This tunnel will take you to the maze of caves at the beach.

::Carys moves through the caves to the throne room::

::Patience stops when she hears a loud growl. She peaks around the corner into the throne room and spots the beast.::

(Oh my god what is that???)

::Patience then spots Theo and Carys stuck smack dab in the middle of the beast and vampires.::

(Well I can say one thing for her...she picks the right people to get in a jam with...he's a cutie.)

::Patience pulls out her athamae from her purse and rushes into the throne room.::

::Patience pulls Carys along as fast as possible.::

(I hope that thing isn't following us...and I'm not about to stop to see!!!!)

::Patience notices a fork in the beach cave and tries to remember which one leads to the beach. She makes a split second decision and it is the right one.::

"This way!"

::Patience exclaims as she rushes into caves.::

::Theo rushes along with them into the Caves::

::Patience notices that the caves end not to far ahead and she stops to make sure that Piper, Petunius, and Vince followed.::

(Yeah...I'm not about to walk into a room full of vampires by myself.)

::She calls out in a raspy whisper.::

"You guys there?"

"Not so sure about the guys, but I'm here..."

::Lirie steps out of the shadows, smiling creepily at Patience::

(Kill! Kill 'em all! Mwahahaha.....)

::Patience giggles at Lirie.::

"You are so twisted."

::Patience props against a wall and slides down it, coming to rest in a sitting position.::

"I guess we gotta wait for the others."

"I'm here..."

::Theo comes into the cave next to Patience and sits down smiling.::

"There's no way I would miss this! You friends are still back there in the cave. I kind of snuck around them stealthily...invisibly."

(I hope we dont die.)

"I plan on kicking some vampire ass and- and saving Carys!"

"Buff... keep your expectations of the danger high, your hope for the best and preparation for the worse scenario possible. That's the only way you'll stay sane in here..."

::Lirie speaks, scanning the gloomy surrounding suspiciously::

"We need light. What are the chances you can hypnotize Buffy to think he's a flashlight?"

::Lirie chuckles, glancing behind::

"How long are we planning on waiting for them?"

"Yeah, we cant wait too long. We're just sitting ducks here. If we stay moving then we'll be harder to find...maybe?? Lirie, how likely is it that you could liquify me and Patience or just Patience? If anything would go wrong we could just turn all puddley. I can go invisible, but they can still smell me."

::Theo reaches over to Lirie and places one hand on her hip and uses the other to pull a stake from her military belt.::

"I'll need that."

(This will definitley come in handy!)

"How about I try a spell to light our way, you know like a little glowy orb thing?"

(Lets just hope they dont remember how bad I am at spells.)

"NO! No spells, Buff. And the next time you need something from around my waist... ask! Or you'll have to learn how to eat with your legs..."

::Lirie smirks, glancing aback again::

"I'm not so sure about the group liquidization... actually, I'm so sure not..."

::Theo blushes and looks down, smirking.::

"Sorry..."

(Change of subject.)

"What about just one person? And why can't I cast any spells??"

"Do you have to ask? What? Your hands are itching and you're in the mood for another killing spree?"

::Lirie leans against a cave wall and slides down into sitting position::

"I don't think I'm strong enough to sustain me and another in the liquid form... or bring us back. And I don't want ex-human puddles on my conscious..."

::Petunius arrives with Piper, then scans the group for a moment.::

"Alright, we're here. Ex-human puddles...? Nevermind."

::He turns his attention to Patience.::

"Okay, so which way now?"

::Theo stands up and looks to Patience::

"If she cant remember, I can."

(I wonder if the Queen is here...yet? I'm not sure I want to find out.)

::Vince arrives and doesn't do or say much. At all::

::Patience jumps to her feet and lays down her purse. She takes out a couple flashlights and hands one to Lirie, one to Vince, one to Piper, and keeps the last one for herself.::

"That is all I got...anyway...I remember perfectly thank you Theo...I was simply getting my thoughts in order."

::She declares rather haughtly. She whips around and starts walking.::

"Follow me."

::She strides straight into the Throne room athamae in her hand...ready for a fight.::

(Fuck with me.)

::Lirie jumps to her feet and follows Patience silently into the thorne room::

::Petunius takes Piper's arm again and leads her to the throne room.::

(What, I don't get a flashlight? Geez, rude much?)

::Theo smiles at Patience.::

"I'm sorry...I didnt mean it that way. But wait for-"

::Theo walks behid the others to the throne room, ready to stake if need be.::

::Petunius walks back into the dark beach caves and then stops at the sight of the motionless Vince. He frowns for a moment before speaking.::

"Dude, what happened? Kinda needed your input back there. Not so much with the vamp, but more with a certain incompetent cry baby."

:: Piper joins Petunius in the beach caves and lets out a aggravated sigh. ::

"They're supposed to be witches? That display was..."

