Glowing Tree

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[size=+1]On the first night after our departure from that godforsaken lake, I craft a small memorial from branches and leaves and leave it hanging on one of the trees; a tribute to our fallen comrade who gave his life for our quest.

I know in my heart there was nothing I could do for Knut; whatever took him was too powerful even for me to fight. Down in those murky waters it has been in it's element and we had been at our weakest. Yet still guilt jabs at my heart, and part of me wishes there was something I could have done for the brave skald who will never escape those black, oppressive waters.

Rovan senses my mood and over the next few days does his best to cheer me with stories and by simply talking with me as we walk. I appreciate the companionship; I find it difficult communicating with some of the… non-humans in our little party, and some of them certainly seem to take pains to avoid me. It is nice to have someone to talk to other than ravens during the long trek towards our destination.

As we move up-stream, Rovan tells me of events on the surface of the lake whilst Knut and I were below.
"I tell you, my friend," the bard says with a chuckle, "That old paladin might act like he thinks he's on his last legs, but by the Gods he can hold his own in a fight."
"Truly?" I respond, glancing over to Darius, who walks ahead of us.
"Believe it; that man was on his own in the forest for several minutes, fighting those… things we met by himself. Held them off by himself until we arrived to help drive them off. He's a tough old warrior, that's for certain."
"Impressive," I say with a whistle, still watching the paladin as he makes his way along the trail ahead of us. I suspected as much, but Rovan's words confirm that Darius is a dangerous enemy on the battlefield. I would give a lot to have seen him at his peak.

Ahead I can see a cave coming into view; most likely our destination. It takes several minutes before I realise that it is shaped into the likeness of a screaming face, water cascading from its nostrils. Somewhat disconcerting, really. Lady Zahra turns to face us all, and explains the task at hand.

She also adds that only the monsters in our party may enter the cave.

I frown and step forwards. I have come to respect certain non-human members of our group; Alla is an excellent companion to have in a fight and Arothi's healing skills are invaluable, but on a mission of such importance I find it difficult to place my complete trust in a monster. My years as a slayer of such creatures are hard to look past, after all.

"Lady Zahra," I begin, phrasing it as carefully as I can, "Why exactly is it only… 'non-humans' who can enter the cave?" Nothing wrong with trying the tactful approach first, I guess.[/size]
 
"I don't imagine they will just give you the vials, no." There was an attempt at humor in her tone, but it was clear that Zahra was still anxious.

Annalaey dropped her gear, keeping only her weapons on hand. Long ears up and twitching, she trailed behind Alla before curious circling around her and casting a tiny ball of light in her hands. Using that the lead the way, she was the first to step in to the cave. No waiting to hear Zahra's reply to John. Rethil the dragon had said nary a single word the entire day. He was less than enthusiastic about entering the mouth of the cave, but the demon-cat Lirin gave him a sharp swipe with her claws. Sending him skittering through the opening with a soft yelp.

Before Lirin followed suit, she turned to eye Zahra. The woman responded with a quick nod. Whatever their wordless exchange was about, Lirin quickly disappeared in to the cave.

"This cave system once belonged to Spectral Demons... The waters within the cave made their bodies corporeal and it was their greatest treasure. Of course, it is the nature of human kind to try and steal any treasure." Zahra stepped a few paces away, leaning to gesture a hand towards the outer cave walls. Faint and almost faded away, there were carving and paintings. Human forms starting to contort and shift shape.

"When they entered the caves the steal the waters, however, they found themselves under a curse. A spell, a mold, a disease... no one knows. But should a human enter this cave they will not be human for long. Inside they remain, hording the water like a dragon's prize."
 
After the attack at the lake, Arothi had been a little down though she was certain that most of them did not notice. It was not in a centaurs belief to abandon a companion in a fight but had she not then the rest might have been killed by the surprise attack of the skeletons. It was a tough choice but she had to make it no matter what and in the end it seemed to be the right one, though a life had still been lost in the group. She had said a silent sending pray for Knut, praying for his soul to be taken care of by the spirits of the earth. He had been a good man, at least as far as she had known him.

When they had arrived at the cave, she looked at it uncertainly, the first sing of discomfort that she had shown the whole journey. She had never liked places like that but she didn't have much of a choice since only magical creatures could enter, or 'non-humans' as they had been labled. She was the last to enter, listening to Zahra intently to make sure that she was prepared. As she listened she removed the items on her back except her healing items and bow and arrows, she did not need the extra weight slowing her down.

