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-----The Dread Pirate glances about, failing to spy his pony, since he went on foot through the woods. He then states, "Arrr, I'll stay and watch the horses. I have to go fetch me pony anyway. Scream really loudly if'n ye need help, so I knows to feel sorry fer ya gettin eaten by a monster."
-----Sighing and realizing that walking back to get his pony isn’t nearly as fun as rushing away from it, the Dread Pirate begins trudging back through the trees to get his pony, hoping that it hasn’t wandered too far.
-----Sarah calls after the departing halfling. "Oh, darling, while you're gone could you bring back those bandits we tied to a tree? Thank you so very much."
-----"I don't like everyone huddling together with no backup when something goes wrong. But then, half of us here have no idea how this is done." Kazel shrugs and replies, "Why exactly do you need us all in there?"
-----"Oh right," Sarah says, "I need to explain a few things. First, if we go in you can't follow us. You can't step outside the radius of the scroll, or you get paralyzed." She glances down for a second. "That’s why we need to stick together. And like I said before this is why we came so you're all coming in, there's no point at all in staying outside."
-----"No. We came here for many things and to stay alive to do them. What's the point of going in if we're just going to be walking in the dark?" Kazel sighs. "But fine. Guess finding out for myself is less painful than trying to ask."
-----She then looks up at the sky, trying to gauge the time of the day. "Go on, and get this over with."
-----Sarah begins moving forward and Raven, Sol, Rinda, Seth and Kazel stay close surrounding the young mage. Immediately the blackness seems to engulf them and unease settles over the group, although the invisible protection keeps them from the evil of the Dark. Around them, they see the ruined remains of trees once thriving and healthy reduced to twisted and decaying ashen gray versions of their former selves.
-----Ahead of the steadily moving group, a faintly pulsing light of violet glows. As they move deeper into the darkness, the light from the border of the Dark where they entered grows less. The overwhelming blackness seems to blot out all of the daylight and sound from the forest.
-----An eerie sensation falls over everyone as they look at the terrain around them. Here and there, the adventurers catch sight of light wispy streams of smoke that appears to rise from the ground. Some of the wisps float about the protection dome and flit about in irregular patterns. Others continue to rise ghostlike only to be lost from sight in the Dark overhead.
-----The damaged area no longer seems like a forest but some kind of landscape too alien, too nightmarish to be imagined. The effect is one of an otherworldly place totally encased in a void save for the violet light that slowly grows brighter.
-----Soon Sarah brings the group to within striking distance of what lies at the center of the Dark. For Sol, Raven and Sarah, it is something sadly familiar. There before them is a small constructed spindle sitting atop a flatten stump. Slowly spinning between the two arms of the spindle is a finely cut gemstone, the size of a man’s two fists. As it rotates, the gem continues to emit its deadening and evil light.
-----With a determined look on her face, Sarah continues forward until the invoked protection from her scroll touches the magical construct. Suddenly, the large gem stops spinning and its violet light begins to fade. It then falls from its levitated state from the spindle landing on the ground with a solid thud.
-----The Darkness about them slowly begins to lift as if it were a fog dissipating in the warmth of the day. With the light returning to their senses, they see the destroyed trees, grass and underbrush surrounding them in a radius of nearly eighty feet. At the edge of the huge gray ring, they see Gimplefwick staring their way while standing beside his pony.
-----Raven looks around the area and frowns. "It will take a while, but the forest should reclaim this area." Raven places a hand on one of the dead tree trunks, "They'll pay for this..." Raven walks over and picks up the now dead gem. Raven doesn't even look at. Instead he pitches the gem to Sarah. "Now that we have one of their gems, I hope you can learn something about how they work." Raven looks uneasy, "I gotta get out of this dead zone." With that Raven begins to quickly move back to where their horses are.
-----Sol blinks a couple of times and begins to smile sadly. All traces of foul humor seemingly disappeared, "At least this one didn't have the walking dead in it." He mutters to himself. He quickly looks around the area, and then as he starts to walk back to Thunder, Sol calls out, "If we're gonna leave soon, I'll go back and collect our prisoners. If they're still there..."
-----Sarah pulls on a pair of gloves and picks up the gem. "These things really freak me out. Uh, any volunteers to hold on to it?" She looks around. "Heads up, guys." She says briskly. "This is when the bad guys usually show up, and they're usually very upset."
-----Sarah walks over to get her horse as quickly as possible and mounts her immediately. "C'mon, let’s head on out."
-----The Dread Pirate, just exiting the forest with his pony as the cloud dissipates, blinks at the emerging party. At Sarah's words, he hastily clambers onto the saddle, "Shiver me timbers, sweet thing, I didn't have time to go fetch yer prisoners, me pony led me on a merry chase. I just got back here in time to join back up with ye. Well, let’s get those prisoners and get out of here then." The Dread Pirate begins ambling his pony at a leisurely walk back to where the prisoners were tied up.
-----Seth smiles, "Well that was simple enough, and what was the magic on the scroll?" He asks as he heads back to his horse. To no one particular, he says, "Would it not be better to destroy the crystal just in case it could be used like that again?"
-----When Seth reaches El Binko he pats the horse and raises his hand for Albert to alight on it, glad to let his friend know he is back from the darkness.
-----Kazel just says "Hmm," as she watches the crystal until it's taken away. She bends down to look closer at the stump. "Now, is this spindle any important?"
-----Without further fuss, she then turns and gets ready to move on with the horses and prisoners.
-----As the party moves back to collect the prisoners, Sol reins Thunder in and says, "Go ahead and collect 'em. Give me a moment, an' I'll rejoin ye shortly."
-----As the bandits are retied to walk along the horses, the young warrior returns to everyone and the adventurers set out once again heading toward the south.
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