The pterran druid crumples lifeless to the grass just as Ptellac pushes to the front of the group to see this. The saurian pulls free his bone long sword and rushes into the melee enraged at the blasphemy of it all. He yells out an incoherent battle cry that catches the tareks' attention. The tarek leader grins at Ptellac's approach and walks up to meet him. He shoves a semi-dead pterran onto his two fighting partners who tired of playing with him, rip his throat out. The large brute closes his big mouth, his two lower fangs stick out; he raises his large stone carrikal and yells, "Come, come die like the rest of yer people, lizard…"

ROUND 1

Elric's rage burns at the scene before him. Ptellac had proved a worthy companion and seeing his people treated in such a manner was beyond endurance. Breaking off the trail to the left, Elric flanks the clearing, his bone blades coming quickly to his hands. He had learned this lesson once before in the alleys of Tyr. He would not charge headlong into the enemy as he had done before. This would be a deadly strike with stealth and strength. Coming to the edge of the clearing Elric sees that the tarek's attention is focused on Ptellac as he charges forward, enraged beyond reason. Taking this moment of distraction to mask his movement, Elric charges swiftly, silently, from the cover of the forest.

Koreth's anger swells within him as he sees the cruel antics of the Tareks. His face contorts with rage, much more fierce than was seen only a few days past. He draws his bastard sword, gripped with both hands. He was glad that he had strapped on his wrist razors this morning; they would serve him well in this battle.

"Dispatch as many of them as you can with range weapons," Koreth orders, with fire in his eyes "Rayne, form up on me. We're going to teach these bastards some manners! Chit, stay back and hit them with your throwing wedges. Heal anyone who looks bad. Everyone, fall back if you get too hurt. Attack!" Koreth charges across towards the Tarek leader, gathering his will as the distance closes. He draws his power into his muscles like he has done so many times before. The rush of strength tells Koreth that his will has once again fortified him. A grin envelops his face as he rushes across the forest. He screams a frenzied war cry, his blade flashing in the light of the sun.

Rayne felt her adrenaline begin to climb when her eyes fell upon the scene before her. She draws her sword and grabs her tortoise blade - an almost unconscious response. "Time to even the odds." Hearing Koreth's command, Rayne falls in behind him. As Koreth heads for the large beast with the scar, Rayne prepares to cover his back.

Tak’, on point, spots the melee up ahead. But before he could react, Ptellac had acted - charging in a furor to avenge his kin. The numbers were against them, but perhaps if...

Koreth, Rayne and Elric, enraged beyond sense it would appear, started a mad rush. Tak’ let out a curse - whoever attacked would be swamped by the vicious, muscular and numerous Tareks - and the advantage of surprise - the edge the heroes most sorely needed would be lost. All the warriors charging towards the lead Tarek were going to be submerged in a tide of fighting - essentially surrounded - and definitely in danger. Tak’ wanted to disorganize the Tareks - and give some assistance to his companions. Vanishing into the forest path, Tak’ remained perfectly still, becoming but another part of the plant life to the casual observer. With a view of the bloody clearing, and relative concealment, Tak’ reached into his mind.

MINDSCAPE
Summoning with practice the forces of his Will, Tak’ quickly constructed a harbringer - not one large or physically ferocious - but one that conquered all. Time itself started to take on a physical manifestation
within the mindscape, a strangely charged cloud, within it constantly forming and crumbling - cities, nations, mountains and people. The cloud moving in a fashion not like anything that breathed, advanced towards the Tarek, only a faintly glowing silhouette in this world - but confusion, and then fear filled his half-real eyes.

The Tarek tried to run towards the forest that suddenly sprang up in front of him. The cloud advanced, uncaring and unknowing of such things as distance and speed. The tarek reached the safety of the dense forest and hid himself from the onrushing cloud. The charged cloud ravaged part of the forest but the large tarek remained well concealed and safe. A curse, audible in both the physical and mindscape worlds escaped Tak’ lip. This was a wily opponent.

