Turning to Maggot Ulthok displayed a look of such wide eyed innocence that even the harshest and most hardened of magistrates would find themselves hard pressed to not fall victim to it.

"Stay what way?" Ulthok spoke innocently while seemingly going cross eyed as if he were trying to see his own face, "Whats the matter with my face?"

Growing mock serious Ulthok straightened to his full 3' 4" height, crossed his arms and stamped his foot as he continued, "But if you wish to speak of mothers, my mother always said that serious matters such as this should only be discussed with a full belly! We must maintain our priorities in these tumultuous and chaotic times! Food in our bellies and a soft place to rest our heads I say! Only then can we deal with the other business at hand!"

Following his declaration Ulthok gave a nod of his head to Maggot before setting out once more to make himself a meal worthy of an adventuring halfling.

The party seemingly in turmoil over who should be leader was slow to chose between Alasdair or Cor. Though both had been good in their own right as party leader it was still a difficult choice to make and most stood quietly pondering. However in that short time of uncertainty Cor, as was his gruff critical nature, brought it all to its head as he turned down the leadership role.

"I shall make it easy for you all, I remove myself for consideration as leader for it is apparent that none of you will follow anyway. I asked for our shape shifters to make their way across so we could try to at least gain the other side of the room and we still sit and make other plans and no one has moved. I will sit quietly in the corner and pray so I can raise Rayne as soon as possible. I will not vote for Alasdair but I will not veto him either. Whoever is chosen I wish them luck for I know that at least one of the group has no interest in cooperation but is solely out for their own goals and will not truly follow anyone except himself."
Though by his words Cor had given up all rights as leader, Alasdair was not one to jump right in and assume the issue closed. With the evil controlling Cor gone it was time to slow things down and explain his reason’s of haste .

"Though the leadership issue is still up for debate, may I suggest that we close the door behind us, bar it with whatever we have available and rest for a while? It seems we may have to puzzle over the way to solve this room, and I think we could all benefit from a little rest. I did not want to rest before not because I wanted to rush through the tests, but to prevent the creature possessing Cor from gaining any stronger hold on him than he already had, thus making it impossible to free him. That no longer being an issue, I don't see any reason we shouldn't rest now provided we can seal the door well enough. Once rested Cor can return our friend Rayne to us and we can get a relatively fresh start. Anyone have anything against that?"
With no objections to resting by any, guards shifts were given, equipment checked and readied, and rations eaten by those hungry, slowly each member of the party drifted off to sleep. The only door to this room, the doorway out, on the faces other side securely closed.


8 HOURS LATER
With a most important rest for users of magic and the clergy of the party over it was time to rememorize or pray for spells. With Cor still the only cleric his first duty was clear the raising of the parties second cleric Rayne. With out haste and sure once more in his Devotion to Odin the gruff short tempered Dwarf made his way to Rayne’s side. With words of prayer given and said he cast Raise Dead upon the Elvin Ranger/Cleric.

In only minutes the lady dead for almost a day was once more among the living and with the party once more. Though without any Clerical spells for the moment Rayne was once more a living viable member of this party of good.


(DM OOC: Ok I went ahead and skipped to 8 hours later so if there were other things you wanted to do before sleep fill free to back post.

OK Magic Users and our 1 Cleric get me please your spells by next weekend. If I do not get them I will just add the same spells as you had listed on your sheets before from the backup character sheets.

Keeper as I know your taking at least 1 Raise Dead I went ahead and used it to speed up the game by raising Rayne to get back to the issue’s at hand.

Brianna though I normally do not allow a single player to play more then 1 character at a time, in this case, as no one has any objections and in honor of DM I’ll allow you to continue to run both Cynil and Rayne, lets make DM proud of us all.
Ok next post, next Sunday REMEMBER YOUR SPELLS!! )

Waking up refreshed, Ulthok has a moment of insight as he prepares himself for the day ahead and readies his spells. Envisioning both the possibilities he has already considered, and the new plans forming in his mind this morning, he ponders each fully as he takes his time reaching a decision on what would be best for them to try next. Around the time Ulthok feels ready to offer an educated opinion on the day's challenge his reverie is interrupted by the sudden intact of breath from Rayne as she rejoins the living thanks to Cor.

