Silvara works very carefully on the far side of the rubble pile away from where the rat is busy gnawing on the corpse. She figures that if it was not scared by their presence and as long as it food source was not threatened that she could slowly pick through the rubble pile from the back side. Hopefully unseen and if she is very careful--which she is without creating a disturbance that will disturb the feed rat.

Zore and she had no notion of where this Lantern of Truth might be found. It could be in this pile, which would be great. Though. in all honesty Silvara did not think the quest would be that simple. If others had come here for the same purpose without success since they had not come then the quest was fraught with inherent and unknown difficulties.

Silvara frown a bit as she concentrated on her task. "Nothing is every simple, not this not her life. SHe sign but then doggedly keep on. Nothing gainful is achieved by standing around or sidetracking.

Battle raged on and both sides had suffered numerous wounds and were tiring. It was a test of endurance and stamina in a battle of wills as much as strength. The Tent in where the Dire Wolf was attacking Sheva lurched and he howled a victory cry, loping out o the tent with a bloody maw and remnants of a patch of fiery red hair stuck to his lips.

The Lycan gave a great howl, and it seemed to shock the turned wolf from its fear, as it turned to regard its alpha with renewed confidence. Moonshadow, who up till now had been waging an inner war between fighting those she had known as companions, and those of her own kind, was shaken by the powerful, mind affecting Howl of the Lycanthropic leader. Her eyes glazed over and settled into a state of bloodlust, and before the horror-filled eyes of the party, the loyal Coo’shee, joined the ranks of the enemy.

Elesia, on the ball this round, held her action, trying to see where she would best be useful. Aelistae too was quick to react, this time bidding Bart flee while she angled her Court-blade and charged at the lycan leader, determined to end its blasphemous existence. She ran, sprinted, and at the height of her charge went to leap in a downward slash. Her footing was lost on a slick patch of greenery and her weapon flew from her hand as she slid, falling painfully on her backside and landing only a few feet from the largest wolf she had ever seen. (Critical failure sorry!) To make matter’s worse; her armor still burned and scorched her severely the pain wracking her already jolted body. (Aelistae 19/ 39 )

From across the clearing, Elesia gasped, and sprang into motion…

The Werewolf licked its lips hungrily as it prepared to feast finally during this wearying tirade.It snapped its powerful jaw’s down on Aelistae and she felt links of her fine mithral chain shatter under the pressure of the inhumanly powerful strike. Blood flowed freely from her wounds, and to compound matters the Lycan was not through with his prey, it raised a powerful claw to rend the face from Aelistae, but was halted by a brilliant shimmering light. There, before him Elesia stood, her radiant elegance no longer hindered or suppressed. Her white dress fluttered about her of it’s own accord, and from her back appeared large beautiful butterfly like wings of translucent rainbow hues. She spoke the words of the Fae, understandable only to Talus, and into a shimmering green portal she and Aelistae both disappeared.

~*~*
To Aelistae the world which passed by her was filled with the most pure and brilliant hues of nature’s palette she had ever seen. Grass was a greener green, the flowers an explosion of color, even the moonlight, a visible shower of silver radiance. Everything was exemplified to the extreme of the color spectrum as she passed through this familiar, yet previously undiscovered or traveled realm. In a split second, the colors vanished, and pain took her once more, as she lay staring at the moon above, a glance falling upon the opening of the tree-like arena, her and Elesia, still in all her fairy beauty gazing down upon her a look of worry and concern about her face. (Aelistae 1/ 38 hp)
~*~*

Xaris watched Elesia and Aelistae disappear, and his target became clearer still, but as he was charging, he was intercepted by a familiar, once friendly face, as Moonshadow barreled into him, bowling him over, and snapped her teeth narrowly missing the gnome, trapping him under her weight with a snarl. Xaris, already enraged could hardly differentiate friend from foe, and with a great roar of his own, rolled Moonshadow over, and clobbered her with a solid smack of his blade. (Moonshadow -7/ ?? hp)

Linnix meanwhile was still under the duress of the wolf before her, and though she was able to avoid further injury, she could not inflict any upon her opponent either, and the deadly stand off continued.

