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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greybar" data-source="post: 828562" data-attributes="member: 4938">"Lit by the loneliest light", part threeSome massive limb or weapon fans the air over Arlissa's head.  Confusion reigns in the darkness as Balius stumbles backward from the skeletal touch, banging into Karrinkas and nearly losing his feet. Daphna holds out her sword and shouts ‘”Back, spawn of evil! In the name of Llassa, be gone!”.  And before this exercise of Faith and Will, the skeletal figure withdraws and closes its crypt-chamber door behind it.Arlissa blinks and suddenly the darkness is replaced by an strange hard-edged black and white reversed vision of the world.  Over her shoulder she can now clearly see the former statue as it readies another blow of its mighty arm.  She quickly pronounces one of the most powerful spells of Llassa's might she can yet channel, and suppresses the magic within the stone tomb guardian.  She knows that she has only bought a moment of reprise, and urges the group into quick retreat.  Berke reappears in the doorway, his mace still magically lit to the great benefit of the rest of the party.  His voice still seems manic:"Come on, we have to get out of here!" It's a sentiment that most are willing to agree with.The hallway is long and square-carved, with stairways down that seem to lead to more crypts.  Not wanting to disturb anything more, they push on until they find a ragged opening in the wall just before a dead end.  The opening leads to a rough hewn tunnel, which in turn opens to a natural cave.  There, welcome before their eyes, is the feel of fresh air and the stars of a night sky.Karrinkas, stealthily padding on all fours, quickly scouts out the area surrounding the cave.  Behind them stands the tall stone wall of a Haraivan-style city, yet one none of them recognize.  Before them is a rural setting with fields and livestock quiet under night's blanket.  The warmth of the night is undeniably one of summer, and Arlissa spends more than a few moments in prayerful contemplation of the stars.  The constellation of Dana's Sword remains a steadfast blazon of strength in the heavens, its tip pointed due south to the ocean.  Llassa's stars seem to have pulled together somewhat to Arlissa's memory.  As her eyes adjust to the dark comfort of stargazing, her sight blinks in and our of the strange darkvision.  With a bit of practice, she learns to control this unexpected gift.Their sense of relief does not totally overcome their caution, but a low fire is built a bit back into the cave.  Their clothes begin to dry and their spirits lift, and they begin to speak of dreams.  It seems that all have had dreams, brief moments of semi-wakefulness that place them into another time and place.  All but for Berke.  He has had dreams as well, but not dreams that rise from sleep.  Perhaps due to the struggles of his will against his captivity, he has been at least somewhat awake for the entire duration of his stoning.  "How long"  "A F***ing Long Time".They try to get some sleep between comparing <a href="http://home.attbi.com/~johndunk/haraiva/Articles/StoryIndex.html" target="_blank">dreams</a> notes.(Yes, 7 days is longer than I intended to let slip between updates.  Gentle Readers will be glad to know that the players survived their recent challenge without any loss of life.  Ungentle Readers will note that I need nastier bad gals, apparently.  I won't even try to tease more than that, since there's too much story to update before their recent adventures will come into context. -john)(Edit: Corrected to include Arlissa's discovery of powers of Sarata's ring, as well as some astronomical notes)</blockquote>

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