Making his way to her side Ulthok grins in the startled girl's face as he exclaims, "Nice to see you've returned to us lass!"

Having assured himself that Rayne was indeed amongst the living once more Ulthok returned his attention the rest of the party and addressed them all, "I may well know a way for us all to cross this chamber safely. If it works we will need to move fairly quickly however so before I make the attempt everyone should be prepared for the crossing. The only thing else I need is the southeastern corner of the chamber clear, so unless anyone has an objection, if you can all pack your gear and move to the northern half of the chamber we can see if this solves our current puzzle or if we need to move on and try one of our other options."

Waiting for everyone to either make room for him in the southern part of the chamber or object to his attempting to solve their dilema, Ulthok prepared himself for all possible eventualities as he scanned the chamber one last time for any sign of traps or anything else he may have missed on an empty stomach the day before.

Willing to give the halfling a shot, Alasdair straps on the last of his armor and buckles his sword to his waist. His prayers to Odin completed, and is love already voiced to his lover he turns to Ulthok and speaks.

"Forgive me little one, but might you give us just a little bit more about what you plan on doing? That way, if it fails, we might have a better idea what to expect. And if you succeed, we will be able to act to follow you that much faster. So... a bit more information if you please."

COr woke refreshed unsure if was was the rest or the reconnection with Odin that had energized him. His forst order of business was to attempt to raise Rayne. Odin smiled upon her and she came once more into the realm of the living. "Easy there lass. You had a rough time of it lately so go slow." Cor helped her sit up and gain her bearing. It was about this time that Ulthok said he had a plan and Alasdair asked for more information. "I suppose my idea of simply crossing the gap not using the floor has been rejected. OK, lets hear what Ulthok has come up with." Cor waited to hear the details and see what Alasdair deceided.

After resting and taking his watch.. Kenji rises and packs his gear again ready to move on and get out of this room.. When Rayne is raised from the dead.. Kenji walks over and with the faintest of smiles he bows his head in respect and gives his normal grunt of approval. Then he goes back to guarding the entrance to the room while the others figure out a way to overcome the puzzle.

Kenji is reluctant to voice his own opinion after his last thought went awry .. He knows that such things are not his forte.. If there was a battle to plan or an ambush to conduct he would be of benefit.. But he once again is out of his element.

(OoC: I'm going to pick up from my last action, from where Tann used Conall's detect evil ability on Cor, Alasdair and Althaena.)

Conall was overjoyed seeing the return of Cor to his normal state. The return should have been joyous, but Conall could do nothing but sigh at the disarray of the party as he witnessed his return. Alasdair was shouting, Ulthok was making snide comments, Sirene was joining in, Cor was defending himself, Cynil was even getting involved... It was far too much, and it seemed that only he and Kenji were staying out of the conflict. For the time being, that is. However, if the party wanted any hope of continuing on and surviving, things would have to change. And things would have to change rather rapidly.

Conall kept himself quiet for the most part, as the party began setting up the camp for the night, after barring the door behind them. It did not seem that anything that stood before them was mobile, so it was assumed safe. Nevertheless, Conall took his guard watch as it was assigned to him.

At dinner however, Conall stared at his meal for a while idly watching it as a thought wandered into his head. Was leadership that necessary? From what he had seen, and as Cor had mentioned, whenever a leader had suggested an idea, it was often rebuked, and disputed, until collectively, a new idea had been formed. There seemed to lack a person so charismatic that it commanded the control of the party. The members were simply too strong minded to simply obey. With this idea, Conall placed his meal down, and stood.

"Companions, could I please have your attention for one simple minute. I have had something inside of me that I simply must get out. Ever since Cor has returned, which I am grateful he has done, there has been nothing but conflict amongst us. It seems as though this conflict is based solely around the issue of leadership. Cor, you have respectfully declined any nomination of being a candidate for the role of leader, and I respect that. Alasdair, you seem to be not keen, as you originally relinquished the role to Cor, then proceeded to accuse him of usurping. It seems neither of you will vote for the other as leader, and Ulthok has also voiced his restrictions. As such, I will step forward, should you have me, as a leader."

