astle courtyard. Two animated gargoyles sit above the main entrance. Snori and Wolfgang lie leaning against the tower wall. Their heads are clumsily bandaged. Next to them, the elf is sitting and staring into nothingness, mumbling something to himself. It’s raining slightly. In the background you can hear “Ad Astra” by Arcturus (ensamble version). The dwarf wakes up first.]
[Snori] [feeling his head] Oh hell… My head… What have I been drinking and why by the buckets?
[Lorindil] [whispering] You strayed from your path and fell into the gutter of existence.
[Snori] What?!
[Lorindil] [gets up and walks over to the dwarf] Tell me… Don’t you sometimes get the impression that whatever path in your life you would take, you will end up in the same place, unless you forcibly leave this safe path and, walking among the wilderness, you will eventually die devoured by the vastness, devastated by your own powerlessness?
[Snori] Hold on, wait a minute, I have to drink something because I have the feeling that you are gibbering more than usual.
[Lorindil] [with an absent expression on his face] Whatever, whatever … Wake up the brawny, we have to move.
[Snori] Where the hell do you want to go?! Some mean gnome is bashing my head with a bucket of rocks, and you tell me to move somewhere … Anyway, the big one doesn’t look good and I think he needs to change the bandages.
[Lorindil] Warpstone…
[Snori] What?
[Lorindil] We have to find the stone of transformation.
[Snori] What kind of stone again? I came here for the gold!
[Lorindil] Whatever. You can take my part in the loot, but now we need to get to the castle dungeons quickly. Knowledge and power await.
[Snori] Wait a minute … Did you just give me your cut?
[Lorindil] I assure you, my greedy little comrade, that whatever material benefits we gain by penetrating the dungeons of the castle, they are all yours.
[Snori gets up. He stretches a little, then lightly kicks Wolfgang in the ribs.]
[Snori] Hey there, princess… Wake up, we got work to do, enough loafing-about.
[Wolfgang] [rubbing his eyes] My head…
[Lorindil] You guys are monotonous…
[The gargoyles turn their heads towards the adventurers.]
[Edmund] These guys there, Edwin, how far do you think they will manage?
[Edwin] [slightly bored] Who knows? I don’t see a mage…
[Edmund] Yeah, but the elf has already felt the vibe. A little more and maybe he will be of some use in a fight with the boss.
[Edwin] [chuckling] With the boss? They won’t even live long enough to meet him.
[Edmund] You think so?
[Edwin] I’m certain.
[Edmund] Hm, maybe a little wager?
[Edwin] Okay, but an honorary one… I’m broke.
[Edmund] Deal.
[Edwin] Quiet, they’re coming.
[The gargoyles turn to stone. The party reaches the main door.]
[Snori] Hey, elf, what ever happened in that tower? I don’t remember anything.
[Lorindil] Do you want a longer or a shorter version?
[Snori] The real one.
[Lorindil] Very well. Wolfgang got knocked out by the Chaos Beast. You, on the other hand, let yourself be possessed by the magic forces enchanted in the tower and fell into a bloody frenzy. Using a crowbar, I put you to sleep. Then… [Lorindil’s voice suddenly sounds as if a hundred voices began to speak at once but in a slightly different pace] Then I felt a chill in the darkness, the Void called to me: “Travel my path … come … help me doom this world. Mortal life is nothing compared to the Void. Your fears will be wiped out as this night reaches eternity. What was once in balance is broken today.” The shadows began to dance. The shadows beyond the boundaries of time and space, images from the Void that choked out the light of my existence. I have walked in the Void … Here time is the traveller and I am the constant. [Lorindil’s voice returns to normal again] Is that enough of an explanation to you?
[Snori] Wait, wait …
[Lorindil] I know it could be …
[Snori] You bashed my head with a crowbar?!
[Lorindil] [with resignation in his voice] Eh… let’s go, this is a waste of time…
[The elf crosses the threshold. The irritated dwarf does the same. When Wolfgang approaches the door, behind him a huge stone block, which “broke” from under the legs of one of the gargoyles, crashes against the ground. Slightly confused Wolfgang also crosses the threshold.]
[Edmund] You’re cheating!
[Edwin] [in an insulted manner] If I was cheating, I wouldn’t have missed.