Harry Potter and the Fantasy Quest

Chapter 5 - Of Fungus and Gargoyles

When morning came, everyone went about their morning routines in near-silence. The group decided to stay for another entire day, to be certain they were well rested for the journey to come. It also seemed more prudent, at this point, to travel by cover of night. They ate some dried meat and fruits they still had, and Ron and Ginny went foraging to find what more they could, knowing they would soon enter the fortress and would lose the opportunity of finding fresh food. They decided to leave the monetary treasures behind, and everything else was packed up.

Once everyone had returned from their various tasks, they had to determine their plan of action. Clearly, they couldn't just walk up to the fortress, knock on the door, and ask to see the wizard. Besides the fact that the idea sounded entirely too "Wizard of Oz" in Harry's head, it simply wasn't smart.

"I don't think we should go through the village," said Ron, sketching on the floor of the cave with a stick. "We don't know the wizard's level of influence there, and he almost definitely will have spies. He already knows we're coming; no point in announcing where we are and when we might get to him."

"Okay," said Hermione, pointing out things on his sketch and leaning perhaps a little closer to Ron than was really necessary. "So, we circle around this way, using the rocks and darkness as cover, and climb up the mountain. That will be difficult going. And how will we get in?"

"Once we get close, I'll go have a look around," Fred answered. "I should be able to find some sort of back door and lead you to it."

"We'll also want to get water from the stream that comes down the mountain," commented Ginny. "It's unlikely we'll find fresh water once we're inside, and there's no way of knowing how long it will take us to fight our way through."

"I can create food and water for all of us each day," admitted Hermione. "I don't have many spells of that level, though, so I'd like to wait to depend on that until it's absolutely necessary."

When night fell, Hermione cast Status on everyone so that she could keep track of how they were doing at all times, and George cast Mage Armor on himself. These things had become routine, just like meditations or breaking camp.

After settling a few final details, they were ready to set off. Circling around the village without being seen proved to be incredibly easy. There didn't even appear to be any guards or sentries. This evil wizard most likely didn't want any sort of threat to his authority.

Climbing up the mountain provided a great deal more difficulty. Several of them had rope and climbing equipment with them, which all shared. Harry and Hermione opted to store their heavy armor in the Portable Hole, especially since neither of them were very good climbers in the first place. Fred took one of his Spider Climb potions and scrambled around with no trouble at all. However, this eventually wore off, leaving him to sweat like the others, though he was still very nimble.

As dawn began to lighten the sky, the party found a small crevice that served as a cave to use as shelter during the day. They rested as well as they could and continued on, taking a slight detour by the mountain stream to refill their water bags. By the end of the second night, they had reached the base of the fortress. True to his word, Fred went to scout around it and see what he could find. He came back to report that he had found a small door, almost blending in with the rock face, which appeared to give entrance into the lowest levels.

"The wizard himself is probably at the top," Harry said grimly. "That means we'll have to fight our way through every protection and magical experiment he's got in there."

Still, there was nothing for it but to go on. Dawn was approaching, and being caught at the wizard's proverbial doorstep in daylight was no better than being inside. Fred decided this would be a good time to use his Potion of Vision, so he drank it and checked the door for traps. As he was doing this, Harry and Hermione took the opportunity to put their armor back on. Fred found a magical trap and proceeded to disable it. This took a significant period of time, during which everyone was beginning to get a bit nervous. When Fred unlocked the door and opened it while suffering no ill effects, the group breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Inside was a plain, stone room, not very large. There was a door to the left and a door in front of them. Just after they all got inside and closed the door behind them, they realized it was quite dark.

"Don't panic, anyone," said one of the twins. Harry wasn't sure which one until the next words made it clear it was George. "I was hoping I'd find this spell useful. Continual Flame!"

Instantly, a flame appeared in George's hand (the one not wearing his Glove of Storing). It appeared to be emanating from a coin he held and illuminated as brightly as a torch. Before anyone could say anything, though, a horrible shrieking sound came from the room on their left. Looking at one another in resignation, they rushed through the door, which was unlocked, Fred and Ron in the lead. Unfortunately, it took a second longer for George's light to reach them, so they were still searching for the source of the screaming when Harry heard something slightly squishy connecting with his armor. As he turned to his right, George's light entered the room behind him, and Harry could see that the source of this sound was a tentacle emanating from a large, purple fungus. In fact, the room seemed to be lined with several of them.

From behind him, Harry heard sounds of a struggle and Hermione and Ginny casting spells. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ron and Draco spreading out to Harry's left to engage other mushrooms. George was casting Magic Missile at something, and Harry struck twice at the fungus that had tried to attack him. It stopped moving. Shortly thereafter, the shrieking stopped, and Harry turned to see what was going on in the rest of the room.

