When I returned to Bethelia, I found the others hard at work sorting out where our new crops should be planted. Edgar, Sky Belle, and Healina were busy outlining a smaller orchard next to the first one for the snowberries while Ariana, Maisy, and Anhe were extending the vegetable garden to accommodate the new vegetables. Lizzy and Maryn had already made a new field for the barley, and were just now planting the seeds. Melasine was helping them. I felt a watchful presence from the dryad, who at least outwardly seemed to be focused on the planting.

  Nothing getting past her, is there?

  “Lana! There you are!” Lysandra called as she and Myanihia came out from the house.

  “What took you so long?” Lizzy looked up as she heard my name.

  “Ehh... I'll tell you later,” I said. “Oh, Sandra, can you two come over here a moment?”

  “Sure,” the older girl said, and they joined me near the wayport. “What's up, chick?”

  “Have you heard of mooncap, the green kind?” I quietly asked them. Both of their eyes lit up in recognition at what I said.

  That's a yep.

  “Who, told you, about that mushroom?” Myanihia softly replied.

  “I had a brief encounter with Melody outside Cloverbell.”

  “Oh?” Lysandra returned. “And?”

  “We had a little contest, and at the end I agreed to have a sword made for her in exchange for one ingredient of Dragonsbane,” I told them. They exchanged a glance.

  “Mooncap, the green kind... it, is deep in the Yucu Jungles... sometimes the Marshes of the Wyrd; but, it's rarer, there,” Myanihia said. Lysandra reached over to firmly take hold of my ear.

  “Why are we agreeing to give Melody a new sword?” she said to me with an inquisitive grin.

  “Hmm? We're giving her a sword? How come?” Lizzy remarked as she came over.

  “Because she ruled it a draw in the end,” I returned as I tried to remove Lysandra's hand--to no avail.

  “Ehh? A draw? You should be trouncing her in this world, especially one-on-one!” Lizzy frowned.

  “She's good at predicting my moves, and she interrupted the skill,” I informed them as I continued struggling.

  “Even then...” our smith shook her head as Myanihia quietly absorbed the information. She then put a hand on her sister.

  “Sandra.”

  “'Kay.” the younger twin nodded, letting me go.

  “There's more, isn't there?” the perceptive Snow Elf said to me.

  O-kay... time for the shocker... I mused as I rubbed my ear for a moment.

  “Melody resigned from Venomheart. Clara's in charge of it now.” I replied solemnly.

  “Tch!” Lizzy hissed, and the twins gave each other another look. “Welp, if she quit the psycho-guild, I guess I don't mind making her a new sword...” the blonde girl then shrugged.

  “Eh-heh,” I softly grinned back.

  “Out of the new stuff, right?” Lizzy asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Whatever she offered in exchange better be worth it.” she said to me with a soft glare.

  “If it wasn't worth it I wouldn't have accepted,” I said in reply.

  “Uh-huh.” the smith returned, softly knuckling my head for a moment. “I'mma go to Queen's Haven, then.” she said, dialing up the wayport and heading out.

  “And we, are taking Lana,” Myanihia softly grinned.

  “Yep yep,” Lysandra nodded as they both took me by an arm and frog-marched me to the wayport. “Get your combat gear on.” she said to me.

  “Eh? Oh!” I softly exclaimed, suddenly recalling I was still in formal-wear.

  “Off already?” Ariana called over to us.

  “We'll bring her back soon,” Lysandra said as I somehow managed to switch into my usual gear. Myanihia dialed up a wayport in Yucu as my partner smiled back, giving us a wave as we headed through to begin yet another adventure.

  “This place certainly lives up to its reference,” Lysandra quipped as we quietly worked our way through the jungle underbrush.

  “Hmm? Oh, Yucu-tan,” I said as it finally clicked.

  No wonder I saw what looked like Mayan temples and cities in the distance a few minutes ago, I recalled bemusedly. We had been here for half an hour by now, taking care to leave no signs of our presence.

  “One of the rumors I have heard, is that Venomheart, has a guild-home here... somewhere,” Myanihia whispered to us.

  “Lovely.” her sister remarked.

