Refreshed, the team pressed on in the middle of the night. The moon hung high in the sky outside the windows of the tower, telling Merdon it was around midnight. His armor was polished, wiped down, and ready to go yet again. In fact, Red felt he looked more ready than when they entered the tower. It felt like the old Merdon was leading them, the one that methodically dealt with a fort full of thieves rather than the bestial one who had annihilated a building full of slavers. He was cautious, checking corners, his sword and shield at the ready, each step taken with diligence and thought. Their pace slowed, but Red was more assured of their approach that way. She kept herself ready as well, minding her power, ready to ignite at the first sign of trouble. Unfortunately, the first sign of trouble wasn't something she could burn her way through. Her stomach curdled as they reached the top of the stairs and entered the next floor.

What was supposed to be any trap ended up being the greatest trap of them all. As they passed through the door it closed behind them, and the scenery changed suddenly and drastically. White stone walls were replaced by a field of yellowed grass as if they were in a place where rain hadn't fallen in weeks. Sweltering heat beat down on them from above like a smith's hammer, nearly flooring Skyeyes with its unexpected arrival. Red gasped and turned about only to find it too late as the closed door melted away into thin air. Even as she reached for where it had been before her claw met nothing. She cursed and turned back around. This wasn't the right floor, she had been counting. It shouldn't have been here, yet they stood in the most infamous trap of the witch's tower.

Merdon turned towards her and pulled his helmet off, his head already dripping with sweat. “What happened?” he asked her, knowing as well as she did they weren't on the right floor.

“The witch must have moved us,” she commented with a frown. “We saw her manipulate the maze, perhaps she slid us around the tower slower, more quietly.” If they weren't ready for this trap, perhaps it would get them. That's what Red guessed her thought process was.

Merdon grumbled and looked around. “Is the door going to be visible, or will it just vanish like the other one did?” he asked.

Red shook her head. “I don't know. For all I know... we're stuck here.” They hadn't gotten the time to plan the way she wanted. Worst of all, they'd only taken a nap before stumbling into the alternate dimension. Things could have been worse but they certainly weren't good.

“I hope you enjoyed your rest,” the voice of the witch suddenly echoed through the wide-open space, causing Merdon to look around sharply while putting his helmet back on. “Don't worry, I'm not going to attack you. There's no need since you won't be leaving this plane. You see, your kobold friend has the key to open the door, and she's around there somewhere. Of course, she won't give it to you.” Not without harming her at least, and she knew Merdon wouldn't stoop that low.

However, the human realized something else and started sprinting through the field of dead grass. The kobolds behind him looked at each other with confusion before running after him. They hadn't realized what Merdon had picked up in her taunt. If Sarel was on the same floor then she was baking in the same heat they were, and the way it had been phrased made it sound like she had been there ever since she stabbed Merdon. Hours already of dehydration and sitting alone. Merdon was thinking about where she could be. How he would deal with her when he got there was another question to deal with, a bridge to burn when they came to it. For now, his only concern was finding the blue kobold and making sure she was all right.

When Red and Skyeyes caught up and asked him what the problem was, Merdon was able to sum it up very quickly. Their own realization sent them into a panic as well. Both kobolds looked around frantically, but they saw just as much as Merdon had before. They were surrounded by dead grass, leafless trees with sparse branches, and what looked like a mountain range in the distance. It looked similar to some Avant topography but nowhere specific Merdon could think of. He was at a loss as to where to look and considering how far he had run they definitely weren't trapped in a disguised room. No wall had impeded his progress. As far as they knew, Sarel could be on the other side of an ocean that they were unable to see. She had many hours of a head start and hadn't left any clear trail through the grasslands. The only thing they could do was pick a direction and travel in it.

Skyeyes suggested splitting up, but Red and Merdon shut him down. Red on the grounds of the witch's power. If they separated, any one of them could get abducted and brainwashed next. Merdon because of the size of the area they were in. Splitting up might increase the chances of finding Sarel, as well as the key and the door out, but it could have also meant dooming the others to wandering the alternate dimension forever. Sticking together would limit their search, maybe none of them would get out where one could, but it was the best choice they had. Ultimately, they had to pick a direction or landmark and just start walking. So Merdon looked around and pointed towards a group of trees in the distance. It wasn't too far, wasn't too close, but the heat would make it feel like a much longer trip.

The more they traveled the worse it seemed the heat got. Eventually, Merdon's armor was hot to the touch on the outside, and his helmet was completely abandoned in his sack lest he suffocate. By the time they reached the thicket of trees, he saw from a distance the two kobolds with him had to help remove his armor and pack it away. His body was drenched in sweat, his clothes sticking to every nook and cranny of his back and arms. It was bad enough he was able to remove and wring sweat from his shirt. Whatever the heat was, magical or just part of this dimension's natural weather cycle, it was unbearable. Merdon could hardly imagine trying to live in a place that got that hot and it wasn't even noon judging by the position of the sun. With some effort, the group managed to string parts of a tent up among the branches to create shade they could sit under and regroup. Wandering wasn't going to save Sarel or themselves. They needed to try and work something out, or at least pick another landmark. Something with more natural shade, Merdon insisted before leaning against a tree and sighing.

