Finarsil had no time to rejoice about the positive affects her Healing Tune had wrought on her unconscious companions and upon herself.

The pain and discomfort of the Leeches burrowing into her skin was not only unpleasant, but reminded her of the many tales of former Bards who valiantly tried to save their comrades, rather than tending to their own wounds, only to lose their lives needlessly.

Those Bards of old could have ministered to their own hurts and wounds, so they could live on to help their companions in battle, but they all died, because the Bards lacked the proper understanding of the necessary actions for balancing personal preservation with aiding wounded comrades.

The High Elf Bard had long ago lost count of the times she had exhorted her students to take the time to preserve their own lives, so they would be able to live on and help their companions to live also.

Holding her Flute with her left hand, her thumb curled around the circumference of the Flute, she quickly pressed both her left hand and right hand against each side of her face, as she recited a Healing Poem to free herself from the curse of the Leeches:

"Ye' Cind Hear My Plea
"Let My Body Be Free
"From These Leeches , Please
"As I Cast Cure Disease!"
((OOC: Finarsil casts Cure Disease upon herself, holding each hand to the sides of her face, while she alertly watches the actions unfolding against the Tentacles, so she will be ready to respond and react to once more aid her comrades against their foes!

Her Flute is held in her left hand, thumb curled around the circumference of the Flute, as both Flute and Left Hand are pressed against the left side of her face, while her Right Hand presses against the right side of her face.))

Arien had dropped his levitation in the desperate hope to save a plummeting hunter. Upon the catch, his exultation at preventing the elf's demise had been short lived, however, as the thing vomited black blood and horrible leaches on the knight at a range too close to avoid. An in instant, the joy turned to agony as the venom burned into Arien, and upon his crash to the earth, everything went black for a time.

He awoke, having been touched by the hand of deity. The pain was still there, but lessened; more to the point, the leaches had been removed from his flesh.

A quick scan of the situation revealed that his comrades were having success with ranged attacks. The knight considered rushing past the tentacles, but it went against every instinct to leave a known foe blocking the only potential withdrawal route.

Anger flared inside, and Arien was sorely tempted to rip off a chunk of the bridge to fling at the tentacles, but the knight imposed self discipline and instead raised his bow and nocked an arrow. While the stone would be more viscerally satisfying, the bow was the better tactical option.

**Arien will systematically concentrate his fire on one tentacle at a time, starting with those that are closest/the most immediate threat to the party.**

Those with leeches are in pain as the little buggers tear through flesh and the venom works into your system. Maximus and Jarenion almost lose consciousness again but fight to maintain control.

Odyson changes into the Great Bear and the tentacle slides downwards slightly due to the change in weight. The bear tears into the flesh with his free claw and bites the rubbery flesh although spitting it out as to not ingest the foul creature. The change forces the leeches free of the Cleric's body and the appendage holding him is no match for the beast. The Bear is released and drops to the ground, aided by the feather fall spell on the bead he wears.

Maximus throws his axes at the arm holding Odyson and hits with such might as to cleave it free of the body. Leeches and black blood spray out from the wound but far enough away as to not get another party member.

Lun casts a cure spell on Arien and the health flows back into the knight. Arien draws his bow and open fire upon the arms attacking. He clusters his attacks upon one tentacle and it slowly becomes limp and inert from the wounds. Sparrow and Kadrin also attack and put down an arm each with their attacks.

Jarenion gets a Stoneskin spell cast which ends the attack of the leeches on his body. He moves to the most destructive spell he knows immediately with only enough time to call a warning to his friends, "Quickly, melloneamin, let us get clear of this monstrosity and see it reduced to cinders!"

Finarsil casts cure disease upon herself is rewards with the end of the creatures burrowing into her.

The remaining tentacles move to try and grab a victim, but you are all now way of them and manage to avoid being grabbed. But as they attack, more tentacles, either new or renewed come through the cavern ceiling.

The party keeps on the attack as Jarenion releases his spell and fires off a fireball towards the creature above. The spell goes off way above you and explodes. The fireball burns the flesh of the tentacles and they are consumed. The rock above you shake and start to crack as the creature within writhes in the pain of the flame. Rocks start to fall away reveal a massive creature above you, one that filles the entire space above this cavern.

More rocks fall and the black rubbery flesh starts to slide through the bigger cracks. Whatever it is, it is about to come crashing down.

