The end of round 2 had brought with it a few new revelations, first and foremost of these, that no place was safe from the flying crystal spikes. The second revelation was perhaps closer to the party’s heart, that of the return of the old Haila, before the swords control of her.

Cor being the first to encounter her had only seconds to make a choice to her sincerity and believe her, or to disbelieve and strike her down. However with the act of Niamedris jumping from inside his tunic to her shoulders was all the convincing he needed as to the truth of her words and he welcomed her back. Calling to the others he asked of the Crystal spikes.

"Anyone see where those spikes are going once they melt!? Perhaps a drain hole or something that recycles them!"
To his dismay no one answered him each too busy avoiding said spikes.

Cynil was in pain the spikes that had so far hit her body causing bleeding in a number of places and with no chance to cast healing for fear any spells would be interrupted she choose to change form, her first of the day, into that of a highly maneuverable bat. Her choice was a good one for not only did she gain the healing of the change, she also was able to remain this round free of any new spike strikes. Flying here and there she searched for any sign of a hidden escape.

Divot moving quickly back towards the entrance door could not help but see his brother in trouble. Ulthok having tried for a safe way to avoid the crystal spikes had instead been pinned to the wall by one of them.
Moving quickly with no heed of the spikes flying around him he reached his brothers side just as he was grazed across the face by a fast moving spike. With blood coating his right eye he could barely see but that did not stop him as he began to attempt to quickly free his Halfling sibling.

Evie seeing for the moment that the fake door was indeed fake and all the party was doing at the moment was taking more spike hits knew that sometimes a brief retreat was a good thing, called to the rest as she started back towards the entrance door,

"Get out, get out, there's no door here!"
As if a spark has been lite beneath them all the older party members realized for the first time, that unlike the tests before, the entrance door to this one was as yet still open. Had in fact allowed Haila, the first and now the last to arrive at this test, both entrance and exit not once but twice and had allowed the party’s newest member entrance as well. With this knowledge and spured on by Evie, her help allowing Divot to free Ulthok faster, the party headed out of the test. Though a few were hit by the spikes as they retreated ( Conall, Kenji, Ulthok, Evie) no one was critical injured and Evie in this odd fashion was able to recover a spike from her side.

The entrance door closed behind them the sound of spikes continuing to hit the walls and door telling each the test continued without them, they sat or stood, or in the case of Cynil hovered, and for the moment none did speak. Then out of the blue as if having a vision presented to him in a dream or a hallucination Divot was the first to speak the craziest of idea’s.

"Oi, who's got th' ruby from th' last room?! It may just get us out of this hole! I think it might just be a key of some kind!"
"Nice thought lad, ah course it is more likely we will lose the ruby as well as our hides. But then again we are going to lose our hides anyway so give it a try."
Ulthok having been the one to find it of course had possession of it and it was readily produced by he, the halfling Thief/Mage handing it to Cor.

The questions now facing the party had become quite clear, first, if Divot was correct, was how to use said gem as a key and where.
Second who would use the gem once the first question was answered.
And third, and perhaps not last, would the party make use of its present precious supply of healing spells and or potions.

For now the party though safe from the spikes had no choice but to eventually go forward into the room and test once more as there was no way back.


(DM OOC: Ok sorry for the 2 week wait and I hope this helps to get the game moving again. Next post baring any crashed cars, work hours, or gorgeous females will be next Sunday)

Evie arrives safely beyond the entrance door and, gritting her teeth to fight back the pain, plucks another of the crystal slivers from her side. She holds the bit of crystal up before her eyes and examines it.

"Crystal resonates", she says to no one in particular. Holding the sliver by one end between two fingers, barely tight enough to retain her hold on it, she taps it against the stone wall and listens carefully as it rings.

"And if it resonates, it can be shattered by sound alone." She shrugs, "I've seen it done, but never tried myself."

As the tone slowly dies down, she strikes it again against the wall, and after taking a deep breath begins to sing. Very carefully pitching her voice, she attempts to match the frequency at which the crystal vibrates.

Hoping that she is right, if she can match the frequency, and slowly increase her volume until the vibrations from her voice match those of the crystal, she may induce a resonant frequency vibration in the crystal and cause it to shatter.

"Thanks Ulthok.", Cor caught teh offered ruby. Turning to Divot, "Here lad, your idea so you get the honor of trying it." Cor addressed teh group, "Well we took a beating in their but we gotta go back in; tis the only way to the sword. Do what you can with shields to protect yourself and group close with the weaker of us in teh middle so they don't get hit as much. I don't want to use major healing now unless someone is close to death. Who knows when we might need it later. Feel free to use low level stuff."

Cor himself cast a cure light on Evie and another on Ulthok.

When all seems ready Cor motions to the door. "We need to get in quick and shut the door so Divot can do his thing." Laying a hand on Divot's shoulder, "Lad, get yourself to the hole quick as ya can and put that gem in the hole. May Odin shield you and grant us all luck."

