//------------------------------//
// Wine Cellar 
// Story: Let's Play a Game 
// by Zelda Spectrum 
//------------------------------//

“A good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.” – Twilight Sparkle


Chapter 9


My Items:
12 tinderboxes
5 laudanum bottles
Notebook
Hammer and chipper
Curved Dagger

As I consume another laudanum bottle, the pain from the wound on my flank begins to numb.  I take out one of the old notes from my saddlebags and I apply it to the cuts.  I apply pressure to make sure I stop the bleeding.  The note gets soaked with blood as I reach into my saddlebags and apply another note to the wound and add pressure to it.  The note does not get completely soaked this time as the wound finally stops bleeding.  I discard both notes as I get a look at my surroundings.  

I look around to see a small room made of stone bricks with a few boxes here and there with a door on the far right.  The room is not very bright, but it has enough light for me to see.  I start to wish I had not thrown away my lantern, but I know I would most likely have died if I had not done so.  

I walk over to the door and proceed to open it.  However, when I open the door, I am met with a rush of water that sends me back to the wall and fills the entire room.  The water is lukewarm and only knee deep.  The next room has more boxes scattered and floating in the water.  I start walking through the room when I see multiple splashes coming in my direction followed by a roar.  I quickly jump up onto the nearest box as the series of splashes comes to a stop near the box I am standing on.  

‘W-What the hay was that?!’  I cannot see anything, but where the splash has ended, there is a soft growl echoing from the exact spot.  I look around at the boxes in the room to see how I am going to get past this thing.  I see two boxes close to me on the right wall.  I jump onto the boxes, but the invisible water monster seems to hear me land on them and splashes over to me.  The next boxes act like stepping stones over to a door in on the far right.  

I jump across them and open the door to the next room; of course, the water monster follows and stops on my left.  I peek into the next room and see three boxes against the left wall.  After planning my move out in my head, I jump into the water and dash to the boxes.  The monster gives chase and splashes behind me.  Before it can catch me though, I jump up out of the water and onto the boxes.  The next set of boxes is right in front of me a bit farther away than the boxes in the last room.  

I make a running jump and almost fall too short of my target.  Next, I leap on various boxes that lead to the door straight ahead and open it.  The next room is much bigger than the previous two.  There is a large trunk with two boxes on it right next to the doorway in the next room.  Once again, I dash into the water and jump up on the trunk with the water monster following in pursuit.  

Once I am on the trunk, I give myself the chance to view my surroundings.  The room is, of course, mostly covered in water.  There are two other large trunks in the room; one in the far back left corner, and one in the middle of the wall parallel to the door I just entered.  There is a gate on the leftmost side of the wall that leads to the next part of the Cellar.  

Right beside my leg is not only a couple of boxes, but also some cooked meat.  It looks like two legs of cooked mutton, the kind of food griffons would eat.  I decide to try and use this meat to distract the monster and keep it away from me for a while.  I pick up the meat with my teeth and hurl it towards the back left trunk, spitting to the side to get the taste out of my mouth.  Sure enough, the monster splashes over to the meat and growls as it starts devouring the leg of mutton.  

I take this opportunity to put the boxes in the water, making sure they do not float away.  I use these two boxes as stepping stones to get to the trunk next to the gate while being cautious and trying to keep my balance.  I manage to work my way over to the trunk as the monster finishes the mutton and splashes over to my location.  Right beside the gate, there is a metal wheel that most likely opens the gate.  Luckily there is another leg of mutton on the trunk next to the gate.  I hop onto the large trunk and hurl the meat towards the other side of the room.  

Once again, the monster splashes off to devour its cooked meal.  As it enjoys its mutton, I hop in the water and place my hooves on the wheel and start turning it to the right.  The gate slowly rises with each turn of the wheel.  When the gate is halfway open, I hear splashes and roars behind me indicating the monster has finished its appetizer and is seeking the main course.  I dart through the gate and run strait to the door in the next room.  I disregard everything in this tiny room as I run through the door and close it behind me before the monster can get close to me.  

