Seeing their options quite limited, the party gathers its strength. Deciding to rest per Ullar's suggestion, the group attempts to make the best of it. As most of the camping gear is on the horses, though, it is rather difficult to get comfortable. Those who do manage to sleep are woken within moments by horrible nightmares. Discussing them with each other, each involves the individual doing horrible acts (whatever is most abhorrent to the dreamer, i.e. Taglio being mute, Kyo being an elf, Forte being...small, Xania being nice, Dakath being honest, Ullar understanding women.... Realizing that you will only get weaker with time rather than stronger, the group decides to make a rush on the living statues, as it would be better to die fighting than to die of starvation or boredom. And so the ragged front line of Kyo, Forte, and Ullar stand ready, Dakath, Xania, and Amibar behind them.
Pulling the door open, they see the same situation as before, as the pitch black room seems to suck the light from their torches. The statues on either side of the far wall immediately come to life and lift up on their obscene gray wings, floating toward the party!
Kyo clutches his battered, but still serviceable, short sword in his hand and stands ready to meet the assault.
Dakath shouts from behind the trio of warriors "Let them come to us, attack them when they're in the doorway, that way you only have to face them one at a time."
He draws his longsword, grimly hoping he doesn't have to fill a gap.
Ullar turns around, looking at Dakath... frowning. "Seems you paid attention when I was speaking...." he mutters, a bit irritated, under his breath.
Thankful for Dakath's reminder of Ullar's advice, Forte stands by with mace in hand, ready to smash the first creature that tries to pass through the doorway. He tries to put a look of grim determination on his face, and even briefly wondering if these things will throw acid at him does not break his concentration on the task at hand.
Xania rushes to the entry hurriedly and tries her one remaining spell. "Stand back!" she tells the others as she releases a burst of color into the room, though she doubts it will affect the statues.
Once that is done, she retreats behind the warriors, dagger drawn.
Kyo is slightly distracted as he remembers a time long ago when he licked that strange little toad on a dare.
The fan of vibrant clashing color flows through the first and onto the second living statue. The one in front reels back clutching at it's eyes, leaving room for the second, ignoring the first and the effects of the magic, to advance.
Tag watches intently the moves and gestures Xania makes, admiring the form and grace of her spell casting and memorizing it for future reference. His attention is not entirely of academic interest, however.
Remembering his previous failure with the spell, which almost made him into cat-food, Amibar nevertheless hopes for better results this time. Stepping forward, he speaks a few unintelligible words, waving his hands in the air in the direction of one of the statues. He then quickly retreats back behind the bigger men.
The second gargoyle's look of menace becomes one of fear, and it backpedals away from the slight little fellow, going up on it's wings and flying towards the back of the room.
"Ha!" calls Ami after the retreating gargoyle, as a smile spreads on his scarred face. Heartened by his success, he enters the room, quickly scanning it for possible exits, and keeping his distance from the two flying statues and the men attacking them. "Did you see that, 'Tasha? Huh?" he says joyfully to the little ferret. "Showed him, I did."
Kyo dashes forward in an attempt to take advantage of the creature's blindness and thrusts hard with his blade.
Forte rushes in and commences his (he hopes) deadly mace attack on the temporarily blind fiend.
Taglio draws his rapier, ready to leap into action and also being watchful of any attack from behind, or above. He sends some bravado the way of the creatures to lift the spirits of his comrades.
"Foul spirits of darkness flee while you have the chance, for we come to bring you oblivion. Here is Ullar Prince of the Arena, the Mighty Titan, with his blade he will reduce you to rubble. Kyo the bold, Barbarian of fame, can rip you limb from limb and will dance the ancient rites of triumph on your remains. Fortissimo the Giant, of him they will sing ballads to his bravery and his fist will bring you to dust if you do not take flight"
Tags voice rises in rhythmic crescendo over the battle din. This should add a bit of drama to the little fella's skills.
"See Xania and tremble.... Queen of the light, she will strike you dead with a glance, or blast your flesh from your bones with a quip from her tongue...."
"Kewl!" calls Ullar out to Tag, highly motivated by his empowering words.
The gladiator rushes in behind Kyo and Forte, moving to the Gargoyle which is now rather scared by the thing Amibar did to him.
"Just let us pass!" he says towards the creature, never failing his belief that creatures can understand what he is saying.
"We want to get out of here and this is our only exit."
Dakath holds back by the door and watches the warriors progress. He shakes his head slightly and frowns, glancing over at Xania when he hears Ullar talk to his foe.
Kyo and Forte pursue the blinded stone beast while Ullar goes after the fear-stricken one. However, the victim of Amibar's spell wants nothing to do with it, and flies towards the backside of the smallish chamber, suddenly disappearing into the pitch black darkness.
Kyo sends a hard thrust into the blind gargoyle's belly, but is dismayed to see his sword snap off at the hilt in contacting the thing's stony skin. Forte's blow is off by some distance. It does not appear the magic mace is as enthusiastic against these things as it was against the skeletons.
