Gish had about the same reaction as the boys without the good fortune to have fallen into the pool. She scrambled her way back from where the stranger had lay and Luciel had landed. Sitting on her haunches she surveyed the scene and silently cursed that her stealthy withdrawal had been in no way stealthy.

Tense as she was she couldn't help replying, especially since Luciel had the young guy covered if it came to that. She crept closer to him, trying her best to keep her head down. "I'm not going to eat you." she said hastily, but with no offence. It wasn't the first time someone had thought that. She followed up Luciel's questions. While he might not be comfortable speaking to this stranger she couln't restrain herdelf from doing so. "We were just passing through. Lost. We didn't see you. We just stumbled onto this place. We're not going to do anything. Do you live here? Is this your house? Are those your weird scarecrows?"

More questions would have spilled out, but she stopped to Help Luciel to his feet and her train of thought derailed. Instead, she just said, "I'm Gish," and was surprised at how easily that moniker was coming to her after only a few times.

Victor was revolted by the tentacled monstrosity, the strange thing the Witch Rose seemed intent on interacting with. He backed up a bit from the two, intent on not being to near the possible danger, and began scanning the area around the cottage. He found little of interest aside from the scarecrows that had already been acknowledged... and then he felt Luciel tumble off of his back. He turned and watched as Luciel and the small woman named Gish attempted to get away from the main group, possibly because of the tentacled monstrosity. He watched as they made their way to the small pond, before... tripping into it.

Both the small beings seemed to have run over something lying down in the grass and tumbled into the pond, having to swim to the other side before seemingly... talking and in Luciel's case threatening whatever they had tripped on. Seeing as they did not immediately realize it was just a rock like Victor had been expecting his smile faded into a frown, obviously they had tripped over something alive... and possibly intelligent. Victor decided this was infinitely more interesting and safer than the tentacles monstrosity, and began to make his way towards the pond through the tall grass. Unlike his smaller companions he took his time, and did not trip over the young boy the other two had, instead standing over him, his eyes piercing down into the little spy.

He looked up at Luciel and Gish chuckling, "Oh my, it would appear you were both laid low by a young boy crouching in the dirt, how unfortunate.", he looked back down at the small boy, his helmet hiding his devillish grin as he spoke. "Now, who are you, and why have you not revealed yourself to us boy? You afraid of something?"

As I recovered, they seemed less threatening the further they spoke. I'd lower my guard just a bit to speak up, gathering what courage I had. "My name is William, I-I think. No I don't have anything to do with this place. Or, at least that I'm aware of. I woke up in the hallway and I was rather thirsty, I-I saw you guys..and I..thought you were monsters or something...an-and i needed the water so I tried sneaking down he-here." I said in a nervous matter, my paranoia increasing when the much larger, third stranger approach and spoke up. I couldn't explain it, but something about his mere presence gave off red flags in my head.

However what confused me was their demeanor, as I was expecting to be attacked by monsters they seemed almost, if not just as, confused of the place as I was. While it could be a mere ploy for malicious creatures to lower my guard, I did so regardless, just a bit at least. Standing up from the rock and rubbing the back of my head before pulling my dark hood over my snow-white hair. It just dawned onto me how strangely malevolent my attire seemed, dark robes with various red markings and a hood to match isn't exactly the most friendly of clothing. Looking at my sleeves I looked back up to the group before stammering. "O-oh sorry no I'm not a monster either!"

Introductions being exchanged, Luciel flinched as Gish touched him before accepting being helped to his feet with a small 'szank you'. The backstory behind this William individual seemed harmlessly standard. Strange as it was for people to simply wake up in a cave without knowing why or how, the chimera was at least glad that the boy didn't seem dangerous...or at least not nearly as dangerous as Victor, who had followed them.
With Victor there, as dark as the vibes he radiated with were, Luciel eased himself down from his aggressive stance. "William..." he softly chirped in a greeting tone and a nod of his head, squeezing water from his cloak with a free hand. The idea of allying with yet another human still bothered them, regardless of their stature, but it was only polite to follow along with formalities. "Ehn I am Luciel" he offered, shooting an annoyed look at Victor for teasing them about tripping over William. To be fair, he had tripped over Gish, but it didn't matter that much since Luciel imagined giving Victor an inch would only lead to further teasing.