Someone shouts "Run!"

OOC:
Arn - fully healed no leeches
Lun - Fine
Jar - Lightly wounded no leeches
Fin - Seriously wounded no leeches
Spa - Fine
Ody -Bearish, No leeches
Max - Seriously wounded still has leeches
Kad - healed and leeches don't like dwarves

Kadrin watched down the sight of his crossbow as the elf mage's magic erupted against the ceiling in a fiery inferno. "Hrmpm," he grumbled jokingly. "You wizards get all the toys, hmm?"

The stress cracks and fissures beginning to show in the ceiling, changed the old dwarf's mood suddenly. "Run," he said to Jal urgently, before raising the warning cry to the rest of his companions. "RUN!"

Noting the thief's poor shape, the general pulled up close alongside of Max, ready to offer assistance to the large man, or drag him, if need be, to the entrance of the tomb.

OOC: Kadrin is looking to assist Max (drag him if need be) to the "safety" of the tomb entrance. I'm assuming that's the way we are moving.

"Run!"

It was a single word, but it struck like a spear. As if of one mind, all heads snapped towards the crumbling threshold. With burning golden eyes the priestess glared at the tunnel entrance as she sprung into action. Once again, magic lighted her feet and bore her into the air. Reaching out a hand to Arien, she sped away from the fel place to join the others. All the while Lun's lips moved in silent prayer to the Moonlit Mystery.

((OOC: flying to join the rest of the group. Will try to guide Arien if he levitates))

Sparrow heard the call to run and being a good follower, especially when the orders made incredible sense, she ran. She took a few glances behind her to try to see if the creature was dead or just knocked from the ceiling.

Maximus was glad to see his axes, despite the pain from the leeches in his body, cut into and sever the tentacles holding Ody. As he fought to stay conscious his axes returned to him but before he could launch them once more he heard someone yell "Run".

The big Fighter/Thief started to do so but suddenly was racked once more in pain almost blacking out again. Stumbling he was about to fall to his knees when a strong arm gripped him pulling him along and helping him to stay standing, but most importantly to stay moving. As the pain subsided enough for Maximus to look around he saw that it was the Dwarvin General Kadrin aiding him. A smile of thank you and the Ex-gladiator added what little strength was left into his and Kadrin's retreat...............

Odyson savaged at the tentacles as they lifted him from the ground. Claws and teeth slashed and shredded; ichors and leeches oozed from the opening and the monster's grip weakened. The tentacle's force relented and the Cleric, now in the form of a great black bear, was falling free toward the ground below.

After a short drop another magic blessed gift acted and the saving spell of Feather Fall slowed the beast man's fall.

Landing safely Ody also hear the shout, "Run". A quick look and he spied the items he had to shed. Scooping them up in his muzzle he galloped to away from the falling ceiling.

Charging from the falling debris he saw Max staggering and the Dwarven Captain trying to steady him, but they were moving slowly. Changing direction slightly he ran up behind the tall fighter, with a flip of his snout he lifted the pair into the air so they could grab hold and he'd rush them out of harm's way.

(Wow, I remember writing this directly while I was still recovering and not offline. Needed a bit of editing, lol.)

As Finarsil was about to cast Heal upon herself, a great commotion ensued from the Fireball that was unleashed, her keenly trained High Elf ears were quick to discern from the midst of the sound of the falling ceiling the unmistakable cry to "RUN" and so she did.

((OOC: Finarsil heads for the 'safest' refuge with her companions; whereupon, she plans to cast upon herself the Heal Spell, hopefully removing all traces of the serious wounds she has received from the Leeches, before attending to Max or anyone else in need.

She positions herself in the relative safety of her more battle equipped companions, ready to respond to any further threats with her Flute in hand.))

The party ran, jumped and flew out of the cave that was crumbling down around them. Out over the bridge and into the grassy area outside the cave entrance you moved and the cavern you were in collapsed completely behind you. If you were going for surprise - it was now lost.

Exposed to the mid-day sun was a black rubber mass with many writhing tentacles. The sheer weigh t and bulk of the creature could not be contained when the rock structure was fragmented. As the sunlight touches it, it shakes in pain and the flesh bubbles.

Maximus feels the leeches upon him stop their burrowing and start to do something almost as bad - tickling him. He dares to open his armour around his chest to find the sunlight affects the leeches in the same way. They start to smoke and die off.

