ROUND 3

Gaigin turned slightly and glanced at the spellcaster. That had been a surprise, Gaigin hadn't known these insects could be spellcasters. Seeing several of his companions charging the defiler, Gaigin shrugged and turned his attention back to his opponent. His spear still stuck from the creature's torso at an odd angle, but the beast wasn't down yet. Gaigin tossed his club from hand to hand, down in a fighter's crouch, prepared for anything.

Suddenly the beast lurched forward on the attack, claws raised menacingly. Gaigin moved quickly, lashing out with his club at one of the creature's shoulder, hoping to break through the beast's tough Chitin through sheer force.

With great speed, the scrab recovered its balance and dodged to the side. Gaigin's powerful swing connected with nothing but air as it swung around. The insectoid lashed out with its pincers that had already tasted the ex-caravan guard's blood. Three deep grooves were left on Gaigin's left arm and some of his skin and flesh ended up underneath the scrab's claws. Gaigin's eyes widen as he realizes that now he was at a disadvantage. Recovering as quickly as possible, Gaigin stepped back into his crouch and prepared for his next move.

The warrior was about to jump in again but suddenly stopped as three green rays of energy swished by his head. The missiles unerringly ended up in the scrab's chitin breaking three fist-sized holes. Gaigin smiled as the insect barely managed to get up and gave a curt nod to the elven sorceress who still hadn't stopped twirling.

Rayne looked at Mendi with shock: the elf was clawing at his own face, tearing his hairs, and yelling in utter terror: "The beetles, they are inside me... Rayne! Protect me!" In the mindscape, the bright scrab's figure was bent over the elf's now dull form, which shrunk and soon looked like a young, frightened, elven boy who tried desperately to hide behind his arm. Gigantic mandibles twitched in front of the elf's face when, in the real, physical world, Mendi fell on the floor, and curled into a fetal ball, sobbing loudly and yelling in a very child-like voice: "he's raping my soul RAYYYNEEE ! HEELLLPPP ! HEEEELLPPPP...."

Mendi is utterly unable to do anything as this is the first time his mind is cracked open and raped by a creature that intends to use him as fodder...Back in the mindscape, the scrab increased his size and picked up the young elven boy with its mandibles. The utter hatred displayed by the scrab was only surpassed by the terrible fear reflected in the elf boy's face. The creature's mandibles closed and pierced the boy in the chest and back sinking deep into his flesh. Back in the real world, Mendi screamed and Rayne was aghast as two distinct puncture wounds appeared in the elf's chest and back.

If it was to help out Mendi if he felt some sort of connection or because his hatred for the insectmen was just overwhelming, the group may never know but the fact is that the young elven fighter came over tohelp the elf peddler. Seeing the elf cuddle on the ground made the elven boy scream, "There is no more running now, now you will all die!" The elf was weak from his loss of blood from his arm but still swung his bone blade with deadly accuracy; the downward slash shaved of one the scrab's appendages as the insect whined its hatred and pain at the elf. The scrab turned around and prepared to slash at the young boy when Rayne stepped in.

The mul was very surprised and was at a loss of action as to what to do. She bent down and cooed Mendi slowly providing her arm to get him of the floor, "Get up Mendi, there ain't no bugs on you just one big bug in front. Nothing's wrong with yee. The bug is messin' with yer mind." Rayne helped him up but averted her eyes from the two mysterious wounds displayed on the elf's torso. <he hasn't been touched at all>. The elf peddler had gotten up, weak but with a determined look on his face. The mul left him on his own and charged the scrab who had just disengaged from the young elf fighter. The mul decided to use both her blades to attack, the time for defense was over. The tortoise blade buried itself deep into the scrab's underbody. The mul kicked the scrab off her blade and brought down her bone long sword with all her might. Muscles rippling under the sun, the blade's hit jolted the strong mul but the pain was well worth it. The ex-slave pulled her blade free and the insect wobbled for support.

Glancing quickly to see how his companions were doing, Tak’ was both relieved and dismayed. The enemy were outnumbered, and three already lay dead. Unfortunately, Mendi lay in a screaming heap, and Ptellac and Chit-Zik were encased in some sticky gunk. Worse - the Scrab leader had pillaged the lifeforce of Gaea to manage such a feat.

"Koreth!" Tak’ called, already rolling away - beneath snapping jaws and the errant backswing of the noble warrior's sword, "I’m going to cover Chit and Ptellac!" Coming to his feet only a few paces away, Tak’ had little ground to cover before he reached his target. Both daggers held well forward, Tak’ built up his momentum, planning to have a scrappy fight - getting as close as he could to prevent the Scrab from wrecking any more damage with his magic.