Artanis helped Talus to his feet, and directed him towards an already moving Elesia, but he denied the much needed aid, and instead moved towards, and up the tree wall to a relative safety, while Artanis moved to aid Linnix in her struggle. Her arrival bore more success, as her blade bit into the wolf, drawing a line of blood from the creature. (-6hp)

Bart had managed to regain his footing, and was backpedaling away from the deadly leader, when the recently motivated wolf once turned by Aelistae lunged at him. Sheer luck saved Bart as he tripped over his formerly dropped pitchfork, sending him down just as the wolf passed overhead, growling and turning to finish the task.

~*~*~*~*

The battle was not fairing well, the companions new it, but there was little they could do now but fight on till the last. As they gathered themselves for another painful exchange of blows, the trees around them began to fill with a dotting of tiny glittering lights, a couple at first, before more and more appeared around the clearing, until over a dozen flittering lights moved throughout the dark trees.

Zorana kept a stern eye on the giant rodent before her, while Silvara went about the task of trying to uncover anything of potential use or value from the rubble strewn about the room, particularly nearby the table upon which the corpse lay. Aside from rotten food and debris, there was little of value or use to be had nearby, though a glint of something shiny in her torchlight gave her pause. Wedged into the heart of the debris was a silver candlestick. She could try to pull it free, but it might dislodge that which was supported atop of it.

The rat, seemingly frightened by the imposing Zorana, took a final chunk of flesh from the arm of the rotting man, before backing away from the women, along the back wall, moving towards where a 2’ tall hole in the base of the wall would allow possible escape.
As it moved, more skittering and scratching could be heard from behind the wall.

Seeing Artanis attacking the same enemy as herself, Linnix decides to try to use that to her advantage, moving a step around the wolf so that it is in-between Artanis and herself. Her breath coming in ragged bursts, Linnix swings across again with the scythe.

(Linnix will move 5' around the wolf to try to flank it, if it's not possible to flank it in 5', then Linnix will still step 5' in the desired direction and no further)

I need to stop climbing and turn around to help them. That howl can't be a good thing.
Of course it's not a good thing. That's why you've got to get higher before you start attracting their attention again. If I don't turn now there won't be anyone left to help. Then who's going to help me, eh?
...
Talus let go with one hand and swung around to survey the fight behind him. Things were not going well. Bart was back on the ground again and, though it looked like he was still conscious, there was an extremely large wolf hovering over him about to stop the poor man's habit of drawing breath. Aelistae was being mauled by the man-turned-wolf, there was no way she was going to survive. Another wolf just jumped out of the tent Sheva had been in with something hanging out of its mouth. Elesia just disappeared. The one bright point was that Linnix and Artanis had joined together and were double teaming their wolf.

Knowing that the wolf could probably jump the ten or so feet to catch his leg, Talus winced as we invoked another blast of eldritch energy and and directed it at Bart's assailant.

"Heya! Get away from him! I'd taste better anyway!" He yelled down, further trying to antagonize the beast(as if being zapped with pure arcane energy wasn't enough), then swung back to the wall and continued climbing.

Please let me get another ten feet before it tries jumping up here... Oh, Talus, what were you thinking?!

Aelistae’s footing gave way beneath her. Her sword flew from her grasp. And she smelt the stale, fetid breath of the werewolf as it plunged its teeth into her flesh.

But it was not the end.

The world became impossibly bright, as if someone had brushed away the dust and grime that covered it and had polished every living surface. The grass became flushed with a verdant hue, the bark of trees lost their worried wrinkles, and the silvery light of the moon burned brighter than it ever had before.

Her eyes rose and found themselves locked onto a face that was beyond beautiful. It was framed by silvery white hair that streamed over velvet-black skin like liquid moonlight. Its features were proud and perfectly formed but were currently molded into a tender smile. The eyes that sat in the face shifted between hues of blue, as the moonlight reflected the tears contained therein.

