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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1222828" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 75   Numerous additional spiders scuttled forward to the attack, including a pair of hulking monsters that were each easily the size of a good-sized horse.  The companions prepared to meet the assault, but before the two forces could join in battle, Illewyn stepped forward boldly, holding up her holy symbol with its shining glow of magical light driving back the shadows.  It also more fully revealed their charging foes, three more of the medium-sized spiders in addition to the two larger specimens that skittled forth without hindrance through their maze of webs. “Illewyn, what are you doing!” Zenna shouted in warning, but the cleric, caught up in the divine song of her god, paid no heed.  A soft sound came from the young woman, words of power that flowed through the room.  The light flared and spread outward in a burst of soft blue that was gone so quickly that none of the other companions were quite sure it had existed at all.  They could feel, however, the pulse of emotion that accompanied the cleric’s spell, as their fears eased and their anxiety softened, replaced by a feeling of contentment and security. The feeling clearly affected the hostile spiders as well, as they abruptly stopped, shaking slightly as they stood in place, their eight legs trembling on the strands of webbing, the light reflecting in their bulbous eyes as their sharp fangs snapped at the air.  It was as if Illewyn had frozen them in place, death held at bay through the channeled power of her patron. “Um, so they’re not going to kill us?” Mole asked, looking out from behind the comfortable bulk of Arun, her crossbow loaded and ready in her hands. “It would appear not,” Dannel said, his own bow ready with a long shaft held against the string.  “How long will the effect last?” he queried.For a moment Illewyn just stood there, her back to them, the concentration evident just in the way she held herself rigid.  “A few moments, no more,” she said.  “As long as I can maintain my concentration...”“Bah, let ‘em come then,” Arun said, slapping the head of his hammer against the edge of his shield, letting out a ringing note of challenge.  The spiders reared and hissed as the sound reverberated, but they remained rooted to their positions. “Perhaps we can be a bit more... strategic,” Zenna suggested.Dannel glanced at her and nodded.  “If we retreat to the corridor, we can keep them all from coming at us at once.”“Exactly my thought.”“I have the alchemist’s fire,” Mole reminded them. “No!” Zenna replied, a bit too loudly, perhaps.  “No,” she repeated, “We don’t watch to get caught in our own conflagration...”“Whatever you’re doing, do it quickly,” Illewyn said, the strain showing in her voice. “All right,” Dannel said.  “Let’s back it up then, slowly...”They gave way, Arun holding his position until Illewyn had passed him, and then taking up a blocking position as they retreated back to the corridor.  As they gave way Dannel started to hum a soft tune, a lilting melody that seemed oddly out of place in these circumstances, but which picked up until he added voice to the song.  The words were in elvish, which none of them understood, but somehow the meaning of the song, offering reassurance in the face of mortal danger, made it through, easing them as the afterimage of Illewyn’s spell had done earlier. “Bah, a good dwarven war-song is what we need here,” Arun growled.  But he didn’t ask the elf to stop as he took up position at the mouth of the corridor.  “The big one on the right,” Zenna said, lifting her own crossbow.  The others nodded, preparing their own weapons.  Illewyn sagged slightly, lowering the holy symbol as its light flickered slightly for a moment.   The spiders surged forward, at the same instant that the companions unleashed their fire.</blockquote>

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