Danika rushes over to the other side of the wall, missing only by inches those three final spikes.

She didn't know what she'd done if one of those would've hit.

There was no bush.

Just....fire....and....was there something in it?

Could she? That easily? It was worth the shot, "Accio!" she said, it was rather ironic that such a simple spell wasn't made non-verbally.

Was that glistening thing moving towards her?

Slipping her wand into her holster, she then slipped her hand into her pocket and fished out the key.

Perfect fit with the lock.

After unlocking the door she pulled it open and simply stared at the corridor for a moment.

Light. And fresh air. Thank Merlin.

Loosing the large tendril, she held the mirror in one hand while finally making her way up the corridor and out of the cave.

Landing on the lilypad, Nikolai let out a little moan as it started to bobbing up and down. Seasickness? He had it, which was the reason the Durmstrang students had to stay in the castle and not the boat.

His bad.

Fumbling to his knees because of the bobbing, he held onto the sides of the lilypad to keep from falling off. The splashed of water stung his puncture wounds from the bowtruckles, and it was rather hard to see. Blinking through the water, he looked around hoping for more lilypads to jump onto.

He needed OUT..of the water.

As soon as the lilypad appeared to have stopped sinking, Vlad used it as a launch pad (sounded so much more manly than lilypad) and jumped to the next tree, closing his eyes as his weight made it bump the others like before.

Totally retracing his steps back to the shore, and getting one painful twinge from his hand, like some kind of spasm, Vlad finally landed back at the shore. At once he approached the plants and grass and rooted around beneath them in the shade (haha, in a cave, durrr) for something the bowtruckles might want. They ate other insects too... but woodlice were its ultimate faves.

The simple spell does the trick, causing the glittering object to fly out of the fiery carnage. As it's soaring through the air, one can easily see that it's a key...simple, old, and rusty, and also RED hot from the flames. Careful when you go to grab it...touching it with your bare hand will surely cause painful burns!


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. And, of course, that fire you still have burning away on the spiky bush in front of you.

To your right, you see a number of lily pads forming a perfect shape to the shore on the opposite end of the cave. Hopefully those lily pads will be more supportive than the one you're currently clinging to for dear life.

As you search through the grass at the base of the shore, you find exactly what you're looking for...woodlice! Hopefully you grab enough to appease all the bowtruckles over there.

Danika still had that bit of the burnt belt with her, she also had those silly seeds that she entirely forgot about. With that belt she took the key. A confused look on her face, she didn't believe that simple spell would've worked.

But it did, and...oh, she completely thought the cave was giving in, but it was the bean stalk, and what was that over there? Eyes narrowing at whatever the tendrils were keeping hold of. She had no idea what it was, or if she was meant to get that.

But there was a door! A door! Possibly holding something else, some other plant, some other task.

She had messed up with the fairy eggs back there.

The key was placed in her pocket, with the seeds, for safe keeping, she was totally going to find out what that reflection was all about. She'd face the fire later on.

"Accio!" she said, again, wand aiming at whatever was kept there. Hey, it couldn't hurt to try again with that spell, right? At the very least, the plant may show her what it was holding?

Up and down.

Back and forth.

Nikolai didn't know how much longer he could hold onto the lilypad. It wasn't exactly sturdy, and the harder he grasped the sides, more pain shot through his body and more blood seeped out through his wounds. He was a mess, and he really hated to admit it.

He should have just jumped into the water. The seasickness was not helping matters at all.

He contemplated just letting go of the lilypad, but a sight caught his attention. There were lilypads to the right of him. The light from his pocket didn't tell him how far the lilypads went, but anything was better than the one he was on now.

With one hand still holding on, he maneuvered himself so he'd be able to easily hop onto the next. A deep breath, he let go of the lilypad's side and as he hopped from lilypad to lilypad, the fireseeds in his pocket illuminated the way.

You can feel the heat radiating from the key in your hand, but it is slowly but surely cooling off now that it is away from the flames.

The Summoning Spell caused the shiny object--whatever it was--to shake in the vine, but it's stuck to that beanstalk pretty tightly. It's loose, but still caught in the vines and still just a bit out of reach.