Elric turns back to his companions. "What? I thought for certain that the rest of these things would be dead by now." The warlock’s grin fades as his eyes turn hard as stone, his voice little more than a whisper carries the full force of his hatred. "Defiler!" The gray ash surrounding the lead scrab left no doubt.

The stakes of this battle had suddenly been risen in Elric’s eyes. To face death had become a familiar event in his life, yet this was to face the destruction of all. "You will die defiler of life, you will die soon" His words scarcely from his lips the warlock charges the lead scrab.

The scrab leader had again called upon his foul magic to everyone's disgust and hatred; more life force being leached from the land never to return and the scrab had as targets two defenseless companions neatly wrapped up. Elric's scream turned the defiler around and it saw the half-elf and another smaller warrior coming at him. All it saw were two sets of pointed ears coming towards him trying to kill it, it spun around and clacked its mandibles again as a sheet of flames sprung from its claws. Both Elric and Tak dove to the ground trying to escape the spell's effect and succeeded… somewhat. The flame seemed to have cut instead of burned them but the blood was still hot and the defiler still stood which was enough for both of them to shrug it off and charge forward.

Elric’s feet dig into the ground once again as he shoots across the distance between himself and the lead scrab. Before he reaches the sticky area binding Chit and Ptellac, Elric leaps into the air with a roar of pure rage. Pouncing like a hunting tagster the warlock strikes. The bone sword blurs through the air in a vicious thrust into the scrab’s face.

The scrab looks up at the approaching warlock, but it is too late and too slow to move out of the way. The metal sword lands hard into the scrab’s upper segments leaving its mark on the creature's body. The warlock spun his other blade towards the beast's throat but the scrab deftly dodges with its upper segment with incredible speed. The bone sword passes through the space just occupied by the scrab.

Tak quickly recovered but his soul had been wounded more from the dull, gray ash that clung to his body than from his injuries. With redoubled fury, he struck. The clack of chitin on bone was audible - but this time chitin won. The dagger struck loudly and skittered off without doing any serious harm. What's worse, the scrab had managed to dodge at the last minute and Tak's dagger not only did not leave a scratch but was also torn loose from the halfling's grasp. The life-dagger again struck - slashing neatly across the less-armored throat of the insectman. Only a reflex-jerk of the Scrab prevented the wound from ending its life. Still, black ichor ran freely from the wound. Smiling grimly, Tak’ kept moving, staying as close as he could while still keeping out of the iron-grip of its pincers.

Aryus felt a moment of panic when he fathomed that his defenses wouldn't be able to keep the scrab out of his mind for long. At the same time, the leader appeared to be the most dangerous foe: Chit and Ptellac were bound by a magically summoned web, and Aryus was quite sure that Gaigin was going to also suffer from the defiler's magic. Aryus' choice was quickly made: he had to do something about the leader, whose defiling magic had rendered him nauseous. "Koreth, cover me!"

Aryus thought of the winds of the north, and those winds reminded him of the great cliffs that he had seen during his travels to the southern lands. Suddenly, those cliffs looked like a good protection against the puny scarab in front of him, even though the scrab was four times as tall as in real life. In the mindscape, Aryus summoned and shaped the image of those great cliffs, and his faintly-glowing mental figure soon disappeared, hidden by the cliffs. Suddenly, great winds blew against the cliff face making the air cleric unreachable.

The scrab facing the windmage also knew that the half-elf would not hold out for long. He recognized the attempt at hiding the air cleric's mind but he had an answer for that. Back in the mindscape, the insect grew four large wings that beat about trying to reach the half-elf. The insect located the half-elf on the cliff and took flight. The giant insect came close but in the end, the winds were just too strong and the half-elf was safe for a while.

Back in the real world, Aryus summoned the great powers of the northern winds, and, while a faint breeze blew around him, filling his cerulean cloak, he took a small piece of cloth from his pocket, and quickly rolled it in a ball while saying: "Arma cedant togae !" The energy being gathered was not coming in quickly enough and the spell was too slow. Ayrus bite back the rage and pain as the defiler casts another spell on his two companions.

Hearing many shouts for his aid, Koreth grinned at the scrab before him. He gripped his blade tightly in both of his hands, regretting the loss of his shield. He thrust his sword several times at the scrab, feinting attacks to keep its attention on him.