"However, as long as I have your attention, I must also discuss the manner of leadership I intend to run, so that you know what you would be getting into should we agree to have me as leader. I will not make decisions alone, and expect you to follow them. I am not as omniscient as Odin; I do not know what lies behind every corner, and what is best to do in any time. I will however, listen to any and all suggestions by you all, and make a decision based on what seems to be the choice which will protect the party the most. I do not expect you all to follow. I would expect you all to contribute. Open discussion as oppose to executive decision seems to be the best idea in our group of intelligent, individualistic, courageous, and cunning individuals. This is what I propose. I will allow you the choice of agreeing or no. No offense shall be taken should you all decline. Thank you for your listening."

Conall did not wait for any response, and simply sat back down, and picked up his bowl, now seeming to notice it was filled with food, and began eating politely, satisfying his hunger, and listening for what the others would say.

As the group readied itself Ulthok waited for a chance to catch Cor's attention without being seen by the others. When the chance eventually presented itself Ulthok caught Cor's gaze and winked at him slyly before turning away and moving off towards the southern half of the room.

As he moved into position Ulthok spoke over his shoulder to the group, "While I don't foresee there being any complications should this fail, it is indeed always best for us to be prepared. To put it simply, I will be attempting to circumvent our little floor problem. If successful I'd estimate that we'll have an eleven minute window to get across the chamber so everyone should prepare them self to make the crossing within that time frame."

With the preparations made, and the southern corner of the room clear of people, Ulthok finally puts his plan in action by casting the spell that he had prepared just minutes earlier.

[OOC - Casts Wall of Ice horizontally beginning in the south eastern corner of the chamber and finishing in the south western corner. (The room is 50x30 so the "wall", or more accurately "floor", of ice should measure 50' in length, be between 5' and 10' wide, and be at least 11" thick (inch per level). It should be 6 inches above the highest point on the floor and be connected to three of the rooms walls - southern, eastern, and western.)

Assuming the casting goes without incident Ulthok will examine both his creation for integrity and the chamber for a response. Provided he finds no faults in the ice or other obvious problems (and that Tann doesn't simply destroy the bridge in an explosive display of DM power!), and assuming that no one else rushes to volunteer to test the bridge, Ulthok will test the bridge himself by crossing it first.]

Before settling down for the night Cynil crosses over to where Conall is and sits and eats her evening repast with him. It consisted of mostly trail rations with water to wash it down. It would have to do. Though she dreamed of fresh fruit juicy and sweet. How she missed fruit. Cynil quietly prepared her spells. Being able to shape changing was proving useful but that was her natural ability. The spells she needed most so far was healing. That was one of her most important roles in this group. She thought about summons nature's ally but could not think of what could be summons--if anything--in this place.

When the time can to rest she lay down alongside of Conall. Being with him made her feel safer. Listening to his breath and feeling her heart beat helped to lull her to sleep. In the morning she woke ate again form her trail rations and made herself ready. When Conall spoke up about offering himself as leader she was not overly surprised. After he had finished and sat down Cynil sat beside him and put her hand on his arm and just held it briefly before releasing it.

"You are a good man Conall, Paladin of Odin."

OOC: I need a spells list for Cynil. I don't have the sources for 2nd edspells

Maggot rested, then with life's breath back with the Lady Rayne Maggot's job as care taker would soon be over. Cor helped her to sit up and with his hand there to steady her she soon was able to sit without help. It was then Ulthok held the moment as he told all of his plan. Maggot did not leave the side of the Lady Rayne. He gave water, "Slowly there Ma'Lady." he also broke some bread with honey to help get something in her for strength. "You will have more for lunch but for now I think this will fill the emptiness."

Ulthok's plan seemed sound, Maggot gathered all the bits of cloth that was the shroud of the Lady Rayne, he folded them and packed them away. The whole time he seemed to be mumbling or arguing with another but this time always under his breath as if the other in the argument was not present. With all packed away he offered to help the Lady Rayne to her feet. "Soon this old man will need your help but for now allow me to help you to your feet." With a smile he offered his hand to the Lady Rayne.