Fred and Ginny weren't looking to good, engaging one of the tentacled fungi. (Harry noted that only three had those tentacles; the others did not.) Another of the things with tentacles was creeping slowly closer and trying to attack, but Hermione hit it with her mace. Ron was striking a fungus without tentacles, as was Draco. Ginny struck at the tentacled one before her with a sword of flame, causing it to stop moving. George cast two Magic Missiles at the plain fungus in front of him, then tossed a third at the one Ginny had just hit, apparently to be sure it was no further threat. Harry moved into a position where he could attack the fungus engaging Hermione and Fred. It sent two tentacles against Harry, one against Hermione, and one against Fred. Only the one on Fred hit, but he didn't seem too badly hurt. He rallied and struck the fungus a blow. Hermione also hit it, causing it to stop dead. Ron came up behind them at last, and Ginny cast Neutralize Poison on herself. Draco finished what he was doing and joined the group to ascertain the damage.

"We just battled a bunch of mushrooms," Ron said in disbelief. Hermione gave a nervous giggle. It did sound rather silly, said right out like that. However, the situation was still fairly serious. Only Fred and Ginny had been hit by the tentacles, which turned out to be poisonous. Ginny had already neutralized the poison in herself; now, she did the same for Fred. Unfortunately, they'd both already been weakened by the effects of the poison. After some discussion, Ginny restored her own strength and constitution, and Hermione restored Fred's. Since the actual slaps of the tentacles had done negligible damage, this effectively put everyone into peak health to continue their explorations.

While these matters had been attended to, the fungi had disappeared and been replaced with some coins and two suits of armor: studded leather and full plate mail. Harry felt that they already had plenty of studded leather armor, but others thought that it still might be good to have one extra set. Hermione, meanwhile, was studying the plate mail.

"I know it isn't magic," she said, George having already checked this, "but it would still provide me more protection than what I've got."

"It is rather heavy and uncomfortable," Harry warned her.

"I know, but I think the reduced risk of being hurt will be worth the inconvenience." Her decision made, she took off the chain mail and replaced it with the plate mail. As had become customary, the entire group ignored the coins and returned to the entrance chamber, as there was no other door out of this room. Since they all felt pretty good, and they were anxious to get a little further away from the outer door, they proceeded to the other door in the room. It was locked, but there were no traps, and Fred soon had it open.

This was a large, mostly empty room with high ceilings. As they approached the far side, they could see a double door flanked by two pedestals about 20 feet high. On top of each pedestal sat an ugly statue. Only, they weren't statues.

Harry realized that these stonelike figures were actually living beings, but it was too late to shout a warning as they both dove toward the party, one attacking Draco, and the other clawing Ginny. Draco tried to hit back, with apparently no effect. Fred drew his bow, and Hermione began casting a spell. Harry moved to assist Ginny.

Ron came in to join him, hitting the gargoyle with his sword. George cast Magic Missile at the same one, and Harry, out of the corner of his eye, saw Fred climbing up the wall like an insect. Hermione finished casting her spell, and a creature that looked something like a small tornado appeared in the air and slammed the gargoyle. Ginny slashed at the gargoyle with her scimitar, doing some damage, while her Dire Weasel attempted to bite but could not reach. Harry hit with two massive strikes, knocking the monster down.

At this point, attention turned toward Draco, engaged alone with the other gargoyle. He didn't seem to be badly hurt, but all his flailing against the creature also appeared to be ineffectual.

"So, what should we do?" asked Ron, not eager to go in to help Malfoy.

"We could let it kill him," responded George. "Though it looks like it'll take its bloody time about it."

"If we don't defeat the creature," put in Fred thoughtfully from his vantage point on the wall, "we may not get the treasure."

"Oh, this is ridiculous!" Hermione exclaimed. She sent her summoned air elemental against the second gargoyle, which hit it and threw it off balance a little. Ginny cast Magic Fang on her Dire Weasel, which then sank its teeth into the first gargoyle for good measure. Harry decided to follow Hermione's lead and went in to Draco's rescue, driving his sword into the second gargoyle.

Ron remained out of the fight, instead checking on his sister as the surviving monster bit and clawed Draco. Draco managed to disengage himself from combat, though the creature attempted one last swipe at him as he left. Fred fired his bow and missed, exploding the arrow against the far wall. The air elemental missed this time, but Hermione used her Wand of Magic Missile on the gargoyle to good effect. Ginny ran in and swung, her scimitar bouncing off the creature's thick skin, but her Dire Weasel managed to bite and get a hold. Harry made one final blow, knocking this one down.