  “In this place? We might stumble right into it... though we'd get the property warning, I guess...” I said as I carefully inched over a log.

  You can't just enter the grounds of a player-owned residence of one sort or another, outside of PvP forts and such; either you have to deceive the system into allowing you entry, as we've done a couple times before, or you need to get a proper invitation to enter. Otherwise you'll run into an invisible barrier that keeps you away, and you'll get a notice as to whose property you're trying to enter.

  “We're looking for a certain cave, right?” Lysandra asked.

  “Yes; it should be along this path, on the left,” Myanihia replied.

  “Marked by a statue of Iviane, the Lady of Poisons...” her sister recalled.

  “That one, we will definitely not miss,” the other softly smiled.

  Dare I ask?... nah, I'll let the answer speak for itself, I decided as we cautiously wove our way through a thicket of thorny plants. Is it my imagination, or do these look a lot like the man-eaters in Sorrowd-- I began thinking as I took a close look at once, only to be interrupted by a sudden squeeze around my waist.

  “Nyurkh!?” I squawked, still trying to keep quiet.

  “Lana? Lana!!” Lysandra swiftly jumped to reach me, using her sword to cut me free.

  “Run!” Myanihia said as I dropped to the ground, and we scurried as quickly as we could to get away from the deadly plants.

  ***

  Somehow or another, we got away from them without alerting everything in the area to our presence. That was enough for me. After our semi-panicked flight, we scurried up to the higher branches of a large jungle tree to recuperate. Lysandra sat near to the trunk on one branch, Myanihia was perched on a slightly lower one, and I was stretched out along a third a bit further up; this one was partly extended over a stream that briefly interrupted the dense jungle.

  “Notice them before we get into the midst of them next time, doofus!” Lysandra softly hissed at me. I could see a faint grin on her face despite her tone, and settled for sticking my tongue out at her in reply. Myanihia softly giggled.

  “We should hurry; I don't want to risk, running into them here,” she then said in a more serious tone.

  “We should be fine for a few more moments,” Lysandra said, taking a look anyway to see if there was anyone around. “The only ones I'd expect to be around are the other two girls in their guild.”

  “The witch and the herbalist.” I nodded.

  “Logically, a bad-match with us; but, they're not ordinary,” Myanihia reminded us. “We'll probably find--!!” she began, cutting herself off and holding a hand up for silence. I moved closer and softly dropped down next to Lysandra to put us in stealth, and Myanihia entered the shadows as well. A few moments later, the sound of voices floated closer.

  “These things have to be so hard to find... ah! There they are; always nearest the water,” a female voice remarked. I recognized it as Jana's.

  “Withermoss.” another voice said. I wasn't sure, but based on the fact that I didn't think I'd heard him speak yet (or at least not much), I was somewhat certain it was Cyan, the necromancer.

  “That's two out of five ingredients. Though this and the green mooncaps would do well enough on their own as a poison; but, it's the Huugh Trout that gives Dragonsbane its true potency,” Jana said with a giggle.

  Why you sneaky--!! I inwardly pouted, reflecting on the fact that the ingredient Melody had given me was, seemingly, not the most crucial.

  “Bad for dragons.” Cyan remarked. I could see the two of them now. They were about to pass under our tree.

  “Let's see... we have the withermoss, we have the blood-beetles; the mooncaps will be on the other side of this stream, and we can catch the trout anywhere there's water.” Jana mused as she picked up another clump of the moss, putting it into a large basket she was carrying.

  “Better catch-rate at Lake Metztli.” the other said.

  “Oh! Too true,” his companion remarked.

  That's four out of five ingredients listed to us, unwittingly. And say, if she's got them all in that basket there...

  I looked at Myanihia, and signaled her to take down Cyan; she nodded back. As soon as they had their backs to us again, Myanihia and I dropped out of the tree without a sound and took them both down with that deadly combo-skill. Lysandra hopped down a moment later, smirking broadly.

  “Nice!” she softly clapped her hands.

  “And we got more leads!” I said, picking up the basket.

  “The other side, she said?” Myanihia noted as we hurried across the stream.