Fortunately for the warriors, the thing seems unable to attack Kyo in response to the aborted thrust, flailing wildly about with it's claws, fangs, and the horns on it's head.
Seeing his opponent departed, Ullar engages the wildly thrashing one that Kyo and Forte are fighting. Meanwhile, Amibar darts into the room and begins to look about. Taglio comes in behind the warriors as well, watching all corners for the return of the second creature. Xania and Dakath hang by the door.
Rearing up behind the thing, Ullar prepares to deal it a certain death blow, his overhand smash cleaving down towards the thing's head. He is utterly dismayed when his great blade also snaps in half rather than causing the thing any harm. He is left with only a stub of a blade and a hilt in his hand, and the jar from the impact leaves him stunned.
Kyo meanwhile is left with only one melee weapon, the haft of his stone spear, which he used against the skeletons as a club. Knowing it will be hardly worthwhile against these things, he nonetheless hefts it and attempts to do his best.
Having no such problems, Forte smites the thing upon it's chest with his mace, sending it reeling back from the force of the impact. It claws weakly at Forte, doing little damage. However, Forte has never recovered much from injuries previously inflicted, and even the minor damage is enough to cause him great harm. He knows that he cannot fight much longer in his current state.
Kyo swinging his false club and Ullar swinging a hand axe are both unable to make any kind of meaningful contact with the thing, which appears to be regaining the use of it's vision. Forte also is unable to hit it again. It claws backward, still unable to focus on a target, and scrapes Ullar's right leg. Ullar is in similar straits as Forte, and realizes that if this thing could see, they would be in terrible trouble.
Taglio cleverly decides that his rapier would probably be of little use against the stony monster, seeing what has happened to the weapons of the others, and instead keeps an eye out for anything else happening.
Amibar, looking about, briefly sees the monster that he spelled is still lurking about in the shadows. Upon seeing Amibar, though, it darts toward the wall and vanishes again. Curious, Amibar walks towards the wall and sees a beautiful object. Hanging backward against the wall is a fabulously jeweled mirror frame. It is hung loosely between two pillars from which the gargoyles leaped. There is about two feet from the mirror face to the wall, and this appears to be where the second gargoyle disappeared into. Looking toward it with fascination, Amibar sees a reflection of himself, handsome and strong, wielding magic with ease. Behind his own image, he sees Rhune's familiar face, twisted with hate, right alongside an unfamiliar woman who seems very calm, but he can sense something terrible about her. Behind this woman he sees several blurry images of tiny winged folk, all with nasty expressions on their faces, wielding bows and tiny swords.
While Amibar is seeing this, the others are engaged with the monster, who has now regained it's vision. It lashes out with a claw at Forte, whom it recognizes as a lethal foe. The claw catches Forte upon his shoulder and gouges him. Amazingly, Forte, suffering from innumerable injuries, stays alert, clearly not getting any benefit from the mace's recuperative powers, but able to stay up from sheer force of will. He swings sideways toward the beast and once again sends a mighty blow crashing into it. It staggers from the force of it. Ullar and Kyo are unable to even serve as distractions to it, but the mighty mace sends it tumbling to the side.
Sensing his opportunity, Forte rushes upon it and caves it's stony chest in with a follow-up blow. However, that appeared to be the last of his strength, as he falls, only to be caught by his companions. Not thinking of the second opponent for the moment, Ullar and Kyo bandage Forte as best they can, and he remains conscious, but knows that he will be unable to face the other one if it returns.
"We've got to run! Neither of us is going to be able to withstand those creatures," Ullar says, while gesturing to Forte and himself.
With the last remaining powers, he drags Forte with him towards Amibar, exploring the room and hoping that there is an exit.
"Dakath... Xania..." he calls out, "We've got to get going! NOW!"
Xania kneels down by Forte. "Can you walk? Perhaps you should lend Kyo or..." she hesitates for a moment, "...another warrior the mace until you have regained your strength."
"Tag? Have you seen anyway out?" she calls, louder.
"You can lean on me, if you need to, Forte," Xania adds, turning back to him and helping him to his feet if he has need.
Barely holding on to the mace and speaking slightly above a whisper, Forte tells Ullar, "Take my sword. You can use it until we get you another one." Looking around the room, he continues, with a worried tone, "Where did that other statue-thing go?" Finally remembering his manners, the large warrior looks at Kyo and Ullar. "Thanks for the bandages," he says with a smile.
Kyo has a deep frown on his face. "It broke my sword."
Tag seeing the mirror and Amibar staring into it has become distracted himself looking at it. "This thing shows us things which cannot be seen, Si. We must take it with us, it could help us to survive against the invisible creatures above , No?" Tag looks for a way to remove the mirror from its fastenings. Then hearing Xania's request, he looks around for any other exits. "I am not sure, Xania, let me look to see if there is a door. Amibar keep that monster at bay, it fears you greatly. Dakath could you help me to find any hidden exit from this room?"