"Vee should not linger, zehr iz a foulness to zeis place" Luciel mused to no one in particular, having not lost sight of the reason for this chance meeting. William's motion of inspecting his clothes reminded the chimera of his own hood which he pulled over his head as well.
It was oddly comical in Luciel's mind how William assured them he was not a monster as there were many sharp words they could sling to discredit the claim, but now wasn't the time to be slinging racist remarks. Instead, he distracted himself with topping off a waterskin in the pond since it didn't seem to have any poisonous affect on the newcomer.
Again his thoughts turned to the cottage, wondering if there were locks on any of the doors for the sake of keeping the strange scarecrows and whatever they had just seen safely separated from the group while they collected themselves. A cave, it may be, but the feeling of being outside and exposed to light was beginning to wear on Luciel's nerves in a slightly agoraphobic sense.

Echo got untangled and stayed away from the silk after Lila helped him out of it. The fight didn't leave much space for him to get involved, but it ended quickly afterwards. As the fight ended and Cyrano began eating on the dead undead man, introductions began to be exchanged. Echo found a good spot and began to write with his light as the others introduced themselves. "Hello, I am mute and my name is Echo." The group had set the dead man on fire now and he was quite efficiently turning to ash now. He gave a bow to everyone as the introduced themselves in a sense to say 'it's nice to meet you' with his actions.

Unyat watched the group descend towards him, and was struck by curiosity. Each of them were interesting in their own right, the animal thing was something he wanted to know more about. he had not seen such a creature before. As he stared intently on the chimera the woman said something to him. It took several moments before he realized that she was addressing him. Turning his gaze to the woman he noted her defensive stance, something that was entirely normal for Unyat as he was rarely greeted with open arms.

He struggled with the language, even though he knew it was some kind of greeting or hail he was unsure of the reply. Grumbling to himself in several languages lost to time before he tried one, but when he spoke they only heard brutal sounding gibberish. Noting their confused reaction, he tried again with another language, "Greetings, I am Unyat, the seeker Gods." Each word sounded as though he was pronouncing it very carefully and deliberately. For those with magical knowledge, it seemed that he was somewhat treating language as a communication spell where each word had to be pronounced exactly or it would not work.

After speaking he shifted again to watch the animal creature intently, as though he were studying its every movement and trying to understand how the creature worked.

The undead that had attacked them had been dispatched in a most gruesome manor. Lila was sure she did not want to be on the receiving end of Fazra's hammer. The gargoyle had started to eat the much to her surprise. She may be considered a monster herself, but eating such never came to her mind. Mathias thankfully offered a reasonable solution and the body was burned. Oddly it seemed they all watched the thing slowly reduce to ashes

Cyrano made his way over and decided to stop by Lila. She was not entirely sure what to make of the creature made of stone. He was not like any stone golem she'd ever seen. He was much less cobbled together and had more of a... natural appearance? She did not quite have the words to describe it ever to herself. Never the less she was asked about herself and Mathias. Shaking her head she gestured back down the tunnel they'd come from. "No not at all. I would say that it's only been a couple hours since we've met. I was rescued from the water by Sir Godfrey. I am thankful to him for that and that he did not attempt to kill me in such a helpless state." Looking around to all the others she thought it perhaps a good time to try and learn something of this place.

Directed at no one in particular Lila put her hands together "I thought that as a creature of the depth I had a fairly good knowledge of the underground. However I do not recognize anything here. Even the air seems different. Do any of you know where it is we are?" Probably a bit wordy, but speaking with people wasn't the most common thing for her. It was actually quite exciting to have the chance to speak freely without the undue risk that was usually afforded her.

@squints

Cyrano listened and considered lilas words carefully, head cocked to one side, watching the fire burn away the monstrosity.
He nodded at her words as she finished speaking and posed her question to the group, reflecting on his own experiences since entering the Endless halls.
@t2wave
"We as well have only been venturing together for a short time, and I myself at least have only been in these halls for a short time. I don't know where we are... or even have much more than a vague memory of anything before the halls."
Cyrano twitched his ears back and forth, something that might have been the gargoyle version of a consternated frown passing over his face.
"Do you then have memories beyond this place?" He asked her hesitantly, but also eagerly, and continued "or some other frame of reference whereby we can understand where we are?"

