enters the gates of the castle, the gates close behind them, making escape impossible. The party visits many exotic locations. The ruins of the castle and its turrets have become overrun by creatures such as giant rats, vampire bats and carnivorous vines, and its basement has become a den of thieves, pirates and other ne'er-do-wells. Once the party finds a path through the castle and into the mountains beyond it, they meet the hostile giants and dwarves who mine the rock there, and a tribe of warrior women called the Amazulu in the jungles nearby. In the mountains, they free the spirit of the lost Wizard, Xorphitus, who used the Cosmic Forge to learn everything there was to know in the universe. By doing so, his essence was split into two separate beings: the ghostly vision that the party meets, who seems reflective and benevolent, and his insane and violent physical self who appears much later. Xorphitus explains that this was because the nature of man was to be divided, and to know all things constituted a breach of this natural law. As such, he was naturally separated into two beings, each containing half of the universe's knowledge. He warns the party not to use the pen as he did, because using the Cosmic Forge outside of the Cosmic Circle would cause the user to suffer its Bane: to have their desire twisted into a mockery of the writer's intent. Using a pair of red rubies gained from their dealings and combat with the giants and dwarves of the mountains and the Amazulu of the jungle, the party gains entrance to the River Styx which runs beneath the basement of the castle, and is overrun by eerie spirits and the undead - and guarded by the three-headed dog Cerberus, in-game known as Spot. There, they eventually meet the lost King and Queen, and the King's lover, Rebecca. The King, having used the cursed Cosmic Forge to wish himself immortal, suffers the Bane of living forever as a vampire, unable to feel any human emotion. He attacks the party and drinks their blood, and leaves them weakened, but alive. The party also meets the long dead Queen, whose spirit still haunts the world. She relates the story of how she was forced to be impregnated by a demon at the King's command, and after she gave birth to the half-demon creature