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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Seravin" data-source="post: 2571879" data-attributes="member: 6783">HorrorsEight thin, spindly, silver-colored legs picked their way across the rough tunnel floor.  Instead of some cave spider however, the legs were attached to well-polished, palm-size rock crystal.  Someone well versed in witchcraft would be able to identify it as a witch’s psi-crystal; the methodical, slow steps and the color of it’s psi-crafted legs would further identify the personality as one of the softer ones.She (for all psi-crystals share the gender of their progeniator) was not exactly a happy psi-crystal however.  :Save the cat but not rock.: grumbled the crystal to herself.  :I can see into the hearts of men, and all the cat does is clean herself, but I’m the one picked to scout ahead.  What happens to Tore if one of those roper-things eat me?:There was a distinct mental sigh from the crystal as she picked her way across the rock strewn floor.  Behind her was Tore, her otherself, and their companions; ahead were bug things that were strong enough to give the quaggoth pause.  Still she forged forward because it was important to her mind-mate.  As a reflection of Tore’s insight, the crystal was not oblivious to why she was ahead scouting.  Tore was trying to impress Kellron with her competence in sword-play and soldiering; unfortunately that wasn’t where her strengths lay.  Meanwhile, Kellron seemed interested in Tore but wasn’t making any advances.  The crystal hadn’t quite figured out why that was so.The motivations of the others were easier but less interesting, if only because Tore cared less about them than Kellron.  Kestral was hiding some secret, but was so adept at concealing her feelings that it was hard to tell the magnitude.  Jallarzi was friendly enough, but her focus was almost exclusively on her magic.  In many ways Tore was most like Jared, as he also was trying to prove himself to this new group.SKREEEAAAAAAKKKThe sound stopped the psi-crstal in its tracks.  It was an ugly sound of something hard scraping against stone.  The stone rocked backed on her spindly legs and strained outwards with her senses.  She had barely registered the creatures on the ceiling when all three of them dropped down to the ground, blocking her way forward.   Instinctively the crystal gauged the creature’s posture and stance.  The conclusion was easy.:They want to eat me!:---Tore inhaled sharply and swiveled towards the tunnel her crystal-self had gone down.  “Trouble.”  She warned.  “She’s coming back with three…no…two of the beetle things.”Kestral was already pitching her light amulet towards the tunnel mouth and Jallarzi stood up from the rock she had ben sitting on.  It was only a few seconds before the scrabbling and squawking of the the pursuing creatures became audible, and only a few seconds after that when Tore’s crystal came into sight, followed by the…horrors.The two creatures, each almost ten feet tall, scrabbled forward on sharp talons that scraped against the rock floor.  The creature’s beetle-like carapaces ranged in color from dark-gray to midnight blue, and were covered with sharp, bony protrubances.  Instead of having wide beetle mandibles though the creature’s heads were like that of a vulture with a sharp, tearing beak.  Finally, the creature’s grotesquely distorted forearms looked to be of solid bone or horn, ending in ugly looking hooks. All of the Imperial’s understood now why the she-quaggoth had called the things ‘horrors’.  The realization didn’t make them hesitate however.  As Tore’s crystal scrambled behind her mistress for safety, both Kellron and Jared stepped forward with blazing swords drawn.  The fight was short, but it gave them a quick estimate of the creature’s skill.  Jared and Kellron attended to their wounds and the five of them headed off down the tunnel.  The crystal had reported three of the creatures initially, but only two had followed her.  Chances were that the third one was warning its friends.</blockquote>

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