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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 889495" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #220] Scaredy Bat[/PLAIN]For a moment, no one spoke. The three unarmed werebats held their positions at the mouth of the cave. The two with crossbows stood to either side of the fissure leading down. The leader in his purple robe regarded the Companions with a smug expression on his face that clearly displayed the confidence he felt in his own ability to kill any of them without breaking a sweat. All that could be heard was ragged breathing and the patter of rain outside."Hmmm.... another situation Ledare," Ruze finally spoke, breaking the moment. "I do not think we can out run them even with Draelond's exceptional strength. I think this is where we stand and fight the evil that is before us."The bearded man made a dismissive gesture with his left hand and half-turned in mock affront. "Such melodrama, priest,"  he said. "Evil is such a convenient label, isn't it? Nothing galvanizes the righteous like a good evil to smite.""Perhaps we should listen to what the man is saying,"  Ledare suggested smoothly. Both Ruze and Draelond looked at her in surprise, but the leader of the bat men nodded as if he had been sure from the beginning that she would suggest just that."Your lady's words show a wisdom that you seem to lack, priest," the man said and smoothed down his mustache with his left hand. As he did so, Ledare caught just the briefest glimpse of the loaded crossbow the man held in his right hand, hidden beneath his cloak. "There is no sense in resisting what may not be avoided."With a sudden swelling of pins-and-needles over his body, the paralysis finally wore off Finian. It was accompanied by a curious slippery sensation on his hand, as if the unidentified magical ring that he'd worn there for some time were about to fall off. It remained in place, however, and the sensation passed in an instant. The Archer looked disdainfully at the leader and then at the Janissary. "Ledare are you crazy?" he growled. "Cooperate with them? Maybe you did not understand that they want to turn us into skaven!"The leader rolled his eyes and sighed. "This is quickly getting out of hand," he said. "Kill the priest. Take the others alive." And, as if that was exactly the word they'd been waiting for, the werebats attacked.The two crossbow wielders each fired at Ruze. The first quarrel caught him in the left thigh, but he was able to twist away and avoid the second altogether. As Finian, Draelond and Den had discovered earlier, the bolts burned with poison, but the cleric's hallowed constitution was more than up to the task of resisting the effects.One of the unarmed werebats at the cave mouth stepped forward and took a swing at Finian. The Archer's armor absorbed the blow with no trouble and Finian's left hand went for the dagger sheathed at his hip. Another werebat came at Ixin and took a swing with its hairy fist, but found only air."Followers of Aphyx, I spit on you and your cursed beliefs!" Ruze said, yanking the arrow out of his thigh and gesturing at the skaven leader with his other hand. "Shaharizod, cleanse this fool of the taint!" An instant later, six gallons of water splashed down onto the man, drenching him to the skin. He sputtered and staggered, trying to untangle his crossbow from the folds of his sodden cloak. Ledare seized the man's distraction and charged forward, silver-iron longsword flickering from its scabbard like a lightning bolt. She threw all the weight of her armored form behind the blow, but the man managed to avoid the thrust by a hair's breadth, and her sword drew sparks from the cave wall rather than blood from her foe.The final unarmed werebat charged toward Draelond and swung at the big man with its right fist. Almost by instinct, Draelond avoided the clumsy blow and brought Ravager out to counterattack. But even with most of the creature's effort focused on attack, its inhuman reflexes allowed it to dodge the huge sword by the narrowest of margins."Now you'll all die!" the leader bawled, taking a dripping step back from Ledare to raise his crossbow. "Corben, be damned!" Before he could loose it at Ruze, however, a mighty roar shook the cave, drawing the man's attention to Ixin.The mage stood nearby, but she seemed to have grown in an instant to titanic proportions. Her skin was covered with red scales as hard as adamantine. Her teeth and claws were like ivory daggers. The almighty fires of a dragon's heart burned in her golden eyes and when she spoke it was with a voice of ages. "Tremble before me, mortal worm!" she bellowed and the leader of the werebats found he could do little else. Ledare and Finian both recalled the frightful presence that Cynder had possessed whenever his ire was up; it had been enough to cause friend and foe alike to drop their weapons and cower in their armor. It seemed the same now with Ixin, but it was the werebat leader alone who bore the affect.His crossbow clattered to the ground and he ran, gibbering for the fissure leading down. He shouldered the two robed werebats out of the way and disappeared into the darkness below.Finian seized the opportunity provided by the man's startling disappearance to plunge his dagger between the ribs of the werebat that had attacked him. It sank up to the hilt in the lycanthrope's hairy side and the Archer grinned as he heard the creature's hissing intake of breath for he knew that he had struck one of the thing's lungs with his blade. It staggered backward, but didn't fall."What have you done with the girl?" the ranger demanded, waving the bloody dagger in front of him even as he reached for his longsword still clasped in Den Lant's paralyzed hand.</blockquote>

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