Rose nodded slowly as the creature introduced himself. "Uh-huh. I'm sure we'll be great friends, uh... Unyat." Her grin slowly grew. "Alright, Unyat the Seeker... Gods." She lowered her staff, once again using it to support herself. "So, you're not the hostile sort of creature are you? I'm assuming so, since you haven't attacked us yet. If that's so you can be sure that I won't attack you either." Rose said with a small wink, unsure if the creature would understand what a wink was. Rose spoke again, "Well, if you're not going to attack us, I'll go and inform my companions, who seem to have conveniently disappeared. That must mean they trust my ability to protect them! I'm sure. It's nice to know that they have so much faith in me. I mean, they wouldn't just leave me to get killed by some sort of eldritch abomination, right? Uh, no offense, Unyat." Rose wasn't really talking to him anymore- she was talking for her own benefit, reveling in her own train of thought. She cleared her throat, "Well, uh, I'm going to... yeah..." She said, beginning to back away towards the lake midway through her sentence.

Rose found that their party had grew since she last saw them. "Oh! Little Luciel, Gish, it appears you've made a new fr-" She stopped mid-sentence, sniffing the air. What was that smell? She followed it slowly, and found herself slowly edging closer towards the new arrival. She approached him quickly, moving her face unreasonably close to his body and sniffing him. She backed away. "I don't like the way you smell." She stated plainly, offering no explanation for her strange behavior. "Anyways... the monster. His name is Unyat, and it doesn't seem like he means us any harm. All the same I'd be wary of him... and this one as well." She said, gesturing towards William. Despite her serious tone a sly smile still graced her face. She would've also warned them to be wary of Victor, but it wasn't hard to tell that he'd already become accepted into their group.

Rose moved to examine the lake. She looked into it making a queer face. The lake bottom was completely smooth, with no evident pathway for the water to drain itself from. "Hmmmmm... how strange... no river, no hole to drain into... this cavern has quite the mystery going, wouldn't you agree?" She said to no one in particular. "Perhaps we should just leave. After all, poking around places like this rarely helps... although I would like to know what those scarecrows are. And that cottage could have something in it... who knows?" She said with a coy smile. "I'll leave the decision to... Miss Gish." She said, nodding to herself, clearly pleased with her decision to not decide and her notion to pick the group's leader without input from the others. Rose had seemed to have taken the leading role in the group for herself, but even Rose knew that this wasn't a great idea. Who in their right mind would let Rose lead? That would simply be asking for trouble.

"If I might add, I don't really like this place, although I am curious about it. But don't let me influence your decision." It seemed like Rose was intent on arguing both sides. "I do have one more piece of advice that may influence our decision to investigate. The scarecrows... I am at least seventy-eight percent sure that they have been made by a witch." Seventy-eight was an arbitrary number, as Rose was actually quite certain they were of witch-origin. "Although... well, I'm sure most of you don't really know all that much about witches, so allow me to provide some exposition. Witch's aren't necessarily evil, you see... of course stories would have you believe otherwise, but there's an important distinction to be made. Witches, you see, come in two varieties." Rose held up two fingers to cement the idea. "You see, there are the witch's that most of you are familiar with, which are called Malevolent Witches. The evil sort, you know? But there are also Benevolent Witches. They're technically witches, but instead of doing the typical 'witch' things they're more like... folk healers. They use White Magic. While the Malevolent sort uses Black Magic. Simple, right?" Rose wrapped up her explanation that no one actually asked for. There were much more caveats to the classification of witches, but Rose didn't care to explain them. "Of course I'm explaining this because I suspect the witch that made those uses White Magic and I'm feeling helpful." She gave a wink to Gish and then took a seat, deciding to be a simple observer of what the group would do.

Gish was about to answer when Victor wandered up, and she cursed herself for letting the opportunity to pass on Rose's warning slip through her fingers. "It's not that strange, you know." She said to William. "Waking up here, I mean. It's what I did. I don't think it's that uncommon to just end up here somehow. I don't know why, but there's a reason for it. I'm sure. You'll find it."

