*Antiphia gives Zykovian a strange smile, and then looks over his shoulder at the others.*
"I was a hoard tender, and Kelvarix did make me responsible for certain things. There's no reason I can't take a little more than just the magical items... for my babe's future. 'Come into the bag, my pretties,'" she calls in draconic. For a minute she looked almost mischievious behind her mask of sorrow and anger, like a ghost of the girl she had been.
*You suddenly notice a leather sack that had been hanging all alone near the door, seemingly of little importance or notice. However, now that she's activated it, Kelvarix's hoard begins to do a very peculiar dance. The coins begin to twist into a torus and then slide into the bag. Ropes of the coins seem to snatch up the art objects and thrust them into the bag, which does not seem to be growing any bigger at all. Finally, even Antiphia's table and all her raw supplies dance over to the bag and slide inside neatly. In less than a minute, Kelvarix's cave is empty of everything resembling treasure. Antiphia has stopped a crystal-studded chain shirt and a crystalline short sword from going into the bag, and she quickly struggles to put the shirt on over her outrageous outfit.*
"It's a hoard-hauler, Gardanax has had his dragonkith artificers working on it for months in secret. Kelvarix got the second, Gardanax got the first," she explains, tugging the shirt into place. It's obvious she doesn't know how to wear it very well. "I just want something more than silver plating in between me and a dragonkin guard if we get caught," she explains quietly, taking the hoard-hauler off the wall and handing it to Zykovian. Curiously it still doesn't even look full and weights only as much as an empty sack.
~~~~
*Zass'sk, you wait and watch, and suddenly you see Sekyen step out of hiding and step toward the dragonkin.*
"My friend," she croons in draconic, "please, you have no need to hurt us, please come to me, I haven't seen you in so long my friend..."
*One of the dragonkin looks pole-axed, and then suddenly starts walking toward the mind flayer.*
"I haven't see you either, what are you doing here? Will you help us find the slaves?" one of them asks. The other three look at their comrade with bewilderment.
"I have them right here, can you help me come get them?" she says, beckoning.
*From your vantage point, Zass'sk you can see the duergar woman mumbling something and moving her hands. From behind the various boulder come slaves, their heads down and their hands tied behind them. However, none of the slaves have come down from their hidden perches yet; you're guessing it's an illusion, though an incredibly life-like one. The beholder has pressed itself against the ceiling, resembling nothing so much as a rounded stalactite.*
*The slaves walk out and arrange themselves behind Sekyen, and she continues to make her subtle beckoning motions. The duergar women turns and catches your eye, mouthing, "Get ready."*
*At the same moment, several things happen. Sekyen tells the dragonkin in front of her that, "This won't hurt, I'm doing this to help you." The dragonkith in front her her kneels, and Sekyen proceeds to clap all four tentacles onto his head, and he doesn't even flinch. The other three dragonkith yell, as at the same moment the duergar woman opens her cloak, smearing an enormous spider's web over the middle of the room. One dragonkith is caught, and the other two leap backwards, closer to you and the beholder. And around the corner comes two more dragonkin and an amethyst dragon. You notice to your relief the dragon is smaller than the other one you've already fought today, but there are still four heavily-armed dragonkin in between you and it.*
*The beholder cackles and fires three of its eye rays at the dragonkith. This has a much better effect than it did on the dragon. Of the two farthest ones, one turns to dust and the other simply drops in his tracks. One of the closer ones turns into a statue of dark gray stone. But that still leaves one hopping mad dragonkin for you Zass'sk.*
*You leap into the fray, slamming into the startled dragonkith with Whispertree, hearing a rib crack as you pound the tonfa into his side. The dragonkin drops his crossbow and draws his sword, slashing across your belly to leave a ruby gash. From down the hall the young dragon lowers his head and blithely breathes out a punishing wave of concussive force, with no regard for the dragonkin caught in its path.*
*Zass'sk leapts adroitly out of the way of the force entirely, but the dragonkin takes the full brunt of it. You can see his flesh bruising and pulping from the force, and his mouth twists in pain. There is a faint echoing cry of triumph from one of the little caves; it sounds like one of the slaves is cheering you on.*
*The beholder curses roundly, and from the corner of your eye you can see the dragonkin is working its way out of the web toward the duergar woman.*
"Scale-kin, you want to say you slew a dragon single-handedly? Go, I will cover Dessa," it says, turning toward the duergar woman.
[OOC - Zass'sk got a total of 24 with a charge and hit for 14 points of damage. The dragonkith hits once back for 29 points of damage. The dragon breathes from down the hall, utterly disregarding the safety of its own minions, the dragonkith fails its save with a 12, you have evasion, the dragonkith takes another 29 points of damage.]
