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[Jaana]

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"Think it's still there?"

Forrest leaned her bow against the crystals, crouching down to observe them better. The cave was small and quiet, though had recently been suffering from disturbances such as the crystals she peered at and the adventurers they attracted.

"I hope so," came the approaching voice of Metios as he came forward to observe as well.

"Wonder if ye can still see it through the crystals," she commented, squinting her visible eye as if it would help her to see more clearly through it. They both stared at it a moment though were unable to see any trace of the throne past the dense crystal.

Standing up, she then leaned back on the crystal in a sitting position though didn't dare to truly sit down, supporting herself on her arms rather than relaxing.

"Ye can still sit on it," she added in optimistically. "Though I admit 'tis not comfortable.."

A shattering sound echoed above them as crystaline shards rained down around them. They both fell silent, Forrest staring wide-eyed at the crystal fragments about her.

"Those weren't there before," Metios quietly noted as they recovered from their shock. He then walked over to the small blue pamplet on a pure white pedestal nearby, looking it over. Forrest finally pushed herself off the crystals and crept to the pedestal as well.

"Born of the shatter
his world he rebuilds
living in the darkness
with metal children
Enslaver of our kin"

The heavy beating of wings could be heard behind them. Not one but three huge gargoyles descended to the ground, glaring down at the two by the pedestal. One of them snarled and Forrest.

Before she knew what came over her, Forrest found herself on Jenna's back waiting safe and sound outside of the cave's entrance. She looked down to her hands, empty as they hugged onto the horse's neck, and a string of curses found their way through her mouth. In her hasty retreat she had left both Metios and her bow behind.

After a few minutes passed, Metios finally peeked out of the cave. However, he rushed back in and she could hear a gargoyle's booming voice echoing painfully within. Reluctantly, she pulled a scroll out of a bag on her toolbelt and walked back in.

Though he was doing fine on his own, she threw the occasional spell at his opponents. Finally, they were facing the third and last gargoyle. While Metios ran to chop it to death with his sword, Forrest continued to keep her distance and threw various spells at it. However, instead of trying to fend Metios off, it decided to fry the mage first.

Jenna ran out of the cave with Forrest on her back, though Forrest just barely managed to hold on. The second Jenna stopped outside the cave, her rider fell limp to the ground. Everything went black for Forrest.

When she finally regained consciousness, the first thing that came to sight was a blurry dark green figure kneeling over her. She could feel the distant pain of the burns fading away and the wounds rapidly closing. Blinking to try and see clearly, the second Metios became distinguishable a new deeper pain seered through her.

"How humiliating," she groggily muttered to herself...

"You just had to lean on the crystals, didn't you?" Metios remarked with a lighthearted smile.

After a bit of conversation about gargoyles and Ilshenar, she mentioned that she needed to retrieve her bow. With Forrest using Metios as a crutch as she was still weak from her defeat, they headed back into the cave to the crystal area. A few strange, insane people walked in, asking if they had missed the gargoyles and something about a tuning fork. She and Metios left as soon as they could to try and avoid more of these apparently insane people.


Leaning on the Hostel wall near the door, Forrest was only half awake when Metios walked in. She wasn't nearly as pale before, having been as white as could be when she first recovered, though she had not quite returned to her normal skintone yet.

"Forrest," he whispered. "Meet me at the cave, but don't go in." As soon as she nodded in response, he disappeared.

When she made her way through the Spirituality gate, Metios was already there. She followed a few steps behind, silently wondering if there were more gargoyles waiting to burn her to a crisp in the cave. He lead her to the crystal room.

Shattered were the crystals that had stolen the throne's place, shards scattered about the cave's dirt floor. That'll be a mess and a half to clean up. Lifting her eye from the fragments of crystal, it fell upon a familiar stone-crafted object.

The crystal room was yet again the throne room.
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"Forrest, a woman of many words.. Though most of them result in saying, 'You're wrong!'"