“If I ever get out of here, I’m going to have to wash my mouth out with soap for a week to get rid of the taste of monsters and mushrooms!”

Nigel blinks in and out nervously and says, “I’m sure there is a way out of here if only we can get across that river. If I help you, will you take me along?”

You answer Nigel quickly before he disappears again. “I’m sure you will be a great help to our party, Nigel. Tell me, do you know how the monsters get across the river?”

“There’s a guarded bridge,” he replies. “You have to know all sorts of complicated passwords. The monsters examine everyone very carefully. No prisoners are allowed to cross the river.”

“Why do the monsters guard it so heavily?” you ask.

“It’s because of all those silly diamonds and the ice pillar,” the lynx says. “The monsters store all the diamonds that the prisoners mine at the base of the ice pillar. There are simply heaps of them! I can’t for the life of me understand all the fuss about diamonds. After all, you can’t eat them!”

“How many monsters guard the bridge and the ice pillar at night?” you ask.

“Except for the monsters guarding the prisoners, every monster in the mountain is over there at night. There’s also a white guard dragon. I don’t think it ever sleeps.”