I'm too late coming in, but what the hell. I haven't written anything useful for a while...

Glimmers of light penetrate the thick canopy of leaves, shining sparks and swirls of color on Nyara's closed eyes and warming her skin where the cool night had caressed her. Her sleep filled mind slowly awakened, and she brushed her dreams aside as she stretched her lithe, feline body.

Opening her eyes, slowly she took in her surroundings, searching for any danger that might be hidden nearby. All seemed normal, the thick carpet of green grass waving in the light morning breeze, the dappled sunlight filtered by the shimmering leaves overhead. But something wasn't right. Where were the birds? No sound but the rustling leaves and creaking branches of the old trees that stood their guard in the forest.

Stretching felt good after a long cold night balled up for warmth. Muscles relaxed and released their tension. Nyara, sensing no nearby threats, licked her hands and rubbed her eyes clear. "Good morning" called Cui the flying weasel, her friend and travelling companion. "It's time to get moving", he said, slinking around the trunk of the tree closest to her and popping his head into her field of vision. "We must make our way over to the sign and see what is written. We couldn't read it last night as the night fell so fast and so dark in the forest."

"That's right", said Nyara, looking to her left. "I remember." She could see the singpost in the middle of a small clearing up the dirt path. When they couldn't make out the letters, they had decided to make camp and await dawn. "This signpost may point the way to the Dark Castle," explained CUI. "If we find the castle, we can find the Wizard."

Nyara's yellow eyes narrowed at the thought of exacting her revenge. "And I can remove his evil curse", she hissed. The horrible, utterly despicable, completely evil wizard had cast a spell upon Nyara's village, turning all within its radius into evil creatures to do his bidding. Nyara was lucky, if you can call it that. She had snuck out of bed early that morning to catch fish by the edge of the river before the wizard had arrived. She was far enough away to escape the full force of the magic blast from the wizard's staff, but still managed to feel the effects.

Her new half cat form was not too displeasing, and gave her abilities and skills that she had never experienced before, but she worried about her mother and father, and her little baby brother. When she returned to her empty village, they were gone. Cui had found her, alone, scared, confused and crying.

"Come on, Nyara, let's go!" called Cui, bounding from the tree trunk and scampering through the grass to the road. She followed, and they made their way to the signpost. "What does it say," asked Nyara. The signpost held two signs, hanging on the left and right sides, moving slowly in the breeze.
"Do not eat these mushrooms", said Cui. "Oh," said Nyara, "and this sign says to eat these ones." Below each sign were a variety of mushrooms, large and small.

"Should we try some", asked Nyara. "I'd recommend we only try the ones on the right," answered Cui.

I would imaging that at this point, game play would allow the player to experiment with the 'shrooms...

Good luck with the game, and the story.
Mark