"Do as you must, many-eyes, but know, that Zass'sk is as good as his word."
"I'm sure you are little one, but we've been deceived before in the past. Surely you do not begrudge us our caution," the beholder says with a smirk.
*You hustle along after the slaves for several minutes, and finally the duergar woman pulls out of wand and begins to make several of the slaves invisible. These she (you assume by the gestures) hands over to the mind flayers, and they break off down a different passage. She is left with the healtiest-looking slaves, and takes off at a faster pace down a larger passage.*
"I caught a hint of something on the wind, and we need a distraction. They're coming, get ready," she hisses, as they reach a cavern honeycombed with small openings. She boosts the slaves into the openings, and several of them give exclaimations as they begin to bring the crossbows hidden there to the forefront. "Stay hidden until we need your help," she snarls at them, and they obediently pull back into the depths of their hiding places. The female mind flayer returns, coming from the exiting corridor, and takes her place behind one of the several boulders that litter this broad cavern. The beholder floats up to the ceiling in order to get the best view.
"I saw them, a young dragon and about a half-dozen dragonkin, heavily armed. It's a retrieval team," the mindflayer hisses, pulling out a long crystal.
"Get ready to make good on your promises, scale-kin," the duergar woman says, using her magic to shimmer out of view, "This is going to get ugly."
*The roars of the enraged dragon suddenly fill the corridor, and you can hear several of the slaves whimper in fear.*
~~~~
*Alyshia, Spike floats down from the ceiling, grumbling quietly.*
"Well that was messy enough, wasn't it? Are we going to rob the dragons blind now? That would really tweak their noses," Spike says, landing precisely on top of Alyshia's head.
~~~~
*Gortag, you slash your axe once into the half-dragon, ripping hard across his belly, but your other two slashes miss entirely as the wily half-dragon slips aside.*
"You think you can hurt Torvex, slave? That was a mere scratch to me! You will die on my blades today and by days end that pretty armor will be on one more deserving of it!" he taunts, his sword flicking in and out of your guard in surprisingly painful thrusts to your ribs, thigh, and shoulder. The two dragonkin slash at you twice each, but each are only able to strike once, as your armor takes the brunt of their second attacks. But the first ones do carry a sting to them.
*At the other end of the hall, one of the dragonkin slashes his axe again into Ishmael, ripping open his chest and dropping the elegant elf. Renea, in lion form, gives a roar and charges the other one, ripping and biting with her claws and teeth, nearly eviscerating the second one. But it manages to stay upright, and retaliates two more heavy axe blows that open up identical wounds on the lion's shoulders.*
[OOC - Gortag got a 39, 18 (natural 1), and 14 for his attacks, hitting once for 27 points of damage. Dragonkin #1 got a 26 and a 16 to attack, hitting once for 10 points of damage. Dragonkin #2 got a 30 and a 12 to attack, hitting once for 11 points of damage. The half-dragon got a 36, 24, and 23 on his two-bladed sword attacks, hitting three times for a total of 46 points of damage. His bite only hit a 10 and missed.
Ishmael crits once with a natural twenty and a 22 to confirm, and rolled a 1 for his second attack. He does 12 points of damage to the 3rd dragonkin. Renea (as a dire lion) charges and does a full pounce attack, hitting 31 and 23 with two claws and 22 with her bite. She does not successfully grapple. She does a total of 31 points of damage to the 4th dragonkin.
Ishmael had 51 hit points, and had lost 10 during the fight in the corridor. He then lost 34 more when the two dragonkin attacked him, and then was hit once more (1st attack was a 14 and missed, second attack was a 22 and hit) for 13 points of damage and is now at -3. Renea gets hit twice (AC is 15, gets hit with a 23 and a 25) for a total of 27 points of damage. Renea is now at 37/60 hit points.]
