Unable to do anything except to try to defend himself against mindbenders, Mendi quickly shaped the image of a forest in his mind, where his bright psychic self hid himself. Mendi then used his training to try to recognize the attack and defense patterns that the scrabs intended to use. The psionic scrab was occupied with another contender and his attention towards the elf had slacked a bit, Out of the corner of his eye, Mendi saw Tak join him in the mindscape. The only other person in there was the elven sorceress. The girl was currently clawing herself half to death trying to get rid of all the small insects that were biting, stinging and otherwise drinking her blood.

Mendi laid essentially helpless. A kind of despair must have had overwhelmed him, for he didn't even curse or say anything except a murmur only Elric and Aryus' fine ears heard... ("I knew this was wrong...")

Koreth growled at the scrab warrior he faced, a dwarven curse rumbling in his throat. <Bloody bug man lived through it!> the noble warrior thought angrily. He tested the scrab's guard, prodding at it with his sword. The scrab easily fended off his attacks, but they kept it on the edge, revealed open spots in its guard.

"Bloody bug!" Koreth sneered "live through this!" He feinted a slice to the scrab's torso and as it moved to block the strike Koreth dropped the feint attack and brought his blade around in a deadly arc. The sword glinted in the pale eerie glow of the chamber, descending towards the scrab's exposed neck.

The blade struck one of the rounded chitin plates of the scrab's shoulder and clattered off its smooth surface without so much as leaving a scratch. The scrab's pincers clacked where the sword had been, its reaction slowed by the nasty head wound Koreth had dealt it. The insectman lunged in with a bite that connected on the warrior's lower arm. Koreth swung his bone blade again just as he felt the burning acid enter his bloodstream; he screamed and aimed for the kill at the same time. The scrab heard him and released his hold just in time as Koreth's bone blade issued a whistling sound in front of the insectman's head.

Koreth glanced about, checking the state of his companions. He had little time to assess the situation before his opponent launched another attack at him. Its pincers lashed out at his midsection, seeking to once again draw his blood. Koreth dodged quickly and brought his sword into the path of one of the pincers. The scrab ripped his cloak, but its other pincer grasped the noble warrior's blade. Koreth growled and smashed the scrab in the chest with his foot, sending the scrab reeling backward. It let go of his blade, and the noble warrior pressed his advantage. He lashed out at the scrab as it flailed about to regain
its balance with a quick thrust to its chest.

Luck was on the scrab's side, a flailing pincer caught hold of Koreth's blade and pushed it up and away from its body. The scrab was quickly on its feet again and trying to wrench the blade from his hands. Koreth and the scrab stood face to face, both straining to gain control over the weapon. Sweat poured down Koreth's brow as his psionically strengthened muscles clenched. The scrab was slowly winning, pulling the blade towards it. "Get...your...bloody hands...offa...my BLADE!" The noble warrior thrust the sword at the scrab pushing it backwards. It almost lost its footing. Koreth jerked the blade out of its pincers and brought it up into an offensive stance.

Gaigin thrust his spear once again just as the scrab lunged in with both its pincers raised. The longer weapon pierced the insectoid but it turned and continued its charge. The scrab managed to tear at the warrior's body once again as claws rip into flesh leaving deep red gouges where skin used to be. The warrior's spear pierces the scrab on its side and a smelly piece of entrails hangs from its shaft as Gaigin turns around for more.

Her royal highness turns her full attention at the motley elf that dared pierce her body. She gestures with her claws and draws in breath. Liron, having been around magic users all his life, recognizes the danger and strikes quickly trying to disrupt her spell. His bone blade bites deep into the large body just as the gigantic scrab unleashes all her magic on the poor elf. She spews forth an obnoxious vapor that instantly starts to eat into the elf. His side peeled raw, young Liron screams his pain as the vapor continues its trip towards his soul or so it seems. The mist clears and an elf is seen struggling for breath, his white bone blade was a perfect match for the ribcage sticking out from underneath his nonexistent leather vest.

Rayne grunts his surprise as the scrab digs into her again. She dodges the nasty bite only to get caught by a slashing claw. But the mul had claws of her own. Shiny, dark obsidian claws that ripped havoc into the insectman again. Both warriors withdraw but it was clear that the mul would outlast her opponent if she could only keep her sorry body from bleeding her to death.

