Meanwhile, the two remaining scrabs were faced by three strong warriors and had apparently retorted to physical means trying to make their way back into the nest. Both scrabs try to maneuver themselves and have a clear run inside the nest again.

Nodding to Liron, Koreth turns his attention to his embattled companions. Two scrabs still lived and seemed to have lost their will to stay and fight. He quickly glanced over at both of his embattled companions, deciding which one needed his help more and heading towards the nest entrance with Liron on his heels. The elf glanced back to check on Migdalia who was in the process of taking down her spell. The elven warrior lowered his sword and quickly joined the noble warrior on the mad scramble towards the rest of the companions.

Abruptly, the scrabs that had been assaulting Mendi's mind disappeared. The elf sighed his relief, for his mind had nearly been breached once more. Those scrabs were definitely tougher than most creatures Mendi had met so far, and the peddler wondered at the strength of their mind warriors. Cold sweat rolled on the elf's brow and back, an unusual feat... but from the corner of his eye, Mendi noticed that Aryus was already running toward the remaining scrabs, so the elf stopped his brooding and soon caught up with the wind cleric.

Aryus ran towards the hole, with Mendi on his heels. The cerulean cloak, though somewhat tarnished and bloodied, flew the wind in a fascinating way: Mendi concentrated on the cloak and on the cloak movement, for he was afraid he would yell his terror otherwise. The colors looked more vivid than life, the clatter of the fight preternatural. Once more, the scrabs had nearly breached his mind's defenses... The elf followed the half-elf, long stride matching long stride, and while Mendi concentrated on the noise of the wind in his ears and on the movements of the cloak, Aryus quickly scanned his companions, noticing the deep wounds and blood on Gaigin and Tak. <I must call on the wind lords' healing power, or we will not see the end of this,> thought the wind mage.

Once near the entrance, Aryus tried to find an opening for his bow, but he feared to wound one of his friends instead. "Tak, was there a second entrance? That would be a bad time to find some more scrabs behind us!" Tak answered on the run, "I did not find any second entrance nor anything unusual about the whole site."

Both scrabs had enough of this fight and decided to try to get back into the nest. They suddenly turned their tail to the warriors and made a run for it.

"Kank's sour offal!" Gaigin twirled his war club and followed the scrab as it turned its back on him. The weapon rose up and quickly whistled down on the insectman's head. The scrab whined its pain as ichor splattered across the ex-caravan guard. Gaigin paid no heed to the gore and followed in for a second blow. The warrior swung but missed and the scrab flattened itself as it entered the potential safety of its nest leaving gore in its wake.

Sweat was beginning to drip off the mul's tattooed head. The strain of her mental battle was beginning to take an effect. Reaching deeply into her nexus, Rayne forces forth the energy needed to maintain her defenses. Unfortunately for the mul, the energy just was not there anymore; with a feeling of emptiness totally new to her the mul concentrates on her more familiar attack.

On the physical plain, Rayne attacks again with a determined force. Her sword comes up in a swirl of motion, striking the scrab's midsection. The force of the blow cracks the chitin and the ichor pours forth. With a savage grin the mul lashes forth with her tortoise blade, sinking it deeply into the wound created by her sword.

The force of the mul's blow knocks the scrab back a few steps, and she follows again with her sword and blade. Striking the scrab's arm once more, the familiar sound of bone cracking chitin is heard. Again Rayne punches forth at the face of the scrab with the blade on her tortoise shell leading. Her arm vibrates with the force as she contacts with the creature's head, but Rayne quickly withdraws her arm as it is a little to close to the deadly clacking mandibles. "I said to get out of me head."

"Blood and Ashes" Elric curses himself, his attack routine was flawless. A thing of lethal beauty carried out to perfection, only his blade choice had been wrong. Time and again battle had proven that his bone blade was more effective thrusting than slashing, while the wider blade of the mighty Tempest had shown equal to the task of a firm slash as well as a powerful thrust. Why then had Elric chosen to slash with his bone blade in such an important encounter? The whys of the mental mistake Elric didn't have time to contemplate, possibly the newness of fighting while maintaining a mental defense. However, one thing was certain, he wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Gaigin's war cry sounds again through the air. A glance shows the hardy warrior has things well in hand. Seeing the displacement of the group Elric lets out a battle cry of his own, "Two for us, none for you. Two for us none for you!" Grinning at his own wit the young warlock sends his bone blade in a forceful thrust, toward the section of chitin previously cut by Tempest. The bone blade sinks deeply into the soft flesh of the scrab. The sticky black ichor flows freely from the wound.

The foul scrab wavered but still stood, a testament to the beast's toughness. Elric spins Tempest in a tight arc, first horizontal then at a sharp angle down. The warlock's mind, strained with the effort of a mental defense still struggles to solve the mysteries of the blade. Forming in his mind as he strikes is an ancient Rune. Simpler to the one he had tried earlier yet slightly different, with an older more substantial feel to it. Barely conscious of his own efforts, Elric whispers 'Aquhandi' as he the blade of Tempest strikes the scrab.

"VRROOM, VRROOM"

Elric's eyes go wide as a distant peel of thunder rolls through the area. The thunder continues to sound in loud reverberations for a moment more then is gone as suddenly as it began. His grin going from that of grim humor in dealing death to the wide smile of elation. "Wooo, Did you hear that?!" Elric spins as looks questionably at Gaigin first then the rest of the group. "I heard it, you had to hear it as well. I felt it as well but I doubt you would feel it as you weren't touching the blade" His face lighting up even more, if such a thing would be possible. "I was striking the scrab at the time. I wonder if the scrab could feel it too"

The noise was deafening but was by far the least of the problems for Elric's enemies. It was the flash of lightning that issued from the magical blade that caught everyone by surprise; even Elric's partners. Gaigin dropped his war club and grabbed his eyes cursing loudly, "My eyes, my eyes, I can't see." Rayne, on the other hand, blinked a couple of times but seems OK as she was caught looking the other way when the lightning struck.

The scrab lay dead at his feet, the group about Elric notice he is oddly enough sad. "If only he had lived a bit longer I could have asked about the thunder."

The group gathered around Gaigin and shielded him from any harm while keeping their eyes on the entrance checking for any more scrabs but none seem to come out. Six of the insectmen lay dead at their feet and a mortally wounded had managed to make it back to the nest, The heroes took a breath and gathered their thoughts before continuing.

A few minutes passed and Gaigin recovered his eyesight slowly but surely and the whole group slowly approached the entrance. The entrance went straight down at a steep angle amidst sharp rocks, The tunnels were made of hard packed earth and looked dismal to behold. It seemed that the scrabs dug their way in and held them up with some sort of saliva for the walls looked shinny and without any sort of spilled sand. The place was dark and smelled of rotten food or worst. The place was also silent; too silent for everyone taste. Oddly, the tunnels were large enough for a full grown man to walk unhindered.

It was Liron that broke the ominous silence, "Well. I guess this what we came for…" The elf had stopped his blood flow and was pretty much ready to go in. He addresses the rest of the group, "We go in, get Aitaa and we get out. If you want to get back and plunder, I will like to help but after we rescue my kin, is that understood?"

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)

Elric (SiW), (W)

Rayne (SiW), (MW)

Ayrus (H), (W)

Mendi (SiW), (MW)

Koreth (SiW), (SiW)

Female elf (H)

Tak (W), (SiW)

Male elf (SiW)

GENERAL

Let me know what you want to do here and how you will do it.

Questions, comments, and suggestions please.

L8r,

Fabian