With the Winnie's key now safely tucked away in the backpack, 2D is feeling much more confident that he and Cortez would find the old bassist, as he moves much more rapidly through the corridors and caverns. Much time has passed, and he is sure that if he does find him, it may not be a happy reunion. Given that the old man probably had not had a cigarette or a drink in the whole time he had been down here, Murdoc might beat him to a pulp for taking so long. The labyrinth of passageways almost seem to go on forever, but with help from others, he feels he is closing in on him. Cortez follows behind, his smaller legs finding it hard to keep up with the lanky keyboardist. He looks up ahead of him, just in time to see that 2D has disappeared from view and annoyed that he had not waited for him to catch up, he quickens his pace a little, muttering obscenities under his breath, as he watches the dust kicked up from the floor move like a heavy cloud around him.

He rounds a corner and almost crashes straight into the young man, who had stopped just out of the ravens view, and is now staring at a strange carving on the wall. The young man looks down at the raven, then back up at the carving, pointing at it while wrinkling his nose almost as though disgusted.

"Wot's that ugly fing yah fink?" he asks Cortez. The raven rubs the back of his head in annoyance at 2D's odd decision to start questioning Satan's décor, before looking up at the thing the young man was pointing at.

Grey in color, about the size of an A4 piece of paper, and possibly made of rough granite, the carving almost looks as though it has grown out from the wall like a hard stony cancer. Looking a little like a large, unfinished Egyptian cartouche, turned on it's side and covered in strange markings, that swirl across the face of the stone like odd pathways that seemed to go no where. 2D looks at it puzzled, tipping his head slowly first to one shoulder then back again to the other, as he sucks thoughtfully on the tip of one of his long talons. Thinking that it was possibly a child's drawing that had got lost and had turned to stone on the wall, he takes the talon from his mouth and looks down at the grumbling raven, opening his mouth to say something to him, then changing his mind, he shakes away the thought and begins sucking the talon again with a shrug. Cortez turns away from the carving and looks down the corridor, wishing the keyboardist would just ignore the thing on the wall, and get on with the task at hand.

"I don't care." he snaps, waving it off. Suddenly something clicks in his mind and he rapidly turns back to it, studying it hard. Slowly the raven searches his mind, as memories of Murdoc teaching him some of the symbols from his books, come flooding back to him. In his mind he can see the bassist, his arm around him, pointing out each of the letters and repeating them to him. The memory is so clear to him, that he can almost smell the heavy scent of alcohol, sweat and cigarettes coming from the old man, and feel the warmth of his arm around him. He shakes his head and focuses on the sound of Murdoc's voice, as one by one the letters from the strange alphabet loom up before him, waiting to be deciphered, as the raven mumbles them to himself. "Eet writing. Eef I can remember, I might be able to...." he trails off as he runs his fingers over each of the symbols, and continues piecing the strange language together.

"Able to wot? I just asked wot yah fought of it." 2D shrugs, not realizing the importance of his find. He sighs deeply and slowly paces out a large stiff legged circle, not paying any attention to the muttering raven. Cortez shushes him with a sharp hiss, trying to think, looking down at the floor and rubbing his temples in frustration. 2D stops pacing and instead looks up at the ceiling, as the raven once again begins studying the carving.

"C... E... L... L..." he slowly spells out, pointing at each symbol as he says it's name. 2D tips his head to one side and wrinkles his nose, staring hard at the hideous carving as he sounds out the letters to himself. A word clicks in his mind and he pulls away from the wall, almost surprised.

"Cell, where?" He asks, looking rapidly around him for the dungeon. "Wait, I fought you said I woz silly for finkin' there might be cells down heya." He suddenly snaps, leaning his weight on one hip and angrily folding his arms over his chest, as he looks down at Cortez. Once again the raven shushes him, as he continues studying the carving.

"I teenk that one ees A, and R. Cellar." Cortez finally answers brightly with a nod. 2D and the raven suddenly stare wide-eyed at one another and in unison repeat the word loudly, before the raven looks back at the carving, doing his best to decipher the directions.

