A/N: And here's then next chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Dungeons & Dragons. I only own my ogirnial ideas.

Chapter 94: The Maze

After resting for the night, we continued down the road, and eventually arrived at our destination. In the distance, we could see the tower, rising high above the surrounding lands. Sitting between us and the tower were a small town, and dense wall of hedges surrounding the tower. We approached the town, and the villagers looked at us warily.

"Hail, travelers," said a guard, "what brings you to our town?"

"We've been asked by the mages of the Greenhall Academy to investigate the Tower," said Charles, "have you noticed anything recently?"

"Now that you mention it, there has been some activity there recently," said the guard, "strange lights in the windows at nights, some claims of mysterious figures, some people are worried that the wizard who built the tower might have returned, and is up to something foul. I'm not sure though".

"Do you have any issues with us approaching the tower?" asked Narcrath.

"You can try if you want," said the guard, "people avoid that place… it's said you could be lost forever in there. It's a strange place, enter at your own risk".

The guard allowed us to continue on our way, and we continued towards the tower. Ahead, I could see the well-tended hedge walls that made up the maze. Before we entered, I had an idea.

"Give me a moment," I said, "I'll see if I can scout a path through maze".

"Sounds like a plan," said Krisyra.

I took to the skies, and looked down on the maze, frowning at what I saw: from above, it appeared to be an unruly forest of brambles with no clear path through, and no clear way to even enter, despite the fact I knew exactly where the enterance to the maze was. I tried flying towards, the tower, and it never seemed to get closer. I flew back down, and landed ner my companions.

"I couldn't see anything," I said, "The maze looked impassible from above. I couldn't even see a way into the maze".

"Definitely powerful magic at work then," said Narcrath, "It looks like the only way we'll get to the tower is to go through the maze".

It was decided; we had no other options and stepped into the maze. The hedge walls soon surrounded us. After a short time, we arrived at a junction in the path. We were at an 8-way junction of path with a sundial in the middle. We could see the tower rising above the hedges directly in front of us, but the paths curved away from the junction, and there was not way of being sure which path was the right one.

"So, which way do we go?" asked Lydratir.

"I guess we just choose a path," said Charles.

We selected one of the paths, and headed down it. The path curved at twisted, and we arrived at a new area. Filling the center of the eighty-foot-square courtyard was a circular pool of water 60 feet across. The water was dark and murky. Hovering above the center of the pool was garnet gemstone. Another path left this area through the hedge wall on the opposite side of the pool. Directly opposite from where we'd entered. We tried the opposite path, and after a series of twists and turns we arrived back at the pool. The series of turns we'd taken in no way should have formed a loop.

"Definitely powerful magic," said Narcrath, "it looks like we need to find some sort of key to move on".

"How about that gemstone?" I said, "I'll get it".

I flew low over the water, and grabbed the garnet. As I started making my way back, I spotted something moving in the water and flew faster get back to solid ground. Just after I landed, 4 chuuls emerged from the water. I took a deep breath, and unleashed my fire, burning the aberrant creatures. Uxarix stepped in, driving his rapier into one of the chuuls, the blade easily slipping between the plates of its chitinous armor. One of the chuuls scuttled up to Lydratir, but he easily dodged its pinching claws. Another chuul approached Charles, but he too evaded its attacks. Lydratir struck out at the chuul near him, piercing its armor. The chuul that Uxarix had attacked attempted to strike back against him, but missed entirely. Narcrath channeled his magic, and unleashed a bolt of lightning that tore through three of the chuuls, taking out the one closest to Uxarix. Charles brought his sword to bear, and with three mighty swings he slew the chuul near him. Krisyra summoned a small flame to her hand, and lobbed it at one of the chuuls, further wounding it. The fourth chuul scuttled up the Charles, but his armor turned aside its attacks.

I moved to assist Lydratir, clawing and biting at the chuul and leaving it weak. Uxarix came over to aid Lydratir, taking out another chuul. Lydratir swapped to his bow, and fired an arrow to the last of the chuuls, slaying it.

With the area clear we were free to try and leave again. We exited this courtyard, this time in possession of the garnet. The path twisted and turned, and we ended up and an 8-way intersection with a sundial in the center. It appeared to be completely identical to the one we'd seen before. We examined the area more thoroughly. I noticed that the shadow on the sundial seemed to be facing the wrong way, pointing north towards the apparent position of the tower. I glanced at my own shadow, and that of my allies, and saw they all were facing the correct direction based on the position of the sun. This had the be the clue.

"Look at the sundial," I said, "the shadow's pointing the wrong way".

"Maybe… just maybe its facing the right way," said Narcrath, "let's try it".

We moved down the northern path, and after a series of twists and turns, arrived at an 8-way intersection with a sundial.

"Did we loop back around?" asked Charles.

"Hold on, I have something to check," said Narcrath as he approached the sundial.

I did the same, and saw there were now two shadows: one pointing north, the other pointing east.

"Split the difference?" I suggested.

"Worth a try," said Narcrath.

We took the northeast path, and after many twists and turns, including some that should have led back into themselves, we arrived at… an 8-way intersection with a sundial in the center.

"I think we are going the right way," said Narcrath, "when we chose a random path we ended up in a different area. Let's keep following the same logic we have been".

We examined the sundial again, and this time there were three shadows: One pointing north, one pointing southeast, and one pointing southwest. Narcrath thought about this for a moment, and the came to his conclusion.

"South," said Narcrath, "we should go south".

"Isn't that the path we just arrived on?" asked Uxarix.

"We're dealing with powerful magic here," said Narcrath, "it doesn't have to make spaical sense".

We took the south path, and after several tists and turns arrived at am 8-way junction with a sundial in the center. We examined the sundial yet again, and now there were four shadows. They were pointing northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast. As we watched, the shadows spiraled, and retreated into the gnomon.

"What do we do here?" asked Charles.

"I have one idea," said Narcrath, "bear with me on this.

Narcrath pulled himself up so he was standing on top of the sundial. As we watched he seemed to sink into the sundial, vanishing from our sight. Each of my campanions did the same, and vanished as well. Now it was my turn. I placed my front paws onto the sundial as best as I could. For a moment, I was surrouned by darkness, and then I was falling, and landed next to my allies in an 8-way intersection with a sundial in the center.

"Well, that was something," I said, "which way this time?"

"We were just discussing that," said Uxarix, "take a look".

I examined the sundial, and saw there were now eight shadows, one pointing to each of the paths.

"Honestly, it seems like each of the solutions has been getting less and less obvious," I said, "at this point, we might as well try walking through the hedge".

"That seems and valid as anything at this point," said Narcrath, "whoever first put this puzzle together seems to really wanted to annoy visitors into leaving".

I tried pushing through one of the hedges, and burst out into a clear area at the base of the tower. I glanced back, and saw my allies in the intersection behind me, and beyond them was a straight path leading back to the village.

"If you can hear me, it worked!" I called out, "follow the path I took!"

I watched as each of my companions walked into the hedge, and emerge next to me, and looked back towards the village in disbelief.

"Let's just move on before I have to dwell on this nonsence too much," said Narcrath.

We headed towards the entrance of the tower, not sure what we would find inside.

A/N: And then we go! Next time, our heros enter the tower See you then!