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Lily chuckled. "Well I will be happy to be protected by you Benvolio. Cause I am going with this time so I don't have to worry over everyone."

Vhaidra smirked, at least tehy had a magic user to disarm things like that. She knew that none of the others were really good at that type of thing.

Cryoalpha was a bit worried,"You be very careful out there. I don't wnat to have to take care of the cats forever." He still felt bad about the last time he had and didn't think he was the right type of person to have to care for them all the time.

"I fed Luna she doens't need any more no matter how much she complains. She is getting pudgy. So just pet her and leave her alone you should be fine." Luna smiled,"And don't worry. We will all be back soon."

"Alright then, if everyone is ready, then let us be off," Balthier said, clearly very eager to find treasure.

Julian walked over and petted Cassandra, "you be good, ok?"

Cassandra purred at Julian's touch and said, "I am always good master," if Lily noticed.

***

After they were all fed and ready they disembarked off the ship and into the snowy ground of the Northern Wastes. They had landed less than a hundred yards away from the mound of earth and even in the snow covered ground it was a relatively quick walk up to the entrance.

When they had reached it the saw that it was a large carved entrance with two large stone columns carved right out of the hill, as well as a carved beam across that had some Ancient Drow Runes on it.

Julian translated them for everyone, "It loosely translates into, 'All Enemies of Lolth Die Within This Hallowed Shrine.'"

"Hmm, that is a pleasant thought," Balthier said sarcastically. "Shall we continue?" Without waiting for a response he led the way down the ancient stone steps.

Although it was quite cold on the surface they soon found that it got significantly colder the further they descended into the tunnel. The group had brought flashlights with them but they did not need them because when the light from the entrance began to fade it was replaced by a slight blue glow that seemed to emanate from nowhere. They descended down the straight tunnel to approximately 200 feet underground before it finally flattened off to a tunnel that no longer descended. After another 100 feet of walking they finally emerged into a very large and spacious cavern.

This cavern emanated the same magical glow that had illuminated the tunnel. They stood on a small rocky shore line inside a large circular cavern. Unlike the tunnel this area was not carved and seemed to have been almost entirely natural. Most of the cavern was taken up by a large frozen lake, and in the center of this lake was a small island. It was too far away to see clearly what was on the island, but they did see a twinkling of some sort.

Balthier tested one foot on the frozen lake, then both feet and he walked out a ways, he hopped up and down a couple times and there was no sign of cracking. "Seems safe, be careful, and walk single file though in case there are weak spots." Balthier then continued to lead the way to the island.

Calling on the wind Benvolio lifted a little off the ground and floated. " I might be able to float you all if it gives way but not if I'm freezing to death. "

Hovering near to Lily he prepared his mass levitation spell. It would drain him fully to use it, but better prepared then not.

"Ehem!," Balthier said to the back of the line, "less talk about drowning please."

They made it across the frozen lake in a relatively short amount of time. They found that the island was quite rocky like the shore line had been, but much to the delight of Balthier the island was almost completely covered in treasure. Treasure of gold, silver, precious gems and diamonds. Most of these were made into various items, chalices, crowns, rings, idols, coins, necklaces, weapons, armors, and pretty much anything else you could think of that you might decorate in expensive treasures. But definitely the most interesting item was a large statue of Lolth in the center of the island overlooking everything. It was of magnificent craftsmanship, depicting a giant spider with a beautiful, naked upper female body attached where the spider's head should be. It held up a large, attached axe in one hand and held a silver bowl in the other. The statue was quite tall, easily twice as tall as Zark who was the tallest in the group. Also, the statue appeared to be one large diamond, how it was cut, or even formed that large, was a mystery. "You know, there are several things about this statue I like," Balthier said mischievously.

"Meh, I have seen better," Tira said, oddly slightly jealous sounding.

"So have I," Balthier said mischievously again, "but still, that is not the biggest deal." He smirked at his own pun, "we have struck it rich! Finally, perhaps we will eat steaks every night for the rest of our lives, and lay down our pirating and thieving ways." Balthier already started looking through the treasure, trying to see which pieces he liked best.

"Remember captain, we are here for one piece of treasure specifically," Valen said. "Also, be careful, there was a threat on the door."

"Ha, I remember. So, do you even know what this 'Tear of Lolth' looks like?"

"Not exactly... the only description was that it was 'a tear of the purest black'."

Julian and Valen started to look through the treasure carefully. Balthier also looked through the treasure, and although he kept his eyes peeled for any 'black tears' he was not exactly looking for what he was supposed to be looking for. Zark stood at the edge of the island and kept watch with his large machine gun for anything that might creep up on them. Tira looked at all of the 'pretty sparklies' instead of keeping watch.

Staying aloft Benvolio followed along. As he floated he closed his eyes and took a hold of Lily's hand. " Please guide me while I search for magic dear puppy princess. "

Opening himself to magic and it's ever changing ebb and pull Beni felt for traps and any other sorts of magic.

" Gladly , but I can stress this enough. NO ONE TOUCH ANY THING! There is something so powerful here that I can't differentiate between traps and what we are looking for."

With out opeing his eyes he cast a spell of levitation on Julian. " I've got you. " Slowly he raised the prince to the lip of the bowl.

Valen came over to see what Julian was doing. Julian levitated up towards the bowl to see what was inside, his eyes widened in surprise, "Valen, it is full of a black liquid. I think this might be it."

Valen hurried forward, but as he approached he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked in the direction from where it had originated. To his horror he saw that the statue's arm with holding the giant axe pulled back ever so slightly. "JULIAN! DUCK!"

Julian glanced over to see the massive diamond axe swinging towards his head and reflexively ducked. The axe missed him by just inches. And before the living statue could prepare for another attack Valen was there and he shoved Julian away from danger. Valen then jumped back to avoid the statue from hitting him. Valen also swung out his sword to defend himself.

Balthier had dropped the treasure he was looking through and had his shotgun at the ready, "why does something always have to go wrong?"

Zark was the first to respond to the creature. He swung his large machine gun around and started firing at the statue with it. But the bullets just simply bounced off. A couple came close to hitting some of the group, but fortunately no one was injured. Tira hit him on the back of the head to stop shooting. "Zark you nincompoop, diamonds are the hardest thing in the world. Lead is one of the softest metals, which do you think will win?"

"Uh... I dunno."

The Lolth statue let out a battle scream, it cast the bowl aside which levitated in the air on it's own accord, and then she charged at the group swinging her axe at anyone too slow to get away.

(Beni can't change a diamond's strength, this enemy will remain indestructible for the battle, but there is a way to beat it, I'll show you how eventually, but I hope someone will figure it out before that smile )

Tira jumped infront of the statue and slashed at it's thin, spidery legs with her ringblade. "Ha, take that," she yelled, thinking that maybe her weapon which was enchanted to be magically sharp could cut diamond, but to her disappointment all it did was barely scratch the surface. The statue brought it's axe down to smash Tira, but Tira was too fast as she rolled out of the way. She glanced at her ring blade and saw that it was slightly dented up where she had hit the statue, "wow... I have never had to resharpen this thing before...."

"Zark, grenades," Balthier ordered.

"Oh yeah," Zark said. He grabbed several grenades off his chest, pulled the pins, and through them at the statue. They exploded right underneath it, but once again they seemed to have no effect.

From a distance Julian jabbed his shortsword at the statue and lightning shot forth from the blade and struck the statue. The statue looked around for the source of the magic, but otherwise paid no attention.