Without as much as a comment or word she wandered into the cave after the others, trotting after Annalaey's glowing light. Praying that they would make it though it part of the journey in one piece.
 
Many years after what happened to us on Zahra's quest, I walked the lonely roads to the north of Feldagard. By then I had grown old and a generation had passed in the lands of the horsemen of Aranos. But of the kings and queens who first sent their servant, Knut Sturluson, on his errand, a few remained to hear his eulogy. And though an old knight, stranger in their lands and haunted by all I had seen, I did my best to finish the deed of that brave and honest skald. I gave them the epic they had asked for - the story they had tasked young Knut to write, pieced together from these diaries and the surviving texts of Jovan the Bard. No one would forget what happened in the search for Yggdrasil and, God willing, Knut Sturulson had earned his place in that story. To this day some may even say that he was lucky to die so early... and be spared from what happened to the rest of us...

From the Diary of Darius Castablane​

Darius, as always, took the opportunity to relieve the strain from his knee and back. With a grimace he sat against a tree by the water's edge and checked his bandaged arm. It was pale, but a salve from Arothi was doing its best to combat the cocktail of swamp diseases earned from the undead blade that had pierced him. The paladin put his shield to one side but kept hold of his mace, ready to block the entrance if need be. Drinking from his waterskin, he handed it to Rovan, who likewise took the chance to quench his thirst.

"And what of the waters, Lady Zahra?" he asked as he looked up at the woman who stood with Lahras. "Is there a certain spirit you wish to give flesh to? One that will aid us on the road ahead?"

They were far from Feldagard now... in a land of demons and wonders strange and terrifying. Darius had seen Zahra's magic and knew it had saved them all from certain doom. And for that he trusted her. If they were to survive on this journey, the sorceress would need every assistance he could give.

He would die for this woman. He would follow her to the end.
 
Jair hesitated a moment before the cave's entrance, watching others enter first and thinking. If this curse affects humans, then I dare not enter as one...but is that enough? Just how human, she wondered, was human enough to be affected by it? Clearly it did not entail human traits or human emotions. What gave her pause more than anything, however, was that Zahra had mentioned descent. The ancestors of her people were humans, and they still took human form, traditionally to communicate with those who would not or could not accept a talking wolf. But...they were not human anymore. They were dedicated to nature, enough to appreciate its gifts, and had long since been blessed with abilities that put them fully in tune with it.

Jair still took on the form of a wolf before walking in.

The events at the lake had disturbed her considerably. Her people were supposed to be defenders of nature, and it made sense that she had felt rage at seeing something so unnatural as a corpse moving. Yet she was unable to do anything about it. Surely those blessed by nature should have some ability to purge something so antithetical to it? And yet Darius had done the most toward subduing and defeating them, with a weapon almost as unnatural as that which he fought. Furthermore, if the instinct of most creatures, even those with the capacity to fight, was to run from those aberrations, did that mean the urge to fight them came from some delusional thought of the human side? Still, even if she had been inclined to run she would have fought. To do otherwise would have led to more of their companions dying, including the boy Zahra seemed so deeply concerned about.

Another fight lay ahead, by the sound of it, and Jair was no better equipped to handle it. She was not incapable of fighting, but she was not particularly skilled. The kind of attack that a hunter used on prey was very different, always approached from a position of power with the assumption that the other will try to run. She had relied largely on persuasion to avoid conflict with other predators in the wild. Such skills had seen little use in their quest so far: The party had supplies and could hunt for themselves; Zahra seemed to know both the nature and the location of everything they sought; and when she might have expected animals to help her in the act of defending their own territory there was not a single one to be found.

What good was that going to do now? Jair shook herself out of the ruminations as she caught up with the others. So far nothing had happened; whatever transformed people in this cave apparently considered her human ancestors quite distant enough.
 

Taking up the lead of the group, fearless with her eyes trained ahead of her, Alla called back to the others. There was no warmth in her voice, for truly she felt very little and there were members of this band she would like very much to eat... the unsure wolf for example. That would make both a tasty and fulfilling meal.

"Stay together in a group close behind me and keep your eyes about you" Alla hissed to the others. Her tail flicked like a willful whip behind her and her wings fanned a little bit, widening and then closing to her back once more. Underground was no better than in the forest to Alla and only slightly better than under water. Anywhere that restricted her natural tendency to the to the air was not appreciated.