Aelistae longed to be with that face. Longed to swim in those eyes and lose all her cares.

But it was not the end.

The face metamorphosed into that of Elesia. The world lost its brilliant hue. And Aelistae cried out, more out of a sense of loss than because of the pain she felt searing through her body.

One of her hands fell to her belt, and the pain began to subside even if the feeling of loss remained.

[ooc: Standard action to activate her belt of healing, and use all three charges to heal 4d8]

“I’m alive,” she croaked, as her eyes focused on Elesia. “What hap…?” she began to ask, until she noticed how different Elesia looked. She was still beautiful, but it was the frail beauty of the fae, and she stood now replete with shimmering wings.

“I…thank you for saving me,” the drow priestess mouthed sadly. “But I…we, need to go back. We can’t leave them.”

[ooc: It'll be a move action to get back to her feet, so I guess that's all her actions for this round.]

Silvara makes one good effort to remove the candlestick frm the pile by (taking extra time) inserting her hand into the pile towards the candlestick to see if she can work it out through the ipening her arm makes. If it seems that she can she will remove it that way. If it seems that she can't lossen it from the debris without the rubble pile shifting and falling then she will leave it for now.

Silvara is tempted by the thought to just burn the pile of trash down and later claim the candlestick. At least it would probably drive the rat or rats away. However the fire may get out of control and that would not help their situation.

As Silvara makes one good effort to remove the candlestick from the pile by inserting her hand into the pile towards the candlestick to see if she can work it out through the opening her arm makes, Zora moves to cover her by stepping to a position where she can watch Sivara and the hole the rat went unto. At this point it was all she could do. She would have rather just left the room, but Sil had other priorities. And there may just be something important about this candlestick.

It came to her mind, that of all the years this place had been abandoned and picked over by looters, why was a expensive candlestick overlooked in one of the first level rooms. Yes there were the rats, but a strang team could have dealt with them.

Another thing bothered her and that was the body on the table. Usually when one dies they fall to the floor. How was it that he was laidout on a table, unless he came with a group and was lilled and his friend put him on the table to pick up later, but they never returned.

Zorana moved to give Silvara some cover should anything undesirable occur as Silvara carefully tried to find the best way to remove the candlestick, she tested other pieces of wood and rubble around the candlestick, testing them for their role in the support of pieces above and around them, and when she finally thought she had figured it out, she gave the candlestick a single solid jerk.

As the silver stick came loose and Silvara grasped it her breathe held in expectation of some disastrous collapse, but none came. As Silvara stood, and chanced to exhale, like a feather upon an already perilous load, the rubble pile capsized upon itself, sending the roar of rubble and waste throughout the room and connecting halls.

Both women instinctively flinched, expecting the worst, but unexpectedly, and perhaps most fortunately, no swarm of rats or anything else came to investigate the noise. As the dust settled, and the stench of rot and death resumed anew, the ladies were left in silence.

Silvara removed the silver candle stick with great care. She got it out without much problem and stood up to show it to Zora as she picked up the torch to look at it as well . That is when the who pile gave way IT sent billowing dust into the sir covering them both completely. Silvara closed her eyes and stopped breath. she back away towards the opening or where she thought the opening was. When the dust settle enough she was standing there covered in a fine coating of dust, except for her eyes while had been shut tightly.

While not an overly fastidious person none-the-less she kpt herself quite clean-usually. Now she blended in with the stone and dust on the floor. What she would give for a bath right now. She snorted loudly in disgust and to clear it of dust and turned to head out the door.

"That was anticlimactic." says Silvara as she looks over the candle stick then shows it to Zora and after she has examined it she puts it away. IT feels solid we could use it to bask werewolves and vampires." quips Silvara.

"Library or laboratory next, right?"