Rose had come up while she had been talking and Gish tensed up when she leaned close to William and declared that he smelled wrong. Gish had no idea what that meant, except that maybe the witch didn't find him very appetizing. She told them that the monster, which could apparently speak, was named Unyat and that it, apparently speaking, meant no harm. Gish glanced back at the slithering mess and wasn't sure she bought that, but Rose hadn't either and advised caution against it and William. She didn't quite see what the witch had against him, and the sly little smile that was constantly on her face made her think the she was just playing some headgame with them.

The next thing she said, however, made her think there was some sort of game she was playing with Gish in particular. After looking into the water and confirming that there was nowhere for this water to drain she was shocked when Rose passed off the decision of whether to stay or leave onto her. She didn't even know what that wink meant. Was there such a thing as good witches or was that a lie? There were different versions of the old story and she'd never believed them. Her mother had never told her about good witches, and she'd normally take that as gospel, but there was this doubt now wrapped around her brain like a snake. Despite Luciel's and Rose's opinions this place didn't feel bad barring the slithery mess hanging around. This place felt like her home. Maybe if there was white magic she could find something in the house to help protect her against the bad kind. Maybe then she'd feel safe asking Rose a few questions.

She swallowed deeply, took one more nervous glance over at Unyat, and said "I want to look in the house. Let's all look in the house." Then, blatantly giving some shallow justification, said, "There might be food. We're going to have to eat down here so we shouldn't pass that up." She didn't feel bad stealing from someone's home, it was practically how she got every little luxury she owned. Happy that this was justified with good sense she set off to take a closer look at the cottage.

Victor was going to listen to their new found 'friend' before he realized how little he cared. Honestly, he intended to suck him dry if given the chance. No reason to keep two blood-bags around when one of them appeared quite tougher and less afraid than the other one. But, unless he wished to reveal himself he couldn't very well do it right now. As the boy William talked Victor was attempting to manufacture a situation in his mind where dining on the boy would become possible, and even easy. Unfourtanetly the Witch Rose intervened again, quietly Victor wished the strange creature had eaten her... but it appeared she had learned its name. This 'Unyat' she said was friendly if strange, and seeing as she was a Witch Victor was inclined to believe her. She had other ways of killing them all without letting some cave creature devour them so he took her at face value. The way she commented about William brought a smile to Victors hidden face, hopefully it meant she would not try to protect him, giving Victor the edge he needed to slake his thirst in duplicate.

He was rather surprised at her view of the scarecrows and their origin, more that she went innto the nature of witches than anything else. He disliked all witches be they light ir dark as all could become a nuisance to a vampire. More powerful ones were outright dangerous to them, and he would already need to watch his step with Miss Rose let alone another witch. Regardless, Victor was intent on drinking soon seeing as he still had no idea when the last time he had sated himself had been. When Rose gave the command for Gish to decide where the little company would be going Victor was abiut to make a case for their heading to the cabin before Rose started prattling on again, supporting both sides of the arguement like a damn fool. Victor growled quietly beneath his helmet as the Witch was already beggining to grate on him. Then, once she had finished he prepared to give his case when Gish herself headed him off, deciding they woulld indeed be going to the cottage. He smiled widely, and sloshed across the shallow pond to Luciel, who he gently but firmly brought to his feet, "Come Luciel! Gish leads the way now!", he chuckled, gripping the boys shoulder firmly to pick him up and point him in the direction of the cottage, not wanting his primary food source to leave his side. Before he left with Luciel he also picked up William, smiling, "Welcome to our little merry band William!", and similarly giving him a light push to the cottage... if he was lucky and careful he may very well eat tonight.

@squints
So it seemed that she and Mathias were not the only ones that had just appeared here. That was not uplifting. Truth be told her memory was mostly intact, but the journey down she was unconscious so all of that was missing. Stroking her hair a bit she leaned her head to one side. "I remember things before coming here. I know I was swept here by water but I do not know how far I have come or the direction to go back. This place is quite confusing as I have seen light coming through. The air is strange here though."