Cynil hearing Evie adds the high pitched cries of the bat, maybe they could shatter the crystals. She continues the squeaks that were bearly audible to human ears. With the crystals gone they would have more time to figure out how to get the door open.

Maybe as a bat she could also help by taking the ruby to the hole. With that in mind she flies to Cor or Divot, whoever has the ruby. She will land on their hands and try to take the the ruby in a her hind legs.

"Well now, seems our druid wants the honor of making the attempt. What say you lad; will ya give up the gem?" Cor figured it should be up to Divot to make the choice.

"I have some healing available but perhaps only for the most injured. The rest of us, I will treat with first aid for now." Rayne will treat all the injured, including herself, with first aid, even those given healing by Cor.

Punctured flesh was clean, treated, and bandaged while others worked on the on going problem of getting through the door in the room.

When she got to Kenji and looked at his hand she used a Cure Light Wounds, noting the ugly bruising and surmising that he had surely broken bones in his hand.

Not knowing how much else they would have to get through and how bad the injuries might get she couldn't afford to run out before they were done for the day.

Rayne reflected that these tests truly were a test of them all. Their teamwork and share abilities and skills were being thoroughly tested. She looked over to Althena. They were here because of her and because they supported what she needed to do. Rayne might be stressed by what was going on but she wouldn't ever consider opting out

"Aye, give it a go," Divot said, giving the gem to Cynil to try to get them out of this hole. "Maybe we'll make it out of 'ere in one piece after all!"

‘Who do I put under this shield with me?’ Conall had a decision to make, the quest or his personal feelings. This was the first time this came up and it would be an easy one for anyone else to make but he was dedicated to the quest. The quest is his life, it is his personal feelings. Every fiber of his being was the quest. But now there was another.

It was then the gem was handed to Cynil and the decision was made for him. He looked to the Lady Althena, “You will be safe under my shield, so you and I will enter the room together.” Conall then turns to Cynil, “I will see you later.”

Conall makes ready to enter the room once more.

The party for the moment safe, relatively speaking, had time to rest and think on how to defeat this most deadly test before them. Clear to the party was this test, unlike those before, had allowed them to retreat from the room and once again gain the safety of the hallway. How long this safety would last was of course unclear.

While the party rested, minor healing was cast by Cor and bandages applied by Rayne, it was Evie who first had the beginnings of an idea separate from that of Divot‘s. Having been able to bring with her a crystal spike, though in truth her body had, she thought of sound and the effects of such on crystal.

After first tapping the spike and hearing it resonate she began to slowly raise her voice. Her vocal cords, trained as they were in singing, easily rose in decibels but though the spike did vibrate and appear to possibly show cracks within it, it did not break.

Cynil seeing what Evie was trying to do added her bats screech to the mix of sound and combined with the Bard’s voice the spike quickly and easily shattered into a handful of pieces to fall to the floor.

Then it was back to Divot’s theory that the large ruby was indeed a type of key, and after a few moments of who would carry it was decided that Cynil, yet in the form of a bat, had the best chance to get it to its destination, its key hole so to speak, across the room.

The group of nine now had before them perhaps, two viable options.

The first to attempt to use the ruby as a key and get it across the room to the only hole lacking a shooting spike. Perhaps it would work or perhaps not, for it could very well be that Divot was wrong and the ruby was what it was, just a very valuable gem.

Option two the use of a sound mix created by Evie’s voice and that of Cynil’s bat shriek to destroy the crystal tunnel before them and hopefully reveal to them the tests hidden door.

However as was the norm it was Althena who voiced some concern.

“We have two possible ways to mayhap defeat the test before us it seems. However my question to you Cor, do we do them one at a time or at the same time and do we all enter or only some of us. Just because this test has let us in and out at will, there is no way to know if one of our options is correct that any on this side of the door will be able to enter if the test is beaten.”

With that said it was once again up to Cor, leader of this group of ten heroes, to make the call.......

(DM OOC: Ok there ya have it peoples the choice is in your leaders hands, HOWEVER feel free to put in your 2 cents worth Hint that means by posting .
Ok a Big, Huge, Gigantic, welcome back to Kyle. Nice to have you back you have been missed my friend. Plus this saves me having to call you and ask the same question time and again Ok next post, next Sunday be here or be a pair of square pants.)

As expected from a dwarf, Cor had little problem making a choice. "Ya bring up some good questions lass. Seeing as the other tests required everyone to be in the room I see no reason this one would be differant and so we all go in together. As for shattering the bridge, that seems it would cause more problems. Let's try the gem first. Anyone have a problem with that plan?"

(DM OOC: Just to remind everyone the bridge is made of stone not crystal)

The tension in the room was obviously caused by her return. The woman bit her lip slightly as she craddled her cat showering him with affection. Her elvin cat had easily forgiven her, yet she still felt horrible about things she did while she had no control over her actions.