Dakath looks at Xania once, "Come let's go, oh do you think I can borrow your dagger again?" he asks her as he enters the room.
"If you promise not to use it against those stone things. I think it's pretty clear they would break it, and I might need it later." she replies.
Dakath grins, "Oh don't worry about that I've no intention of going near them."
Xania hands him the dagger reluctantly.
"That was pretty obvious," murmurs Ullar, quite discontent.
Dakath shrugs, "What would you have me do? Combat is your way of life, I am not much used to it and have less experience than you."
"However, if you wanted someone murdered, I'm sure I could excel where you would fail." He holds up the dagger Xania handed him to emphasize the point.
"Never mind," says Ullar in return. The warrior is just pissed off his blade broke in two and needs something or someone to blame it on.
Ullar looks at Dakath and shrugs, making some kind of apology in this way. "I'm just pissed and in pain... sorry 'bout that," he says, while nodding of his shoulder, addressing the past remark he made.
Dakath grins and pats Ullar on the shoulder. "Not to worry my friend, this place has a strange feel to it." He draws his long sword and offers it to Forte. "You could probably use this better than I?"
"Thanks." Forte holds the sword in his left hand and the mace in his right, ready to decide which weapon to use at a moment's notice. But realizing that's not a prudent move given his weakened condition, he turns to Dakath. "Can you help me put the scabbard on?" He is a little embarrassed to state the reason why: to keep his left hand free to steady himself as they progress through the dungeon.
Dakath chuckles slightly before removing his scabbard and fixing it around Forte's waist. "Be careful with this sword, otherwise I'm going to have to steal us more."
Forte puts the sword in the scabbard, laughing at Dakath's joke. "Thanks, again," he says as his laughter trails off.
Glad that Ullar and Dakath won't be dueling, Forte again offers his sword to Ullar. "Use this," he says, handing the fellow warrior his large sword and its scabbard. "I'll use the mace for now." He looks around nervously, "Now let's get out of here!"
"Thanks Forte" Ullar replies, giving his fellow-warriors sword a thorough look-over.
Ullar's eyes show gratitude, as far as that is possible to show with eyes. He slashes around with the sword, just to get the feeling with it. "Let's go indeed...."
Once inside the room Dakath begins to look for secret exits.
If he finds none Dakath says to the others "Stay here while I scout out ahead, give us some idea as to what we are about to face." He then remove his armor and scout out the area ahead.
However, there is little to explore. The unnatural darkness seems to exude from the mirror, which has a magnificently jeweled frame, worth more than even Dakath has seen before. As Taglio removes the chains which bear the mirror, you all can see that the room is not very large. It appeared that way due to the magical darkness coming from the mirror, but whenever the mirror face is turned away from the wall, it returns to a normal sized chamber.
Taglio and Dakath search intently for exits, but there are none. Forte also finds that not only can he not bear the long sword, at which he has no affinity, but he lacks the strength to even swing the magical mace. He would be quick work for the statue creature if it would return. Kyo, on the other hand, is weaponless, a strange result of the odd weapon-swapping arrangement.
Forte turns to Dakath. "Kyo doesn't have a weapon. Can he use the longsword? He uses a short sword normally, but the long sword will have to do. If you let him borrow it.
Looking about, the group sees that their situation has changed very little. Once the mirror is removed from the black chamber, it is revealed to be smallish and quite plain, with only the two pedestals upon which the living statues rested.
Xania begins to examine the pedestals closely--looking for buttons, levers, anything on them.
They are extremely plain, nothing of note on them.
Forte slumps down against a wall and closes his eyes to rest. After a few minutes, he opens his eyes and looks at the pedestals. Getting to his feet takes longer than normal, and his walk isn't all that steady. When he gets to the pedestal, the warrior briefly closes his eyes, exhales loudly, then opens his eyes. He puts his shoulder against the top of the pedestal and pushes with all the might he can muster in his weakened state. "Tip over, damn you!" he shouts at the pedestal as he continues to push against it.
With his current strength level, Forte can muster up about as much strength as a six year old girl. He gets more effort from just resting his considerable weight on the thing, but it does not move nonetheless.
Xania tries to help him--not finding anything else helpful on the pedestals.
"Let Kyo and me try, Forte," Ullar interrupts Forte's action, seeing that if the warrior continues it might cost him dearly.
"Perhaps if we look at the pedestals with the mirror we might find something. Or if we try it in the previous room," Ullar suggests.
"O.k." Forte stops pushing against the pedestal, returns to the wall, and slumps back down to rest for a few more seconds.
As Ullar looks at the mirror, he suddenly sees the second living statue come roaring out of it. As he backs away, the thing flies up to the ceiling of the chamber, floating there menacingly. At the same time, the air is disturbed by the same buzzing sound that was heard out on the lake near the raft, this time amplified quite a bit. It almost sounds as if there are hundreds of tiny wings beating in the air invisibly.