Smiling just a bit, he looked to his paladin comrad and says:
"Conall, were you not listening? Go back through your thoughts for a moment. You'll find that we just agreed on what was already said, and now you have repeated it, so I assume you have agreed as well. Nice to know you're with us old friend. Shall we?"

With a smack on the shoulder and a smile, Alasdair continues down to the jungle.

Cor stood quietly while first Alasdair and then Sirene ranted. Both had valid points and rights to be angry but that was not what was needed now. "Alasdair, you say you were chosen at the beginning to lead this party? I believe you assumed leadership while I was, how shall I say 'not myself' and saw fit to not relinquish it when I was released from the grasp of evil. Sirene you say you will not be treated like a child yet you throw a tantrum. Yes we all have faults and I would be hard pressed to find many with a list longer than mine but such things are not important now. Unless we work together as a team evil will emerge victorious. The past is behind us and cannot be changed. All we can do is to shape a better future." Cor looked at everyone. "Now, Alasdair, how shall we get past there nasty plants?"

Chuckling, Ulthok blerted out, "Because of the evil taint! And here I thought they followed me because of my enchanting charm and good looks!"

"Well we had better get started while the Paladins are still in agreement." Beaming a smile full of teeth Ulthok pulled on his pack and made ready to follow.

As the bickering started and halted their descent into the valley… Kenji paused… sighed and rolled his eyes upward… it seemed like he was traveling with a bunch of children sometimes… he waited a minute and then continued on down the path to the valley floor.

“When you are ready,” he mumbled, “I will be at the bottom waiting on you all to settle this problem.”

They didn’t have time for all this hand holding… bickering about how they were treated or who blamed whom… who was in charge … they had a tough road ahead and they would be lucky if they all survived it.. Kenji shook his head as he continued on down with the others hopefully not far behind.

"Everyone. Please do remember that we each have dedicated ourselves to this endeavor. beyond thoughts or actions focused of self. We have put aside personal gain. We have focused on our goal. I have never been with a group that has been less self serving than all of you. I have seen no thought of loot or personal gain in my time with this group I do agree with Conall and Cor inthat now we are so close now is not the time for this bickering. My other thought is that being closer to this evil that its presence that evilness is desperately trying to split us up--making us weaker and less able to succeed. "

"I believe that this evil is more fearful now that we hare so near and will probably try everything it can to split us up. So a;; of us examine yourselves closely. Is what you are doing now helping or hindering the final battle. IS this behavior you--or outside forces make you act this way. We must all guard ourselves during the final ouch to complete this quest. BE strong suspects all feelings that would cause distension among us. We cannot afford any at this point forward."

Turning to Alastair, Rayne speaks clearly, "I am ready to move forward."

Cynil reached out for Conall and gave him and encouraging smile and squeezed his hand and he spoke to the others. It wasn;t important to her that others had said much the same already It was important that he spoke up as well. As a Paladin he needed to speak of these things.

" I agree that we need to put these differences behind us. We are mortals not goods or avatars. we are fallible though all of us here have tried hard to work together to and not let little things keep us from this final goal. They must be put to the side now as we have pit all else to the side and behind us already.

"We all want to see this evil done away with, fore our selves, our lands our lives of our descendants fall under this evil that is spreading like a disease through our lands."

"We have the best chance to see this evil destroyed. It has cost us blood, sweat and tears as well as the lives of fnds. IF we do not finished this quest it will all and been in vain and so them no honor for their sacrifice. Failure will condemn all we know and love to suffer under this evil.

"We here now, have the best chance to end this threat for our people our nations, those now living and those yet to be born."

"We here now are the only ones who have made it this far in the 10d thousands of years since this place was created."

"We, and we alone." repeats Cynil for emphasis.

"I am ready too."

The members of the party as a whole had a common goal, however as individuals their ways of getting to that goal clearly at times did differ. Were they all friends, perhaps, perhaps not, did they look at the world the same way, clearly not. Were they here of there own accord, yes, however each surely wished they were not. These 10 people, from different parts of their world, had come together for one reason or another with an ultimate goal of gaining a sentient evil object and keeping it out of the hands of it‘s creator.

They had seen party members die, they had seen a previously thought dead loved one return to lead them once more. They had seen a member turned to evil, only to witness the power of faith return that soul to good once more. They had fought together against demon and drake, dragon and devil, both the living and the undead, to stand before their goal at last....

However though they had endured all that they, did indeed lack the most needed of things.... Teamwork and Trust.

For though within the party were feelings of love and a few friendships, on the whole the party did seethe with feelings of anger, pity, sadness and pain. They lacked the feelings of trust, respect, and the feelings of being part of a team. In the end though each in this party knew the final goal and were determined, even willing, to give their life if needed to accomplish that goal they did not seek it as a united front, but only in and as separate teams.

Now standing before the remaining plants a sensible plan of action had been suggested only to once more be put on the back burner because of harsh words and feelings. No spell cast to create rain or a watery mist, no spell cast to cause water to turn to ice. The only thing so far to have been done so close to each’s goal were the speaking of words.

Yes these words were of encouragement, of faith in the rightness of cause, of vows to see this to the end. However words could only take this party so far and without action words were meaningless.

For the moment this party of 10 stood and talked and unheard by them somewhere in the realm of a future world a giant clock ticked on and on... Tick Tock... Tick Tock....

(DM OOC: Ok there is this weeks post not a lot to post on as no clear actions were taken as to gaining past the plants before you. Ok next post will be in two weeks on Sunday April 10th as I will be at a local gaming convention all 3 days of this upcoming weekend. Should give you all enough time to come up with and execute a plan of action.)