There is now only one way to go, despite the joy of being in the afternoon sun once again. But the quest in that cave

Wait a minute! Noon day sun???

The sun is high in the sky and warm. You left less than a half hour ago and it was dawn at the castle. That mean either you lost half a day in time or you are somewhere on the other half of the world. No story or song ever said where the Tomb was, for obvious reasons but either way, you were running short on time.

OOC:
Arn - fully healed
Lun - Fine
Jar - Lightly wounded
Fin - Seriously wounded
Spa - Fine
Ody -Bearable
Max - Seriously wounded
Kad - healed

Taking a moment to catch her breath, Sparrow looked around and noticed a few things. First, two of her companions looked seriously hurt and they had not even gotten into the cave yet. Second, the sun seemed curiously out of position. It should not have been much past early morning but the sun stood directly overhead. Sparrow knew the fight had not lasted that long so some other explanation was needed; but what? Did the spell move them much further than they realized?

"Looks like we need to find a new way in once we patch ourselves up." Sparrow looked around for any signs of another entrance that might be visible.

Pain, little legs crawling on his skin, miniature teeth eating into his flesh. A stout yet small sized arm helping him move, Kadrin, rocks and dirt falling to the ground, someone yelling ‘run'. All this Maximus felt as the Dwarf Kadrin moved them to the ‘possible' safety of the cave entrance.

As Kadrin laid him on the ground, Maximus could feel the big leeches upon him suddenly stop their burrowing and start to do something almost as bad - tickling him. Quickly opening the top half of his Elvin chain to feel the sun on his chest, he watched surprised though heavy lidded eyes as the leeches started to smoke and die.

Body weak, seriously wounded, he felt himself ready to pass out from blood loss. Reaching for one of his potions of extra-healing the big ex-gladiator found to his dismay that his arm did not want to move. Finally through sheer willpower he was able to grab it into his hand but unable to bring it too his mouth. Potion in hand, nectar of the gods, a cure of pain and wounds yet as strong as he was Maximus would still need help in drinking it.

As he lay there slowly fading he could not help thinking quietly, what a way to make an entrance!............

Driven into the cave mouth by the monstrosity, Arien stopped to take in the situation. The knight slung his bow and drew Liun'naur. "Many thanks for the healing," he spoke, unsure due to the unconsciousness and the chaos as to who exactly had directed the blessings of a deity (or deities) upon him.

He was still uncomfortable with the idea of leaving a monster between themselves and a retreat vector, though it did at least seem to be having major trouble with the sunlight. With luck, perhaps the thing would die from exposure to the sun.

And perhaps Galen will send us a message that this was all a misunderstanding, that he simply over imbibed last night. Don't count on such luck. the knight mused.

"Right, then," Arien spoke. "Let us tend our wounds and prepare. It would seem that we have either traveled very far or lost a large chunk of time, so we'd best be at it. Let us proceed with caution, though - surely there will be traps and magics to accost us at nigh every step."

The Man-beast was able to get himself and some friends to safety beyond the bridge. In the sunlight the leeches on Max began to die but the mighty fighter had been seriously harmed by the little suckers. Ody could see the Gladiator struggled with simple task to open his potion of extra healing. Reaching massive paw the Shaman willed bit spirit and by the time the paw got the bottle it was a human hand. He took the potion from his old friend, "Save this Froth-n-Slosh for when I am not around." Laying his other hand on Max's arm the nature's cleric cast a cure serious wounds spell on this old friend.

Letting the spell do its work the naked man turned away; reaching up he touched the leaf earring. There was a gentle swirling of air as the enchanted armor leaves appeared and layered themselves to his body. Once he was covered again in the enchanted protection he gathered his gear he stepped back to check Max's progress and looked to see any others still needed healing. "Once you are all ready we must hurry into danger and a friend to save."

"Agreed," the grizzled dwarf nodded, affirming Arien's words. "We best be getting on. I doubt they'll wait on us to arrive before they start their little celebration. And, for Galen's sake, I don't want to be late."

He eyed his companions with grim seriousness. "This was the easy part, friends. Only more and worse of this vile devilry and abysmal trickery lay ahead." He gave Maximus as pat on the shoulder. "Stone skins and gold hearts... may we have both."

Crossbow still in hand, he began to make his to the entrance of the tomb with wary steadfastness and assumed the others were following (close) behind.