypads, and then the trees. She grimaced at he sight of trees, Danika was NOT getting into those things again.

The evil water would be her choice for now, at least her legs haven't abandoned her like the feeling in her arms had. She'd swim towards the shore. Only looking up from time to time to make sure she was heading in the right direction.

How long until she gets there? Distance in water is a very tricky thing.

Painful, this whole thing was.

The wand comes free easily. You did it! You got your wand.

Only, the bowtruckles are still swarming you, digging sharply into your skin.

What now?

The vegetation is dense and as it snaps, even if it doesn't hurt, you are unable to get your hand through. It might not hurt if they take a finger off.

But you'll still be down a finger.

The waves beat you about, pushing you into lilypads and filling your mouth with water when you try to breathe.

It is an exhausting, nauseating experience, but if you have the strength to continue on, you can make it.

When you finally make it to the sand, an onslaught of bouncing bulbs begins. They do not target you directly, but as they careen off the cavern walls and the grass, they cannot help but pummel you in the process. There is nowhere to run, as the shore bumps up against walls of rock on all sides. If you can look around long enough - not likely until the bulbs are taken care of - one wall only goes so high. But, it is too high to jump and too sheer to climb. An errant bulb knocks a bag from a shelf in the wall, spilling a bean that burrows its way into the sand.

From that bean, green tendrils being to sprout, working their way toward the surface and breaking through.

Why was it that she was always deprived from breathing in every single situation?

Okay, so Danika had plenty of problems, apparently. And reaching the shore was NOT easy, she could barely breathe, she could barely feel her skin (she chose not to do so) and she could barely stand.

Until.

She felt her body go all tense. WHAT WAS IT WITH PLANTS?!

EVERYWHERE!

With the light from her wand she was now seeing the severe injures in her arms. She had done that, not the Bowtruckles, because it had been her choice not to go back.

Since she was tired of all the plants around. Danika decided to give up the light on the tip of her wand for a non-verbal cast of Incendio directed at the bouncing bulbs. She was upset, and that would allow her to see (at the very least) some bouncing bulbs die and more light at the same time.

She was actually wondering if she'd gotten to the place she was supposed to get now, because she saw nothing behind the bouncing bulbs.

The self armoring shield didn't stop the flowers from attempting to rip her fingers off as she reached into the vegetation. And when she realized that her hand wasn't getting through, she pulled it back out frustrated.

That plan wasn't going to work. Casting finite on her hand, she removed the shield. Her hand wasn't going back into that vegetation. After a moment of thought she aimed her wand at the feisty plants. Duro.

The bulbs burst into flame, but continued to bounce like floral comets of death. They fly toward you as they careen about, illuminating the shore like a fireworks display gone terribly wrong.

Likely unnoticed by you, a bean stalk continues to grow up the side of the cliff, tendrils jutting out the sides like ladder rungs.

A flaming bouncing bulb skirts by you, about the catch your clothes, before burning up completely to ash.

Think quick!

Like little fatal flower statues, the fanged florals froze. Stone. They wouldn't bit now, though, they certainly wouldn't move, either.

Whatever it is you're looking for is still under there. You can probably get your hand through, now.

Another moment passed before she bent back down and reached her hand through the stone flowers to retrieve what ever it was she saw glinting beneath the flowers.

What ever it was had better be worth the trouble she was going through.

"AHAAAAAA!" Nikolai exclaimed, pulling HIS wand free. He wanted to cradle it, make sure it was in the same perfect condition as it was before someone stole it from him, but he couldn't. The bowtruckles continued to swarm and dig their fingers into him, tearing his skin.

It seemed the creatures were swarming even faster now..if that was even possible.

He couldn't just stay there, not with the bowtruckles. And, well, even if there were no bowtruckles, he wouldn't want to stay there. He hated to think it, but he was in pain and the bowtruckle attack was starting to wear him out. Obviously he had to do more that just find his wand.

A few more bowtruckles attached themselves to him, and Nik had enough. Raising his wand, he, in a few rapid movements, sent the swarming bowtruckles a non-verbal Impedimenta.

Not bother waiting to see if the spell hit or not, and just as fast as he cast, he was leaping back through the trees, trying to shake the attached bowtruckles off as he went.

At least she had light now, no?

