"We'll take the safer option again," Celica decided. "We won't stand much chance against them at an inch tall anyway."
"Oh, come now!" Sonya protested.
"At once, Celica," Palla obeyed, casting her magic. The inch-tall adventurers quickly shrank smaller, until they were an inch tall to an inch high. Though everything was already vast at an inch tall, it was on a totally different level at their new size.
"How big are we now?" Celica asked.
"Let's not think about it," Mae insisted. It had been bad enough for her being this small in the passage, let alone out in an open space.
"Oh. It seems I am able to shrink myself," Palla observed. "How odd. I couldn't go back to normal size earlier, so is my maximum height one inch now?"
"It looks that way," Celica said.
Palla looked sad for just a moment. "Well, never mind. Perhaps I will grow all the way back once we reach the end of this trial," she decided, putting on a brave face for her sisters.
"Seems likely," Catria agreed.
"Let us proceed then," Celica said, leading her party.

The room was largely quiet, save for the occasional low moan or gurgle in the distance. The tiny women proceeded in a line, Celica at the front and Sonya at the back. She tried to stay as far as possible from the colossal corpses littering the room as she led her party. They came across an oddly colored floor panel, a shade of blue, after a while. Celica elected to walk around it. Though they must have barely weighed anything, she didn't want to risk setting off a trap, or making a noise to wake the slumbering giants. Unfortunately their new path led them very close to the rotted scalp of one of the room's occupants. They hurried past, the strong smell unbearable.

The path wound across the room, the tense walk seeming to last forever. Loud shuffling sounded in the distance. Celica looked towards the disturbance to see a giant zombie rising to its feet. She let out a tiny gasp as she saw just how large it was, like a moving mountain. Fortunately it was not walking in their direction, seeming to shamble about aimlessly. They kept going, the princess being sure to keep the position of their giant company in mind.

Proceeding through the room, Celica noticed that blue tiles were becoming more common. They soon reached a relatively narrow path, sandwiched between six potential zombies. The tiles severely restricted their options. Stopping, the shrunken Celica looked ahead to try and find a way through. There was just one, though she was really not keen on it. For one of the terrors lay close by, stretched out on the floor. To avoid the panels, they would have to walk under its giant hand. The archway formed by the curved fingers gave ample room for the micro militia, but it would not be a pleasant passage. Steeling her resolve, Celica decided to go for it, trying not to think about how some of her comrades may protest if they weren't so frightened into silence. Picking her way across the path, she soon reached the colossal digits. She led by determined example, not hesitating as she walked into the rotten tunnel. The smell was even stronger here, forcing Celica to shuffle through quickly. She heard a tiny cough from someone behind her. She tried not to look around too much, able to see every detail on the fell fingers. They made it through without incident. Celica wanted to stop but forced herself to press onward.

After quite some time, they neared the opposite side of the room. Celica was glad to see a tunnel in the wall, their exit to this room of the dead. This leg of their journey was nearly over. They cautiously continued, mere inches from their destination.
Suddenly, a large bell rang out, a crippling cacophony to the little ladies. They clasped their ears, now running for the exit. Palla looked back and saw a truly frightening sight. Every single one of the corpses in the room was climbing to their feet. Horrified, she sprinted as fast as her little legs would carry her. Reaching the exit, she looked back once more to see them shuffling about. Luckily they hadn't detected the tiny soldiers, she realized.

When she was a good ten inches down the tunnel Celica stopped, gasping for breath. The others joined her, glad to be out of that room.
"I'm... never doing that again," Sonya panted.
"No way..." Mae agreed.
"I'm going to have nightmares about this!" Genny cried.
"Regardless, you made the right choice Celica," Palla said. "Those monsters didn't notice us. They could have if we were bigger, and we wouldn't have stood a chance back there."
"Yeah, I guess," Mae agreed. "Good going, Celica!"
"Thank you." Celica was glad to have their confidence.
"Can we grow back now?" Sonya asked, "looks like we'll have plenty of room now."
"Good point. Palla, if you would?" Celica requested.
"Of course." Palla cast her magic, and they all grew back to the lofty height of an inch tall.
"Never thought I'd be glad to be this size," Sonya sighed.
"Well, now that we've caught our breath, let us proceed," Celica commanded.
"Right behind you Celica," Mae agreed.

The tunnel proved to be a much more pleasant passage than the putrid path they had to endure in the previous room. It was darker though, so a fireball was conjured again to aid navigation. The passage led to an odd chamber, pear shaped and roughly 20 inches high. Many odd structures littered the room, including what appeared to be a Mila statue to the scale of the room.
"Whoa, lots going on in here," Mae observed.
"Blocks, panels of various colors..." Palla listed some of the objects she saw.
"Look! Way up there!" Est pointed to the ceiling, having spied a lever near the top.
"There doesn't seem to be a way to reach up that high..." Celica thought.
"This seems to be a puzzle of some sort," Catria noted.
"Well, we've got to start somewhere!" Mae exclaimed, "Celica, what should we check out first?"