Scowling, Alla looked about, running her hand against the cool stone wall. She could feel something, the walls were slick with moisture and there was an unnatural humming to them. Alla stiffened, giving the others a chance to catch up a little bit, before she crept ahead. Her skin crawled with the feeling that something was nearby, though she'd hate to voice this fear and be wrong. Instead, she kept pointedly in front with the muscles in her body strung taut.

The merest whisper ahead as they continued on through the tunnels caught Alla's senses and she bared her teeth. "There's something here, watch out" Alla bit back to the group who had caught up behind her. Alla attempted to see into the darkness ahead, but her attempts were futile. Only a faint blue glow ahead gave any light so far down. It was partially this blue glow that had her on edge. Combined with a whisper and she padded forward lithely as a hunter.
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Within the caves, Annalaey was following so close behind Alla that she was nearly tromping on to her tail. The girl's long soft ears were up and swiveling this way and that. Listening for any signs of danger, and according to her gut there was lots of danger here. Her spell of light flickered and went out. Sending a small twinge of panic up her spin. Her attempt at recasting it failed, yet in her panic she was still able to pull up a different kind of spell. Which meant something in these caves blocked out any sort of light, even artificial.

Now cast in the dark, the faint blue glow could be seen by all. Alla warning that something was here put all of them on the ready. The cat, Lirin was completely invisible. Whether it be from the dark tint of her fur or because she had disappeared in to exploring the caves. Annalaey noticed that she often seemed to vanish, only to reappear when it was convenient.

That's when she realized the dragon was gone as well. The cat she could understand, being small and quick. But losing a dragon was an entirely different problem! "Pssst. Alla... Rethil isn't with us..! Did anyone see where he went?"

--

In response to Darius, Zahra gave a pained smile. On of the few moments her face wasn't so stoic and impassive. With a light shrug of her shoulder, her gaze seemed to fall on Lahras, who seemed content to explore the strange shapes outside of the cave.

"Yes. Yes I do... but whether or not that is successful will be determined." she didn't seemed to want to elaborate on that subject in particular. But realized that the party would want more solid answers if they were going to continue on the quest. Especially at the risk of their own lives.

"The things we are collecting will help us find the Tree. There is no easy way to simple travel straight towards it... Ancient Magics have a habit of being protected and we will need ways to get through those wards."
 
The strange shapes had some sort of pull on Lahras. Like a child looking at a shiny coin, or maybe a dog staring intently at a leaf moving in the wind. The shapes to his eyes had a strange unearthly glow to them, much like the lake had glowed when they had first encountered it. Lahras was still unsure what exactly happened at that lake. He had liked the place, but not the smelly skeletons that had started to appear around it. It was no wonder that wolfgirl had tried to get rid of them. He did wonder where the hairy storyteller was. He had liked the man for his stories and didn't quite understand where he had gone to. When he had asked, no-one had been willing to tell him, so he had eventually assumed that they had a fight and that the man had left.

Now however, his focus was completely elsewhere as his agile fingers traced the weird shapes carved in the rock. He liked the feel of the rough carvings against his fingers, and if he really listened he could hear their whispers, telling him things he didn't quite understand with soft gentle voices. As the wind started picking up behind him and the water nearby gurgled out of the cave's 'nose', Lahras again started to hum softly in tune with the tranquil music caught by his ears only.

Once again Lahras traced the strange carved shapes, in a different order this time...and nearly squealed in delight as the shapes began to emit a softer blue glow instead of the bright green it had had earlier in his eyes. Silently a hidden door slid into the ground and revealed an extra cave, the walls of which were adorned with drawings, just like the ones in the main cave. The occasional crystal, emitting an eerie blue light, lit the way further inside. Lahras looked back at Lady Zahra to tell her of his discovery. But she seemed to be in a conversation with the old guy and probably wouldn't want to be disturbed.

The young boy looked at the cave, then back to Zahra, and then back at the cave again. With a shrug he stepped inside the dusty corridor and slowly advanced into the darkness... Maybe he would find something interesting to play with.
 
Arothi walked as quietly as she could in the cave, though it was rather difficult with the ground being made of stone and her hooves constantly clicking along them. In then end she could only walk as that and grimace, worried that the noise of her feet invoke some type of wrath from the cave, like it seemed to have when she stepped on the bone near the lake. She wasn't going to let her footing cause any more trouble, instead holding her bow and arrows at the ready to kill anything that seemed to be a threat to them.