Haila trailed near the end of the party and as the moment presented herself she sat down to begin her tale. Whether the rest of the party stood or joined her to form a circle she cared not. Her voice was calm yet full of sorrow and her eyes remained low. Her mind was distant upon the task at hand, her priority in the moment was to regain the trust of her friends, and make a new friend. Sorrow was obvious from the point she had rejoined the group. Her body slumped in sadness as she spoke loud enough for all to hear.

The young womans voice rang loud enough for her companions to hear her, if they wished to listen to her story. She didn't address anyone in particular, as her hand slowly moved over the velvet soft fur of her feline companion. Eyes closed as she relived the moment "The call was so strong while I slept that I hadn't the will to fight it. I'm naught but human, I couldn't force my will to be so strong as to fight it, when sleep had overcome any emotions I carried. The hold the sword carried over me was such a burden. I still had my mind, though I hadn't realized it immedietly. The sword controlled my every action, sending a fireball against you, my friends, the emotions I felt flooded me so completely my guard dropped further and the pull of the sword, its control over me grew stronger. It was like i was simply watching from the eyes of somebody else as my body attacked, and moved against my will. It was like I was paralyzed, for the first time when you wake up and realize you have no control over your limbs that your whole life you've taken advantage of using. The world continued as if nothing had gone wrong, and then I realized that a small part of my mind was still my own." in this moment her gaze searched for her love.

It didn't take long for her eyes to find Divot and gaze so deeply into his eyes her skin flushed as she blushed. She would speak the words that floated through her mind since their time in the forest. "Divot is what saved me from that curse. The flood of emotions I felt while thinking about him, praying that he wouldn't take it personally that I attacked you all. I feared his reaction against me so much that the strength of my emotions pushed the sword's pull away. I could feel the curse lift from my body as I thought about Divot, and our time together. I thought of all of you, but it was Divot who created such a reaction in my body that the curse was completely lifted." her eyes fell as her skin continued to flush red. It was the first time she had ever mentionned their time in the forest. Her eyes drifted to Niamedris as she gently kissed the elvin feline.

In that moment she decided to heal her cat companion. She dug around in her pack, and used a potion of extra healing on her familiar. One she tended to her feline, her eyes lifted searching each face as her eyes fell upon Evie, and she instantly spoke anew "And to you, I apologize as well. I was not myself, possessed by the evil sword lurking somewhere within the area. I don't expect forgiveness on your behalf, or on anyone's for that matter. If you wish me to leave you, I would understand. Though I had no control over my actions, I am still to blame for the injuries, and for that I am deeply pained, and I apologize from the depths of my whole being." her words drifted off as her eyes drifted before her and she sighed softly while awaiting the hurting words she expected were coming. Thorren knew not how many people had listened to her, but she prayed that Divot was one of them that had listened to her words.

Cor moved close and patted the feline on the head. "Welcome back lass. T'was this wee one who saved your life and allows me to take ya back into the fold. I'll not sugar coat things; had the cat not lept back into your arms by Odin I'd have struck you down and Connel would have helped. Nothing personal but once anyone, and I mean anyone including myself, is under the sway of that vile sword they cease to be themselves and become an agent of darkness. The task we have been handed is more important than any of us and so we must do what needs be done no matter how terrible." Cor put his shoulder on Halia. "Odin is certainly looking out for you for the cat was near dead before I healed it and it took a solid hit from the spikes just after I did. T'were not for that he would'na made it." Once more patting the cat on the head, "Good cat. Next time try launching with less claws if you would be so kind."

Cynil never thought herself as daring, or courageous; saving lives was healing her comrades as needed. Now she had taken the bull by the horns, or the ruby in her hind claws and started toward the hole. Using the bat's agility she darted through the tunnel and toward the hole. All having the fate of all her friends in her hands...feet, was something new to her and she wanted to succeed, to be able to place the ruby in the hole and...pray that it was the key to continue their quest.

Cynil swallowed the no so proverbial lump in her throat, a lump of audaciousness, she lifted off Cor’s hand with lump of ruby that she hoped she could stuff into the throat of the hole. She had flown before in other shapes, but never as a bat. The small creature, with its odd load, darted about using all the agility of a bat to gain her objective.

Rayne finished the cleaning and dressing of wounds on everyone injured byt the flying crystal spikes. She decided to saving the few spell os healing she had it things got worse. While her hands were busy so ws her mind thinkgin of ways that they could make it to that doorway without being hit by those crustal spikes.


"Corm I just had a thought, Even if that door will open with the ruby it doesn't mean we will be safe from flying crystals as we try to get through. So I had a though that perhaps you could cast the iron wall of yours to act like a giant shield."

"It is just a thought." tayne adds but decide better that she offer it than not mention that possibility.

"Aye lass, t'was thinking the same myself. Only reason I am hesitant to do it is that if the ruby is the key then the spikes should stop for the proper answer has stopped all the other tests. That and I haven't the slightest idea whether or not the walls can attach to something spinning."

Cor would indeed continue to ponder how the walls might help in case the ruby was not the answer.