You've made it to the far shore! As your feet touch down on 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.

Aha! Vladimir could have laughed, he was so happy. Of course, he was oddly worried he would scare the insects away.

So.

...

How would he do this? There might be LOADS of bowtruckles back there.

Vlad pulled out the small branch from his waistband out again and started scooping woodlice up and into the branch, seeing if it would hold the little critters, or if they would crawl around it. That could work. Otherwise he'd just use his hands and pockets.

The last jump from the lilypad brought Nikolai right to the shore. He had made it, and he was quite pleased with himself. After all the wobbling he did on the first lilypad, he did not get sick. Zitnik would be--

Train of thought gone, thanks to the bouncing bulb attack, Nikolai stumbled backwards a bit after a few hits right in the face. Bruising? Possibly, and after this, his love for nature and plants was as good as dead. Catching his bearings, for what felt like the millionth time this task, he pulled out a few fireseeds from his pocket and tossed them on the ground around him. Now that he could see a little more, he spotted could see a random bag being knocked over from a shelf.

What was a shelf doing in the middle of a cave?

Gripping his wand, he aimed for a few of the bulbs blocking his way to the now sprouting tendrils. "Incendio." he called out, before starting on his way over.

What was going on?

The woodlice climb over the branch and your arms, crawling under your clothes, creepy crawly on your skin. But they also climb off the branch and back to their home plants. They are light, and the slightest breeze - or jump - could knock them off the branch.

Once you feel like you've gathered enough, your path back is waiting for you, same as it was. The only question is whether you have the strength to do it again... and the coordination to do it while holding the wood lice branch.

The targeted bulb bursts into flame, continuing to bounce, this time as projectile balls of fiery doom. They bounce into each other, spreading the flame, and the wall, and they bounce toward you.

Using the Incendio Charm really backfired on Nikolai, didn't it? Instead, he should have used the knock-back jinx, but it was too late to dwell on that. The bouncing bulbs continued to bounce, only now they were fiery bouncing bulbs, and they were coming straight towards him.

In a few rapid movements of his wand, Nikolai sent a non-verbal Aguamenti towards the bulbs, then followed up with an even quicker non-verbal Evanesco.

And, maybe the water would help the plant thing grow.

The water puts out the flames easily as the bulbs continue to bounce. But your evanesco takes care of them neatly.

Hope you didn't get hit.

The stalk has grown strong as it winds up the cliff face, smaller - though still sturdy - tendrils sprouting out the sides like hand grips.

Son of a banshee, Nikolai should have just Evanesco'd the bulbs to begin with. Forget about fire or a knock-back jinx. He'd have to remember that for next time, not that there would be a next time.

Now with the bulbs gone and taken care of, Nikolai lit the tip of his wand, running the light over his hand. The piece of shirt he had ripped to wrap around it was covered in pus, blood and dirt, and if he didn't get out of there soon, his hand was sure to get infected. His arms, covered in bowtruckle puncture wounds and even though he couldn't see his face, he knew there were some there as well. And thanks the the bouncing bulbs, he could feel a nice bruise forming on the side of his face.

Luckily the fiery bouncing bulbs did not hit him..

With his injuries taken note of, he could continue. Pointing his wand in different directions, he knew what he had to do; climb that stalk. With a silent apology to his very sore hand, he placed his wand in his holster, grabbed a hold of the sprouting tendrils and started to climb.

The climb is arduous, but without obstacle.

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?

The key was warm and safe. But what was that thing up there?

She got closer to the stalk, almost at the point of hugging it, and stretched her free hand towards the vine, trying to reach it, her feet almost at the edge of the rocky ground, but her hold was tight on the bean stalk, so no falling will happen.

She could even severe the vine, but what if the object dropped to the abyss. Then she'd be left without something that she didn't know if it would be needed or not.

That was easy..

NOT!

By the time Nikolai put his feet on solid ground, a few more boils on his hand had burst and now there were scratches on his arms to go with the bowtruckle punctures. Even the fact that his face had no scratches could cheer him up.

