<font color="skyblue">As the dust settles, the two wolves look at Spree and Deiter, than begin to climb up the rocks.....

~TAO's paws bleeding, she leaves a trail as she climbs. She and the other wolf begin a soft gruffing back and forth, trying to communicate with the Cloud bringer who may have saved their live...~

</font>

<font color=lightgreen>
The fourth and third floors were now too heavy to be held up by the first floor that had received alot of damage in the initial attack. The remaining bricks and walls of those two floors began to roll off the structure and crash into the ground, sending shockwaves of violence around the area. The throne room had been the center of Larry's magical connection with the demi-plane of shadow. Now that it lay crumpled and open to the sunlight, the magic in the tower completely dissipated, leaving no bindings for the walls of stone. Everything crashed to the ground, and the first sub-level was flooded with debris. This blocked off the doorway that led down to the second sub-level, sealing inside those that were within. </font>

OOC>>>Sorry Cyril, Spree, and TAO...I wanted to make it more dramatic and well, real. That tower was not going to stand forever! There is still a way to get out. If you want me to, I will help. Otherwise, I would like to see just how creative the three of you are! I have confidence that one of you will think of something...but I am here if you need me! ;)

Madman had made a lucky escape and from a safe distane he lit hid pipe and watched the fireworks

ooc:
I've only got 5 minutes to type right now... So, CYRIL!!

<font color=seagreen><font size=4>I'M LOST! PLEASE FIND ME!</font></font>

<font color=silver>ooc: No problem, Spree. Consider it done!</font> :D

<font color=teal>His lungs and throat burn with the corrupted and death filled air of these pits and it is so difficult to simply breathe that he barely notices the wolves leap awkwardly down from the opening. Above these chambers, but frightfully close, the deep rumbles of falling stone grow louder until even these deep foundations shake with the collapse of the tower’s few remaining exterior walls. The way to the surface is closed and they are sealed in and entombed beneath those tons of stone.

As his bearings return he notes the unsteady and disoriented movement of the wolves. Their legs are cut deeply, but he can offer no aid. It is then that he realizes that the young ranger and the one she has come to rescue have not emerged from the dungeon area. With gasping breaths he fills his lungs with the stale air and rises unsteadily to his feet. He forces his burned hands to support his weight as he climbs to the opening. There is no nimble speed about his movements now. There is only the slow and awkward motion of an exhausted man. Clambering through the opening, he drops clumsily to the floor. He finds the young ranger and a half elven youth lying near the obstruction where they must have been thrown by that terrible trembling of the building as the last of the upper structure finally collapsed.

He winces at the pain that fills his limbs even in the simple act of moving them into a sitting position against the stone. Time is growing short, but he forces himself not to hurry. In truth, he is thankful for the distraction from thinking about the nightmare of dying here where one cannot see the sky. Gently he prods the two of them to consciousness and then helps them to climb through the opening. Once they have joined the wolves, the exhaustion in his limbs claims him and he falls from the opening and tumbles heavily to the stone floor.</font>

<font color=silver>ooc: Now I really do need you and TAO to post *LOL*</font>

[ 05-16-2002, 01:08 AM: Message edited by: Cyril Darkcloud ]

OOC>>>Let me know when you guys finish.

I have the ending credits ready to post that will be the concluding thread to this story.

Oh, and Cyril, I PM'ed you a question.

<font color="skyblue">TAO, legs and paws bleeding, can stay in this form no longer, not if she wants to live............Touching a bleeding paw to the bracer, a brilliant white light flashes, and when the smoke clears, she is kneeling on the floor, coughing....

Her eyes still glowing silver, she looks to the wolf and gently touches its muzzle starting the healing process.

She turns her attention to Spree and Deiter, noticing that they are a little worse for wear but not bad. She finds the Cloud bringer, and silver tears roll down her cheeks onto his face, as she takes his head in her hands, and lays it in her lap. Closing her eyes she softly starts chanting, and the bracer around her neck glows a soft emerald green, flowing down and covering the Cloud bringer in a soft green mist. The burns start to slowly heal, and the tears that dropped on his cheeks evaporate into his skin, mixing with his spirit to revive and rouse him.................