In the mindscape, the ground around Koreth shook. Walls of dusty brown stone began to rise up all around the noble warrior as he flexed his will. Higher and higher the walls rose, until a massive tower had enveloped Koreth's form.

Letting loose a terrible dwarven war cry, Koreth lashes out at the scrab. His sword whistles through the air, glinting in the harsh light of the sun. The scrab is quick to react, and tries to dodge as the sword arcs towards it. The scrab's desperate leap was in vain, Koreth's blade crunches into the chitin of its chest. The scrab is bent over from the force of the blow. Greenish ichor splatters across the rocks about it, sizzling as it lands. Koreth grins, his blade held before him.

ROUND 4

Gaigin stepped sideways cautiously, feinting with his club and growling beneath his mask. The beast seemed unperturbed, simply following the moving warrior, always on the alert; obviously an intelligent beast.

Seeing he would find no easy opening, Gaigin decided to make one. "Yer mother was an Elf and yer father was a Thri-kreen, ye foul-smelling, kank-eating over grown dung-beetle!" Gaigin shouted in elven. Fires flared in the scrab's compound eyes and it lurched forward on the attack, giving Gaigin just the chance he needed. Moving into the creature's grasp, Gaigin brought his club straight up in an underhand blow, seeking to split the creature's head from the chin up.

The blow landed true, splintering chitin and mandible. Ichor oozed from the creature's smashed jaw as it reeled backwards, arms waving wildly. "Ye'll not be eating elf-flesh again soon with that jaw, ye thrice-damned gith-spawn. The scrab did not come up again this time; its face terribly deformed form the club's upward swing. Gaigin smoothes back his ridge of hair splitting his bald head and grins fiercely under the wooden swirls of his mask. He smacks the war club in his palm as he approaches the fallen scran to make sure it never gets up again.

In the silt sea of fear and anguish that was Mendi's mind, the elf perceived the mul's words as an oasis of quiet and happiness. Mendi's mind tried to grasp the life-line he perceived behind those words. Mendi desperately tried to close his mind, but he wasn't able to do it yet, though he sensed that he was progressing towards this end.

The elf abruptly stood, a scowl of rage and hate on the face, a cold fury in his eyes. Mendi drew his scimitar with fluid grace, a snarl on his lips and a primal growl coming from his breast. The amiable peddler had disappeared, the elf looked like a savage Death, and perhaps the scrab perceived the wave of hatred that emanated from Mendi, for he couldn't help but take some steps back when he saw the elf join the muscular mul and the lithe elven fighter. Mendi held his scimitar in an obviously skilled way, and was soon feinting and poking trying to find an opening in the scrab's evasive maneuvers, while the elf fighter waited for his chance.

Mendi was quick, very quick, and he was also nimble. Though his style was not as graceful as Elric's, he spun a deadly obsidian web in front of him, and nimbly exploited a heavy side-step the scrab made in an effort to evade the elf's bone sword. The obsidian blade punctured the scrab's chitin, and Mendi made a tearing movement to extract it, while greenish ichor escaped the wound. "YEeeeee'Yeaaaa'Yeeeaaaaaa !" yelled the elf, a battle cry not unlike its savage nomadic kin.

The elven boy was lost in the fight and gore of seeing his life-long enemies fall to pieces. He moved in for the kill wanting to soil his bone blade yet another time in his hated enemies. The scrab was being occupied by Mendi and the mul offering his back to the elf. Normally, the elf would have not struck someone from behind but this was too much for him; his recent loss still stung his eyes and haunted his nightmares. His voice raised to the skies which was from where his deadly blade struck. The bone sword cleft the scrab's head down to his neck splashing vile ichor all around. The elf was lost in madness and he lithe muscles stood out as he tried to dislodge his sword from the insectman's head. Mendi and Rayne panted and looked around to see how the other were doing while catching their breath under the harsh sun.

Koreth hoped his companions were faring well, he had no time to look. The scrab lunged at him, its pincers held out before it. Koreth barely had time to dodge; he felt the wind from the scrab's passing on his side. Bringing his sword to bear on the scrab, it lunged at him again. This time, Koreth was ready. He thrust his blade as hard as he could as the scrab came down on him.