He looked to the pyramid in the distance as he descended the cliff face to the cavern floor. It might take them days to get through this jungle with fire and cold alone. yet there seemed no other way. If it took them days, then so be it, he would watch over them all for days.

Alasdair looked back to see only a handful of his friends behind him in his descent.

"Catch up you turtles! I'd hate to have to conquer the forest without you!"

He hoped his apparent joviality would ease a bit of the tension, some of which he himself had caused. They had work to do, and he needed all of them to make it through this.

When he had returned from hell, it was not as their leader, but as a guardian. Tempered by hell fire and reforged into something by the sacrifice he made for them. Somewhere since then he had lost sight of that. He was their leader now once again, in a time when they desperately needed unity. But he would not lose sight of his true charge, to keep them alive.

Please Lord Odin, watch over us, and help me protect my companions... even if it costs me my life.

"Catch up you turtles! I'd hate to have to conquer the forest without you!"
Kenji stood at the bottom of the cliff and looked back to where Alasdair was leading the others down to join him for their journey across this valley…. He was glad that they had stopped bickering about who’s fault it was that they had been delayed in starting this dangerous trip across the valley floor.

He waited for all of them to join him .. Standing there with his arms pulled up into his large voluminous sleeves giving him the appearance of having no arms as those sleeves hung empty and slack at his sides… he often did this as he traveled or was lost in thought as he was here… thoughts of how they were to accomplish this heroic feat.

“So,” he said as the others joined him, “who is casting these spells and how long should we wait before those of us that will be cutting will start? What order should we go in? How long can we continue? I suggest that when we must stop we clear an area in which to rest while those caster recover their strength and their spells.”

Kenji thought he should get things started before they stall again in useless talk about things unrelated to their present danger.

'Back into that nest of evil vines and me with out my gardening tools.' Maggot picked up his things and fallowed the rest down to the base of the cliff.

"Well lets get to the casting of cold spells. Once the plants are frozen we should be able to clear a path"

Cynil offers her thoughts about crossing the hostile plants.
I could try communicatine with the p;ants.

Once spoken she will cast her spell on the lead person and turn into an elephant

"You know, I just realized I could lead the way in elephant form and trample a path through those foul plants. So the rest can follow that. I can run to since it would be quicker, I will make sure not to out run you. Either Sirene or Maggot could be look out for that."

"I am really the best one for this job I think." When finishes with there offer she shifts into an elephant form
and stands ready to lead out to clear the path. Kneeling to let any who want to a ride.

Bri please check your Email and Inn PM. Thanks Tann

Rayne slings her new favorite bow and takes out her sword shd dagger. "I am ready." I will help the leader to cut through the plants on the right flank."

It was a less than cohesive group right now. She hoped that ir wouldn't remain that way if it did they might not work together well enough to get through to the end." The thought bother her. Was this just personal conflict. They had been in a lot of stress for some time. Or was there a more sinister element affecting them. She actually favored the idea of the latter thought. the former could split them apart at the worse time. In truth she wanted neither to affect them, but something had.

The enchantress had prayed for her new prayers and then enjoyed a decent night sleep. The woman woke up and listened to the discussions. There were a lot of ideas being discussed when she woke the following morning. Ideas from freezing the plants and cutting through them, to morphing into an elephant to clear a path to their destination.

Sirene turns towards Ulthok and she moved silently until she was near him. The Druid did not hestiate "Ulthok, I apologize for my hasty words. You did not deserve them my friend" her words were straight from her heart and anyone who was in hearing distance would know this to be true.

Turning towards the rest of the party she spoke in a louder voice "Last night I have prayed for spells. I have received grace in the form of 5 cold cone spells and the demishadow spell. I hope that we can devise a plan to get us to our destination with as little loss as possible." the enchantress smiled to her friends then added "we have worked together up until this point, and we have achieved much in working together. We can overcome anything as a group, so let us think up a plan, and a backup plan, so that we are prepared."

As the party started back down to the jungle the Halfling Mage knew they were nearing the end of their task and he recalled many of the events that lead them to this spot. This group had lost friends and his thoughts went to his own brother. Had the head strong actions of Divot been brought out in Ulthok? It did seem the closer they got to the sword the more it influenced each of them. If its strength affected them even before they touched it, what would it do when one of them possessed it? It was clear to the mage that the evil of this place had found a way to bend his judgment and it was trying to do the same on each of the group. Evil twists thought and can cause the best of people to believe what they are doing is the right thing. That is it’s strength, making its wants seem “Right”. As the realization grew Ulthok knew he must show unity, he must lead by following, he must survive.

Sirene turns towards Ulthok and she moved silently until she was near him. The Druid did not hesitate "Ulthok, I apologize for my hasty words. You did not deserve them my friend" her words were straight from her heart and anyone who was in hearing distance would know this to be true.
Smiling up at the natural beauty, Ulthok felt warmed by the kind words she had blessed him with. “Your kindness is an inspiration, your forgiveness is an honor. Thank you. Now I must redeem myself with our leaders and the other of our group.”

Ulthok hurried to catch up to the Paladin as he strode purposefully down to the jungle. “My Lord” Ulthok called hoping he sounded sincere ,’”If I may, I am ready to do my part as the party needs. Cold or heat, steel or club I will do what is needed. This party has saved my life and I owe them no less than my life. I will do as you need.” With that said Ulthok fell into step behind Alasdair.