  “Oh! There they are, a nice clump of them on that stump!” Lysandra smiled.

  “Let's get them and then hurry to that Lake... Lake Metztli, I think...” I shrugged as I tried to recall.

  “That was it,” the werewolf-girl said, giving me a pat on the shoulder.

  “They... might attempt to ambush us there,” Myanihia noted.

  “Ah!! True...” I realized as we reached the stump with the mooncaps growing on it.

  Ya big dummy... you *know* they'll want revenge after that rude of a prank, and they'll likely head us off there rather than here since they probably know we heard them talking...

  “Any other lakes you can think of to go fishing?” I asked as we carefully picked a few of the deadly fungi off the withered stump.

  “Hmm...” Myanihia frowned, then shook her head.

  “I've heard that Lake Ixchel has a similar success rate for fishing in general,” Lysandra said. “It's further away than the other one, but that should keep them off our trail.”

  “Agree.” I said as we finished with the mooncaps. “Which way?”

  “Let's see...” she returned, bringing up her map. “Southwest, near the Sylvanian border,” she told us. Without a word, we nodded to each other and set off at a brisk pace.

  “Still, for all that they have a certain reputation, they're not good at expecting surprises, are they?” Lysandra remarked later as we fished for trout at the lake.

  We had taken up a spot on the northwestern side of Lake Ixchel, nearer to the border of Sylvanian Reaches. Our two “friends” had likely returned to the scene of the crime a while ago now, and were probably either fuming or grudgingly starting over with their collecting.

  “That, will likely cease, after tonight.” Myanihia said.

  “Hmm.” her sister nodded in agreement.

  “Meaning the new management won't be as indecisive about us.” I noted as something took the bait on my line.

  “Oh! You got one,” Sandra perked up.

  “Hnyerrgh...!” I grunted as I planted myself as firmly as I could to keep from being yanked into the water. “Daaang it, these fish!!”

  “That's an annoying mechanic, huh?” the older girl smirked before coming over to hold me fast. “Remember, reel it in when it's tired!” she reminded me.

  “I know it's been a long long time since I was fishing for real, but I swear it wasn't this difficult!” I returned as I maneuvered the pole around whilst the fish tired itself out (I hoped). Myanihia smiled over at us.

  “We have four already; this one, should suffice, if you catch it!” she told us.

  “For that matter, why do I have so much trouble with this and you don't?!” I wondered.

  “I have more in Dexterity, than you do,” she replied with a shrug.

  Heh? Oh, that's right; I'm more Agi-focused, with a bit of Strength on the side, I recalled to myself. In terms of stats, Myanihia went for a more silent, finesse-oriented approach where I went for what could be called an acrobatic-style.

  “I think he's giving in finally,” I said as I observed the gauge on the fish.

  “Then I'll let go,” Lysandra said, patting me on the shoulder as she did.

  “Right--” I started to reply, and then the fish pulled a reverse-card on me and went full-speed ahead, dragging me into the water. A brief shriek escaped me, and then with a splash I was being towed. I heard the twins calling out my name, but couldn't reply.

  All-right, fish... you wanna play this game? We'll play this game, I scowled, removing my equipment for freer movement and equipping a shortsword to my left hand while I held onto the rod with my right. I used the auto-reel button to drag myself closer as it pulled, then slashed in the direction of the lively trout, who almost magically evaded the blow.

  Tch!! I frowned. Hm? I then wondered, seeing that the fish was not just heading any old direction; it was making a direct line for the center of the lake. Steadily, I pulled myself closer, and tried slashing again. Another miss. For my next attack I went with a thrust, and then a stab; I sliced one of its fins, but it kept going.

  Hrrmm... the thrust seemed more effective, even though the stab actually hit... I just need to angle and time it right; where the heck is this guy going, anyway? I continued wondering as it pulled me along. Ahead of us, the lake got deeper, and there was a sort of temple at the bottom. The thing was overgrown with underwater plants and fungi, and it looked Mayan in style -- or rather “Yucu” I should say. That was the in-world name of the people who had built these things.

