The Blind Watchers of the Sylvan Shard

Richard stands ready, waiting for the roots to come to their doom.
And he waits. He's sweating slightly, trying to stay close enough to the flames to force the roots to move into them when they strike at him.
The fighter turns away from the flames to take a breath of cooler air, turns back to the finally arriving roots.
Setting his shield, he drops into an oft-practiced fighting stance and swings the ornate bastard-sword down upon the writhing roots... it doesn't seem he did much good though. He resets his stance... prepares to cut the mindless enemy again.
[sblock=Numbers and Nods ]I think he missed... 13 to hit, 7 damage
I'd give my nod to finishing this up since we cannot seem to get a consistent post rate. I'm not trying to point a finger, everyone is busy and Rae is stepping in to take over a game he didn't start so... I guess I'd say lets just call it good.
However I'd also be for continuing if we could find a way to do even just once a week... [/sblock]

Khairi will attack again the second set of roots although not very good attack.

1d20+5=10, 1d6+3=7, 1d20+3=12, 1d6+1=3

[sblock=ooc]I am up for finishing. I have not had as much time lately myself.[/sblock]

Saithnar-M Elan Psion(Telepath)3 -AC:15(11 without Inertial Armor), HP:16/16, PP:0/17

Saithnar sees the fire doing the most damage and tries with the last erg of his psionic power to hit the remaining root with a ray of fire. His arm is shaking from the exertion though and his aim is worthless. Cursing himself for his weakness, Saithnar hopes that the others can finish off the monstrosity...

Fire Energy Ray at remaining root w/ -4 for firing into melee. (1d20+2-4=2, 1d6+1=4)

[sblock=OOC]I'm also fine with wrapping this one up after this fight. Time is tight all around and I'm as busy as the rest it seems. Especially since our Internet privileges got removed at work. Having to find time on the PC when I have to share the compy with 5 others can be tough. Thanks to Rae for his efforts as I know my posting hasn't been as timely or consistent as I'd like myself.[/sblock]

[sblock=OOG: ]Pretty clear consensus, then. Thanks for sticking it out, everybody![/sblock]

With one aberration of nature dispatched, the other is easy to take down. Mindlessly thrashing about in the flames, Richard manages to evade the worst of the strikes, and soon these roots too are reduced to a pile of twitching ends. As the fire continues to consume them, the twitching slows and finally stops.

Your victory celebration is short lived, though. You hear a voice from ahead, muffled thanks to the acoustics of the soft, fungal walls. The voice is wailing with grief, and soon the wailer enters the chamber in which you first encountered the roots.

An elf, not blind, but tan and lean, dressed in druidic garb, stumbles into the chamber, almost drunkenly. From his back, through his robes, tentacle like roots have burst and are writhing eerily. "Demon! Oathbreaker! You said it would bring her back!" Exactly who he is talking to becomes clear as a second individual enters the scene.

Slithering through the tunnels like a massive snake, a half-ethereal dragon squeezes its head out the opposite end of the chamber. As the dragon approaches the elf, the roots on his back begin to wrap around his neck and he shrieks as he cuts at them with a dagger. Soon, the roots throughout the entire chamber begin shivering and jerking, somehow coming to abhorrent life with the presence of the dragon. Slowly, they gather and creep towards the druid.

As the roots crawl up his legs, completely ignoring you, the dragon approaches, a sinister grin on its translucent face. The elf, his doom imminent, sobers up. He speaks some words in Sylvan: "Release me, and destroy this desecrator of nature!" The roots, obviously magically influenced, obey, and crawl towards the dragon.

Chuckling deeply, the dragon becomes even more transparent, and the roots can't touch him. "How long will this go on, fool? I am unreachable, for now. And when this great living thing you once called home gives its life force to me, I will return to this plane in full force. Delaying the inevitable is all you achieve with your puny games."

Silently, the elf smiles and taking his dagger, slides it up into his own chest. The dragon's smile falters, and so does his translucence. For a moment, his body flickers, like a wizard's illusion gone wrong. And then the druid crumples to the ground, now devoid of roots, and utters, "Maias! I'll join you now..."

The dragon, suddenly fully opaque, opens his massive mouth and roars as the dozens of roots grab a hold of him, digging their tentacles into his black form, injecting their purple poison beneathhis scales. Screeching and writhing, the dragon claws at his body, tearing the roots to shreds, but the poison proves too much even for his great fortitude. He collapses, lying on the floor beside the bodies of the two zombie-like creatures, Thallirae, and the elf.

As soon as he dies, the roots too fall limp, still bloated with the purple pus that drains life.

Now the halls are utterly silent. Almost. From the tunnel where the elf and the dragon came, you can here a very faint sound, something like a low hum.

"By the Gods...," Rinya mutters, as the scene before them ends. She'll then draw her sword and start moving slowly towards the hum.

Startled out of his reverie by Rinya's exclamation, Richard follows the woman quickly, his shield set, sword at the ready...

"That was... disconcerting." Saithnar mumbles to himself. Tired of fighting and drained of energy, the Psion loads his crossbow and moves to follow the others towards the source of the humming sound.

As you move, the tunnel becomes wider, until finally it opens into a wide, short chamber with dozens of tunnels leading out from it. The source of the noise becomes clear: a long, glistening shard of crystal rests at the center of the room, nestled into the roots bunched up on the floor, shining brightly and casting tendril shadows all across the chamber.

Also in the roots, less obvious than the crystal, are the bodies of several humanoids, covered in all sorts of fungal growth. They are similar to the zombie creatures you fought earlier, though these ones simply lie on the ground.

The humming noise is growing fainter, and the crystal's light is dimming quickly. Soon, there is no noise but the sounds you make, and no light but the light from the luminescent fungus growing all around you.

"Well...I think this is what we came for...,"

Rinya will cautiosly reach for the crystal and pick it up.

Rinya is able to take the large crystal from the roots. It is bulky and unwieldy, but not terribly heavy.