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Juleidah sees you staring and smiles. "Do you like it?" "I can't believe what I'm seeing," you answer. "This castle seems scary from the outside, but it's so nice in here!" "Creatures in the enchanted forest often are not what they seem, and neither are we," Juleidah tells you. "We must appear more dangerous than we are in order to frighten away enemies." "We?" you ask, raising an eyebrow at Juleidah. "Oh, yes," she replies. "Did you think I was the only one living here?" She chuckles. "You may wish that were true, after you meet some of the residents." "I'm going to meet them?" "You'll have to," Juleidah answers. "The only one who can help you find a way out of the enchanted forest is the owner of this castle." "I thought you owned it," you say, confused. Juleidah shakes her head. "No, I'm only the caretaker. The Lady Evenstar is the real mistress here. She keeps this castle as a way to protect the creatures of the forest. It serves two purposes--the upper part is a sanctuary for creatures who no longer wish to live in the forest, and the lower part is a prison for creatures who have proven themselves unfit to roam the forest freely." Juleidah's expression grows grave as she points her finger at you. "As a traveler who has wandered into the forest, you are entitled to seek sanctuary here. You are also entitled to ask the Lady Evenstar to use her magic to send you home. To do either, you must first find the Lady Evenstar and prove yourself worthy of her aid." "How do I do that?" Juleidah gestures around her. "By exploring the castle. You are free to go anywhere you wish, though I would strongly suggest you avoid the lower levels. Along the way, you will meet various friendly and unfriendly residents of the castle. The Lady Evenstar will be watching you, to see how well you take the advice of the friendly ones and face the challenges of the unfriendly ones. Each wise decision you make will bring you closer to her chamber." She sees the look on your face and smiles. "Don't worry. It really isn't as hard as it sounds. Every creature you will see made it through this same challenge, and survived--including me." She winks. "Do you have any questions?" "Yes," you reply. "Could you come with me?" Juleidah smiles at that. "Unfortunately, no. I need to stay here--I do have a job to do, after all! What I can do, though, is help you." She points to three small doors at the far end of the hall, each with a creature carved on it.
"Each of those three doors leads to a friendly creature. They can all help you, and they will all probably have good advice for you, but I suggest you start with that one." She points to the second door, which has a picture of a gryphon carved on it. "Kal's a good friend of mine. Tell him I sent you and he'd probably do anything for you...oh, and give him this." She produces a chocolate chip cookie, seemingly from nowhere, and tosses it at you, then turns to leave.
"What's this for?" you call after Juleidah, but she is already gone. You realize that if you don't want to become hopelessly lost, you had better follow her directions, so you put the cookie in your pocket and start toward the end of the hallway. You stand in front of the doors for a few minutes, deciding which one to pick, when a flutter of motion catches your eye and you notice that one of the floor-length windows is also open. What do you do? |
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