Even having a moment to breath barely eased the small sting of adrenaline, Luciel meeting the many moving eyes of the beast that identified itself as 'Unyat' in a plural sense. It was moments after this that the chimera was tilting his head, flicking an ear as he could've sworn the strange growths on top of their new...associate had moved. Tiny eyes and clicking teeth glinting confirmed this, sending a ring of tinnitus through his senses as he took a step back only to find his legs lock up and feel numb.
Luciel came back to his senses, shaking off almost fainting as he propped himself up on an elbow and rubbing his face with a groan, thankful the ground was at least soft enough so as not to inflict any more than a sore arm after landing on a shackle bruise.
'Why couldn't it have just been a normal, empty cave?

The very thought of looking at Unyat made Luciel's skin crawl, but he'd apparently refocused during an explanation by Rose in regards to the scarecrows. Her talk of percents went over his head, as he found it simply a needlessly fancy way of saying 'I'm pretty sure'. Convoluted human-speak, it summed up to be, though he was curious why Rose would name Gish as the group leader.
All of the effort going into explaining witches, naming people as leaders, cheeky winks...subtle implications drew Luciel to conclude Rose was trying quite hard to be friendly with the group, immediately making him skeptical of her intentions. To him, witches were just made-up antagonists in children's books to encourage them to obey out of fear of being eaten by haggard crones. In all honesty, to even call anyone a witch was a notion steeped in misunderstanding. People simply want, and those who use magic to get what they want are called 'witches' by those jealous of their power. The color that goes along with them is as meaningless as the size of their boots, as the toils of human aspirations cannot so simply be summed up with the hue of a color...the very idea was presumptuous and forgettable.

It wasn't hard for Luciel to sum up Rose's explanation as a sort of redirection, though it was tricky to tell from what.
Gish's explanation with William nearby made him slightly curious of the group. Everyone seemed to have either been from this cave or just appeared in it in rapid succession timed apparently just before he blindly walked in. Though he didn't think it would be polite for him to make a joke about it being weird since he found the cave on his own accord, he did have the heart to say, "Vell...I just vahndered in...to zeh cave."
His voice trailed off as he looked away, easing himself into better footing before simply being hauled to his feet by Victor who came sloshing across the shallows of the pond to do so.

Luciel was glad that they could come to a consensus regarding a plan. Worst case was that the cottage was occupied and they'd have the opportunity to ask for directions or maybe if it was okay to camp...well, no...worst case scenario was that the chimera was completely wrong and Gish's fears of being eaten by witches could come to fruition. Still, if push came to shove, Luciel wasn't above murdering the occupants for a chance at rest which he'd sought, hours ago. On that note, the idea of cooking the contents of his game bag sounded as enticing as ever as being marooned in a shipwreck and walking miles through forest and caves was a good way to build up an appetite.

"J-jeh, I suppose" Luciel said, making a sound that may or may not have been the poorest attempt at a forced chuckle as his ears folded back from Victor's touch. A dull click came from the crossbow which had been triggered at an angle which left the bolt knocked on the spent string. With a sigh, he withdrew the bolt, holding it in his teeth while rearming the device. There arguably wasn't any apparent threat...though Luciel couldn't help but notice Unyat out of the corner of his eye, making his skin crawl; you could call it paranoia, simply having his weapon ready was enough to ease his nerves to the point of working the shake out of his steps as he followed Gish to the cottage.

There were so many people to keep an eye on. Unyat needed no explanation, and the feel of their eyes tested Luciel's resolve in every waking moment he was aware of them looming just out of his willingly redirected sight. Two of the three humans were overly friendly, what with Rose trying to be helpful and Victor uncomfortably buddying up to the chimera enough to worry him considerably. Certainly a knight of his supposed standing, capable of owning a suit of armor so extravagant, would rather bother a woman like Rose.

Was he just...into that sort of thing?

Everything was so cringe-worthy, even seeing Victor encourage William to the cabin. This left him only to Gish and William; Gish from Rose and William from Victor, it was a strange feeling to have the slightest sense of compassion...a will to protect.
Luciel shook these feelings, those he concerned himself with were merely there for now until finding the reason or means to take what they could and leave, he was certain of it...and felt foolish for letting his focus slip with so much to lose from supposed 'friends' he was surrounded by.
Biding his time was still the best course of action, letting himself be wheeled off to the cottage.