The battle in the cramped chamber was eerie to say the least. The bright light of the glowworm moved rapidly with Rayne as she danced in combat, casting flickering shadows onto the walls. Sounds simultaneously echoed and were muted in the earthen chamber. Occasionally the underground nest would brighten with multi-colored beams of light, or hear a ragged scream or curse as the tide of a battle turned. The forests of home were a long way away, and Tak’ was not sure of himself in this dank place.

Elric and Aryus were joined with the halfling in battling the scrab in front of him – remembering the savaging his companions had taken at the minds of these insectmen, Tak’ disengaged himself from the melee.

MINDSCAPE:
His pulse becoming more steady, and breathing more slowly, Tak’ entered the world he knew better than the alien chamber which housed his physical body. The chamber was small – even in the mindscape – a simple square of grey nothingness, set in the darkness of the earth around them.

The occupants of the room were glowing constructs, and the two lines – his companions and the scrabs were clearly visible – each seeking to end the others’ lives. Something was not right – Mendi, usually strong in the Will was only a faint outline of his usual self.

Then Tak’ saw what was going on, a scrab was seeking to crush him from this place. Garbing himself in the hunting gear of his people, the halfling also simultaneously let the grey of the chamber sprout into a thick forest which would hide him from his enemies.

Pacing quickly though the mental forest, Tak’ found his prey. With thanks to Aryus for inspiration, Tak’ summoned a primal force – Wind. The air inside the mental chamber started to swirl, with increasing force and chaos. The ringing mountains were usually the place for such winds – where the peaks channeled the air currents into destructive gusts – here Tak’ hoped to expose the earthbound scrab to terrors it had never faced. Soon the entire chamber was home to a tornado, which threatened to carry the scrab off and dash it against the solid walls.

And the winds came and the scrab feared. It quickly grew stronger pincers and desperately tried to bury itself into the ground but it was not quick enough. The whirlwind picked him up and thrashed him about. His mind had been weakened by his last attack on the elf girl and this last attempt at a defense. The scrab was not expecting this and he had drawn himself out too thin in the deadly mind game. The wind finally subsided leaving a battered scrab in its place barely able to withstand another attack, it struggled to keep himself upright when its attention was drawn by a hideous growl as another combatant entered the mindscape.

The scrab defiler had suddenly found himself confronted by a maddened shrieking warrior, the same one that had thrown the dagger that still stung its side. The defiler gestured again and decided to end the threat once and for all except that the warrior had other plans for it.

Elric grins harshly as he strikes at the defiler. "Ash you create and so to ash you shall turn!". The swirling blades come in quick succession one following the other. The steel blade of Tempest sinks deep into the scrab's chitin leaving a dark opening for Elric's following blade. The bone short sword moves with a power thrust into the opening but the defiler shrugs it aside along with a loud screech marking the failure of his spell.

The dune colored tagster sank deep into the shadows at Mendi's feet. His natural instincts alerted him to the psionics at play. Again his instincts gave him the way forward.

Mindscape –

The form of a full grown tagster appears. It begins to pad in a circle, alert for danger. Soon others appear and join the first, circling, guarding.

Aryus looks around the room and sees that most of his companions are managing themselves decently, with the exception of the frozen elves and Liron. Aryus makes sure that no scrab is attacking them before concentrating on the offensive. He sees that Elric has charged off at the defiler, hopefully that will take care of him. Liron was facing the scrab queen, although he worried for the elf, Aryus was confident that he could hold her off for a little while. The warriors fought the other scrabs and seemed to be doing alright. That leaves only the scrab mindbender unoccupied. Fearing a mental combat, Aryus turns his palms to the ground and feels the rush magical energy through his body. He was going to unleash a spell before the psionicist had the chance. Aryus casts magic missile at the psionicist, targeting the missiles at the scrab's vulnerable spots. The missiles strike true with a sharp crack of chitin followed by shrieks of pain. The scrab psionicist looked fearfully about; its mind was opened and its chitin was oozing ichor freely from the magical holes.

ROUND 3

The noble warrior charged towards the scrab in front of him trying to score a deep hit that would end his life. He raised his blade above him, intent on splitting the scrab's head like a rotten melon. His blade impacts the scrab's head as it lunges forward again. A popping sound echoes through the chamber, as the blade sinks into the side of the insectamn's head. The bug man screeches in pain from the physical attack. Ichor once again stains his blade as Koreth pulls his sword out. Its mandibles hung limply from one side of its face, the other having been sheered off by the sword blow. The large beast still lumbered forward but it no longer was in full control of its senses. Its clumsy claw attacks are easily avoided by Koreth who grins fiercely and moves in for the killing blow, the mortally wounded beast merely rises its claws in uncoordinated defenses.