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  I feel like this is somehow important, but on the other hand, right now... I thought to myself, and then readied my strike. Adjusting my attack so that I would hit where the trout planned to dodge me, I queued up a skill called Gaebolg Thrust, another of the racial skills that I liked, and let it fly. It struck the trout unerringly, and with that he expired. Gleefully I tucked it into my inventory, and then swam for the surface.

  The twins were still on the shore; I could see them sighing in relief as I emerged from the bottom and swam back to them. As soon as I was on land again I laid down to recuperate, Lysandra and Myanihia taking a seat on either side of me.

  “Did you catch it?” the werewolf-girl grinned.

  “Oh, here,” I said, taking the fish out of inventory and handing it to her.

  “Nice.” she returned, putting it with the others.

  “Did you know there's a temple down there?” I asked them.

  “Oh?” Myanihia said with interest. “Hmm...” she pondered, then poked me. “Dry yet?”

  “Hmm? Oh, yeah,” I replied, putting my equipment back on.

  “Maybe we should get some of the others and take a look,” Lysandra suggested. “We can put these into inventory for now,” she added, putting the basket away.

  “Hmm... we'll at least get Ari and Heali,” I said, and they nodded back.

  “Good idea.” Myanihia agreed. I sent a message to them, and a few minutes later they had arrived.

  “Everything at Bethelia is squared away for now; what's up down here?” Ariana asked me when they joined us.

  “There's a temple under this lake we were thinking of exploring,” I told her.

  “Oooh, neat!” she replied.

  “Under the lake?” Healina echoed.

  “Yep.” I nodded.

  “How did you find it?” she wondered.

  “Ahh...”

  “Fishing accident.” Lysandra smirked.

  “Hmm...?” Ari looked at me studiously.

  “I got the fish,” I shrugged back.

  “Of course you did.” my partner winked. “Let's go and see this thing, then!” she said excitedly, and when Heali had cast her magic on us to allow us an easier time underwater, we made our way to the temple I had spotted under the lake.

  As we approached it, I once again wondered why the trout had been dragging me towards this place -- or at least trying to flee towards it in an effort to get away from me. There was nothing remarkable about it except that it was underwater. At the top where the entrance was, we found four statues situated in the four inside corners, each of them resembling some sort of aquatic-humanoid hybrid. One was like a mermaid, but it had fangs and the eyes were more fish-like; the second had a head like a hammerhead shark, and it had some fins on its back and wrists; opposite this one was a figure with a woman's torso on an octopus' legs and which, like the mermaid, had razor-like teeth; and the final one was eel-like, with a trident in its hands.

  “Creepy.” Heali remarked on observing the third.

  “Right?” Lysandra agreed.

  “Hmm...” I sighed as I looked around, and then tried the door. It was heavy, but it opened. We filtered inside to a large chamber, and the door shut behind us. As soon as it did the water began draining out.

  Fine by me, I shrugged as I found my footing a few moments later.

  “Empty.” I said aloud on observing the chamber.

  “For real,” Heali said in a disappointed tone. “There's got to be something here!”

  “Besides the doors?” Ari pointed to our left.

  “Symbols.” Myanihia said as she looked at them.

  “We'll have to be careful. The Yucu symbols can be syllabic, alphabetic, ideograms, and even metaphorical,” Heali told us. “Much different from actual Mayan of course.” she remarked as we made our way over to the doors.

  “I bet,” Ari grinned.

  “Hmm? You studied Mayan?” I wondered.

  “I took some exploratory courses in middle school; I might take the deep-dive at uni when I get to it,” she told us.

  “Cool!” my partner smiled.

  “You might get, to study that codex then, the one they found a few years ago,” Myanihia said.

  “Ohh, you're right! Oooh, that will be neat, if it happens!” our healer said with a delighted smile.

  “Hmm...?” I remarked with interest. Even I had heard about the amazing discovery of a fifth, huge codex that had been found, miraculously, on a dig down in the actual Yucutan.

  “Ah! Back to these. Okay.” Heali then said as she refocused her attention on the doors.

