Koreth barks out orders in the midst of the confusion, "Get 'em critters Rayne. Didn't no one stay posted on the outside?! Mendi, get yourself covered! Gaigin stay down! Elric, see to the archers but don't expose yourself!" The heroes prepare themselves again…

"Ye little critters 'r getting' on me nerves!" Rayne snarls at the halfling as she lashes out with her wrist razor.

The small halfling snarls back some incoherent remark and is all over the mul once again. His small arrow point leaves a nasty gash on the mul's torso while he dodges under the mul's attack. Rayne quickly follows through with the lunge, so as to not completely loose her balance. Stumbling slightly, Rayne spins about to confront the pest again. Reaching at the halfling again, she brings her tortoise blade forward. Unfortunately for the halfling, he dances into Koreth's deadly embrace.

Koreth grinned, baring all his teeth at the halfling that had attacked Rayne. "I'm gonna skewer you like I did the last one!" he growls and looks to Rayne just before lunging at the halfling with both his wrist razors. Koreth's razors rake up the side of the halfling bowman, bouncing off ribs as they slide along. The bowman screams in pain as his blood drips onto the noble warrior's arms.

The little hunter sees his life slowly seep away from him and decides to make good use of what strength he has left. He literally jumps towards the mul's head with open arms trying to gauge out Rayne's eyes with his two arrows. The mul brings her tortoise blade up just in time to watch the halfling skewer himself onto it. The halfling still struggles to free himself and attack but all his thrashing about is useless and only manages to cut deep into one of the mul's wrists. When the halfling stops moving, the mul drops her blade and goes about trying to staunch the blood from her lower arm.

Koreth moves to aid Elric, grinning as he wipes away halfling blood with a spare scrap of cloth scavenged from one of the renegades.

"By the skull of Kalak! They didn't loose their time! We must think about some kind of plan or they will snipe at us until we are all crippled!" said the angry elf while jumping inside the room. He looked at his broken quarrel with disgust (now 17 left), and recranked his crossbow. "Where is that bloody door? With a less angry, almost amiable voice, since he is still unnerved, "I'll find it! Elric, will you please watch my back?"

While searching, "How come they know how to keep those things half opened? And human teeth as necklaces... wouldn't that be for Tak, I'd believe all those tales about beasty halflings..." The elf then searches the room for a secret passage hoping his back is guarded. The elf searches the whole room but does not find any more openings or anything worth mentioning except the cool, clear water emanating from some of the fountains. The elf smells the water and it appears to be safe to drink. No more halflings had appeared except for the one that was killed by Koreth and Rayne.

Gaigin huddles low against the wall, clenching his fist as if he wished a weapon were in hand, though realizing he'd be useless in a fight. Despite this realization, Gaigin slips his tiny obsidian razor from the band of his belt and holds it ready. Holding the pathetic blade in hand, crouching even lower, Gaigin stands ready defend himself against attack, useless as the gesture would be.

Elric moves toward the doorway, instinctively reaching out for the power to cast his spell. Stopping dead in his tracks, a bewildered look upon his face, the power is not there. Here in this strange structure, Elric finds no plant life for him to call upon. An attempt to reach outside of the structure proved as futile. Bewilderment becomes intense concentration as Elric focuses on opening himself up to scan for a power source. A soft groan leaves Elric’s lips as his mind is burned by the power emanating from some of the tower walls. Somewhere in the living structure as his source for power, Elric opens a conduit.

With the power gathered coursing through his body Elric begins his incantation. Within Elric, the forces converge as he begins to weave the threads of power around his mental image. The force is vibrant and the image quickly takes shape. Pulling on the gathered power, Elric brings his mental image into reality.

Elric seems to step out of himself as his phantasm appears in the real world. The phantasm, a mirror image of Elric, steps toward the door at Elric ’s unspoken command.

The phantasm moves to the door, the movement causing its cloak to ripple. Pausing at the door, the form of Elric leaps across the hall landing softly against the opposing wall. Bow coming quickly to full draw, the phantasm looks down the hall in the direction of the halflings.

Two arrows from the north pass right by the image as the phantasm drops to one knee against the wall trying to gain cover against the coming bow fire. As the phantasm prepares to return fire, a soft twang is heard as his bowstring snaps.

Elric smiles as his plan proves a success. Tense moments that seemed to drag on forever pass and the image draws no more bowfire. There is a strange hoarse cry heard that reminds everyone of Ptellac calling for help. The sound is heard only once followed by muffled battle noises.