"Ehn-yeh...V-velcome to zeh group"

When the introductions went around, Fazra named herself, "Sir Fazra of Sungrave." The lit the pursuer on fire, and before too long the only thing left of him was ash and the axe she had taken. That was good, it was likely the only thing of value, and it wouldn't do to leave much more of a trace.

The others were asking after their location, and she came to understand that both of the newcomers, as well as Cyrano, were new to the Endless halls. There were a lot of newcomers, it seemed.

"You are in the Endless Halls, friends," she told them. "The name is true. It is endless. This here," she gestured toward the darker hallway they had just left, "Is called the Bright Road. This part of it is not so bright."

She pointed back the way she had come, "We say Lightward," she pointed the other direction, "And Darkward on the Road. I was heading Darkward, to see what is there. If you want to be safe, head Lightward."

Cyranos eyes widened at Fazras explanation of the halls, an expression of surprise on his face. He then threw back his head and issued a deep rasping sound that might have been difficult to interpret for what it was; a laugh.
"Of course it is, this is simple, this makes sense. Lightward and darkward, the bright road. It makes sense, though if asked why, I could not say. Of course you are, of course you do sir fazra. We are fortunate have met you on this the bright road, and your knowledge and wisdom will be most worthy in this venture." @Gisk
This last bit of cyranos rambling, directed at fazra was said with a startling amount of sincerity and admiration. He couldn't explain it, but Cyrano just had a feeling that things were coming together as they ought to be, and while his efforts to express this were poorly done, his excitement wouldn't allow him to keep from trying.
"Well then, that being the case darkward or lightward it is all the same, and one is as good as the other no? I would follow the darkward path with sir fazra if that is his intent, and is pleasing unto everyone?"
He said this to the whole group, as if he felt he needed to recieve permission, or least the support of others to be sure in his decision. Especially that of echo, as cyrano was looking to him specifically to see which decision he would make for himself. @rechonq

I gave a weak, nervous smile to the amphibious one named gish who had told me my situation wasn't strange. "Oh, um, reason right, glad I'm not the only one In this mess." My attempt at smiling immediately shrank into a fearful and nervous look as the other female came forward and into my personal space, I noticed she was...smelling me. "Weird..?" I repeated, confused. I wondered if I truly was dangerous myself after hearing here, I didnt even know who I was really. But my train of thought was broken as I felt the terror of the presence that was the creature named Unyat. Victor gave me chills, but Unyat was far less subtle in his fear. I couldn't help but stare at his horrific figure for a good minute or two, but for some reason I felt a connection between us. As if there was something dark we both had in common. Victor however was the next to distract me, pushing me along to the cabin. Welcome? So far this seems like a very confused and unorganized group of people with very little relation with each other, other than we are all somewhat lost I suppose. As I was pressured to enter the cabin, i walked up to it past Gish though in a nervous manner. Food was important after all but would it be worth trespassing a stranger's home. I placed a sweaty palm onto the door knob. Closing my eyes and awaiting some monster to kill me as I slowly turned and opened the cabin door.

As the others discussed more things like where they were and where to go Echo listened intently. He typically would have wanted to give some input, but it took to long for him to be able to even give simple comments. Other's comments came and flowed so easily. The conversation was getting a little slow so Echo went back and grabbed his door. He noticed Cyrano hadn't grabbed his things. Echo went ahead and picked up the weird orb and little gnome. He brought them back to the group where he heard Fazra explaining the Bright Road to the group. He never did really realize the difference in the brightness of it or to map the ends. He did remember a time where the bright end had actually ended up being very dangerous for him. It was actually one of his early memories in the halls. Almost like it was his first memory. Did he enter the halls through the Darkward way. Then if they went that way Lila and anyone else that wants out should be able to get out, hopefully. He wasn't really sure and for a guy who prided himself as a guide who was mapping the halls he was a pretty bad guide.