Flicking his wrist, his wand slid easily out of it's holster and into his hand. He had missed that feeling terribly. Lighting the tip once more, he shined it on the ground, moving it along the path. He could tell it narrowed, so placing one foot in front of the other, he slowly walked, never taking his eyes off his feet. It felt like he was taking the walk of shame to Zitnik's office with how long it was taking him to reach the end.

Another fork? Nikolai internally groaned. He was sure that both paths would lead to something horrible, but which one would be easier to handle with the pain he was in? The answer to that would be none, but he had to continue. Stepping forward, he shined his light down each path, trying to see anything.

The only thing noticeable was their different size, so, with no thoughts of what he was doing, stepped to the right and took the wide path.

The wobbling from your summoning spell had brought the branch closer and so, so long as you hold on and don't fall, you'll be able to pull it down.

You can see it, now. A shiny, silver mirror the size of a dinner plate. Along the silver frame, a roman numeral III is engraved ornately.

The path was wider, for sure, but as you travel further down it, the incline grows steeper and the path slick with water. Watch your footing. It's a long way down.

As you proceed forward, your path is suddenly blocked by a large, spiky plant that spans the width of the walkway. At first you think it might just be a harmless pile of vines, until the vines start moving, trying to grab you with their long, green tendrils. To your horror, the plant also seems to have numerous fangs—you might want to avoid those. Don’t forget to look out for spikes, getting hit by one of those must be VERY unpleasant! The only way to advance is to get past this extremely venomous plant, so tread carefully!

Holding even more tightly, if possible, Danika continued to stretched a bit more...feet stuck to the ground near the edge...and...

...A mirror? What's she supposed to do with a mirror. She wasn't fighting Medusa, right? Her whole body ached, but she was still reaching towards the mirror...

...hand reaching...

...and possibly grabbing the mirror?

The mirror is now in your possession. Heavy, and maybe cumbersome to carry, but yours.

She decided not to see her reflection in the mirror that was now in her hand. It would definitely not help if she saw all the blood and cuts on her face. It wouldn't help.

It was heavy.

She dearly hoped that she'd be needing it further ahead.

Now the flames.

She performed a flame-freezing charm on herself and walked towards the bonfire she most amazingly created. The mirror was being held with her free hand and only then she noticed that she also had a deep cut on her side.

Her mind decided not to acknowledge it, and just focused on the flame-freezing spell...walking, walking, walking. Could she get through the fire towards the door?

You walk through the fire, unharmed, thanks to your charm work. All that stands before you now is the door.

And its rusty padlock.

Wide was good.

Until you reached a wet and steep incline, which lessened the little bit of energy he had left.

Walking slow, he held his wand out in front of him, illuminating the path up ahead. What was there, Nikolai did not like. From where he stood, it looked just like normal vines, but as he crept forward, he knew what it was. "Fanged Geranium?" he asked, and the fangs were confirmation of this. Great. He had killed so many plants already, and he did not want to add another one to the list. He was not happy with himself.

"Reducio." he said with rapid movements of his wand, aiming directly at the plant. It is was small enough, he could hop over it.

Maybe.

The tingling sensation was certainly not suited for her mood right now, it made some of her cuts sting a little, but at least she went unharmed through the fire.

Okay. Danika breathed in and out.

Medusa, right? That's what the Underworld had for her? Behind the door?

The girl took out the key in her pocket, and eyed the padlock. If it was the wrong key, then she had no idea where the right one was. And she doubted that she'd have the energy to keep on looking for another key.

Hand almost shacking, thanks to the weight of the mirror and the stress her body had been through, she was more than ready to place the key in it, perhaps it was the right one and the padlock will open.

Hopefully.

The spell hits, resulting not in a smaller plant, but in an angrier plant. It shoots out is venom, its vines wriggling. Its spikes look dangerously pointy and it looks ready to bite. Best not get too close!


The key turns in the lock as the light continues to stream in, the one tendril of the stalk still shines, and the cave grows still once more.

Behind the door is a steep, empty corridor, well lit from light streaming in from an opening 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