"Hurry! He's gotta be there, coz Muds would neva pass up free booze." 2D squeaks, bouncing from one foot to the other eagerly. The raven waves him back angrily as he tries to concentrate, then races down the corridor in front of the young man, following the directions he had just memorized. Counting the doors as they go along, Cortez moves quickly down a long passage, and turns left at the end, once again counting the doors, before coming to a complete stop. 2D, who had been following him a little too closely, crashes into him, almost knocking him over. The raven turns and slaps out at the young man, making him flinch back and away from him with a yelp. Regaining his composure, Cortez clears his throat and partially opens the door, carefully poking his head in, and looking inside. Suddenly 2D bursts in beside him, slamming open the door all the way, and looking about the room rapidly. The raven slumps his shoulders and sucks his teeth in annoyance, grumbling to himself about the possibility that the room might have been guarded, and they would have been caught now. Fortunately the room seems empty, apart from the many rows of shelves, stacked high with bottles.

Closing the door behind them, the companions stand silently just inside the doorway, savoring the shock of cool air that is moving around their tired aching bodies. They breathe slowly, with their heads tipped back on their shoulders, eyes closed, glad to of gotten away from the heavy boiling air from outside. For a moment, all thoughts of their lost bassist seem forgotten, and they roll their shoulders and massage their muscles, taking their time before recommencing the search. Feeling much better, they each choose one of the rows, looking down it into the darkness at the very back of the room, and slowly walk along squinting in the dim light. Just up ahead of him, 2D sees something against the back wall, he squints a little harder, trying to make out the lump, as he carefully approaches it. Thinking at first it was either a small pile of sacks or perhaps someones lost laundry, he stops suddenly when he realizes that he can clearly see a leg poking out from it. Taking a much more cautious step forwards he moves in, reaching out an unsteady hand to the lump, not sure whether he should touch it. Finally standing over it, he can see who the leg belongs to and nudges it with his foot. It groans, bringing a huge smile to the young man's face.

"Found him!" 2D calls back to Cortez, pointing down at the bassist as he turns and looks back at the shelves. The bassist slowly opens his eyes, smacking his lips sleepily and lifting his head from the cold hard floor. He sits up with a grunt, his head lolling lazily forward on his shoulders, then back again, almost connecting with the wall behind him, as he tries with just a little effort, to look up through his blurry vision at the medium sized demon above him. Just beyond him, the bassist also sees the smaller one making its way over to them. He yawns and stretches, waking himself more and scratching the back of his head with one hand, as he rubs one of his eyes with the other, annoyed at being woken so sharply.

"Oh Hells Bells. Can't a guy get some sleep around here." he growls angrily, pressing his hand against the back wall, and using it as leverage to pull himself to his feet. "Well c'mon then." he grins, urging them forward as he crouches for an attack. Cortez stops moving instantly, recognizing Murdoc's attack posture, but seeing that 2D has not moved back and out of the way of him, realizes that Murdoc will go for the keyboardist first. He raises his hand, trying to attract the young man's attention, just as he sees Murdoc's entire body tense.

"No Murdoc!" he cries out vainly, but too late, as the bassist launches himself at the unsuspecting young man. The weight of the bassist against him, slams the keyboardist hard to the floor. The young man gasps in shock, suddenly finding himself pinned and being punched viciously and repeatedly in the kidneys, he groans and tries to curl into a ball and roll away. Murdoc jumps up, bristling with renewed vigor and expecting the medium sized demon to follow, as a punch like that normally would of hurt, but done little more than annoyed it. He shifts his weight from side to side, grinning evilly, still crouched in the attack posture and waiting for the medium demons next move. However, when it does nothing but whimper and stay curled in a ball, he stands up confused and scratches the back of his head. Suddenly Cortez leaps onto the bassist's back, trying to stop the old man from killing the injured keyboardist.

"Murdoc, eet us!" he cries at the confused bassist. The old man stumbles but manages to stay upright, reaching back behind him and grabbing what he thinks is a small minor demon, pulling it up over his head. "We transformed!" the raven squeals, as he is suddenly dropped onto the old man's boot and kicked back through the room to the door the two companions had entered by.

"Wha?" the old man grunts, finally stopping his attack. He looks back at the crumpled 2D, curled into a tight ball, lying on the floor where he had fallen. The bassist slowly rises from his crouch and blinks at him in confusion, not quite sure what he was being told, or whether to believe anything the medium demon was saying.

