Once upon a time, in the pseudo-magical land of Center-World, a young midget named Biblo Boggins was exploring an abandoned mine. Deep in the mine, Biblo feared he was getting lost and dispaired when he saw that his magic flourescent bean was fading. He held the bean high, squinting into the gloom, searching for anything that could be of use. Something was sparkling in the darkness up ahead, and as Biblo's bean began to fail he rushed toward it. As the last of the bean's light was diminishing, he threw himself onto the ground and groped about for the shining object. The light finally went out as his hands touched a small round disk. He picked up the disk and was about to inspect it, when he heard a quiet, rattling voice.

"Penny... my precious penny... it is gone!"

Biblo, terrified, stood up and fled. But, misjudging the source of the voice, collided into a slimy, filfthy creature named Smeagum.

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I have partaken of the tree of knowledge, and it is poison unto my lips. I have partaken of the tree of life, and it is a curse unto my soul. The venom of complete wisdom, and the onus of eternal life... what have I done?

[This message has been edited by Vincent Valentine (edited February 03, 2003).]

"Give us back our Preciousssss! We needs it!" Biblo started running from Smeagum, but couldn't get far due to the fact that he in a pitch black mine. "No, I found it, it's mine now!" "Gives usss our penny!"

Biblo scrambled away frantically, running into walls and rocks, whilst the Gummol chased him. Biblo ran into another solid object, but this one had a metallic echo to it. Biblo fell into a strange basket-type contraption, felt himself slowly moving in one direction, away from the way he thought was the exit. "Comes back with our preciousssss penny!"

[This message has been edited by Hellequin (edited February 03, 2003).]

The metallic basket contraption hurled Biblo up, and up, higher in the cave, until he felt it jerk to a stop. He still couldn't see, and felt a hard rough surface above the basket, like stone. He also felt a wedge of some sort, and a rope on both ends of the basket. He tapped the wedge, nothing happened. He reached for it again, and he noticed that it was gone. He then realized that it wasn't there because he was falling back down. "Thief! My Precioussssssss!" The sounds grew louder and louder as he fell. "We neeeeeds our preciou-" *SPLAT*