Ginny gently urged her animal companion away, giving it some food. Everyone checked on wounds, of which there were few. Draco did his mystical self-healing as their earned treasure appeared on the floor: a pile of gold coins, an idol made of gold, a gold bracelet, and a simple coronet. Just as George was confirming that the only magical item was the coronet, the DM appeared. She looked a little different, but Harry couldn't quite place what was wrong.

"Congratulations!" she told them all. "Not only have you made your way into the fortress, but you have also all achieved 8^th level."

"Are you pregnant?" Hermione asked the DM, before anyone could ask what she'd meant by the prior comment.

"Yes," said the DM. "It will be my second child, in fact."

"But you didn't look pregnant a few days ago," Ron protested, looking confused. The DM sighed.

"Time works differently for me than it does for you," she answered. "Let's just leave it at that. Oh, to save time, that item is a minor Circlet of Blasting. Also, because of all the monetary treasure you've had to leave behind, one of your group can exchange an ordinary weapon for a magic one with a +1 bonus."

"Well, I don't have one yet," Draco said, in a voice that implied he was expecting a struggle. "But I also want the Circlet of Blasting."

This started a major argument, of course. Harry opted not to get involved, as he felt the conflict was less over whether anyone else could make better use of the artifact and more that no one really wanted Malfoy to have anything that valuable. After several attempts to quiet the party, the DM raised her hands over her head, causing a loud thunderclap to resonate through the chamber.

"Sure, just tell the evil wizard where we are," accused Fred after a moment of shocked silence.

"Don't worry," said the DM with a careless wave of her hand. "While I am here, only you can hear what's going on in this room. Now, can we come to an agreement, or will I have to dictate to you to move things along?"

Ginny jumped in before the argument could start again.

"Why didn't Malfoy seem able to do anything against that thing?" she asked.

"An excellent question. It so happens that Gargoyles have a defense called damage reduction; they ignore most damage from non-magical weapons."

"All the more reason I should get a magic weapon," Draco added at this point, sticking his chin in the air stubbornly. "We may come up against more of these creatures."

No one really had a significant objection to this, as everyone else already had a magic weapon. He asked for his nunkachu to become magical, and the DM complied, concurrently causing the gold items to disappear.

"Now, I suggest that you also allow Mr. Malfoy the Circlet of Blasting. He has no ranged weapon other than his ordinary sling, and all the rest of you either have formidable spells, weapons, or other magic devices that can attack from a distance," the DM told everyone.

Although nobody (except Draco) seemed particularly happy with this arrangement, they couldn't deny that she was right. With the DM's oversight, the item was handed over.

"It's only good once a day, anyway," the Dungeon Master pointed out. "Now for the level issues. After you take the time to rest, you all will acquire your new level. Ron and Harry will get access to 2^nd level spells for their classes. George, you may choose one new 0-level and one new Level 4 spell. Everyone also gets an increase to one ability; I have already determined what these will be. In addition, you will all become tougher, and everyone but George now has two attacks at a time. Ginny, you can now transform into a large animal, as well as the black bear. Once you have chosen the shape, it will be so. That covers the key things you need to know. Any questions?"

Harry thought he could come up with about a thousand, but he was unable to frame anything. The others just shook their heads, and the woman disappeared.

"Well, I suppose we ought to get that rest, then," said Harry at last. "This doesn't look all that secure, though."

"Let me take care of that," replied George cheerfully. "Gather round, everyone. Leomund's Tiny Hut!"

A shimmer appeared in a sort of dome around their group, but Harry didn't see any other difference.

"It's not much," George admitted, "but it will keep other creatures out. You guys can leave and enter at will, but no other living thing can. Arrows and stuff can penetrate, but it's opaque from the outside, so at least it enables us to see our enemies without them seeing us."

They set an order for keeping watch and prepared to bed down. Ginny decided that her new form would be a tiger. Harry was beginning to realize that Ginny was much more dangerous than he had previously thought her. Her strange affinity to animals and seeming disassociation from people was also rather disturbing. He hoped it was merely an effect of the part she was playing in this world.

Meanwhile, George was musing about the new spells he'd choose.

"What's the point of a new 0-level one?" he asked, mainly to himself. "I guess I'll pick Disrupt Undead; it seems likely we'll meet some in a place like this. As for 4^th level...I'll learn Stoneskin. That should be useful."

The conversations began to fade as all the party members but Hermione, who had first watch, gradually chose portions of the dome and went to sleep.