Red scanned their environment while the boys rested. “What about those rocks?” she asked, pointing just to the side of where they were at the time. Merdon looked over at them, having to squint to see them.

They were white, strangely angled, some flat and others sharp. It gave Merdon a shiver down his spine. That was the last place he wanted to go for some reason, and the way Skyeyes shuddered across from him made him feel like the priest thought the same. On any other day, Merdon would have brushed the notion off and agreed, but today he felt like arguing about it, which a few hours ago he wouldn't have thought of. Right now, with his mind clear, he stopped himself and looked at Red.

“Do you feel anything looking at those stones?”

Red shook her head. “Why?” she asked them, looking at both of them.

Skyeyes looked at Merdon with surprise. “We aren't actually going there,” he said flatly. “That's crazy.”

“Why?” It was all Merdon needed to ask to get the ball rolling in the priest's mind, and Red as well.

“You both feel … afraid of those rocks?” Red asked, glancing back at them. Merdon and Skyeyes nodded in response. “They're charmed,” the mage kobold remarked with a frown.

Merdon stood up and started grabbing the tent down from the branches. “And if the witch doesn't want us to go there, we're going there.”

“What if it's a trap?” Skyeyes asked. “Maybe she made us think that so we'd go towards them instead.”

Red, however, shook her head. “We all saw them earlier but ignored them when we were walking up here. Not one of us said a thing until I gave it some thought.”

“She wants us to ignore them,” Merdon finished the thought. “Making it scary to think about going there means you'd rather explore everything else first, waste your time, your resources, probably even kill you before you finish.” They had to face their fear head-on.

Skyeyes looked at it again and nodded. “Right, that makes sense, but...” He couldn't shake the dread.

Merdon put a hand on the kobold's shoulder and looked down at him. “Relax, I know. I feel the same way. That place is bothering me too, but you have to fight it. Use your rational side.”

The priest sighed and nodded again, trying to keep his determination as they started marching towards the strange rocks. Their desire to turn away, that what they were heading towards was certain doom and not salvation increased with every foot they crossed. It was like the rocks were radiating the ominous feeling, something Merdon pegged as distinctly magical. Halfway there, Red looked back at them and told them she was feeling something significant. Even with her innate magical abilities, they had only just gotten close enough for her to sense something was wrong. If the witch's plan had worked they very well could have wandered through the dried grasslands for days before getting anywhere near the rocks. Good luck was the only thing that had helped them.

By the time they reached the rocks it was easily noon, the sun was high overhead and beating down on them even worse, and Merdon had taken to wrapping his shirt around his head to keep the sun off him even just a little. The kobolds were in an even worse state, Skyeyes in a robe that couldn't be easily converted into a more useful item, and Red fearing for her modesty among the two males. Merdon left them in the shade of a tall rock while he looked around the area. Nothing was radically different up close, they were still white rocks with various and seemingly random shapes. Although, he noted his dread vanished the moment they stepped into the area.

Many of the rocks were chipped but there were no fragments of them anywhere to be found, and it was only because of his kneeling to search the ground that he missed her. A second later he was rolling, his shirt off his head and on the ground, and an empty-eyed Sarel on top of him. Fortunately for him, Merdon was much bigger, harder to take down, and her moment of surprise didn't help for very long. With a grunt, Merdon tossed the blue kobold off of him, sending her tumbling backward out of the rocks and down a gentle slope. He was up without delay and rushing over to make sure she wasn't injured and found her sprinting away from him and the rocks. Confident she was fine, the human gave chase. Without his armor and with his longer legs, Merdon was able to close the gap much faster than expected. The rocks were hardly behind them when he lunged and tackled the kobold to the ground, sending them both spinning again before landing atop her and pinning her down.

“Stop, Sarel!” he shouted down at her. The kobold continued to struggle, but for a brief moment, Merdon saw her face twitch. “You're in there, I know it,” the knight continued. “The witch couldn't just take everything, there has to be some part of you left in there, otherwise Red couldn't have broken free. You have to fight.” What followed was not what Merdon expected.

Sarel continued fighting against him, turning her body in such a way that her feet came up and connected with his most sensitive bits. While he sucked in a lungful of air and grit his teeth, her feet continued to move as she turned. The claws on her feet raked down his chest, drawing blood, as well as against his face, as the kobold thief managed to contort herself out of his grip. Merdon rolled and gripped his new wounds. They were nothing more than scratches, not too deep and certainly not life-threatening, but when Sarel turned to look at him the knight gestured. One of his eyes was forced closed from the blood running down his forehead, making the injury seem much more substantial than it was.

“Look at this,” he compelled her. “How could you have done that if you weren't in there? That's the kind of move I would expect from...” He paused for a moment. It took a lot from him mentally to say it. “From my verakt.”

