text: [Themes: Fantasy]
  
  > Describe the surroundings
  Castle Ruins (In the Hall of Mirrors)
  This chamber is over ten paces across and perfectly square. A large oval mirror dominates each wall. Four mirrors. North, west, south and east.
  
  Lornedei came in from the northwest. An old burned out torch sits askew on the south wall.
  
  Raccdaha stomps the floor, shifting its weight. It is getting ready to crush Lornedei.
  
  A black tendril of darkness creeps toward Lornedei's head. It touches her mind, and she can feel her powers weaken.
  
  Lornedei's magic just dropped by 4.
  
  > give the plate to Raccdaha
  Lornedei holds up the silver plate with trembling hands. Raccdaha stops moving. He is quiet, absorbed by the reflection in the polished surface. He grabs the plate.
  His attention is far from Lornedei for a little while.
  Raccdaha is staring into the polished surface, oblivious.
  
  > give the spider to Raccdaha
  Lornedei holds up the crystal spider in front of Raccdaha. He recoils, spewing out crimson sparks that rain down around Lornedei. He throws an arm out, and she has to throw herself backwards.
  Lornedei shakes her foot to get rid of a painful stone from her sandal.
  
  > give the plate to him
  Lornedei holds up the silver plate with trembling hands. Raccdaha stops moving. He is quiet, absorbed by the reflection in the polished surface. He grabs the plate.
  His attention is far from Lornedei for a little while.
  Lornedei glances up at you, uncertain.
  Raccdaha is staring into the polished surface, oblivious.
  
  > throw spider at Raccdaha
  Taking advantage of the distraction, Lornedei moves closer to Raccdaha with the crystal spider in her hand.
  The crystal spider jerks to life and jumps from her hand.
  A sparkling light flares up around it. The light grows stronger and Lornedei has to throw her hands up in front of her face to keep the blinding light from her eyes.
  As she steps back, she stumbles on the pile of bones and drops hard on the marble.
  A roar echoes in the chamber and the floor shakes.
  Raccdaha is moving away from Lornedei, trying to back away from the small creature of light.
  The spider is growing. Soon it is doubling, tripling, and quadrupling its size, becoming brighter each second. It glows furiously, the light pulsating as it keeps growing.
  the roaring increases and turns from rage into fear. Raccdaha is trying to shield itself from the light, but the light is everywhere. It throws its arms at the spider to crush it. It gets a hold of one leg of the spider, and with a sharp explosion, it pulverizes the leg. But the spider is already where it wants to be.
  The spider wraps its remaining legs around Raccdaha's head, obscuring it entirely. Raccdaha's trashing is slowly fading. The crushing arms have lost their aim and the few blows hitting the spider make little damage. A cloud of pulverized crystal sparkles in the pulsating light. The crimson light flares up through the spider's body, but it has no effect on the spider.
  The creature's head is now only a blinding light, and the swirling darkness starts to melt away from the rock. The roar of terror from the creature changes into a howling shriek that comes from everywhere.
  The sound cuts through Lornedei's mind and soul. Then the horrible scream is not just one.
  There are now hundreds, thousands of howling screams of terror and pain filling the chamber.
  The light from the crystal spider travels to the tips of the stone fingers on both hands and down the legs. As the light covers one stone foot and reaches to cover the final glimpse of gray mossy rock on the other foot, the screaming climbs in volume further. Then it stops, leaving only a ringing in Lornedei's ears.
  Finally, the darkness that held the stone limbs together is gone. The spider is gone, the light is fading and for a moment, Raccdaha stays upright. Then it falls into a pile of stone and steel.
  Lornedei hears the crash, but it is as if she hears it through water. The ringing is still loud in her head.
  She steps forward, and now the pile is actually nothing but stone and rusted steel covered with a layer of crystal dust.
  A glimmer catches her eye and she notices something golden lying among the stones.
  
  [Your holiness has just gone up by five.]
  
  > examine golden
  (the small golden plaque)
  It is a small round plaque made of purest gold. A carving on one side shows an old man kneeling before a small hole in the ground. He is holding a goblet of some sort in one hand. A giant oak can be seen in the background.
  
  > take golden
  (the small golden plaque)
  As you wish.
  
  [Your holiness has just gone up by five.]
  
  > Heal west mirror
  Lornedei lets her blue light touch the shards of glass. One by one the pieces fuse together, leaving a smooth glass surface.
  