He gave the orb and gnome back to Cyrano and then began to point toward the Darkward path. It wasn't totally sure of the exit being there, so he didn't feel it important to write it out. He again began to doubt himself as he realized Fazra seemed to have just entered and was going toward the Darkward way as well. Did she just come in the Brightward way? Echo would have been confused if he wasn't already used to these crazy halls. Staying as a group would have probably been the best anyways, but Echo was ready to try and help whichever way a group went.

Rose nodded. "Very well. To the cabin we shall go!" She declared exuberantly. "Have no fear. If we do encounter an evil witch, I am an expert witch-hunter, and can assure you that no one will come to harm while I am here." She said, waving her staff threateningly towards no one in particular. Luciel's concerns were partially founded- Rose, indeed, was trying suspiciously hard to befriend the group. That was in part due just her nature, but there was indeed more to it than that. Perhaps, like Victor, she did have some evil agenda?

Or perhaps it was something different.

She stood behind William, staff at the ready. She had not a clue what would be behind the door, to tell the truth, and was almost as nervous as William, although it didn't show. After all, this was their first incursion into the Endless Halls- surely there would be some sort of dangerous monster lurking? A combat encounter waiting to happen? Their first cavern couldn't be friendly, could it? That wasn't the nature of things like this. The door slowly opened revealing...

"Oh, is that company? Please, come in, I haven't had a visitor in ages." A female voice withered with age spoke aloud.

The owner of the voice was turned away from the group, sitting in a chair turned towards the fireplace in the back of the room. The women slowly, slowly, slowly, at a pace that suggested she had great difficulty doing so, rose from a comfortable chair beside the fireplace. The scene before the group was quite peaceful- the cottage was a warm place, the room filled with firelight, the smell of food wafting from within. It was furnished much as you would expect an old women's cottage to be, a dining table set in the corner, cushioned chairs and a sofa positioned around a fireplace, walls filled with pictures of people and places. Doorways suggested there was more cottage to be seen, perhaps a bedroom and a kitchen? The cottage was quite sizable, so more rooms were to be expected. The old women came to the door. She looked to be an advanced age- at least in her nineties, perhaps more, but her face wasn't harsh- in fact, she had a kindly sort of look to her, a smile etched upon her face. She was diminutive and hunched over, only barely taller than the group's youngsters.

"Oh my, there's a lot of you... but supper is almost ready, if you wish to join me. I always make extra, in case adventurers come in from the caverns. Lately it's been going to waste but... I'm sure you've all been working very hard, why not come in and sit, there's plenty of room. You can call me Miss Mimi." She spoke slowly, words coming out with great thought and effort, but when the did come out they had a measure of intent to them, a certainness, a force of spirit behind her words. She gestured for the group to come in.

Rose gave a questioning glance to Gish. This was... not what I expected.

Gish shared the glance with Rose. This wasn't exactly what she had expected either. She'd thought the place would be empty. She was not thinking there would be a kindly old grandma in there. A kindly old grandma that was so kindly old grandma that it made her wonder whether or not this was some kind of trick.

On the other hand the inside of the place smelled soooooooo good, and no one had ever invited her to eat before. She was dragged passed William by her own nose and stepped over the threshold into the small house. Then she gasped and leaped back in alarm, back outside. She fidgeted there for a moment, then stomped both her feet and wiped them on the grass. She looked down at them, nodded to herself, then stepped back inside.

"I'm sorry." She said to the old lady. "I don't get invited in much so I don't know how to...I mean I forget..." She struggled, then turned back to the group. "Remember to wipe your feet." She said. This was something new and exciting and she'd almost ruined it for everyone. When you entered someone else's home you wiped your feet, she'd seen it hundreds of times. It was small rituals like that that helped separate people from creatures. She thought about how the rest of it went, before turning back to the old lady and bowing slightly. "Thank you for inviting us into your home Miss Mimi my name is Gish it is a pleasure to meet you you have a lovely home."

I stepped back in surprise to the sudden emergence of a stranger inside, going behind Gish and Rose as I stumbled back. But as the old woman spoke I felt more at ease and comfort. I remained silent and awaiting proper hospitality until after gish started wiping her feet. Suspicion and caution took over my conscience. "Um" I began with a nervous pause "Dont you guys think this is little fishy, I mean why is there a friendly old woman down connected to some mysterious hallway. It just seems off." I finished as I had already shuffled behind the group