The thief's face twitched again and her claws flexed as if she were trying to tighten them. To squeeze or grab something that wasn't quite there. Merdon continued to speak to her as if he were leading her out of a dark room, encouraging and calm. Her breathing picked up and her claws found something to grab. A sharp white stone from her pocket which came dangerously close to her throat before a yell from Merdon caused her to stop, just barely.

“Don't do it!” Merdon called, his pupils were needle fine as he focused on the rock. The fact she stopped at all gave him a spark of hope. “I don't know what she's told you, but you can't listen. You have to fight her,” he told Sarel, trying to break through. “All she's done is dulled your senses. She hasn't taken anything from you, not yet. If you do that though... she'll have taken everything. From both of us.”

The blue kobold's claws started to tremble; Merdon could see her coming back to the surface. He kept coaxing her, reassuring her, reminding her. Sarel's claws opened and dropped the rock as she took in a deep breath and stumbled backward to make room between herself and the sharp instrument she'd almost ended herself with. She stared at it in awe, a degree of fear coming over herself before she looked up at Merdon and put a claw to her mouth. Only a few feet away sat her human, her verakt, bloodied by her own claws, dripping onto the grass and the thirsty earth. With no small amount of effort, Sarel stood herself up and rushed over to Merdon. Her eyes scanned his wounds before she hugged him tightly and sobbed while her mind flooded with all the things she had done. That memory of her knife going into his side would haunt her for a long time.

Merdon didn't speak, he just clutched her close, not letting go until she did. Offering a weak smile, he stood up and turned to go back to the others. He was only somewhat surprised they hadn't come rushing over when he yelled. Perhaps they were looking for him back near the rocks. Sarel didn't go with him though. She turned around quickly and snatched the sharp rock off the ground, turning back to meet Merdon's puzzled gaze.

“This is the secret,” she told him. “Quickclaw was told how this was to be used in the event she...” She killed them or they died otherwise. So she could return to the witch. Merdon's only response was to smile. Quickclaw, Sarel, had opened the path forward.

Atop the hill where the rocks sat, Red and Skyeyes were poking around everywhere having noticed that Merdon disappeared. To say they were surprised to see Quickclaw back to her old self would be an understatement. Red practically threw herself at the blue kobold, squeezing her tightly and crying with joy. Skyeyes was more in awe, asking Merdon how he'd accomplished it. The knight was stumped on that point as well while he described what he'd done to the other two kobolds. It seemed simple and obvious to him that Sarel wasn't gone, just buried. All he had done was dug her up from whatever mental grave the witch had buried her in. Which in turn made Red's eyes light up as she came to a realization of her own. One that would hopefully help the party.

“She only seals their memories,” she told them quickly. “You used her name, her real name,” Red continued, excited. “That broke the spell.”

Skyeyes frowned. “How did you escape then?” he asked, crossing his arms.

Red shrugged. “Perhaps she said my name?” It was only a guess. “Or maybe I read it. She could keep documentation of all the kobolds in the tower. It would be impossible to keep up with them all.”

Sarel redirected them shortly. “We can focus on these details later. Skyeyes, Merdon is bleeding.”

The priest nodded and looked at his wounds. “These won't slow us for long, but how do we leave?” he questioned next while walking over to the knight and starting to heal him. His faith had become much less of a bother now.

“The exit is around here somewhere,” the thief told them, holding up the sharp rock. “This fits into a part of the stone.”

The two ladies set out to find that spot while Skyeyes fixed up Merdon. After a time of healing, he paused and frowned heavily. “I don't think these marks are coming off your chest,” he said softly. “The one on your eye was much shallower. These...”

Merdon shrugged and pulled his shirt on over them. “That's fine. Every adventurer gets scars at some point. Comes with the job.”

While they spoke, Sarel called out with joy and, impulsive as ever, slammed the shard into a socket on the rock Merdon had been poking around before she jumped him. The stone lit up and that same glow slowly traveled along every rock in the group. Merdon, Skyeyes, and Red all stood and stared as they started to shine with a faint blue light. Before any of them could ask what was happening, or what would happen, there was a flash. Reality warped and wobbled around them like someone had thrown a rock into a pond, and it made Merdon nauseous. When the shaking faded, they were standing in the middle of a room in the tower, as if they'd never left it. Red clacked her feet against the floor a few times and looked between her companions. They were back.

With all possible haste, Merdon opened his pack and started putting his armor on. It was cool to the touch again and the lot of them were drying off fast now that they were back in the moderate temperature of the tower. Skyeyes and Red fixed themselves as well, as best they could anyway, and the group looked at the door up. The final door to their goal. One last flight of stairs and they would be face to face with the witch of the tower herself. Before they left though, Merdon stepped over to Sarel and pulled her dagger out of his things, passing it back to her with a grin. Sarel hesitated, but only for a moment. Despite everything, he trusted her completely, and she wasn't going to betray him. No magic would make her do that ever again.