She froze behind Alla when she mentioned that there was something ahead, her senses having been so focused on her own noises that she did not notice. She held her arrows at the ready and tried to see into the dark, though she was not made to work well in such terrible lighting she did her best and tried to see if what every had made the noise was still there. She didn't say anything but certainly her body language spoke loud enough for her, her muscles taut and her face stern, ready to make an instant kill.
 
[size=+1]Ancient magic at work? I do not like not being able to take point on this venture and ensure the non-humans do a good job, but I believe Lady Zahra when she says entering the cave would be a very bad idea. Sighing, I sit down on a nearby rock and lay my spear across my lap. Rovan finds a stone nearby to me and removes his pack and weapons also, unslinging his lute as he does so and beginning to strum away.

"Why so glum, my friend?" the bard asks, noting the look on my face.
"I would much rather be in there doing something useful than out here," I reply simply.
"Such is life, John. You heard what the Lady said on the matter; I assume you'd want to be able to leave this place when we are done here?" With a sigh, I nod. "Thought so; thus it perhaps might be prudent to remain out here, yes?"
"As ever you are right, bard."
"And as ever you are over-enthusiastic, monster-slayer. Sadly you cannot be in two places at once."

I chuckle at Rovan's quip and glance around the camp. Of all the members of our party I find myself on the best terms with the bard. His sense of humour and ability in combat make him an excellent companion. Not that I do not respect my other companions; Darius is a stalwart ally, I am glad to have Alla on my side in a fight, and Lahras is--

I do a double-take and sweep my eyes around the mouth of the cave, before muttering several choice words under my breath. Lahras is nowhere in sight; I cannot spot him anywhere. I pull myself to my feet and grab my spear as Rovan looks up with concern. "Something the matter, friend?"
"Can you see Lahras anywhere?" I ask quickly. Rovan glances about quickly and jumps up with a worried look on his face, shaking his head. I rush over to Lady Zahra and Darius. "Have either of you seen Lahras? He's not in the camp anywhere!"[/size]
 
Zahra's gaze shot immediately to the place she last saw Lahras. Though monsters, undead and other dangers she had remained impassive. Solid. Yet now, for the first time there was a look of true fear across her features as she crossed the camp towards the cave walls. He hadn't gone through the cave mouth to follow the others, she was watching...!

Her hands brushed fervently over carvings on the outer cave walls. "They've been activated." The words rushed out, more as an alarmed statement than an explanation to the others. She seemed to follow each line that he traced, each symbol that he touched until she came across the opened door in the side of the cave wall. Despite having suspected, her expression sank even further.

Bordering on frantic, Zahra stalked back to the camp, snatching up one of the packs lain sitting near a boulder. From it, she drew a jeweled bracer and clamped it over her wrist as well as two small glass bottles that she quickly stashed in to the folds of her robes.

"We must catch him before he gets too deep in to the caves." even as she spoke it, she was already zooming back towards the newly opened entrance. Not waiting to see who was accompanying her, or if anyone would at all.
 
The boy was a nuisance, but he was innocent, and Zahra showed a mother's care for him. What else should a Paladin fight for, if not the preservation of such things?

From the Diary of Darius Castablane​

Darius moved as quickly as he could, pushing himself up from the rock and snatching up his shield and backpack. He rushed after Zahra and struggled to unbuckle his warhammer as he moved. The woman ahead of him was vanishing through a breach in the caveside, a few feet down from the main entrance. The hairs on his neck rose with the sensation of magic, of powers ancient and wards elaborate. It was an act of courage to plunge into the tunnel after her, since she had forbade so expressley the intrusion of humans.

What horrors would rise from the cave to meet them? What curses and ill-omens would befall the party for such trespass?

His blood was cold as he gripped his warhammer and moved ahead. "Lady Zahra! Stay close!" he called, and his voice echoed unnaturally as his knee began to ache.
 

Frozen still, Alla was about to venture that they should face whatever was ahead of them full force in a charge of sorts, but before she could so much as move, let alone voice anything, the cave began to change. Something must have happened at the entrance but the walls suddenly began to glow faintly in a manner more unsettling than the pitch dark had been. Runes twisted along the walls and shone scarlet like blood running down the walls. Perhaps some of the fear was due to the fact that these twisting, turning runes were all that any of them could see in the dark save for the dancing blue light before them.