  Why the heck was a fish dragging me this way? I wondered to myself yet again. A fish couldn't survive without water, and it couldn't figure out this puzzle... could it? Supposing the water stayed... ehh, I'm just overthinking things... it was probably just a game-thing to get me to notice there was a temple down here, I rationalized as our Sea Elf healer did her thing.

  “Door number one... king-priest's chamber, or sepulcher of the water-god; the second one seems to imply a queen mother's resting place; third leads to the great protector, the valiant warrior; and the fourth heads towards the tomb of the death-maiden, or doom-singer.” Healina read for us after a few minutes.

  “I wonder if they relate to the four statues outside?” Ariana pondered.

  “Oh, I bet you're right,” I agreed.

  “Better question: is there a right or wrong door to go through?” Lysandra then asked.

  “That, I'm not sure about.” Heali said with a wry grin. “It's possible we've gotten ahead of things in this area and missed out on clues that might give us a clear picture here.”

  “Oh for sure.” the other agreed with a nod.

  “It's also possible there are no right or wrong answers.” Heali shrugged.

  Something clicked in my head then. There were puzzles like this sometimes, where it didn't matter what you did first or last, so long as you did them all. That would then take you to the next stage of whatever it was you were doing or attempting to do.

  “Let's see if we can split up and do all four at once then,” I suggested.

  “Interesting!” our healer exclaimed.

  “Here goes, then,” Lysandra nodded, and chose the one on the far left, the king-priest. She entered it without trouble.

  “The right.” Myanihia said, and took the far right door, the doom-singer.

  “Second right,” Healina declared, entering the door for the valiant warrior. Ari and I looked at each other.

  “Queen mother?” she said to me.

  “Looks like,” I said, and we entered the final door together.

  Wait a sec... we got the octopus creature... surely, surely that wasn't intentional on the part of the others...? I could not help wondering as the door closed behind us with a soft thud. Ari activated a magelight, and we continued down along the passage that was now before us.

  “I guess there's something important at the end, huh?” Ari said to me.

  “Most likely.” I replied. “It shouldn't matter what order we get them in, too, so why not get them the fastest way possible,” I added with a shrug.

  “Exactly.” she agreed. “Though order might be important later.”

  “Oh for sure; so I hope we get more clues by then.” I said.

  “Def.” she nodded back to me. “It's quiet so far...” she then whispered.

  “Hrrmm.” I softly nodded.

  There was no sound but the faint plinking of water-droplets coming from somewhere; the walls were plain, and mostly covered with the same kind of plants as those on the outside of the temple. As for the passage, it wound around in an angular spiral, heading ever downward. The plinking sound grew louder, and I could hear the faint rush of something stronger. When I looked over at my partner she nodded to let me know that she could hear it too.

  “Sounds a bit like a waterfall,” she commented.

  “Agree.” I said.

  “Think it's the end of the passage?”

  “Probably. And with a mini-boss or at least a champion waiting for us.”

  “Lovely.” she said. A moment of silence passed. “She really quit her guild, huh?” Ari then asked me. I had no need to wonder who she meant.

  “Right in front of me.” I returned.

  “I wonder what's going on in her head,” she remarked quietly.

  “I'm sure she'd tell you if you asked her.”

  “I guess she would, huh?” Ariana smiled back. “Say, Lana,” she then began.

  “Hm?” I looked over at her.

  “I'm gonna ask her about something else too. I think...” she told me.

  “Something else? Like what?”

  “Hrrmm...” she bemusedly said in answer.

  Eh? Ehh...? What do I do here... it's like she wants to answer but isn't sure if she should answer because... because why...? Does she think I'll be mad? Disappointed? Hurt? I mean, if she's like this, I might be surprised, but... I thought as I observed her, and then smiled.

  “You can let me know later.” I said, patting her shoulder.

  “Mm.” she nodded back to me, her cheeks coloring.

  The watery sound grew louder now. I noticed that we were on a more level walkway; the stairs had ended, and ahead of us was a waterfall cascading over a dead end. There was nothing waiting for us. I frowned. Then I looked around; there were four levers, two on each side of the waterfall. We went to examine them.

  “They're marked with the same marks as the doors,” Ariana said.