She smiles suddenly at the Cloud bringer whispering, "thank you, your heart and spirit are as a wolf's.....pure and true". "Rest, and I will think of a way out of here....."

She has done all she can do for him, and draws SpiritSword, gently stroking the runes on the blade, and looks around already making plans to get them all out safe and sound...........

She absently pulls out a mixture of herbs, and chews thoughtfully as the wolf comes to her and lays by her and the cloud bringers side, laying her muzzle on his chest....</font>

[ 05-16-2002, 02:50 PM: Message edited by: TAOWolf ]

(ooc: ;) Thank you Cyril dear.)

~Chani shook her head, in a daze. Dear me... Suddenly she snapped from her trance.~ <font color=seagreen>"Cyril!"</font> ~She rushed to TAO and her fallen comrade. The wolf, Shadow, whimpered, licking the man's cheek, her white fur blanketing him. Deiter stepped over, regret on his face.~ <font color=steelblue>"Will he be all right?"</font> ~Chani smiled and nodded, laying her hand on Cyril's forehead. The scythe on her wrist glowed vibrantly.~ <font color=seagreen>"I'll take some of the hurt away..."</font>

<font color=teal>Wind, the freest of all that is free, its very essence is to move. It gathers within him in the stillness of exhausted slumber, the windy breathing of life. Slowly movement arrives and asserts itself in the burned fingers of his hands. Whisper rustles her wings in surprise at the return of movement in the one who speaks with the tongue of those that move within the wind. As the small owl watches, his breathing changes and his lungs expand hungrily seizing the stagnant air of this place. Coughing violently, he sits upright pushing away the bodies he feels so close to his own and reaching for the stormreaver.

He listens as he moves to the startled breathing of those near him and pauses. ~ It is them. They are alive and there is no threat. ~ His eyes open and he reaches out with a hand whose burns have been greatly healed to touch the fur of this wolf that sits so close. “My thanks,” he says softly. He is relieved that the others are well, but his eyes darken at the sight of the close and oppressive stone of this place where one’s eyes cannot greet the sky. He stands, something of his normal ease of movement present once more within his limbs. He looks into the eyes of the woman called TAO, she whose throat is caged in silver. Marking the herbs she holds in her hand he whispers, “It would seem that our thoughts move in similar directions.” He points to the wall behind her, “We do not have much time.”

Turning to the young man standing beside Spree, he grasps his hand and speaks, his accent quite pronounced, “I am called Cyril.”</font>

<font color=silver>ooc: This really is the extent of his social skills. *LMAO*</font>

<font color=silver>ooc: We're only a few posts away from finishing so I'm going to move this along so we can wrap the story up. If we haven't gotten to the conclusion by Monday evening, I'll go ahead and write the ending at that point.</font>

<font color=teal>
It is time to leave this place. Soon the dead and dust filled air trapped between these stone walls will poison his lungs and he will no longer be able to resist the overwhelming numbness such a confining space threatens to produce within him. If there is freedom to be found, however, it is to be found only within the unlikely and overlooked things, things like the small and weak seeds within the pouches he had previously given to the women. Between the three of them there is likely not enough power to pierce even the weakened walls of these lower levels. But where might fails the persistent and quiet reaching out for space within which to grow of a slender root may well find a way into the stones. Scattering the seeds along the wall, he steps back and grasps his axes. His hands are not even close to being fully healed, but there is life enough within his limbs for the doing of what must be done.

Turning to the woman called TAO he speaks softly, “The breaching of this wall is in your hands. I will see to it that we have sufficient air to breathe within the waters of the moat.” It is possible as well that some dark things still move within those foul waters, but he is too weak as yet to defend the others as he maintains the envelope of air around them. “You will need to be ready,” he says to the young ranger, “as it is your sword arm that will be our shield.”</font>