Just as Damien began yelling about about his leg, a chorus if chirping laughter could be heard, high pitched and manical. There was a splash of something running away in the water, then the laughs got closer.

And barely visable in the marsh were the Ice Gnomes, standing on little ice floes with sharp toothed smiles and blue glowing fingers. They could easily freeze more than legs.

Meanwhile, although the marsh seemed chiller than every, the smell of burning fire was growing ever more present as one of the foggy lights came closer while the farthest grew fainter.

Murmuring some choice words to himself, Damien scrambled through the frigid water to locate something solid, something he could hold onto. He found the dead carcass of a bog-tree twisting out of the water. Shivering, he grabbed onto it's branches, pulling himself up from the water. His leg was absolutely useless, as was his left arm. Clutching the tree, he wrapped his useless-arm over one of the branches, raising the wand that he still clutched in his right hand.

The tip illuminated brilliantly with the spell he cast, lighting up the surrounding area. Little icy blue demons were scattered at the edge of the marsh, standing on the chunks of ice. Damn. Not good. First flying freaking monkeys, now ice gnomes. If Damien had come out here in search of an adventure, he'd found a good one.

The sharp smell of something burning was still stuck in his nose as he clung to the tree and looked around, trying to ignore the squeaky-freakish laughing that the gnomes were emitting. Teeth still chattering, he cast "Calefax," on his leg, hoping that the hot air charm would do something to help the frozen limb. He could barely feel the hot air lap at his skin, that's how cold he was.

Giving up on his frozen leg, he redirected his attention at the approaching Ice Gnomes. Okay, now he had to actually do something. "Siccari!" He commanded, feeling the force of the heat rush from his wand tip. The first ice gnome screeched terribly as the scalding heat touched him, and started to glow a bit bluer than before. The other gnomes seemed almost frightened of the American's charmwork. Fabulous. Damien continued to blast the hot air at the gnomes, making his way from tree to tree as he slowly dragged himself towards the dim, pulsing light that Mason's compass had been pointing to.

Thank you for a fantastic go of it.  For this final post the AO Curators have taken over the Deus Ex Owl to wrap up this exciting endeavor!

Of all that occurred in the forest this night, it was the team of Reynolds, Hawkins and Alkaev that seemed to have the best chance of emerging with life, limb and snidget.  Their performance in the fungal gully would be a tale worth retelling aboard Salem's dirigible, in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, and below decks of Durmstrang's mighty ship! Action! Wit! Resourcefulness!  Surely, these three earned their place among the winners!

Sadly, no.  Despite their fantastic showing against spore and mycelium, it would be fire and ice that would delay them.  The Ice Gnomes were able to hold their wet frozen ground for the entire night.  Despite lucky turns and clever ploys, our three Champions were unable to find a path around nor through.  Injuries, set-backs, and sheer bad luck was enough to stymie their progress.

Out of the darkness, three agents of the Tournament find them and whisk them away to face the reluctant music of returning empty-handed.

All the champions are retrieved and Apparated back to the staging pavilion.  Healers are standing by to mend wounds, and reporters are eager to find out just what went on out there.

Stay tuned to the Daily Prophet in February for more.