While the warriors of the party lunged forward, Mendi looks at Tak's diminutive form vanishing into the surrounding plants. He quickly jumps into some bushes, and uses his skills to hide from the tarek raiders. The elf then gathers his will, his gaze still on the huge tarek, who seems to be the leader.

In the mindscape, Mendi's trained mind recognizes the patterns of a forest that marks the tarek's defense as mind blank. The elf soon shapes the feline form of a kirre, whose attack is devastating against that crude defense. While the strangely charged cloud advancing with a drunken gait toward the tarek draws his attention, the predator paddles noiselessly around the forest and enters it. He soon finds the frightened tarek and rakes his back with its sharp claws...

Unnoticed, the feline has crept behind the raider, and his claws slash deeply in the tarek's flesh. The beast roars in triumph, and tries go for the tarek's neck while blood dribbles to the earth. The tarek raider manages to push the kirre from his body but the feline has done his work and the tarek was severily wounded from its attack.

For a moment Aryus was shocked at the sight of huge tarek warriors. And his shock increased when he saw Ptellac charging at them with a blind vengeful rage. "He'd never stand a chance. May the wind lords guide him." Aryus whispered to himself.

Quickly, the windmage sprang into action. He draws an iron tipped arrow and loads it to his bow. Finding a good spot on the edge of the clearing, Aryus aims carefully at the tarek leader's head, just in front of Ptellac's charge. When satisfied that he will get a good shot, Aryus sends the arrow forth and blows a blessing of air. Right after the first twang is heard, the windmage drew another arrow that quickly followed the first.

Aryus smiles with satisfaction as the tarek warrior screams in pain with two sharp missiles protruding from his body. Almost as an after thought, the strong tarek continued to charge towards Ptellac. The pterran trader had a much better chance against this monstrous leader who seemed not to have felt the two arrow wounds.

Still smarting from the last confrontation, Chit-Zik stays back rather than joining his comrades in the fray. He pulls his chatkchas as he slowly gets within striking distance. The battle was already in a frenzy to the untrained eye. Knowledgeable hunters knew better. The Tareks were well suited for this sort of battle, and showed almost fluid like grace. Chit-Zik watches his pack mates enter the battle, gripping his throwing wedges tightly.

Before anyone of his packmates joined battle, the kreen throws his wedges to try an even the odds rather quickly. The chatchkas whistle towards their target and one of them hits with a meaty thud. The wounded tarek winces as the flying wedge bites deep in his gut, only to see another weapon whiz by. The other wedge snaps back into Chit-Zik's claw as he raises his gythka with two of his remaining arms. The kreen is within striking range and readies himself to join in the fight to try and finish off the wounded tarek.

The valiant pterran warrior allows himself a smile as he sees reinforcements come in. His two other companions had fallen already but had fought in the glory of all pterran warriors. He would sell his life dearly and promised himself to take at least one of these hulking warriors with him. His sword strike went high and he was punctured deep with one of the tarek's handfork. The brute's strength backed up his swing and made the pterran's face cringe in pain as he realized that the tarek had drawn more blood. He was lucky enough to dodge the attack of the other monster.

ROUND 2

Elric quickly closes on the left most tarek; blades prepared for a deadly strike. As he has learned in the past, Elric uses his momentum to add power to his attack and leaps forward bringing his blades down in a thundering double slash.

His lead blade sinks deep into the tarek's shoulder in a resounding impact. Following through with his downward slash Elric slams his shoulder into the tarek knocking it back. Gaining precious room to maneuver for his next attack. The tarek falls back with a stunned roar of anger. Elric's second blade slashes empty air as the tarek dives to the side, having sensed the warlock at the last moment. Elric cackles wildly as he streaks past the tarek continuing on through his assembled comrades.