Aelistae looked on painfully as Elesia helped her to her feet and she activated the entirety of her healing belt’s restorative powers in a single application. As her wounds healed albeit not nearly enough for her liking, Aelistae could only rise and watch as the events unfolded before her eyes. (Aelistae 12/ 38 hp)

It was like the adventurer’s knew that their very lives hung in the balance of this next round of combat, as nearly all of them sprung at once into action, in an effort to buffet the enemy away before anymore harm could be inflicted. Artanis and Linnix had moved to double team the wolf that Linnix had been fending off for the past little while. Bastard sword and scythe worked in harmony as Linnix’s scythe cut a swath across the wolf’s side, as it turned to face the new threat of Artanis, her deadly blade waiting for the retreating wolf, and gutting the poor creature with a mighty arc of her blade. With an almost painful silence, the wolf fell dead to the earth already stained red from the spills of heated combat.

Moonshadow and Xaris were locked in a wrestling match, and this time Xaris took the advantage, managing to plant Moonshadow under a simple boot, and as she snapped at him with razor teeth and vengeful eyes, the forest gnome put an end to the life of a once loyal, and fierce to the end creature of the woods with a single two handed downward thrust of his sword. Moonshadow’s final howl of pain split the night and filled the arena with a sadness, but it was somewhere up above, looking down from another place and time, that the familiar face of a elven ranger wept a tears; a mixture of sorrow and happiness turning to raindrops which fell to the earth in a shower of emotion. She and her companion would be reunited soon.

As the rain began to fall, Talus targeted the wolf stalking the prone Bartholomew, and finally, without fear of injury managed to let fly a bolt of eldritch energy, which though only glanced the wolf, scarcely hurting the creature, it did attract the attention of the four legged terror, and it left Bart long enough to focus on the irritation scrambling up the tree wall as best he could. Someone was looking down on Talus, this day however, because as he scampered up the wall the wolf charged and lunged, and was rewarded only with a hunk of leather as sharp teeth tore free a small portion of the warlock’s boot.

Bart scrambled to his feet, but soon everyone in the clearing found the grass and roots about themselves began to grow and entangle around their ankles and working up their legs. The dire wolf which had just dealt with Sheva lunged at Xaris, sinking its teeth into the forest gnome hard, and though enraged, even Xaris had to have felt that pain somewhere beneath his anger. (Xaris ( 37/61 hp) Even as the Wolf prepared for more gorging, the roots wrapped up around both Xaris and the beast, who both struggled to be free.

The Lycan, seeing the entangling spell taking hold, howled once more, and the skies split to let another lightning bolt sunder the tree-line which lined the battlefield. In response, a small swarm of multicolored lights left the treeline, and flooded over the lycan, who snarled and snapped at the diminutive glowing things. Each time they passed, they sprinkled some glowing powder on the beast, and as he fought back with the fury of a wild animal, his movements became more stiff and his muscles strained against the magic which was taking him. In a matter of seconds, the Lycan leader was no more the fur covered menace, but a dark statue trapped, hopefully forever under the curse of stone.

The swarm of lights fluttered on, filling the entire arena with a glow of lingering dust, and the remaining living wolves all fell into a peaceful slumber, while the adventurer’s themselves felt their muscles tense and their nerve’s relax as a wave of calm washed over them. Xaris was magically removed from his enraged state, and fatigue took over as he collapsed into the entangling foliage, which held even the mighty Artanis and her combat partner Linnix at bay.

Talus, who was safely attached to the tree-line wall, soon found his enchantments were not needed to hold him aloft, as the trees themselves wrapped around him to hold him in their embrace, and soon all within the arena were rendered unable to move.

Outside the barrier, Aelistae and Elesia looked on as even Bartholomew became unable to move, overtaken by lush vines and grass like restraints. Unsure exactly what to do, she could only wait and watch as the swarm of lights flittered over around them before slowing in their flight long enough for the drow, and other’s who looked on in wonder could discern each light belonged to a tiny winged being only a couple inches in height.

They looked down at Aelistae with a look of curiosity more than anything, but to Elesia they looked on with an expression of awe and dismay all at once. One fairy, a tiny man of plump frame with tiny wings which seemed to struggle to hold him aloft and bearing a tiny golden crown began fluttering around Elesia pointing his finger at the massive woman before him.

