Leona smiles and says, "Of course. If I've been in this hallway for nine months, I really don't need to be in here another minute." You laugh and she laughs with you. You notice the snake where her tail should be is flipping around happily behind her. In fact, you both fall to the floor in a laughing fit for reasons unknown. Whatever the reason, it's a great way to release your pent-up energy and anxiety. After a minute, you wipe away your tears, help Leona to her four paws, and say, "Ok, here's the deal. Up ahead, there's a door to the left. We'll need to get through that and then we'll be in the entrance hall, and then we can either wait there for the storm to die down or we could just go out in it now." You say. "Uh, whatever you want to do." Leona says. "Fine. We'll beside when we get there. I'm going first, cause I have the torch. Stay behind me and don't look back, you'll just psych yourself out. Oh, and be quiet." Leona puts a finger to her lips.
Nodding, you turn and start to walk down the dark passageway. The torch is still burning brightly, but maybe the light is blocked by your wings, which fold up and take up the entire passage. "Hey, can you see the light?" You call back to Leona. "Yes, I can." She calls back. You two reach the intersection and turn left, heading back towards the door with the iron bar across it. But something's lying in the middle of the hallway. Puzzled, you bend down for a moment and hear the soft thumps of Leona's paws hitting the stone floor stop. You discover it's a sword, and a large, sharp one at that. The hilt is crafted with a menagerie of animals, both real and mythical. In the middle of the cross guard is a black dome of glass, with green light swirling in it that reminds you of the one you saw in the well when you made your wish what seems like ages ago. Picking it up, you turn it over in your hands, admiring the way the torchlight gleams off the blade.
"Hey, why'd you stop?" Leona calls from behind you. "I found a... sword of some kind." You fold up your wings and turn around to show it to her. Leona lets out a low whistle. "Wow, that thing must be worth a pretty penny." She says. "Yeah, but the weird thing is, when I came through here the first time, about twenty minutes ago, it wasn't here." You explain. "Odd." She says. "It almost seems like it was put there just so you could find it." "Well, with what I've seen of this castle so far, I think we're going to need a weapon of some kind." Grabbing it in your right hand, you unfurl your wings, smile at Leona (she smiles back), and turn to continue walking down the passage.
In no time, you reach the door with the crossbar still in place. Lifting it up, you're about to just open the door and step through when you remember the points of light you saw in the doorway across the hall earlier. They had been there when you had gone through this door. Who's to say you were going to open the door, only for some big, meaty, furry hand with gigantic claws to grab your wrist and pull you through? It's enough to get you stop and consider actually opening it, or going down the slightly-off lit hallway. "Hey, why'd you stop this time?" Leona calls out from behind your wings. You briefly consider telling her about the points of light, but decide against it, as it would just scare her. "Sorry, the crossbar is a little stuck." You lie. Taking a few deep breaths, you muster up all your courage and push the door open.
Nothing comes out to grab you. Opening it just enough to peek through, you look and see the hall, well lit, dusty, and deserted just as you left it a while ago. The points of light are gone. Breathing a sigh of relief, you reach through and hang your torch on the holder from earlier. "There's a ledge, you're going to have to do a little jump." You call back to Leona. "All right" she responds. You put one foot up and pull yourself the rest of the way through, still holding the sword. Soon, your feet hit the dusty hall floor and you're on the other side.
You're about to turn around and help Leona through when you hear heavy breathing coming form behind you. Hairs on the back of your neck standing up, you turn reluctantly around and see, emerging from the dark doorway with it's glowing eyes, a very large griffin. It has the body of a lion, except for it's front legs, which end in sharp claws and are spindly and yellow, like an eagle's. It has the head of an eagle (mane neatly meeting the feathers of the head) as well, and eagle wings jutting from it's back. It's holding a ring of keys in it's beak, and it has a mischievous look in it's eyes. Somehow you know that those are the keys to the front door of the castle (and every other door in the castle, given the sheer number of keys on the ring) and that it'll be nigh on impossible to get out of here without them. And from the griffin's playful stance, it looks like it's about to run or fly away with the keys.
Suddenly, a terrified scream comes from behind you. Turning around quickly, you see Leona has managed to get her front legs and paws through the door, but she's struggling and squirming, arms grasping the doorframe tightly. "Help me! Something's trying to pull me back!" Peeking through the doorframe, you indeed see a large, furry creature (you can't tell what it is from here) grasping Leona's lioness hindquarters tightly in it's huge paw-like hands, trying to pull her back into the corridor and do God-knows-what to her. "Help me! Please!" she cries out again, looking at you in desperation. You know she can't hold on for long.
But, looking back, you see the griffin has it's wings raised, keys still hanging tantalizingly in it's beak. It's about to fly away. If you can just go up to it carefully and snatch the keys from it, you'll be out in a minute, but there is a very high possibility that Leona's strength will give out before you can grab the keys and the creature will get her. If you help Leona right now, the griffin will very likely fly away with they keys, making it almost impossible to get out of here. You realize you have a very hard decision to make.