A second tarek joins in and rushes at the warlock. His heartpick slashes towards Elric and scores a deep wound along the warrior's shoulders. The ragged weapon rips his upper arm and Elric winces in pain; he hadn't realized that he faced two of the brutes. The warlock shrugged it off and prepared to strike again; his nervous gaze looking around to see if any help was forthcoming.

Koreth closes with the Tarek quickly, his blade flashes in the light as it rushes towards the Tarek with the scar in a deadly arc. The blade whistles through the air....

Koreth's blade sinks deeply into the shoulder of his opponent, spraying blood across the leaves of the forest. The scarred Tarek screams in pain as the vicious blow lands. Koreth grunts as he wrenches his blade out with a jerk. He brings his blade back up, ready to guard himself just in time as a handfork lunging for his heart is blocked off by the hilt of his sword. They both struggle and the warrior would have surely lost if not for his psionically increased strength. As it was, Koreth was able to kick the brute free seeing a second tarek approach. The slightly smaller tarek swings downward with a heavy stone mace. The weapon strikes the warrior's hip as he turns his head from a crippling blow. Pain jolts up the warrior's side as the tarek grins in his face; the creature's fetid smell thick in the noble warrior's nostrils.

The creature's smell was overwhelming and Koreth spits into the creature's eyes, "I will rip your heart from your chest Tarek!" he spits out the last word as if speaking it has tainted his mouth. The rage from the last two days bursting forth in a way he would not allow earlier. His blue eyes grow darker as he watches his two opponents slowly circle him.

Rayne had followed closely on Koreth's heels but was in no position to help him as she found herself surrounded by three large tareks. One of the tareks grins grisly at the Mul as she moves in. She raises her tortoise blade ready to strike, then comes under with her sword aiming for the creature's stomach.

She strikes a slight slash with her tortoise blade that nevertheless draws blood from her opponent. Her bone sword goes into the beast's raised guard and bites deep into the creature's mid section. Giving the beast a fierce grin, Rayne follows through with the momentum, twisting the blade while lifting her arm, thrusting the sword deeper and creating a painful gash in the tarek's gut. "Care to see what ye look like on the inside?" She taunts the beast as she slowly wrenches her blade free.

The two other tareks were all over her. She blocks a hard blow to her head by deftly raising her tortoise blade. The strength of the blow threatened to almost double her over but the strong mul held on. The tarek sways away with an ease and grace not characteristic of someone its size as he lets his partner come in and strike at the mul. Rayne curses under her breath as she regains her footing, then shouts at the beast "Ye will be tasting me blade whether ye like it 'r not - hope ye don't smell any worse on the inside!" The second tarek found a much better prepared mul for its strike; Rayne's sword blocks upward catching the heartpick before it gained any momentum. The mul struggled free and broke off untouched this time; she quickly turned around and sighed…she was facing three of the brutes without anyone being able to help her anytime soon…

Mendi again reads the tarek's intention and decides to follow up the wounded beast with another attack that would surely breach his mind. He reacts faster than Tak and calls on the strength of the sloth, and sends the relentless beast towards the tarek. The tarek continues to hide in his forest but is sorely wounded due to the last attack sustained; deep claw marks from the kirre still adorn his back and were slowly turning his pelt crimson. The sloth roars in triumph as he finds the tarek's form in the dense foliage he hid in, and its cruel claws render and carve into its flesh... The tarek bellows in anguish, and his mind body shivers in pain and anticipation of more to come. (DM note: The tarek's mind is breached)

The Tarek was more than he had anticipated - for one so primal, its skill with the Way was considerable. But his companions could not afford failure. Tak’ pressed on with a grim determination, knowing full well that many would die over the coming moments and he had to ensure that his people were not among them. He relished in the fact that the sloth that Mendi had sent in had done its work well; the tarek was almost helpless and Tak was going to finish him off.