  Lornedei's magic drops by one.
  The crystal dust rises, then floats above the pile of steel and stones. It spreads out in the chamber before surrounding Lornedei.
  The swirling dust stays motionless in the air for a few moments. Lornedei waits without fear.
  Then it reaches for her, entering her. She takes an involuntary breath and in an instant, the shimmering dust is gone.
  An enormous surge of power runs through her body.
  The ringing in her head disappears. Every bruise and cut she received this day fades and disappears.
  Lornedei is still, closing her eyes for a moment. Then she laughs aloud.
  "The light bearers will come back now. There is only one thing left to do."
  
  Lornedei's magic just went up...
  Lornedei looks around, biting her lower lip.
  
  > Magic
  Lornedei's magic is currently at 10159.
  
  > put the golden in the west
  (the small golden plaque in the west mirror)
  Lornedei puts the small golden plaque in the round hole on the frame. It goes into place with a click.
  
  > reach the west mirror
  The darkness in the mirror changes into a swirling mist. The portal to the Hall of Unification is open.
  
  Lornedei's magic drops by one.
  
  > Go west
  Lornedei steps through the mirror.
  
  The disappointment is obvious. Lornedei turns around in the nothingness.
  "I thought..."
  She never tells you what she thought but there is no need. She sighs and scratches her head.
  She is surrounded by a shimmering mist. The ground is flat and featureless. She takes a few steps across the flat soil but the mist stays with her. There seems to be nowhere to go from here besides back to the hall of mirrors.
  
  The portal back into the hall of mirrors is open to the east.
  
  > Dig
  (the portal to the hall of mirrors)
  Lornedei digs in the soft fertile ground until she has a small hole.
  
  > Plant acorn
  Lornedei drops the golden acorn into the hole.
  
  > Water acorn
  Lornedei pours the Elder's water over the Golden acorn. She covers the hole with soil and steps back.
  
  At first, nothing happens. Then a soft golden light emerges from the soil covering the acorn. A shudder goes through the ground and the soil starts to bulge.
  The fog around Lornedei sings to her. It whispers long forgotten words to the earth below. A thin green leaf breaks The surface of the small pile of soil in front of Lornedei. It is quickly followed by another. They shoot out of the ground, eager to grow.
  
  A tree starts to grow before her eyes. A seedling turns into a sapling, the sapling turns into a young tree. With limbs trembling and leaves turning towards the sky it grows into a giant oak.
  
  The tree is growing leaves that shimmer in gold and silver, deep green and bright yellow. It keeps growing and the oak widens and stretches towards the sky to the sound of the singing mist.
  
  The branches reach out and turn silvery. The leaves are gold. The tree just keeps growing and roots stretch out below the soil under Lornedei's feet. Lornedei takes a couple of steps back and watches the still changing tree in awe. The mist begins to disappear around the girl and the oak and it is done.
  
  The giant oak has finished growing and the leaves are humming in a soft wind coming from the west.
  
  Lornedei finds herself in the outskirts of a small village. She is standing next to the big golden oak. People gather around the tree and they all stare at it. The group consists of ten or so old women and even fewer old men in robes in sky blue, green and white. They have all gathered around the golden oak. A few of them cry, one laughs, one man grabs the arm of the man next to him for support. Smiling faces, trembling gestures towards this leaf or that. Excited whispers quickly fade as one of the old women comes forward.
  
  She walks very slowly, supporting herself on a long staff. Despite her fragile appearance, Lornedei can feel the power within her.
  
  Her voice is old. Her face is ancient. The words she speaks are spoken slowly.
  "We knew you were coming child but it took so long, so very long." she smiles and holds out her hands to Lornedei that takes them in her own. "I should have known you were a powerful one child.
  Now she turns towards the people. She pushes Lornedei ahead and raises a hand to get their full attention, a totally unnecessary gesture as they are all staring at the girl
  "Raccdaha is gone. He has been cast out of this world. He is beyond the eternal void. I cannot sense him any longer. The giant old ones are three again and the balance of the three will heal the land. Now we must step back into the world to receive the new light bearers that will come. We have waited long for the passage to open. We fled from the world outside, but now the time has come."
  "We are old now and we are still many years older than we seem. We are tired and not as strong as we used to be. The mist that trapped us here has also kept us alive for centuries. Now the mist is gone. Do you understand what this means girl?"
  Lornedei nods but she looks uncertain.
  The old light bearer removes a chain from her neck and holds it out to Lornedei. On the chain hangs a crystal spider. The old woman hangs it around Lornedei's neck without a word.
  Lornedei can hear a low murmuring of approval from the small group of people gathered and when the former Queen of the light bearers holds her arm out Lornedei gently takes it under her own and smiles.
  The new queen of this so far very small kingdom straightens her back and turns to the people.