Suddenly, the blue light ahead flickered and faltered, making the cave darker, before the light reignited in the same fearsome red as the runes on the walls. Alla could only guess that change that had occurred - humans had entered the cave. Grabbing the arm of the humanoid nearest her, which upon inspection as she ran turned out to be Annalaey, Alla motioned for the others and bolted toward the light that had once been blue. They were too deep, she thought, to try to find their way out the way that they came. The only route was forward.

The light, once they reached it in a mad, panting dash, was proven to be emanating from a part of the tunnels where it opened into what felt almost like a room, a gaping wide space barely lit by the red light. The shadowy walls, though, were not the main focus for the small group of nonhumans. It was the inhabitants of the room, awakening from their slumber with the bloody glow bathing them in an unholy light that only provided deep shadows where there might not have been in full light.

The beings seemed to have been carved into the walls of the caves, each body composed of stiff and unyielding rock. The creatures appeared to have been sitting on thrones of the same composition as themselves, which were now empty as the giant stone creatures took to their feet. It was the size of the stone men that prompted the group to look to the top of the room and realize that they were indeed very far beneath ground with the underground ceiling stretching far above the head of the tallest member. The stone giants just barely were able to stand without brushing their stony heads against the top.

There was something wholly unsettling to Alla about the blank set to their features, the soulless eyes that could not grant mercy for their was a distinct lack of intelligent spark. The mouths were set in a line if capricious interpretation but in the red light, with the eerie shadows, they seemed menacing indeed. Alla stood dumbstruck at the entrance, her eyes taking in the scene with both terror and wonder. It was, if nothing else, a marvel to behold before they died.
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The sudden glow in the cave had started Arothi, causing the already jumpy centaur to trot back a bit in surprise. It did not help that the light had trued from an eerie blue to a deadly red. At that point she would rather be wandering into the pitch dark like before, it meant that nothing bad had happened. However, it seemed that that cave was either displeased in some way or the human's that were suppose to stay outside came in. She hoped that they had a very good reason for doing so because if she made it out alive after this she was going to have a very strong chat with them...

Arothi barely caught the silent signal from Alla to move forward into a larger red light, a displeased look on her face before she trotted after Alla while making sure Annalaey kept up. When they entered to large cavern the usually expressionless centaur look what the others certainly felt, absolutely frightened. If the glowing red didn't already through her off, the stone giants raising from their throne just made the hair on her back stand straight. Their blank expressions and serious gazes nearly made her heart stop but she kept herself calm, or at least quiet so that she wouldn't catch there attention.

With a small look to Alla she leaned down to whisper to her so the giants would not hear.

"We should wait till they leave completely...It will allow us to get the water without them seeing us..."
 
[size=+1]Lady Zahra is off almost instantly, returning shortly afterwards with the first expression I have seen upon her face that is not one of impassiveness. Concern is etched upon it,and immediately I can tell our leader truly cares for the strange young boy who has accompanied us this far as much as I do.
"We must catch him before he gets too deep in to the caves," she states, moving even as she does so. Darius is moving after her; I glance to Rovan and, with a nod to each other, we move after the pair.

I happen to like Lahras. I would not see any harm befall him.

Together, the four of us push into a tunnel I had not realise existed in this structure. I keep my spear levelled forwards, ready to attack anything unpleasant that approaches us and defend my comrades. Beside me, Rovan readies his own weapon and raises aloft a torch to illuminate the cave. My heart is thumping; these caves are supposed to be dangerous for humans, yet here I am storming into them to search for a missing boy.

I must be mad.

Or loyal.

Possibly both.

"Lahras!" I call into the gloom, fighting to keep my nervousness out of my voice, "Lahras, come back here! It's not safe!"[/size]
 
Lahras had made good progress during the head start he had had. Despite his wondering eyes and his inquisitive fingers he had kept up his pace, following the high pitched, unearthly music that filled his ears. The light that had guided him so far had turned red a while ago, but he had given it little heed as the music in his mind had not changed, it still spoke to him in ways humans rarely had and guided him deeper inside. Even as the crystals gradually spaced out further and further until there where whole swaths of darkness between each light his steps didn't falter, and whether due to the way the cave was constructed, or due to the distance, he was far out of earshot of the human group when John started shouting. If echoes of his shout reached Lahras they were drowned out by the voice.

