Whirrfey climbed up the rocks to Lord Wuffleberry, who had descended from a tree. Lord Wuffleberry then turned perpendicular to the path and made off through the woods. They shortly came to a rough path often broken by tree roots and winding its way around bushes, rocks and other obstructions. They followed that for half an hour or so, and then arrived at a clearing which obviously had been recently inhabited with a large rock face at the opposite end. Whirrfey looked around, but could find no obvious abode. Meanwhile Lord Wuffleberry had approached a large tree and removed a rope from his sack. He took a grappling hook from the sack as well and muttered, "Hah! Little did that bumle grumble murgle know that I would find such a use for these, did he!"

"Umm... I'm sure he didn't," Whirrfey hesitantly said, not sure if Old Wafflebum (as he was privately beginning to think of the apparently mad lord) was talking to him or not. Wuffleberry tied the rope to the hook and threw it up into the tree. Pleased that it caught the first time, he began to ascend. "Wait a minute -- what about me?"

"Impertinent youth" Whirrfey thought he heard. And then, louder, "Wait! I'll send the ladder down" True to his word, a few minutes after Lord Wuffleberry had climbed up a rope ladder was thrown down. It caught on a branch above Whirrfey's head, but he pulled it down by the use of a nearby stick. He climbed up, and found himself on a small wooden platform built around the trunk of the tree. There was a rope tied to the trunk above a branch (to prevent it slipping down), and it lead off to another tree. Lord Wuffleberry finished rolling up the rope and rope ladder, and then pulled an odd contraption out of his sack. It had a fairly large curved iron hook on the top, and a wooden triangle attached to the hook. Lord Wuffleberry put it on the rope and quickly shoved off the platform, holding onto the base of the wooden triangle. He soared along the rope, and landed on another platform on the other tree. Not until he had pushed off, however, did he think of Whirrfey. Since each of his men had a hook of their own, he assumed that he would just follow. After some shouting (and panic on Whirrfey's part) it was decided that Wuffleberry would throw the hook at Whirrfey, and hope he would catch it. If he didn't, he would have to go down, pick it up, and climb up the tree again.

He threw; unfortunately, he threw it a little too hard, and Whirrfey didn't get a firm hold on it, and it fell through the branches to the ground. With a sigh, he climbed down, got the hook, climbed up again, and started to deliberate with himself as to the worth of endangering his life with the act of sliding down on the rope. He finally worked up the courage (spurred on by the impatience of Lord Wuffleberry), and reached behind him to grab a branch to steady himself as he put the hook on the rope. In so doing, the hook fell off the rope and landed right on the edge. Whirrfey gave a muffled gasp, and watched in horror and unhappy anticipation at having to descend and get the hook once more. It wavered for a couple seconds on the edge, but finally settled. Whirrfey slowly advanced on it, grabbed it, and gave yet another sigh, this one of relieve. He hooked it and gave a mighty shove an launched himself all in one swoop, before he could second-guess himself (which he did as soon as his feet left the platform). He sped down the rope, and slammed into Lord Wuffleberry. They both fell on the platform and Whirrfey had the unpleasant feeling of looking down from a great height without supporting himself with his hands or feet (since his hands were underneath him, and he coudln't grab anything with his feet). He quickly scrambled off Lord Wuffleberry (who was somewhat portly), and helped him to his feet.

They decided (or, more accurately, Lord Wuffleberry did) that this next time they both should go on the hook, with Whirrfey holding onto Lord Wuffleberry. They commenced to do this, and while the rope sagged ominously, it held. They sped down, and this rope lead over top of the rock face at the other end of the clearing (which they had skirted around, via the ropes), and they hit a triangular piece of cloth stretched between the ground and an overhanging branch. After recovering themselves, Lord Wuffleberry, now quite disheveled (Whirrfey was always disheveled), walked over to a depression in the ground and started pulling at something. Whirrfey noticed that it was an iron ring. Slowly a whole chunk of sod came up (it was pinned to the iron trap door by small nails, so it wouldn't fall off), and Lord Wuffleberry climbed down the ladder leaning against one side of the hole, with Whirrfey timorously following, anticipating other tests of his mettle.

Note: If you candidly think this is boring, feel to say so (though I'm sure you would have quit before now if you felt so). Any other suggestions would be appreciated as well. Thank you, Snowshoe Hare