Slipping a step into the hall, Elric draws his bow but finds no targets to release his missiles on. Another noise coming from the south however catches his attention. He quickly calls his companions over. They have found the other group and in bad shape. Ptellac was running towards them while Tak and Chit both were battling some strange creature. Ayrus was leaning heavily against the wall, his other time cerulean cloak soiled anew with fresh blood, the wind mage did not look well at all. Chit was also not moving as usual and one of his four arms was hanging limply at his side. The most astounding site however was the monster that was attacking them, it was a large lizard with two heads that almost filled the 5 feet wide hall. The beast seemed enraged with one of its jaws dripping kreen ichor and the other red with the windmage's blood…

Your actions…

OUT OF CHARACTER

HEALTH STATUS

Remember the scale:

Healthy (H) 100% hitpoints remaining

Slightly Wounded (SiW) 75% to 100% hitpoints remaining

Wounded (W) 50% to 75% hitpoints remaining

Seriously Wounded (SeW) 25% to 50% hitpoints remaining

Mortally Wounded (MW) 0% to 25% hitpoints remaining

WARRIOR GROUP

Koreth (SiW), (SiW) PSPs

Mendi (SiW), (W) PSPs

Elric (SiW)

Rayne (W), (W) PSPs

Gaigin (MW)

Gaigin will recover full hitpoints gradually in 5 days time notwithstanding any magical healing

Everyone is back together again so please post to everyone.

Questions, comments, and suggestions please.

L8r,

Fabian

Ayrus fine sight finely sees the creatures responsible for making the noises. They were two huge reptiles almost 12 feet long that were quickly scampering over the mushrooms and vegetation going unequivocally towards them. The large creature was quite fast and bellowed out as it got closer to them; its gaping jaws slavered in anticipation. The windmage releases his arrow that bounced off the creature's scales. Ayrus quickly reloaded and gasped in awe as he realizes that there aren't two creatures but just one… with two heads…

Ayrus tried reloading his bow but was quickly overtaken by the large lizard. The monster toppled him over and its two heads dove straight at the wind mage. The half-elf managed to put himself aside and the large monster was not able to bite with both of its head. One set of jaws was more than plenty for Ayrus. The creature bit deep into the mage's side and ripped back his head, pangs of pain shot up the windmage's brain threatening to overcome him in darkness.

Ptellac terrified merely stepped out of the room calling for help while Tak and Chit jumped in quickly to try and save Ayrus from a certain death. The halfling wielded both his daggers to his advantage in this cramped place but found the creature's scales tough to cut or pierce. Chit raked with his claws finding this closed in space much too bothersome for someone his size. They did manage to divert the creature's attention from the fallen mage allowing him to scamper to safety. The found themselves with one hungry lizard with sharp fangs while Ayrus limped out of the way with Ptellac's help who had come back already.

The lizard was surprisingly fast for its size and lunged with its huge heads. Chit used his claws again but one of his arms was caught inside one of the creature's maw. The large lizard tried to close its mouth but the kreen impeded that by quickly putting his gythka inside it. Thank the great one for strong mekillot ribs, the sturdy bone polearm held but severe damage was done to the arm nevertheless. Tak plunged his life-dagger into the monster's other head and distracted him enough for the kreen to pull out his appendage. Chit's arm hung limply by his side and both hunters backpedaled towards the exit.

The roar of the creature was deafening and under the current circumstances, running seemed the best option. Chit was out in no time pulling Ayrus and Ptellac along with him. Tak quickly stepped out and tried closing the door on the unwanted visitor. The door did not respond quickly enough and the two-headed lizard went into the hallway after its meal. The better lighting did nothing to lessen its ferocious aspect, it enhanced it if anything. Another strange detail came into view however; the lizard had no eyes what so ever but it still turned the right direction after them with its two tongues flicking in and out of its teeth-filled mouths. Ptellac called out again, "Come quickly, help. Oh, thank Mother Earth. Hold on Tak, the rest of the group is here."

Your actions…

OUT OF CHARACTER

HEALTH STATUS

Remember the scale:

Healthy (H) 100% hitpoints remaining

Slightly Wounded (SiW) 75% to 100% hitpoints remaining

Wounded (W) 50% to 75% hitpoints remaining

Seriously Wounded (SeW) 25% to 50% hitpoints remaining

Mortally Wounded (MW) 0% to 25% hitpoints remaining

HUNTER GROUP

Ptellac (W)

Ayrus (SeW)

Tak (W), (SiW) PSPs

Chit (SeW)

one arm out of action for three days unless magical healing

Everyone is back together again so please post to everyone.

You know this by now. If fighting then give me 2 rounds of actions please.

Here is a little sketch of the situation:

Questions, comments, and suggestions please.

L8r,

Fabian