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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 683702" data-attributes="member: 1210">Red-EyeMost of the group is still resting.  Sheva's gone back to sleep- she woke when Alcar and Angelfire were shouting at each other but she was just in a normal sleep, so she isn't yet fully rested.  Still, Alcar's out there somewhere, so Angelfire casts a nap himself.  Now Sybele, Horbin and Sheva will rise, fully rested, in only an hour.  Fluffy's stalking around the chamber alertly, eyes constantly flicking towards the exit.  His tail twitches back and forth constantly, revealing his nervousness.  Angelfire can't help but find it annoying.  Then, when Fluffy yowls, for a moment the cleric of Coila is tempted to throw something at him.Then Angelfire hears the unmistakable sound of Fluffy's teeth chomping into something, and he whirls to see that the tabaxi has just charged an icy giant with a strange stinger tail- another of the rune-covered creatures that were originally in the chamber!  Moving with the speed of thought, Angelfire whips out the Airsword and tumbles in next to the hapless creature.Fluffy bites and claws, a furry ball of fierceness!  His natural weaponry seems to hurt the thing- it bleeds cold water- but not too badly.  And then Habiskis, Sheva's imp cohort, becomes visible, a dagger fashioned from the horn of a unicorn in his red little hand stuck in the creature's back.  He flies by his flat-footed enemy.The ice thing flies up and away!  Fluffy and Angel both swing as it moves, striking both of its legs.  Water sprays from the creature, which gives a grunt, then hastes itself and disappears.  Then it gives a loud cry, clearly on the move from the sound of things.  Habiskis disappears too.Nearby, Sybele stirs.  Her eyes open- she smells something happening- and she sizes up the situation in an instant.  She scrambles to her feet, scooping up her bow and a quiver of arrows.  She's in the room with the broken bottles of spices, so she can smell and hear something but not see it.  It sounds like a fight, though... She moves to look just in time to see Fluffy shake his head as he fights off a charm and a nearly simultaneous lightning bolt shoot from an unseen foe and blast Angelfire.  He leans into the bolt, taking the damage on his chest.    "Fall back!" she shouts to him.Meanwhile, near the party, the invisible imp pulls out a lion out of his bag of tricks.  He grabs it by the ear and drags it over to the entrance to the room with the sleeping party members.  "Here, you guard this!  Attack anyone who comes through here."The awake members of the party pull missile weapons.  They're covering the doorway and various other parts of the room, but there's no sign of the enemy.  A few tense moments go by; Habiskis invisibly darts errantly around, detecting good.  Then the group hears a loud shout from somewhere down the hall.  Sybele curses.A few moments go by.  The group hides themselves to be on the safe side.  The lion, guarding as instructed, starts to growl.A human steps out, his hands up."Peace!" he calls.  "I come with an offer of peace from a powerful master!""Hey yeah, you come back later, uh, in an hour or two," says a voice from the area of the lion.  Habiskis calls, nervously considering the sleeping party."He wishes to speak with you now."  The human hesitates.  "Red-Eye is not to be kept waiting," he says heavily.Then four of the ice creatures- including the one that the party just attacked- enter.  Sybele curses again, silently this time.  She's seriously considering firing a shot when the beholders come in- one of them clearly this Red-Eye that the human spoke of.  He's larger than the others they've seen, tough-looking, criss-crossed with scars.  His huge central eye is bathing them in its ray.  It's clear where he gets his name from- it's bloodshot, with visible veins angrily standing out on the pink of the orb.  The iris and pupil are red, and tears of bile are dripping from it.  Worse yet, his mouth is frothing with bile and strange boils are leaking it from the rest of him.By the gods, thinks Sybele, he's a bile-infected beholder.Next Time:  What's Alcar been up to?  Coming Very Soon:  The fight the party christened 'The Battle of Five Armies'!</blockquote>

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