The voice under the music, whispering, barely audible and much less understandable. But it was there, hidden under the waves of ethereal melody, as much part of it as isolated from it, neither conforming to the tune, nor breaking with it completely. In truth, it was the voice that had guided him to the bigger hallway he was standing in right now, three gaping entrances in front of him. One was lined with plated gold, and although dusty, was clean of rubble and clearly lit by the crystals. The second seemed to have collapsed halfway, as rubble blocked part of the light some way past the silver plated archway. The last arch, copper plated, seemed to have felt the touch of time more so than the others. Walls had crumbled without blocking the path too much, and the entrance was covered with the cobwebs and hesitant growth of moss that was so clearly absent with the other two.

Lahras closed his eyes for a moment and breathed in deeply, a fool smile on his face as if he were at a winter solstice festival back home. Cocking his head as if listening intently and then briefly swaying back and forth on the music only he could hear, he stood there for several seconds and then turned to the right. Opening his eyes again, he passed under the copper arch, breaking the cobwebs that had rested there undisturbed for ages and neatly walking around the rubble on the floor. He had to know what the voice was saying, it just seemed so important.
 
They moved through the tunnel at what must have been an agonizingly slow speed. Zahra remained practically on Darius' heels, never taking the lead, but often laying a firm hand on his shoulder to signal him to stop. In their pause, she would tilt her head, seemingly listening to something outside the realm of normal hearing, then nod when it was safe to move.

John's shout caused her to turn, casting him a rare glare and a hissed ssssshh of warning. Once again they paused. Zahra waiting in a pensive silence before beckoning them forward again.

As the small tunnel opened up to a large cavern, at a first glance it looked like a cave carved out of an old city ruin. Across the chamber Lahras stood, enchanted by those strange things that none of them ever seemed to see or understand. About to take his first steps through an oddly out of place copper arch.

Zahra rushed past Darius, near running across the room as she threw her arms around Lahras and pulled him back. The cobwebs of the doorway were broken and his footsteps clearly seen over it's threshold. Even as she stepped backwards with him, she didn't look away from the arch.

When it seemed that all was clear there came a mighty SHRIIIIIIIIEEEK. Wind blew from the hall beyond the copper arch, sending dust and cobwebs flying up in to the air. It was stifling and choking, sucking all of the breathable air from the chamber and making it nigh impossible for those within it to see.

- - -

Elsewhere in the caves, the group of non-humans watched in fear and awe at the stone giants standing in the massive chamber. A SHRIIIIIEEEEEEKK far within another chamber echoed all the way to here. The beasts shifting on their rubble feet as they slowly, and painstakingly moved out of their stone cathedral.

When all was gone and the room nothing but a red glow, there came a sharp reeow! beyond at the far side wall. The cat, Lirin stood on top of a carved out shelf of stone. From the cave walls was a stream of silvery blue water seeping in little streams down the slats and crevasses, around small clear glass bottles filled with the liquid. It finally stopped to form a pool on the ground. Still and crystal clear, lined with glittering copper.

Without thinking, Annalaey when leaping ahead towards the shelves. The cat hissed, but it was too late. Once Annalaey stepped over the large circular floret on the cave-floor, the temperature of the room dropped. Their breathe could be seen in small puffs and hair was standing up on all ends.

From a corner eyes blinked open. Hollow white nudged awkwardly in to a misshapen black and brown body. Something about the form seemed almost human, yet it was so twisted that it was only a vague hint of what it used to be. The forms came pouring out from hidden nooks, advancing towards those that dared to come and steal their precious waters.
 

"You're a fool!" spat Alla to Annalaey. The shapes that were forming seemed every bit as menacing as the giants who had left the circular room and they were bent, it seemed, upon capturing Lirin for the vial that she held in her hand. Motioning angrily for Lirin to retreat into the tunnel with the water, which was the goal of the entire mission, Alla stepped toward Annalaey. The girl turned, expectant that Alla had come to her aid. This expectancy was cut short by the claws that raked her arm. Alla had grabbed her in a less than gentle manner, not bothering to retract her claws, and thrust her toward the tunnels with Lirin.

"You're useless. Trying to use yourself as a meat shield for her should you wake any more slumbering spirits." Alla let her discontent be well known. She herself was unsure, since the creatures seemed to have been crafted from the intangible, whether they could be attacked. Rethil seemed to have gone missing now, leaving Alla left with only Arothi as a useful member of this band.