The two of them exchanged word’s in a language no one could understand, in fact only Aelistae was close enough to even register the tiny voice of the crown toting fairy. It should be noted, that Elesia, though a good three thousand percent larger than the fairy king, stamped her foot in place and threw her hands out in a huff like a teenager denied going to a dance as she spoke to the man before her. When the verbal exchange was complete, Elesia looked unsettled and more than a little embarrassed. Though she took a few steps away from Aelistae and the other’s and stood in the entrance of the clearing before speaking.

“It would not be fitting to carry on my charade any longer, not to you all who have been so kind to me. I, as many have guessed, am not your typical human girl, in fact, I am not human at all. My name is Elesianara Alum Silversong, and I am a fairy from the Forest’s near Cormanthor, in the Vale of Lost Voices, a princess actually, though I wouldn’t dwell upon it. My father however –and she gestures to the tiny man floating angrily over her right shoulder—would have me cooped up for my protection, as mankind has wrought many tragedies over the years, and though those with half a brain tread nowhere near the vale, it is the will of the kingdom that we do not interact with outsiders. I however, am a curious sort, and until now had eluded my overprotective father and his guards so that I could infiltrate and mingle with your kinds, to learn for myself more than the tales and lore passed down through the knowledge tree.”

Elesianara’s father spoke something else indiscernible, and then as one, the king, and twelve other fairy’s all took the form of elves, beauty personified s they stood their with now life-size bows, and quivers strapped across their chiseled features, perfectly toned bodies and features hidden little by the strategically placed leaf or vine curved around their ‘fairyhoods’ Turning to face everyone in general, the King spoke, in common for all to hear. “It is time my foolhardy daughter left her notions of grandeur and adventure to the human tales read by the elders. I shall see them barred from access for they cause nothing but trouble, filling my daughter’s head with such rubbish. We are taking Elesianara back to the Great Oak, and I dare say you will not see each other again. Come my daughter, your little game has come to an end.

Elesia began to protest, but a dozen trained bows became raised towards Aelistae and the other’s held in the clearing, and the bardic companion knew this was an argument she could not win. Even as the tears caressed her cheeks as she cried, she could only turn to Aelistae who was the closest, and share “I’m sorry” before she herself took her natural form, a beautiful fairy encompassed in a green glow only a few inches tall. Half the guard’s reverted back to their fairy form, and escorted Elesia back through a similar shimmering green portal.

It was the king who turned to Aelistae with the last word’s speaking loud enough for all to hear. “I should thank you for getting yourselves into such a foolish predicament. Had my daughter not foolishly placed so much value on your life, and brought you though the hidden fae tunnels, we never would have tracked her so quickly. But now, order has been restored, and things shall return to how they should have been.” Before any retort could be given, he and the rest of the fairy guard’s took to the Fae tunnel’s and left Everyone as though they had never been there. The entangling spell was released, and all were free to move, including the Dire wolf, the sleeping wolf now awakening from everything that had been going on, the wolf beneath Talus, and the Lycan, whose’ stone flesh casing was even now beginning to crack, threatening to release the beast within.

Linnix grits her teeth as the wave of calm hits her. No! I don't need to be calm! Those wolves need to be killed!
Linnix looks on with more or less indifference as the events of the Fae take place. She really was not in the mood for such intermissions, looking around at the remaining beasts to be killed, thinking of which are the biggest problems. The pain in her thigh and side are felt, and even though she was supernaturally calmed, Linnix's anger boiled inside. Finally, she was free of restraint, and allowed to move.

"Could've waited until the battle was over rather than interrupting!" Linnix shouts angrilly to no one in particular, switching her scythe for her crossbow and slamming another silver bolt within it.

(two move actions, retrieve crossbow, load it, and that's a round >.>)

(This next bit depends on the lycanthrope being not-stone encased)

Linnix raises the crossbow, aiming at the lycanthrope's head. She lines up the shaft of the bolt with her right eye, which is her dominant eye in sight, and with the ugly and furry head. without much of a thought, she fires.

She then immediately inserts another silver bolt in her crossbow.