:: She trails off unable to put it into words. ::

"Piper. Please. I'm just barely getting over it myself. Let's not revisit the assy spells yet again. The sixth one was more than enough."

::Vince begins moving after days of inactivity and shrugs at Petunius' comments::

"What could I do to stop some wicca-wannabe from crying? Other than freeze his eyelids shut with his own tears... well we've got that plan for next time. Did you kill any vampires? Did any of the... witches... with you get killed?"

::He stares hopefully at Petunius::

"Almost. To both questions. Piper tried to blow up the vampire but it kinda turned into a bat and escaped. Patience and Theo got beat up and then we ran."

::Petunius turns to Piper, eyebrows frowned in frustration.::

"I knew we should have gone back to the manor to stock up and research. Maybe we should go now, see if we can find Carys and hopefully Paige."

::Theo becomes invisible before approaching the group.::

"Guys...promise you won't make fun of me...? Another one of my spells backfired."

::As he talked to them you could hear the fat in him.::

(Why am I even a witch if all that happens is trouble when it comes to me...I bet warlocks dont have problems...)

::Petunius turns to the disembodied voice of Theo as he waddles into the caves. As he confesses, Petunius grows increasingly impatient and dismissive.::

"No I won't promise. Are you deaf or just plain moronic? I'm thinking it's the latter if you can't follow a simple instruction. Whatever happened, I'm sure you deserved it. All of it. Geez."

(If he keeps this up, I'm going to have to vanquish him myself.)

:: Piper looks towards the disembodied voice of Theo. ::

"Just show yourself to us, we don't have time to play games right now."

::Lirie staggers into the beach caves, pausing near all the people and placing Patience onto the ground::

(Got kinda lost in all these caves...)

"Can anyone see what's wrong with her? I lost track of all the head injuries..."

(Buff...?)

"What did you do this time?"

::Petunius sighs again and walks over to the vicinity of Theo when he accidentally smacks into his now obese level of body fat and staggers back a bit. His eyes widen in anger.::

"Oh you're fucking kidding me. Somehow, he seems to have made himself clinically obese."

::He then turns back to Theo.::

"Okay, you know what? I've tried being patient with you, I've tried cancelling out your stupid spells. I've even tried bribing you and obviously none of that has worked so you leave me no choice. I'm just gonna have to bind your spellcasting abilities.

For forty eight whole hours, from seven til seven
Any time spent with Theo will be a shitty spell free haven
With the words of this rhyme, his spellcasting I'll bind
Until he learns his lesson and so that I won't lose my mind."

"You dont have to do all that! I'm giving up spellcasting forever..."

(I could see something like this happening to someone as bad karma, but what did I do besides try...)

"Here..."

::Little by little, Theo lets his large-ass body be shown.::

"It's all because of a spell, I tried to increase my strength, but yeah it backfired."

::He waddles over to Lirie and checks out Patience.::

(Hope she's okay...)

[What is it about you people and casting spells? Petunius, tut tut tut, that spell was so using your magic for vengeance and to punish. Don't you remember a certain Morality that Bites?

However, Theo does lose his ability to cast spells. Unfortunately for you the effect happens to you and all the witches in the room, rendering everyone unable to cast spells until we say so. Have a good day.]

::Petunius pauses for a moment as a strange feeling washes over him temporarily.::

(Uh oh. That can't be good. It better not be something stupid like none of the witches in the room can cast spells or anything.)

::Not dwelling over his suspicions he turns to Piper.::

"So, onwards to the manor?"

"Manor? Well this is interesting..."

::Lirie folds her arms on her chest, ignoring the queasy sensation::

"Great... you go on your merry way, can you just help me with her?"

::She gestures to Patience::

::Petunius turns back to Lirie as she speaks, then raises his eyebrow in concern at the sight of Patience.::

"Patience, crap. Right. Have to help her."

(Oops.)

"Uh, maybe we can get Leo over here?"

::Panting Theo moves over to the wall and tries to sit himself on the floor. After a few minutes of trying he gives up::

(Damn this fat!)

"How is he going to get here? And wait what will he do?"

:: Piper blinks a couple of times as the backfire from Petunius' spell takes effect. ::

(Great. Just great.)

:: At Theo's inane question she rolls her eyes. ::

"Just watch. Leo! Leo, get down here!"

::Petunius continues to stare at the panting and heaving obese form of Theo as he gives up trying to sit down on the floor. Unable to contain himself any longer, he bursts into a long fit of laughter.::

"You...look ridiculous."

::Lirie's about to lash out at Petunius when she takes a glance at Theo and snickers, turning away::

(This is not right... he's... fat!)

::She bursts into laughter, leaning on a cave wall::

"I'm... hick... sorry..."