"We changed ourselves into demons, so we wouldn' get caught." 2D moans, still clutching at his painful side. The bassist raises an eyebrow and approaches the young man, who on seeing him, whimpers and curls into a tighter ball, covering his head with an arm for protection. "Please stop hittin' us." He pleads.

The bassist suddenly recognizes the whimpering sound, as belonging to 2D, and chuckles, but instantly his face changes to a look of horror, as he realizes what the keyboardist had asked. 'Please stop hittin' us.' He sharply turns his head, cracking the bones in his neck and looking down towards the door and the little demon he had kicked.

"Cortez!" he screeches, breaking into a run and racing to the crumpled body of the little demon. He slides to a stop, and falls to his knees next to the little creature, picking up the limp body and cradling it in his arms. "Oh what did I do to yah mate?" he whimpers, pressing it's head into his chest and bowing over it, rocking back and forth. The tiny body slowly begins to move against him, and a groan escapes its lips, the old man releases his tight grip and looks down at the creatures face, watching as it slowly regains consciousness. The raven winces in pain and opens its eyes, blinking back the pain and looking up into the face of his master. He smiles and snuggles against him, as the old man once again presses his beloved pet close to him, secretly wiping a rogue tear from the corner of his eye on the back of his hand.

"Eet okay. Only bruise my ego." the raven chuckles softly, pretending he had not seen the watery expression in the old man's eyes. The bassist quickly pulls himself together, and sits back on his heels, glad he had not seriously hurt the raven, but irritated with what he had done nonetheless. It suddenly strikes him that the raven had spoken, and he leans back away from it suspiciously, giving it a firm look.

"So you can speak now?" he growls, narrowing his eyes threateningly. The raven senses the uneasy tension in the bassist's voice, and sees the renewed threat in the bassist's face, knowing instantly that he must answer quickly, before the old man assumes it to be a trick and attacks him again.

"Si. That 2D do someteeng, but we no know what. You know how he ees?" he shrugs, rolling his eyes in frustration and feigning an aloof yawn, doing his best to put Murdoc at ease. He watches the hard look soften and feels the tension in the old man's body relax, and almost sighs gratefully, realizing that his ruse had worked. The bassist looks up and over at the young man, who had started limping towards them both. On hearing what the raven had said, he stops and looks angrily at him, then sees the firm look on Murdoc's face and softens his expression nervously.

"Hey, I didn' do it on purpose or nufink. He made me do stuff wot I didn' wanna do. Been killin' demons and all that since I got heya. Not s'pose tah kill..." He whines backing up a little, in case the bassist decided to hurt him for any harm, that he might be imagining the keyboardist had done to his pet. Murdoc looks down at Cortez who simply nods back at him.

"Si, he one mean hombre when you put a weapon een hees hand." Cortez chuckles with a wink, snuggling deeper into the old man's chest. Murdoc smiles and chuckles back, looking over at the still nervous young man, who moves uneasily from side to side, shifting his weight on his feet. He narrows his eyes at the keyboardist and licks his lips almost hungrily at him.

"So what happened to you bein' a Buddhist then?" he sneers, grinning like an evil Cheshire cat with his eyes sparkling like diamonds in the dimly lit room. 2D looks back at him almost shocked, dropping his hands limply to his sides, at first not able to speak. He makes a few odd squeaking noises, as he desperately tries to find the words, pointing and waving his arms frantically in a rush of unrestrained gestures, almost pacing in frustration at the two of them seated on the floor, laughing at his plight. Finally he stops and slumps his shoulders, letting out a huge huff as he comes to the conclusion that he is thoroughly defeated by the bassist's question.

"Shuddup." He whines. "I only did wot that crazy bird told me tah do. He wouldn' listen when I told him I woz a Buddhist, said he didn' care an' that." he adds gruffly, pouting and folding his arms over his chest, watching the two of them smirking at him and trying, with much difficulty, to stop laughing. But it's useless to argue with them both, 2D knows that now that Cortez had Murdoc back, he was once again on the outside looking in. The two of them bound together like thieves, had no reason to listen to any complaint he might have, or excuse. He sighs heavily and does his best to ignore them, staring at the wall and letting himself zone out to another place, just for a little while.