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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7369754" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 134Glori was the first to shake clear of the enchantment of the glowing wall.  She tore her eyes away and shook her head to clear it as she took a step back from the gap that separated the tan slab from the rest of the room.“What was…” she began, but wasn’t able to finish her thought for a moment as she shook off the lingering effects of whatever spell had snared her.  She was careful not to look directly at it as she stumbled over to the cleric.  “Quellan!  Quellan, snap out of it!”The cleric started and looked at her in surprise.  “Glori?  What…”“Don’t look at it!  We have to help the others.”Quellan nodded and turned to Kosk, but the dwarf and the others were already beginning to come out of their fugue.  The markings continued to glow within the pale stone, but they no longer seemed to have the same magnetic pull on their minds that they’d had on their initial manifestation.“What… what was that?” Quellan asked.“I don’t want your bloody magic book messing with my mind, boy!” Kosk growled.  Bredan just looked confused, blinking as he stared up at the wall.“Something definitely just happened,” Xeeta said.  “My reservoir of spell energy… it’s completely refilled.”“Mine as well,” Glori said.  “And my burns… they’re healed.”“Whatever it did, it happened to all of us,” Quellan said.  “And so far, at least, the effects appear to be benign.”“Speak for yourself,” Kosk said.  “I don’t like the idea of some ancient magic taking liberties with me.”  He gestured toward the wall.  “Especially when all it has to say is a bunch of gibberish.”“Bredan, do you know what it means?” Glori asked.  “Bredan!”He started and looked at her.  “No,” he said.  “I don’t…”Before he could finish, they were interrupted again, this time by a gentle pulse from the markings on the wall that drew their attention back to the surface.  It was followed a moment later by the emergence of a glowing stream of light from the open mouth of the dragon sculpture.  The stuff poured down like a trickle of water, except that when it struck the stone floor of the chamber it simply vanished without even a splash.“Okay, what’s that now?” Glori asked, her voice growing a bit strained.Xeeta stepped forward, a look of awe on her face.  “It’s an arcane source,” she said.  “Raw magical energy…”“That doesn’t exactly tell us much,” Kosk muttered, but the tiefling stepped forward eagerly, so eagerly that the others retreated a wary step back.  But all she did was thrust her rod into the steady flow of light.  Instead of dividing around it the way a normal stream would have, the glow soaked into the rod.  The brightness spread down the full length of the dark wood until it shone as intensely as the spell that still radiated from Quellan’s mace.  It lingered for a few moments after the sorceress drew the rod out of the current, then slowly faded.“Um… what just happened?” Glori asked.“Quickly,” Xeeta said.  “We don’t know how long the flow of power will continue.”Even before she finished speaking Bredan came forward, his father’s sword in his hands.  Without waiting for approval he thrust the bare blade into the arcane flow.  The steel absorbed the glow much as Xeeta’s rod had, and as it approached his hands a sigil began to take shape within the blade right where it met the hilt.  Bredan stared at it as he drew back.“Will it affect a bow?” Glori asked.  “Or should I do my lyre?  What if touches skin?  Is it safe?”“I don’t know the answers to any of those questions,” Xeeta said.“It won’t harm you,” Bredan said.“Well, that’s reassuring,” Kosk said.Glori stepped forward and shoved her bow into the glowing cascade.  Once again the light spread through the shaft of her weapon, but as the bowstring passed through the current it sizzled and came apart.  Glori quickly drew back the bow, but the damage had been done.“Oh, damn it,” she said.“Do you have another bowstring?” Quellan asked.“I do, but that was my best one.”“The stave, it’s still taut,” Kosk pointed out.Glori stared at the weapon in surprise, confirming the dwarf’s observation.  Carefully she felt at it, and as he fingers touched where the string should have been, suddenly they could see it, a line of pure white light.  It seemed to sparkle as she drew upon it.  “Okay, that’s pretty cool,” she said.“It’ll ruin the bow if it keeps the stave permanently bent,” Kosk said.“Something tells me that it won’t,” Xeeta said.  “Quellan, you’re up.”The cleric stepped forward.  “My mace is already magical,” he said.  Instead he held out his shield.  Again, instead of deflecting the flow the battered wooden disk simply absorbed it.  When he drew the shield back the gouged wood had been replaced by a sheer surface, upon which a softly glowing sigil that marked the outline of an open book shone.  Even when the glow faded, the insignia remained.“That is… How did it… I admit, I am amazed,” the cleric said.“Your turn, Kosk,” Glori said.“Bah, I’m not touching that,” the dwarf said.“It won’t hurt you,” Bredan said.“I agree with prudence and caution in most cases, but in this case I think I would agree with Bredan,” Quellan said.“If he doesn’t want to go, I’ll do something else,” Glori said.  She reached for her sword, but before she could draw it Kosk abruptly shoved the burned end of his staff into the arcane flow.The magical stream abruptly ceased.  At the same moment the runes embedded in the wall vanished, along with Quellan’s light spell, plunging them into utter darkness.</blockquote>

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