I pause to catch my breath as I look ahead to see the corridor ahead.  This corridor is also made of stone bricks and is filled with ankle-deep water, not very surprising at this point, as well as makes a sharp right at the end.  I start walking down the corridor when, suddenly, the door behind me bursts apart followed by splashes and roars quickly gaining on me.  

I immediately break out into a sprint as the monster gives chase.  I bolt the sharp left at the end as the next corridor immediately opens up to another sharp right turn.  As I make the turn, I see a line of boxes and barrels in the middle of the corridor.  I leap over the boxes and barrels and continue running to the wooden door.  As I push the door open, I hear some of the boxes behind me being destroyed.  I close the door with my back leg to buy myself some time to escape and continue running, making an immediate left turn down the next corridor.  

As I run down the corridor, I make a sharp right and leap over another line of boxes and barrels to find a fork in the corridor.  Randomly choosing from left or right at the last second, I dash to the right jump over another line.  I turn to the left to throw open a door in my path, close it, and continue running.  I make another left and jump over another line as I see the left path meeting up with the path I took.  My chest starts to burn as I run to the right and jump over yet another line.  I make a left and run down the next corridor panting and sweating.  

As I turn a final right, I stop in my tracks as I run into a stone wall.  “W-what, a dead end?!  No, no it can’t be a dead end!!”  I begin to panic as I hear the splashes and roars of the water monster get louder and closer.  My adrenaline starts pumping as I hastily start brushing my hooves against the wall trying to find a pressure pad hoping it will open the wall.  When I look to my right, I notice there is one stone on the right wall that looks like it is about to fall out of place.  I quickly run over to the wall and slam the stone with my right hoof; the wall immediately raises to reveal another room.  

Ignoring the pain in my hoof, I dart into the next room as I see the splashes approaching me and hop onto a box floating in the room.  The room is somewhat brighter as there a multiple torches mounted on every wall of the room.  The room is also filled with knee-deep water with boxes scattered throughout the room.  There are large barrels and racks in the water against the walls containing both wine and possibly even cider.  

There is a wooden balcony on the higher level of the room that expands from the wall in front of me to the far right corner.  It has a wooden staircase that leads down to the floor in the middle of the wall to my right.  Right in front of me, in the middle of the room, is a large stone table with two boxes, a barrel, a few lit candles, and a small chest resting on top of it.  I jump off of my box and onto the table, knocking the boxes into the in the process.  The water monster splashes around the table to investigate.  When it arrives, it must realize that it is not any kind of meat as it just sits in the water growling, is if waiting for its prey to enter the water.  

I work my way over to the chest and try to open it only to find it is locked and I do not have the key.  ‘Oh great, just great; now what am I going to do.’  As I sit down on the table, I hear metal clanging in my saddlebags.  I check the saddlebags to see I still have the curved dagger with me from the Torture Chamber.  I take the dagger in my mouth and use it try to pick the lock.  I fiddle around with the lock and dagger for a few minutes until I finally hear a click from the small chest.  I open the lid to see what the chest holds inside.  The chest contains a key and a small note.  



Congratulations, you have found the key to the front door.  You are either very intelligent or very lucky to have found this key.  With this, you can open the front door and win ‘The Game’.  However, you should not start celebrating just yet; now that you have the key, you need to make it to the front door with that key, and it will be anything but easy.  The wooden balcony leads back into the Main Hall, but unless you remembered to clear out the rocks blocking the door, which I doubt you did, you will not be able to exit that way and you will have to travel the way you came.  

As you can see, you are pretty much stuck since you are most likely worn out from your encounter with our little pet.  We will also be extra sure to be on the lookout for you if you should somehow escape our pet again.  I have never lost ‘The Game’, and I do not plan on losing today.  We will make sure all your efforts will have been for naught.  Prepare to lose!



‘I…I did it!  I found the key to the front door!!’  As I put the key in my saddlebags, happiness and joy hit me like a crashing wave.  At long last, I now have the key to the Front Door in the Main Hall.  I have found my Purgatory that will lead me out of Hell.  


End of Chapter 9