Resolution

The adventurers have just been ambushed, and incredibly, two of their number slain...

Belphanior: (slams a fist into his palm) Gods DAMN it! We got taken like amateurs!
Mongo: (watching Peldor collect Tanya's remains and put them into his bag of holding) We sure did.
Lyra: (to Peldor, gently) Do you want me to do that?
Peldor: (his eyes devoid of all emotion) No...
Gorin: (looking around) This place is too big, and too dark. If we're to fight, we need to do it on our terms.
Otto: I heard that. (he picks up Rillen's staff)
Songa: (busy wrapping Rillen's headless body in a blanket, she whirls, turning on the dwarf)
Otto: (frowning, he hands the weapon to her)
Songa: (hesitates for a moment, then takes it) My thanks.
Otto: (nods)
Alindyar: (ESPing to Lyra) We must stay close, and be careful. I do not want to go through this as well.
Lyra: (ESPing to Alindyar) Me neither.
Mongo: (hefts his hammer) A clear shot...that's all I needed.
Belphanior: But you didn't exactly get one. None of us did.
Mongo: I should have thrown Stormcrest anyway. Maybe then all this wouldn't have happened.
Arnold: (shaking his head) Aaa.
Otto: What we need is a way to find those damn things...and kill them before they kill us.
Ged: I can take care of that first part right now. (he takes out a small golden figurine, a carven statuette of twin lions) The might of Boccob shall prevail now. (he speaks a command word, and two huge lions suddenly appear)
lions: (look around, growling)
Ged: (wastes no time) We were attacked by a monster. Find the scent here that doesn't match, then follow it. When you catch the monster, kill it.
lions: (growling, they paw at the ground)
Ged: Now!
lions: (sniff the ground reluctantly, then pad off in the direction that the monster fled)
Alindyar: Methinks they do not wish to obey those orders.
Ged: (nodding) Yet they have no choice. Odd, though - that never happened before.
Peldor: A lot of things never happened before...today. (to Ged) Tell me you can bring Tanya - and Rillen - back from the dead.
Ged: (frowning) Well, it's not quite that cut-and-dried-
Peldor: We've been through this before, with Gorin.
Gorin: We have?
Peldor: I know you have the power...I need you to use it.
Songa: (muttering to herself) Back from the dead?
Ged: I have the power, but I don't have that spell right now.
Peldor: Why not?
Ged: (somewhat angry) The truth? I didn't think we'd need it! I prepared for recon and combat, not for raising dead or travelling across planes.
Peldor: So what, then? When can you cast it?
Ged: Well, I'll have to pray to Boccob...request his aid...
Peldor: Get to the point.
Ged: Tomorrow.
Peldor: Tomorrow?!? We need to do it now! We can't wait until tomorrow.
Ged: (shrugs) That's the way it is, and I can't change anything.
Peldor: No! (he takes several steps toward the elf, fists clenched)
Ged: (backs away, not caring for the look in the thief's eyes)
Songa: (grabs Peldor on the shoulder) No.

Anyone else present probably wouldn't have been able to persuade the master thief to stop, but that one word, and that one gesture from Songa did.

Peldor: (his body goes limp, his energy gone)
Songa: (hugs Peldor, who begins sobbing again) Don't worry, I know how you feel.
Otto: (more to himself than anyone else) Shouldn't we be following the lions?
Ged: Yes, we should. Arnold, get Bosco.
Arnold: (picks up the halfling...and then drops him) Aaa!
Mongo: What?
Arnold: The sbider-thing is gone!

Surely enough, it was. They looked around frantically, none of them wanting to become the next victim, but they couldn't see it anywhere.

Ged: (checks Bosco) Well, he's alive and well, though asleep.
Arnold: And snoring like a baby.
Songa: (hefts her spear) But where did that thing go?
Gorin: It must have slipped off and away in all the confusion.
Belphanior: That's unacceptable. Let's find it.
Ged: I disagree. We need to follow my lions, and find that monster, and kill it.
Belphanior: Bullshit. I don't want some...thing jumping on me later on, like it did to Bosco.
Ged: Tough. We're going after the lions.
Belphanior: Are you challenging me?
Ged: As a matter of fact, I am.
Belphanior: (takes a step forward)

This time, it was Mongo's turn to get between two friends.

Mongo: This isn't gonna solve anything, guys. We need to stick together, or else more of us will die.
Alindyar: Perhaps a vote would be in order...?
Ged: Just like the old days, eh?
Alindyar: I say we go onward, and find the larger monster.
Lyra: I agree.
Ged: Me too.
Arnold: I absdain.
Ged: You can't abstain - this is important.
Arnold: (shrugs) I don't care.
Belphanior: I say we go find the smaller monster.
Otto: Second.
Mongo: (shakes his head) Sorry, guys, but we need to deal with the most dangerous threat first. I vote we move on.
Gorin: (nods) Me too.
Lyra: (gently) Peldor?
Peldor: (shaking his head)
Mongo: Damn, he's out of it.
Songa: Well, I'm not, and I am going onward, to find and kill the thing that did this to Rillen. (she glances at them) With or without anyone else.
Ged: Well, it's settled then - on we go.
Peldor: (nods, numbly)
Belphanior: (shaking his head, for he doesn't really wish to move deeper into this maze of death)

With that, they gathered their weapons and dead and prepared to move out. Arnold threw the sleeping Bosco over one huge shoulder and they began marching.

Belphanior: (keeps his wand of fireballs ready) No more ambushes due to darkness and shadows.
Otto: Right on.
Ged: (to Songa) Can you track the lions?
Songa: It will be difficult, but...yes. (she takes the lead)

The party, now slightly less in number, began their march into the darkness.