(if the lycanthrope is still stonish in this second round, then the target instead is that other dire wolf)

Xaris knew he had to get up. He couldn't lay here while these wolves recovered. He had to continue, he needed to fight on.

Xaris didn't hear much about what happened with Elesia, he was exhausted on the ground. But slowly, using his sword as a crutch he got off of the ground just as the creeping tendrils that held him in place receded. He did not need to worry about his opponent, he had already killed the wolf earlier. He did feel bad about killing him, but it was needed. Now he couldn't be corrupted by these evil wolves any longer.

He looked at his target that he originally wanted to attack, and seen it encased in crumbling stone. He needed to act fast and attack when it was vulnerable.

Digging deep within himself Xaris found a part of him that had not been unleashed yet. He let out a battle cry as he gripped his mighty sword once again and charged the massive wolf statue, ready to attack it as quickly as possible. He hoped he could stop this madness with killing this large beast, and stopping the blood shed.

(( Xaris will rage once again, getting him enough strength to charge the giant wolf and then coup de grace it hopefully by the time he gets there. The two rounds will be getting up to it and attacking it as many times as I can. I'm charging also so lets hope this works))

"I am thinking that if this level has been mapped, then I doubt that what we need to find in on the first level, but I would rather be sure we leave not "stone unturned" in our seach. The others that have been here could have missed something important."

"There is where we go next." She is pointing to the L....y room.

Sword and shield at ready she signals Sil forward.

Panic gripped Talus as surely as the branches of the trees he was scaling. How much more magical prowess did the lycan posses? The thought that maybe this foe was beyond the group’s capabilities pushed its way to the forefront of his mind, then all the world seemed to slow. The wolves fell asleep, the werewolf became encased in stone, and Talus’ muscles became stubbornly tight, requiring monumental effort to move.

Why would he trap himself in stone when victory is so close at hand? ... I don’t think this spell is his doing.
There was a third player on the field now and Talus was berating himself for not recognizing earlier that those sparkles of light foreshadowed the arrival of a more powerful entity. … Wait…
The specks of light weren’t a hint about a third side, they were the third party. Each of motes of light transformed into the form of an elf, and each had a bow ready to be put to use. Elesia was talking to what appeared to be the leader of this elven band. Perhaps they could be reinforcements and would easily dispatch the wretched wolves. Talus realized that Elesia had been talking to the speck of light before it took on humanoid form. Does she know these elves already? Is why they have come to our aid?
Straining to hear what was being said between Elesia and the elves, Talus wished he had not climbed quite so high. Then the leader spoke, “It is time my foolhardy daughter left her notions of grandeur and adventure to the human tales read by the elders. I shall see them barred from access for they cause nothing but trouble, filling my daughter’s head with such rubbish. We are taking Elesianara back to the Great Oak, and I dare say you will not see each other again. Come my daughter, your little game has come to an end.”

The fey king dashed any hopes of an offer of help to pieces when Elesia tried to protest. Following a subtle command from their liege, the elves trained a dozen bows on the wayward child’s friends and now Talus was wishing that he had climbed just a few feet further. Panicking, he looked around (as much as possible with the constraining branches and vines) trying to find some way of getting out of the sights of those deadly bows. Then they were gone.

He missed what had transpired and tried to locate Elesia to find out how she had convinced them to leave. She wasn’t in the clearing either; they had taken her back with them. Over-protective parents rarely ever protect their children from anything. They just set them up for failure. Tell me, O wise king, what will happen to your daughter when…
A growling below ended his internal tirade. The wolves were back and looking just as vexed as before the fairy interruption. Quickly turning to face the trees, Talus clamored another dozen or so feet up the wall of vegetation. Thinking himself well out of reach of everything except perhaps the lycan’s spells, he swung back around to pick his targets. His first instinct was to finish off the wolf directly below, but a slight movement caught his eye. The stone was falling away from the leader. Taking the opportunity of an immobile target, Talus summoned forth an eldritch ray and hurled it at the leader, then dropped his gaze to the waiting wolf beneath him, already invoking the power for another blast.