  “Then I guess since we came down the passage marked with the queen, we should pull that lever,” I pointed, and she nodded to me.

  “Right,” she said, doing so. A rumbling sound was heard, and the rock-face behind the waterfall began receding into the wall.

  “Heh. Nice.” I softly grinned. The waterfall ceased after a moment as well, and we headed through the revealed doorway to find ourselves in an octagonal chamber; most of the room was water-laden, and there was a great platform in the center.

  “Because of course an octopus-thingie would like a room with eight walls...” Ariana remarked with a whiff of sarcasm.

  “And an octagonal platform in the middle of this watery chamber, too,” I observed.

  “Doesn't look like there's anything on the walls to help or hinder us,” she told me.

  “Works for me.”

  “Same.”

  “Now... where, is, the boss...” I mused as I readied my swords. Ari held her staff at the ready. The two of us moved cautiously through the room, keeping an eye out for whatever trouble planned to come our way.

  “Doesn't it usually show up by now?” Ariana said after a few moments.

  “It should, yeah,” I agreed.

  As we continued moving around the room, we inadvertently stepped up onto the platform in the middle. What I had missed in my quick scan of the room was that there was a pressure plate in the middle of it. The thing informed me of its presence as soon as I stepped onto it, receding into the ground.

  Uh... oh... I thought to myself belatedly.

  “How did you miss it?!” my partner said after a moment.

  “I don't know!” I returned. “I was expecting it to come squeezing out of the ceiling or something, not from a--”

  “Um. Baby. Ew. No.” she quickly said.

  “Heh?!” I blinked, and then affected a lopsided grin. “Y-yeah... that'd be pretty creepy to see... not to mention gross...”

  “Right??” she smiled bemusedly.

  “Anyway--” I then said, but my attention was suddenly averted. Apparently there was no boss after all. On the far side of the room from where we came in, another secret panel had opened to reveal a figurine of the queen-mother, the octopus-creature.

  “Oh cool; well that was simple,” Ariana said delightedly.

  “Phew,” I sighed in relief.

  “I'll get it!” my partner then smiled.

  “Be my guest,” I told her.

  A few minutes later, we were all back in the first chamber. Each of us had collected a figurine; Healina, who arrived last, was miffed that she was the only one who had needed to fight for hers.

  “Ugh! Rude. Next time, one of you take the warrior route.” she huffed.

  “R-right,” I nodded to appease her.

  “We'll go for treats later... in real life if you prefer, too,” Lysandra told her.

  “At least it wasn't bugs...” Ariana remarked innocently.

  “D-d-d-d-don't you dare!!” our healer quipped back at once.

  “Door.” Myanihia then told us. A new door was outlined, this one on the opposite wall. There were four receptacles carved into it.

  “I guess we know what that means,” Lysandra said as we headed over.

  “Figurine time,” I nodded. We set the four figurines into the appropriate places, and the new door opened up to a shaft.

  “Ehh?!” we all exclaimed at once. I cautiously went to the edge.

  “Huh, it really is just a shaft... no lift, ladders, or anything,” I said as I looked over.

  “If that's true, then it should be safe to just jump.” Lysandra noted.

  “I guess so... I think I see the bottom, though it's a bit dar--” I began, but then she playfully booted me off the ledge, and I let out a shriek for several moments before remembering that I had a skill to nullify fall-damage, quickly activating it before I landed with a thud.

  Not too far down, I guess... I mused, then looked up with mock outrage.

  “I'll get you for that!” I called up as the others began jumping down.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Lysandra replied, giggling as she patted my head.

  “Sowwy.” Ari apologized as she came over to me.

  “Y-you didn't boot me into a hole,” I returned.

  “No, but I did laugh.” she replied.

  “Hrrmm... no comment,” I said bemusedly as we shared a hug.

  “Well, this is a large place,” Healina said with interest as she looked around.

  “The statues again,” Myanihia pointed to the left from where we were.

  “And over there, too,” her sister nodded towards another set on the right. “Those are more blue-colored though, while the ones on the left are more greenish,” she said.

  “How curious,” Myanihia observed.