A constrictor, a snake more than forty feet long materialized into existence, its muscular and thick body writhing at Tak’s feet. With nothing in its path, the snake edged its way towards the Tarek with a serpentine grace, tongue flicking the air in front of it - gazing at its prey. The snake leaps, and the iron-like coils wrap themselves around the construct of the Tarek, squeezing with immense force, breaking ribs and crushing the breath out from him. As in real life, the Tarek merely gasped, and struggled for breath, and for words. Eyes reflecting terror of foes both of the mind - and of the body - Ptellac was on top of him, sword raised high overhead, ready to strike.

Ptellac was finally within striking range of his opponent and was ready for a confrontation that would be challenging to say the least. The pterran trader had acted out of rage without any consideration of the foe he faced. He reacted to his fellow tribesmen that were being slaughtered in front of him. When he reached the huge tarek, he found him immobilized. The saurian did not ask why nor bothered to thank anyone. He tried to maneuver in such a way so as to get the best shot possible bearing in mind that five other tareks battled around their leader. His bone sword bit deep into the skull of the tarek with a sharp crack but the hit shattered the blade at its hilt. The pterran received jolts of pain up his arm from the impact but the result was well worth his blade. The tarek leader fell down unceremoniously; his brains showing from the deep crack in his thick skull.

The pterran warrior continued to exchange blows with the tareks in front of him. His sword cut one of the brutes but the thick hide took most of the impact and only a thin red line showed where he had been hit. On the other hand, the other tarek struck a vicious blow and sank his bone handfork up to its hit into the pterran's gut. The saurian warrior managed to disentangle himself and assessed his wound. He knew that he would not live to see his village again but he decided to sell his honor dearly and keep his promise. He regarded the wounded tarek with hate filled eyes and prepared to throw his life away before the blood drained from him.

Ayrus notched another arrow and aimed for the tarek leader once again. The tarek had fallen to Ptellac's blade but five more other tareks were around him. More importantly, Ptellac, Rayne and Koreth were all battling in the midst of them. The wind mage gritted his teeth and drew back the string and waited for a clear shot…He could not do so without endangering his companions so the windmage quickly looked for another target. He saw the pterran warrior who was being badly mangled by the two tareks and let loose two arrows in succession. The first arrow hit true and sank deep into the brute's thigh while the other arrow flew a bit wide of its mark. Ayrus saw with apprehension that the pterran warrior would not last another exchange of blows with both tareks.

Chit-Zik immediately pulls his gythka and moves into battle. He tries to bite and release venom into the wounded tarek but another tarek quickly jumps in to help his partner faced by the threat of the large kreen. The bite misses the large raider but Chit follows up with his gythka that also is wide of its mark. The two Tareks facing him were working even more smoothly than Chit-Zik had expected and both were upon him before he had a chance to disengage. The brutes' heartpicks swung hard on the kreen's chitin. The first one glanced off the hard exoskeleton but the second pick caught him in one of the joints and ripped a whole in the Chit's upper shoulder. The kreen looked about to see if anyone needed help but soon fathomed that he had troubles of his own.

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

Group 1

Ptellac (H) Tarek Leader (dead)

Koreth (SiW) Tarek 1 (SeW) Tarek 2 (H)

Rayne (H) Tarek 3 (SeW) Tarek 4 (H) Tarek 5 (H)

Group 2

Elric (SiW) Tarek 6 (W) Tarek 7 (H)

Group 3

Chit (W) Tarek 8 (W) Tarek 9 (H)

Pterran (MW) Tarek 10 (W) Tarek 11 (H)

Out of melee range

Tarek 12 (W)

blind, not attacking, only stumbles about

Ayrus (H)

Mendi (H), (MW) for PSP

Tak (H), (SiW) for PSP

Good job, everyone.

We will go two more rounds. Everyone within melee range may change targets without losing a round. Those that are still out of melee range must take one round to close in. This closing in may be done by firing ranged weapon at the same time (small penalty). For example, it is perfectly OK for someone to close in while firing missile weapons in round 3 and then be in range for melee in round 4.

Questions, comments, and suggestions please.

L8r,

Fabian