Journal of Miyara Kyosuke (9)

    We healed in the dry room.  Aside from the pit trap, the room was surprisingly normal.  Nevertheless, Pireseri seemed to look through one of the walls, pointed at something, and chattered away about it.  Apparently no-one cared what he said, as we all rested for almost an hour until everyone was healed and all the gear was cleaned of the insidious mud.
    Once we were ready, we then went to investigate what the barbarian had been so insistent upon earlier.  We were, after all, seeking Miyara's statue, and perhaps what Pireseri had seen was related to this.
    Of course we returned to the mud.  We proceded down a corridor we had not explored before, which turned out to end in a door.  Pireseri peered through it, and Miyara told me there was a boulder beyond jammed up against the door to hold it shut.  The tentacle demon was in the ground under the door.
    In the room guarded by the demon were six glowing gems on leather thongs hanging from spikes on the walls.  In the middle of the room, on a three foot high and wide cylindrical pedastel, was a white pulsating crystal.  The crystals on the walls were blue-grey and pulsated in time with the central one.  The walls were swathed with whorls and pitted with strange designs.
    The barbarians discussed this while we formed a fighting order.  Goru moved to the front to open the door.
    I offered to fight the tentacle monster myself while they grab the crystals, but it was a bad decision; Miyara says that it must be a group effort to fight.  I am ashamed that my honor has reached such a low that I cannot be trusted to take on a demon alone.

    Even before the door was opened, the demon attacked us.  Goru, Jeison, myself, and Miyara were all targets.   We all fought back, but Goru and Jeison were grabbed, while Periseri jumped onto Jeison's back.  Goru was then pulled under the mud -- a horrible fate! -- but I kept dodging and destroying tentacles.  As we continued, Shon sang what no doubt he thought of as a rousing fight song, but which came out as barbarian cacophony.  Carumera threw a dagger into a tentacle and heated it with her magic.
    As Miyara went under, Stoiko lept to save her.  I was thankful for this, as it allowed me to keep fighting.  Jeison leapt at the door over where Goru drowned in the mud, with Pireseri still on his back.  The door gave only slightly, but he kept trying.
    I was, shamefully, hit.  My skill was not enough to keep the demon at bay.  Miyara's lack of confidence in me was surely justified.
    Stoiko managed to pull a tentacle off Miyara, all the while shouting encouraging noises.  More shouting came from the back as Ashu pushed forward, brandishing his axe.
    Goru finally broke free and surfaced, grabbing his maul and flailing away at the tentacles that still held him.  Stoiko freed Miyara and assisted her to the rear, as Ashu took their place.
    All this time, Rawena had been reading a book.  To what end I shall probably never understand, as she did not seem to be contributing at all.  It was not until Stoiko also attracted the demon's attention, being grabbed by a couple of tentacles, that she put her book away to attend to Miyara's wounds.
    Jeison finally broke down the door, and threw his shield at the central crystal.  It did not dislodge it.
    Goru's supposedly cheerful song was not very appropriate.  Stoiko was dragged under the mud quickly, despite having drawn his sword and attacking the beast..
    Having failed by throwing the shield, Jeison then threw Pireseri at the pedastal.  He slipped into the water after trying unsuccessfully to hold onto the column.
    As Stoiko continued hacking at the tentacles while submerged, Rawena finished tending Miyara and returned to her book.  The behavior of these barbarians continues to amaze me.
    Goru and Stoiko were both badly hurt by then, but the white fairy stayed above the mud as he tried without success to retreat.  I too was grabbed, and changed my focus to destroying that tentacle, which I eventually did.
    The barbarians started to panic and do stupid things.  Jeison leapt into the crystal room, headed for the nearest blue-grey one on the wall.  Pireseri pulled himself out of the mud, grabbed the white crystal, and tried to smash it.  The barbarians are idiots.  I shouted, "Don't smash the crystal," but they ignored me and continued in panic.
    Fortunately by then it was clear that the demon was losing.  Many tentacles were starting to evaporate.  Still, Goru was pulled down again.
    Jeison grabbed one grey crystal with a triumphant shout, and went for the next.  Pireseri waded through the mud in his direction, holding the white crystal.
    Carimera yelled something at Pireseri.  I didn't know what she was doing at the time, but it was to become apparent that she had started her latent heating of the crystal.  Yet another barbarian had panicked and was to cause more harm than good.
    Suddenly, the tentacle demon let go of those in the corridor.  Goru and Stoiko stood up, thankfully still alive despite their time under the mud.
    I said quickly, "They need to get the crystal and get to high ground.  This is what they came for, right?"
    Of course I was right.  The tentacles were surely going to attack Pireseri next, as he was holding the crystal.  Meanwhile, Jeison had reached the short elf, and touched his grey crystal to the white one, with no effect.
    It was time for action.  I acrobatted over the rock and to the pedastal.  Carimera was shouting again, as the demon grabbed both Pireseri and Jeison.  The idiots could not keep their priorities straight, could not think like a civilized person, and as a consequence put everyone in danger and wreck our goal.  Still, I could save the situation.  I sprang over to Pireseri and took the crystal from him, then vaulted back over the rock and ran for the safety of the dry room.
    Of course I also told Miyara what I was doing.  As I ran by, she told me that the tentacles had let go of the barbarians and were no doubt after me.  This time I was sure I could dodge the demon long enough to reach safety, and hold its attention so Miyara would be safe.
    Carimera was still shouting unintelligibly as I ran around the corner out of her sight.  Her panicked latent heat trigger, and the crystal seared my hands.  It hit the water with a burst of steam, leaving me in agony.