  “What did you come down this way for again?” Healina then asked.

  “Green Mooncaps, one of the ingredients for dragonsbane,” Lysandra replied. “We ended up finding out a few more of them by accident, so we ended up fishing at the lake for our last one when one of them Lana for a ride.” she smirked.

  “I swear that never happened when grandpa took me...” I muttered crossly, and Ari patted my back.

  “Random event then?” our healer wondered.

  “Most likely,” Myanihia agreed.

  “So whatever we get at the end, it'll be nice but probably unrelated to anything we're involved with,” Healina noted.

  “Probably.” I agreed after a moment's thought.

  “So... what about the statues?” Lysandra then reminded us.

  “Lana, do you think it's like that one dungeon we did a while back?” Heali asked me.

  “Hmm?” I tilted my head curiously, then snapped my fingers. “Oh! That one, with the statues you had to move; could be!” I nodded.

  “Moving statues, huh?” the werewolf-girl said, heading to the blue-tinged ones.

  “Given the angles here, they're probably meant to mirror each other,” I said as I looked more closely.

  “Agreed.” Ari said as we moved towards the green ones.

  As it turned out, two of them on each side were immovable, which left the other four for us to move. Not a hard puzzle, all in all. When they were all in the correct position, a large door opened, leading into a smaller chamber. There was a chest seated at the far end, with lots of caskets, gems, and other trinkets sitting around it.

  “Oooh, pretty!” Ariana smiled as we entered.

  “Still no boss, huh?” I remarked.

  “I'm all for a simple dungeon right now.” Heali grinned. “Though there is one more puzzle here... I'll just adjust these like so,” she continued as she made her way over to a set of four figurines, which she turned so that they all faced each other. A small door opened, revealing an ancient tome tucked inside the wall.

  “Oh neat, what's that?” Lysandra wondered as we all gathered around. Heali pulled it out, and examined the cover.

  “Gawd!” she exclaimed a moment later. “This is an agricultural almanac! Ohh, perfect!” she squealed in delight.

  “Niiice,” I smiled. “And this treasure here is all just a bonus,” I looked over at the wealth of stuff lying on the ground nearby.

  “Right?” Ari grinned.

  “Can we get it all out...?” Myanihia wondered.

  “Hmm...” I mused, looking at it all.

  “I guess I could shrink it... temporarily,” Ari then said.

  “Works for me!” Lysandra said. “Let's get our loot and go!”

  ***

  “What a haul.” Heali said later as we counted our earnings back in Bethelia. She herself was more focused on the ingredients we had collected, though.

  “Right?” my partner smiled in answer.

  “It'll be a while before I manage to find an effective antidote, but once I do I should even be able to apply it in spell-form.” the Sea Elf told us.

  “I am grateful, Lady Lana, that you have managed to find an answer to the deadly poison of our enemies,” Dracuoatlax, in his human form, remarked.

  “Just be careful in here for now; we don't know what effect the individual ingredients might have on you,” I cautioned him.

  “Agreed. I shall leave you to your work, and continue guarding this estate.” he said, and headed out to do just that.

  “And... done!” Lysandra announced triumphantly.

  “Hm? Already?” I looked over in amazement.

  “With that pile, anyway,” she then added with a wry expression.

  “Ahh...” I returned, a dry smile on my face.

  “Do you want, to switch piles?” her twin grinned.

  “That one's harder,” the other twin softly pouted, and Myanihia giggled.

  “True.” she agreed.

  “But when we're done, that scholar-guild will definitely want these. I bet Eyra will be banging down our door the second we mention what we have,” the werewolf-girl said, looking over the various artifacts we had brought up from the temple.

  We'd been sorting them into five basic piles; weapons, coins, trinkets, jewellery, and gems. There was still a great deal for us to sort out from the myriad we had found. Included among the trinkets were four figurines, of course; and many of the coins bore the image of one or another of the four creatures or deities as well. At least five coins had all four filigreed onto them.

  “Just a good old fashioned adventure quest with an excellent reward, huh?” Healina smiled.

  “I can see it now: 'Arizona Tom and the Sunken Temple',” I said, and we all laughed.