<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button"> OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Lulz at the coin's protection saving the day. That's exactly what items like that are for. :P</div></div><br/>It takes a little while... but eventually, the Black Tentacle spell crumbles to dust around you, freeing you from its grasp, and leaving you to begin picking up the pieces at your own leisure. A close inspection of the man makes it clear that he had wagered everything on accomplishing his task... his stomach is distended from want of food, and the areas of his skin that aren't covered in scar tissue are pockmarked and yellowed. The man was practically on death's door... but he was geared up to stride through that door like a champ. Every copper he ever made- and who knows what violence- must have gone into buying all this gear, from the clouded stave clenched in his death-grip, to the mithral armor beneath his robes, to the ornate headband resting on his brow.<br/><br/>But all the preparation in the world wasn't enough to end it, and that's what matters now. The object of your quest is just laying there, right in front of you... and when you grasp the orb in your hand, you get the feeling that everything just might be alright...<br/><br/>Though any illusions of completion shatter quickly when you hear Tock's roar of anger and pain as it rolls through the alleys of the town... and not near as far from you as it should be. From the sound of it, your companions are being pushed back...<br/><br/>A quick look out the door of the tent confirms it... you can see your lovers engaged in a frantic melee, wielding gouts of flame, phantom walls, and brute strength against a seemingly unending tide of kobolds and gnolls. The monsters seem to have been driven mad... perhaps they know that their leader has fallen, and their task is failed. Or perhaps they're just pissed off that a group of adventurers walked right into the middle of their space like it was a local park...