But, no, a swishy movement from her wand as she cast Reducio at the bulbs that were on her way, they were meant to disappear from her sight, eventually, and she could deal with a bit of fire caught in her clothes if any of those got to the size of a knut.

Danika needed to see beyond the bulbs.

Speaking of....a sneaky bulbs managed to lit up just part of her sleeve. No problem because some water took care of that, but a small part of the skin around her elbow managed to get in touch with the flames. Ouch?

Actually, with all the blood it was hard to know what was skin and what were her clothes.

Your hand hits against something hard and heavy. A key. But to what?

When you pull it out of the stone, chipping the flowers, you can see that it is rusted and simple.

But before you have time to examine it further, you hear a rumbling and the floor beneath you shakes as the beanstalk has continued to grow and has, indeed, broken through the top of the cave. The holes are not large enough to climb out of, if you could even get good footing on the stalk. But, they are large enough to let light stream in. Slight tendrils curl off the main stalk and the light shining through reflects off something attached to one of them. It's just out of reach, unless you'd like to try to stretch and risk falling.

Elsewhere in your general vicinity, one aptly placed hole allows light to shine down illuminating a door. A door! Upon further inspection, however, a large, rusted padlock stands between you and what looks like your best exit.

The bowtruckles begin to follow you, joined by others. Wand now in hand, a quick look around will tell you that you are in the middle of the lake, with the far shore in front of you. That is your destination. That is where you must go.

The lilypads below seem to bob in and out of the water as it churns and the trees spread further apart. Skittering among the leaves suggests that the bowtruckles in neighboring treesare anxious to be appeased, as well.

Between your spellwork and the fire, eventually the bulbs disappear, darkening the cave again, but leaving you unattacked for now.

The stalk working its way up the cliff is thick and strong.

What? Oh. Right. The fire had been a spell, that's how it managed to disappear as well.

But she caught a glimpse of that over there by the rock wall..it seemed to be the only way out of there, before Bowtruckles could chase her. Danika shuddered involuntarily at the thought.

Light coming out of the wand, because she forgot about her now-waterproof seeds in her pocket, she walked to the bean stalk, and...well, she needed to do something with her arms, she wouldn't last long if she kept on losing blood...Episkey was cast upon most of the wounds in her arms, she'd take care of the rest later on, but now she needed those healed before she could climb up up up there.

Okay. Climbing the bean stalk it is. It seemed strong enough to hold her.

Danika was...exhausted, she could so easily drop to her knees and stay that way for a while after this was all over.

It was a......key? That's what she had seen?

Hm. She pulled her hand out of the stone, her hazel eyes landed on the object to varify that it was in fact just a key.

Her eyes jumped from the object in her hands when she heard a rumbling, jumping to the beanstalk she had used to climb the cliff. The woman had to blink a few times to let her eyes adjust to the light. What was...Hm. Noticing something attached to one of the tendrils, she squinted her eyes. What was that?

Pocketing the key, eyes flicking to the door and padlock that said key probably fit, she decided to take a reach for the object before leaving. Standing on her tip toes, she carefully stretched forward with an outstretched hand.

The stalk is strong and holds you as you climb. It is a strenuous one, but one without tricks.

If beanstalks were elevators, this would be your floor. Climb the stalk any higher and there would be no ground to set your feet on. Tread carefully, however, as the path quickly narrows and there are no walls. Instead, perilous drop-offs await on both sides should one slip.

Soon, you come to another fork. From where you stand, the only different you can notice is that one path looks wider, at least as far as you can see, that is. Nothing else betrays what may lie ahead. Which way? Left and narrow or right and wide?

That is a dangerous proposition, as stretching leans you over the edge of the cliff with no bottom in site, the shiny object still out of reach.

This was the reason Nikolai liked Herbology more than Care of Magical Creatures. With plants, you could always just rip them up by the roots, step on them and set them ablaze to be done with them. Creatures..they were more difficult. And more stubborn.

They also liked to stick together. All for one..that type of thing.

As he lept through the trees, the fireseeds in his pocket lighting the surrounding area a bit, he saw they way he had to go. Directly in front of him. With no trees there to take him in that direction, the only way he could go was down. Plus, down would stop the bowtruckle attack, unless, of course, they wanted to meet a very wet end.