"We should escape" Alla said uneasily to the centaur, eyeing the shapes with her muscles tensed, ready to spring. She knew before she said anything that Arothi would be opposed to the idea of leaving Rethil behind, though no one knew where he'd gone. A quick inspection of the room showed him to have been hiding in the shadows, letting the stone giants pass him by. Alla's anger flickered at his cowardice, but she could do little for him whether she was angry or not. He tried to slip away, to rejoin the retreating pair of Lirin and Annalaey, but he was not fast enough to have his presence unnoticed by the humanoid creatures.

Darting closer, Alla attempted to make it to his side, but she was not fast enough. Spinning in the embrace of three or four of the creatures, Rethil cried out piteously. His visage disappeared beneath a veil of black and brown bodies, unnerving Alla so deeply that the hairs of her scalp felt as though they were standing on end. Alla and Arothi edges toward the creatures holding Rethil uneasily, unsure of how to fight them.

"Do you have your arrows? Shoot an arrow at one" Alla suggested, keeping her eyes trained on the creatures.
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"What of Rethil?" Arothi added as she looked around the cavern desperately, not wishing to leave the half dragon behind when he was such a valuable member in her eyes.

Before she could speak any more she heard the cry of the dragon and turned to see that he had been captured by the strange creatures, his body completely gone under the veil of black. Arothi felt her stomach flip as she wondered if the creatures were doming something to him, her hands frozen on her bow and arrows in a stance of readiness. She was brought back from her froze wonder by Alla, who suggested she shoot at the strange beings who hurt their friend. She moved a bit to the side, as quietly as she could so she did not risk gathering their attention. She wanted to shoot at an angle where she would not his Rethil, if he was still alive in the pile...A grim thought, though realistic in this strange and deadly place.

She aimed her arrow at what looked like the weakest, a skinny shadow of sorts only holding onto the dragons tail. With great precision she aimed and shoot, her arrow flying through their air with nothing but a whisper and hitting the creature...only to slip through as though she was aiming at smoke. Arothi found herself turning pail as she realized that she did not damage and only seemed to aggravate the creature even more than they had been when the water had been taken. The whole group of shadows seemed to turn towards the remaining magically inclined group members, ready to do the same as they did to Rethil...Which they would soon since once their slipped away from the innocent creature. Though it pained her to even think of saying it...

"Alla...Run..." She said above a whisper as the creature started to head their way...
 
Even when prompted to stay together, Jair had lagged behind. The light was already red by the time she reached the others, and she had to infer by their actions that the stone giants were to be left alone. Then, before any thought could be put into a plan of retrieval, the cat had a vial of the strange liquid and creatures still more unnatural than the last were attacking. Of all the mystic creatures Jair knew of, dragons she would expect to be the most difficult to destroy--yet Rethil was swallowed by them almost immediately. The impact of his death, mourning, all of that could wait. Jair knew, from instinct, training, common sense, something, that survival was more important now. Perhaps he could be saved, or if not, he was already dead, but none of it mattered if the rest of them were taken.

Fight or flight, the ancient conflict of instincts, is easiest to resolve when one is impossible. Jair knew that her claws would do no more than the centaur's arrows. She knew that everyone needed to get out; Lirin and Annalaey were already being pushed outside. Jair turned and ran down the tunnel, and discovered that the light from the chamber no longer shone through as much of the caves as before. The eyes of a wolf could still see well enough to get around in the low light, but the others would have trouble. Worse, those lights had guided them here, and they were not about to guide anyone back. It was only a short way before she found them staring into the darkness, one seeing and the other blind, at a fork in the path. This was a momentary hesitation; anywhere was better than here, so the cat began to move to the farthest left of the paths.

"That is not the way out." Jair was in half-human form, speaking, before she could think about it. Annalaey was having trouble finding the source of the voice; Lirin's head turned sharply in preparation to ask some incredulous question: how she knew, what it mattered, or which way was the right one. "It is this way." Jair's nose guided her, smelling the fresh air, traces of the others' scents from their trek inward. Back in wolf form, she lead the way into the next winding tunnel, sprinted toward the next fork. She could have waited, she thought, for the others, or she could look back now, make sure Annalaey was still with them, but Lirin was the one with the vial. She was the target, and as long as she made it out the mission could continue. There was no time to waste, so as long as the cat was beside her Jair kept moving.
 
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