The party, with a full 8 hours of rest for both the users of magic and of the clergy, and thanks to Cor the return of Rayne to the living, came together once more to ponder the 2 immediate problems before them.

The issue of leadership and the floor of undead faces before them.................

With both Cor and Alasdair seemingly wavering on accepting fully the leadership of the group, a third choice did step forward as the Paladin Conall stood up and declared himself as a possible party choice. However due to Ulthok’s talk of having a plan to defeat the floor before the party his announcement was overlooked by all except for his lady love Cynil.
Conall’s words said but not heard the party watched as Ulthok put his plan into action............

With the words of a spell spoken a Wall, or more correctly a floor, of Ice formed to completely cover the lower two rows of faces in the Southern part of the room. Extending from the East to the West the ice floor quickly formed and took shape and thickness.
With his floor formed Ulthok scanned to make sure all the faces in the two rows were covered and as it was his plan took the first step forward upon the ice over the face of a Ghoul.............

To the Halfling’s visible relief nothing as had happened to Kenji occurred, the ice floor seemingly having done what it was meant to do in stopping the magic of the faces. However as Ulthok moved and stepped upon the face of the Lich to continue his progress forward, the clear sound of ice cracking could be heard. As the party and the Halfling Thief watched, a single crack, then with another loud snapping sound a second, appeared in his floor of ice, both cracks growing ever longer................


(DM OOC: Ok there you have my post for this week, good posting everyone. Now I hate to say this, ok maybe not , but Dreen I saw the floor of Ice coming a mile away based on you taking that spell as one of your new ones. But its all good and was well played, however, now you have to ask yourself with the ice seemingly coming apart, do you move forward 6 steps or back 2??

Ok next post next Sunday and you all might want to settle the “who’s our fearless leader” thingi before you go much further, call this a DM hint.)

Hearing Connel step forward to offer himself as leader was interesting as it added not detracted from the confusion. "Well lad if you want it you must be nuts but I see no reason you could not. However leadership by commitee as you suggest sounds wonderful and works fine in some cases but it has a serious flaw; it does not allow quick action. At least you understand that getting this group to take anyones advice other than their own is not likely."

Later Cor watched Ulthok set his plan in motion. "Interesting that we choose not to utilize shapshifting to crawl across the ceiling and spin a web bridge as I suggested before but trust in a layer of ice directly on the floor. I hope it works." He was glad that the initial venture onto the ice was uneventful but it ws not long before cracks began to appear. "Hmm, I know ice tends to crack in response to weight and often is perfectly fine. Then again sometimes the cracks lead to breaking of the ice. It was your plan so I leave it up to you to continue or turn back Ulthok."

While pondering whether he should turn back or bolt for the far side of the room Ulthok spoke to the party, "The ice should be more then thick enough to bear my weight without cracking. Considering the ice isn't even touching the tiles I believe we can conclude that the tiles are able to strike out at anything that passes over them regardless of distance. If this is indeed true then flying or crawling across the ceiling would be just as dangerous as walking directly on the tiles. And now to complicate matters, even if this bridge does lasts long enough for me to make the crossing there is no way anyone else will be able to use it. We need a stronger bridge for the party to use, something the tiles cannot breach, that or we need to find another solution to this puzzle.."

Ulthok seemed to lose himself in thought as he rambled on, "We have seen the tiles strike out at us.. I wonder if we in turn can strike back at them.. perhaps the only way across is to destroy the tiles themselves.. hhhmmm.."

Coming back to himself Ulthok raised an eyebrow and grinned back at the party from where he stood on the plane of ice, "Anyone want to test a theory by busting up a few stone slabs?"

Glancing down at the cracked ice below his feet Ulthok added as an after thought, "That or does anyone have a stronger bridge?"

"I don't think the tiles struck out at you, the ice just settled. If you wish I will take a try at making it across or we can bundle a couple of our packs and slide that out to test the weight bearing ability of the ice."

Ulthok tried to reason with Cor, "You mean to tell me that 11 inches of ice can't hold a 38 pound halfling? I've seen lakes frozen over with thinner ice then this that have held entire groups of people without cracking. Besides, if it was a matter of weight then it would have cracked when I first stepped on it, but it did not! It only began to crack as I passed over the tiles."