With a quick wand tap to the pocket holding the fireseeds, he cast a non-verbal Impervius just in case he missed the lilypad and fell into the water.

With a final glance at the bowtruckles, Nikolai jumped from the tree.

She was leaning, teetering almost as she reached for the object. And it was still out of her reach. At this rate she was never going to get the object.

Aiming her wand at the tendril it was connected to, she flicked it, casting a severing charm. Simultaneously retracting her arm a bit to regain her balance.

She figured she wasn't getting anywhere higher, and she stopped the climbing, arms not aching anymore, but everything else was. That's why she made a good effort of keeping herself balanced.

There were no walls here, and the narrower the path got, then the more she began to worry.

This time, her decision was made quicker than the last time, and not because it was the wand that was lighting the whole scenario. She will go left.

Why? She needed to feel more protected after the past situations, and perhaps being on a narrowed passage will provide the protection she was seeking now.

Wand at hand, lighting the space, she ventured into the left.

The lilypad holds for a split second before buckling underneath you, bobbing like an apple in a basin of water. The water churns around you, splashing up and threatening to take you under.

A small rock near your foot slips off the cliff and falls into the nothingness, clattering against the rock face on the way down. If it makes a sound when it hits bottom, you cannot hear it.

The tendril snaps easily, falling after that rock and taking the shiny object with it. Still out of reach.

It may be narrow, but at least it's flat. The only danger, from the terrain at least, lies in the rocky stumbling blocks jutting up from the floor. Watch your step, the rocks down below don't make good cushions.

As you proceed forward, all seems to be quiet until a number of large bushes are nestled in your path. From afar, they look like normal bushes, until you get closer and realize those bushes are actually made out of numerous spikes! As you get even closer, the plant closes to your left proceeds to shoot one of these spikes at you—it misses and shoots off into the darkness and falls over the edge without a sound, but hopefully your reflexes are top notch, because your only way forward is to get past these plants!

No, no. Hell no.

She was not going to lose that......thing now. It just wasn't happening.

Aiming her wand at the tendril as it fell, feet soundly on the ground, she summoned tendril, and hopefully the object as well.

A big heavy vine comes whistling toward you, complete with an attached silver mirror, the size of a dinner plate, with a neat roman numeral III engraved on the top of the frame.

It's a heavy vine.

Don't lose your balance.

Sandra's hand reached out to grab the vine, surprised by how heavy it had turned out to be. She teetered, and came dangerously close to falling. A few steps had her regaining her balance, and she continued towards the door at a slow pace.

Eyes on the mirror connected to the tendril. All that work for a mirror. It had better be worth it.

Yes. She was still holding up to that thought of Hogwarts being built on top of the Underworld. The cave was the Underworld. And Hades was the one placing these tricks on them.

Danika actually had no idea Hades loved plants so much.

The narrowness actually helped her a bit. Her breathing became entirely normal, and she walked rather slowly because the walls weren't meant to have anything for you to hang on to if you miss a step thanks to the rocky ground.

For some strange reason the girl was feeling slightly happy here. A happy as one can be after exhaustion.

Something went by her as fast as ever, and her eyes widened at the sight of...yes, spiky brushes.

This just kept getting better and better.

No, she wasn't being sarcastic, anything was better than the Bowtruckles.

She leaned on the wall as soon as she set her eyes on the bushes, wand held tightly in her hand, more tight than usual. Actually, Danika didn't know if she had the strength to cast a full armor shield on her at the moment. The weight. She wouldn't be able to handle it.

The girl didn't take a step closer. But she did cast Incendio at the bushes. Something had to die with fire eventually.

As you approach the door, the light streams down from the breaks in the ceiling. The key you found fits the lock and with a simple twist, you'll be able to open the door.

Beyond the door is a steep, empty corridor with light at the end. If you take a deep breath, you'll smell something you haven't since you entered the cave. Fresh air.

You're out. You're done. You're alive.

Just a little walking left.

The huge plant bursts into flames that roar with heat and light, three spikes shot out from the middle of the inferno and speed toward you.

But after those three spikes, no more, as the plant begins to break apart, something at its base glinting in the firelight.

The plant is no longer blocking you. Just the huge bonfire you've created.