The ex-caravan guard shook the scrab's gore off the tip of his spear and bowed in mockery at the beast. The green twirls in his mask did a good job of hiding the pain etched on his face. The large man looked like some sort of nightmare come to claim the insectman. The scrab was still holding his ground and still had death in its sharp grip. These larger scrabs could easily snap a neck inside the sharp outridges of its appendages. Gaigin lunged and the scrab stepped aside deftly bringing one claw on an overhead swing meant to puncture deep within the ex-caravan skull. Gagin raised his spear just in time to block but his knees buckled under the impact, the insectman's second claw grabbed from underneath grabbing the upper arm. The ex-caravan guard screamed and twirled and twisted trying to break free of the deadly grip to no avail. The sharp claw held on fast and was now covered in blood. All Gaigin could do was put his spear up blocking the hideous dripping jaws from tearing out his jugular.

Not waiting for another opening, Tak’ unleashed his favorite harbinger – the Sloth. Having seen members of his family eat by them, smelt their fetid bodies, and faced them in the hunt, Tak’ knew all to well the terrors of the Athasian Sloth – this terror he hoped to impart.

The sloth, massive and hunched knew it had prey as soon as Tak’ summoned it into the Mindscape. Letting out a short bellow, sniffed with its enormous nostrils, and ran towards the scrab – its claws clicking rapidly over the solid ground. The insectman screamed but the noise sounded hollow, without any substance in the mindscape. The only sound heard were the growls and grunts of the great forest beast. Its prey lay defenseless, frozen in fear in the mindscape and more importantly in the real world as well.

The scrab defiler was at it again but he decided for a quick offensive spell trying to catch the warlock off guard. He gestures wildly while retreating trying to put some distance between himself and his relentless attacker. Elric charged as soon as he heard the arcane words only to see a fan of red-orange flames spring towards his face. The warlock was too far gone to retreat or even dodge and the flames seared a large part of the side of his face. His attack still came about but the scrab dodged the deadly steel blade. Elric followed up with a low swing from his bone blade. The bone hit square on the scrab's side and the impact jarred the warlock's hand. The blade managed to pierce chitin but was not hard enough to do any real damage. The scrab twists aside wrenching the sword from his chitin plate and again starts moving his appendages in what can only be another spell.

Ayrus sees the psionicts frozen in place, draws his bow and lets loose a couple of arrows. His aim is held in check by Tak who dances around the insectman. His first shot hits but is deflected by the hard chitin, Ayrus curses as he drives his second shot deep into the psionicst's neck.

The Queen cackled her delight as the young elf stumbles about barely able to lift his sword. The huge scrab clips her large claws as she closes in with the mortally wounded elf. Young Lirón spits forth blood in an incoherent cry as he rushes in to meet his death. The scrab Queen deflects the sword snapping it from the warrior's hand and brings her second claw-like appendage underneath the elf's neck. With incredible strength, the scrab slowly lifts the elf of the ground. The elven boy tries in vain to pry open the claw from his neck as his legs slowly leave the ground to kick wildly in the air. The queen screeches her delight as she closes the claw snapping the elf's head at the neck with a thickening crunch. Liron's body and head fall sickeningly apart from each other as the maddened queen screams in hoarse elven, "Kill them all…."

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

Gaigin (W), (W) Scrab warrior 1 (W)

held on by claw

Koreth (SiW), (W) Scrab warrior 2 (SeW)

Male elf Scrab Queen (W) (and looking for opponents…)

Dead

Rayne (SeW), (SeW) Scrab warrior 3 (MW)

Migdalia (H) Scrab psionicist (SeW)

Held (cannot move) Mind opened (cannot move)

Mind opened

Mendi (MW), (SeW)

Held (cannot move)

Elric (SeW), (W) Scrab defiler (W)

Ayrus (H), (W)

Tak (SiW), (MW)

GENERAL

Sorry about Liron, I really liked him and had other plans for him but such is a harsh world. Be careful how you play the next round as he may not be the only one to leave us.

You may want to yell out some orders…

Should be finish this one 1 round at a time?

Unless I hear other opinions, please give me 2 rounds of actions.

Questions, comments, and suggestions please.

L8r,

Fabian