The Mysterious Hedge Maze

tried to concentrate on the ancient tales I had heard about the mysterious Hedge Maze, as I trotted through the woods south of Britain. In the distance I heard the wolves howl at the silver moon which was sinking slowly down behind the dense green roof of the forest. I ignored even the brown bears, which seemed to enjoy the loneliness of these parts of Britannia.
The sun rose slowly and in the dim light of dawn I recognized an old wooden sign fixed to a tree. The pale letters showed a warning to everyone who dared to enter Relvinian's Maze.

I ignored the sign and proceeded carefully until I reached a high hedge that formed what seemed like an inpenetrable maze. It appeared that the maze had several entrances, and I chose the one that was next to me. As soon as I entered the maze, I discovered an amazing labyrinth full of beautiful gardens, strange plants, rare flowers and mystical statues. The place was strange, totally deserted and wonderful nevertheless. Old tales told about a strange wizard's tower that could be found in the center of the maze.

I was just about to lose my orientation, when a strange and beautiful temple appeared in front of me. I had no idea what the purpose of this temple is or was. On the floor I discovered a symbol I had seen before: A red circle with a pentagram - the same sign I had seen at the mage's house in the Hidden Valley. Failing to grasp the meaning of this place, I continued on my way.

After wandering about in the benumbing beauty of the maze, I suddenly I reached the center where I discovered a small farm, a tower and another small building. I went to the farm's front door to see if somebody was home. Beside the door a message board was attached to the wall. I wrote down my thoughts in a few short sentences for all the brave travelers that would discover this place after me. When I stepped forward towards the entrance, the iron portcullis blocking the entrance lowered itself with a creaking sound. I opened the door and entered the farm house. In one of the rooms I found a lot of books lying around, and read some interesting stories about Britannia. But nowhere could I detect an entrance to the small mage's tower outside.

I knew that there must be one way to enter the tower. I searched the whole place several times, when suddenly, right outside by the eastern wall of the farm, the ground gave way and I stood in a narrow passage beneath the grass. I entered a cellar and followed a long tunnel which lead away from the farm house. Suddenly I reached a stairway. Full of excitement I climbed the steps and proceeded to the next floor. There, in the edge of the room, I saw the blue sparkles of what seemed to be a teleporter. I took the risk and stepped onto it. The tunnel had obviously lead me to the mage's tower, and the teleporter took me to the highest floor of this tower, from which I had a great view over the whole area.

Another teleporter transported me back into the garden. I remember that there was said to be a library hidden somewhere in the maze, so I continued searching. I found it in the western part. There were strange runes carved into the sand stone floor, but I failed to understand the meaning of them. In old books I read many strange stories about the history of Britannia. Surprisingly I found an empty book with my name inscribed, which I was able to take along. One day I would sit down and write the stories of my adventures into this book...

I left the Hedge Maze again and travelled towards Skara Brae, in order to take the moongate back to Trinsic. When I reached the harbor of Skara Brae to take the ferry to the island, I met another traveller who explained that the ferryboat was out of order. Being stuck on the mainland, I decided to visit the Shame dungeon in the northwest.
After a long hike through areas crowded with lots of animals, I got closer to the dungeon. I came across a few small houses in the forest, when suddenly a front door of a house opened and a blue-dressed person stepped out greeting me. "Hail!" At once I noticed the greedy look in his eyes and knew I was in trouble. When a second person, who was dressed just in the same colors, appeared, I decided to run. At once I heard the terrible spell Corp Por being shouted by one of the strangers. Fortunately, the spell fizzled which gave me a small lead. The murderers followed me, casting Fireballs at me. I ran until they were out of sight and hid. My heart was hammering against my chest, not by exhaustion, but by the thrill of being in danger. Then my pursuers appeared, looking for me. Unfortunately I hadn't taken the time to hide behind a tree, so both of them accidentally stepped directly over me, shoving "something invisible" out of their way. Now they knew I was there! But they were stupid enough expecting me on the wrong spot.

They cast a Fire Field where they supposed I was hiding, which was fortunately a couple of steps away from me. They noticed their mistake and began to scan the whole area systematically. Now Lord Drake got me!! He stepped directly into me, verifying two times and then preparing for a deadly spell. As he uttered the words Flam Grav I knew it was time to run again. I jumped away and they followed immediately. Suddenly I was unable to move! They had paralyzed me! At once they started casting Energy Bolts on my motionless body and my health sank drastically. I suddenly remembered the two bottles in my backpack which I had found in a dungeon. I took them out, then I noticed I had to unequip my weapon before drinking them. My health sank and sank when finally I swallowed the orange and then the yellow potion. I was able to move again! I then ran like I never had run in my life before!

I jumped across the bushes, stumbled across rocks. My breath was gasping out of my lungs and I didn't dare to turn around. Suddenly the steps behind me were getting weaker. "Good time to hide!" I thought, but this time BEHIND a tree! It worked with the first attempt, again the gods of Britannia were with me! A wandering healer who had watched the whole scene was shouting loudly for the guards. That was good, because he distracted the attention of my pursuers. I saw them in the distance striding around aimlessly. This time the area where I could possibly have hidden was just too large to be searched.
I waited a long time to make sure the area was secure again, before I ran towards Yew as fast as I could.

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