His blade sank deep into the scrab, sliding between two chitin plates. The scrab screeched eerily as it impaled itself, twitching as its own momentum forced the blade deeper and deeper. Koreth pulled out his blade, green ichor spilling like a fountain on the hot sand and rocks. It sizzled, boiling in the heat of the sun. His blade once again before him, Koreth cursed "Kank dung! Die you overgrown beetle!" The scrab looked at him, confusion in its multifaceted eyes as its life was spilling onto the rocks. The warrior's sword arced high above his head as he brought it down with all his strength. Koreth's blade smashed into the head of the scrab, a piteous cry escaping from the creature as the blow pried a chitin piece from its face. It shivered in pain, and wobbled away from the noble warrior.

"Did that hurt, kank face?" Koreth says maliciously, a feral grin on his lips. The scrab twitched its mandibles one last time as its bulbous eyes suddenly lost their sheen. The noble warrior looked like a gladiator as he stepped on the scrab with his sword pointed straight at the beast should it move. The insectman didn't even twitch and only made a cracking noise when Koreth stepped on its chitin cracking the thinner plates under his boots.

The scrab leader was the last one standing, his situation was not favorable and he sensed it; all of his kin were dead and worst of all, he was being killed by two pointy eared elven kin. The scrab nevertheless gestured wildly for one last spell…

Moving quickly and without subtlety, Tak’ preferred the ferocious approach to the graceful in this particular situation. The defiler he faced could both destroy more of the foliage surrounding the area - as well as channeling that energy into destructive and deadly spells. Tak’ could not afford to give his opponent that chance. He whipped out his other sloth dagger and was again armed with two deadly blades against two deadly pincers or worse.

The life dagger snakes past the Scrabs defenses, striking between two chitin plates. The blade cuts a long, bloody line in the soft body of the insectman. The halfling danced out of the way and jumped again. A bit over-enthusiastic, Tak’ is surprised when his wild leap is countered by an equally unexpected advance by the scrab. The sloth-tooth dagger presses against the Scrab - but Tak’ has not room to apply any force or pressure, and thus it skitters harmlessly off the defiler.

Using all his gained momentum, Elric swing Tempest with a fury. The rage within him burns unchained as the warlock drives Tempest deep within the scrab. "Fill my righteous fury and be gone into the depths of Hell!" Giving Tempest a powerful twist, the warlock rips it from the scrab. When the scrab begins to slump down Elric leaps lightly to the ground. Balance maintained, he whirls back into the scrab, leading with his deadly blades. It wasn't necessary, however, as the scrab defiler fell onto the lifeless ground. As if by a twist of fate, a slight breeze picked up and covered the defiler with dull, gray-black ash.

The windmage had began to gather energy when finally the defiler fell to his death. All of the scrabs had died… been killed rather by not only the companions but also their new-found allies. Ptellac and Chit were still tightly bound by the defiler's web and their struggles only seemed to stir more of the light, flyaway ash. The young elven girl had stepped out of her smoky cage and now that the group smelled her, she reeked of an intoxicating sweet smell. The girl giggled as she carefully approached the group and was soon joined by her elven companion. The young boy had finally loosened his sword from the scrab's head and his smile betrayed this special moment for him. She addresses the girl who closes with him in a friendly and nervous hug. The girl giggled but it was more out of nervousness than anything else. "We did it, half our debt is paid in full." The girl was speechless but she looked more like a little girl than the death-dealing sorceress that she was.

Chit stirred wildly about as the girl neared him and his antenna flayed about in fear and repulsion. The boy's face changed to a combination of fear and decisiveness as he raised his sword again, "Wait, our battle is not yet over. Let's finish of all the insects…even this one before he decides to murder us!" The boy saunters over to Chit's prone form while the girl puts her hand in her pouches and she starts stirring the earth's energy once again.

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 (SeW), (W) PSPs

Mendi (W), Mind opened

Rayne (W), (SeW) PSPs

Ayrus (W), (MW) PSPs

Koreth (H), (SiW) PSPs

Tak (SeW), (SeW) PSPs

Chit (SiW), BOUND

Ptellac (H), BOUND

Elric (W)

Male elf (SiW)

Female elf (H)

GENERAL

Great going here, for many of you it was your first defiler. I plan to have the next couple of rounds in a good roleplaying fashion.

When you post, I think we should stick to "after the battle" scene since the NPCs should provide more than enough things to talk about and do.

Isn't it funny how we all describe different color for the ichor from the scrabs? I have heard black, green and white so far. Any more takers?

WATER SITUATION at the end of the 12th day (i.e. I haven't discounted water for this day yet)

Questions, comments, and suggestions please.

L8r,

Fabian