Under a Dark Sun(2nd Ed. AD&D)

[dplax]

Anne

Anne studied the dark creature, speaking only at length.

"If my guess is right, then that creature has a common agenda with us. Maybe we could join forces in hunting Balth. If only we could somehow communicate with it."

She glanced at Tamora and Bas.

"The two of you would probably be better at this than me."

[Kazilan]

A frown creased the druid's forehead as Anne spoke. He glanced at Tamora before setting his staff on the ground.

"Anne, I think you are right. After discovering Balth's true nature, and seeing how these creatures care for one another, I feel we made a grave mistake by helping the elf earlier. I especially should have known better."

Bas took a deep breath and set his eyes on the dark creature.

"I'll see if I can speak with it, the rest of you be prepared to help me if necessary."

Bas walked forward into the clearing, hands empty at his sides, ready with greetings in common, treant and dryad, but careful not to speak elvish in case that would identify him with Balth.

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath felt that now would be as good a time as any to speak up. "You know," he began, "an enemy of an enemy is not necessarily a friend. It could just be another enemy, with its own agenda, which could easily change when it realizes we're here. For example, it could change from tracking Balth to leading us back to its camp to kill and eat us at its leisure."

He looked at his own hands and at the hands of his companions. "And let's not forget that, in the very likely event this thing is hostile, we don't have a plan of attack, and only one or two weapons. I suggest that instead we trail this thing, or completely circumvent it."

[Armen]

Tamora

Tamora listened to Lorath while watching Balth walk towards the dark Thri-Keen. Without turning her head she answered, “all reasonable advice Lorath but, see, the Learned One is already walking to the creature.” Tamora had also been fascinated to watch the behaviour of the other insect men and was more than a little curious to learn the truth of these people. If she were honest she would have probably waited until the other two were a little further away before making their presence known but, as she had said to Lorath, they were where they were.

She glanced in the other elf’s direction. “A plan of attack is a good idea though,” she said dryly. “I propose we wait for instruction from Bas but if he gets attacked rush over there and save him or die trying.” She looked sadly at the stick in her hand then turned to Anne. “Anne,” she said, “would you mind if I borrowed your spear for a little while?”

[PurpleXVI]

Lorath, Tamora, Anne, Bas

Bas' attempts at diplomacy went unheard.

As soon as the druid stepped out of the brush and into the small clearing, the creature's head twitched towards him and it spent barely a second examining him with it's large, bulbous eyes before drawing and throwing a boomerang-like weapon in one smooth movement.

Doing this while standing up from examining Balth's tracks threw off it's aim, but not enough for it to miss, and the crystalline wedge hit his left thigh. It didn't stick, but even so, it left a deep gash that instantly began bleeding.

(4 HP lost, 28 HP remain.)

Rather than threatening or retreating, it calmly began to unsling it's polearm while advancing on him.

It didn't appear to have noticed the rest of the party hiding in the thick vegetation behind Bas.

[dplax]

Anne

Anne acted in the split second following the the throw of the weapon. Turning over her shoulder she shouted to Tamora, "Stop Bas from attacking!" while jumping up and bursting from the cover of the trees, the spear she had gotten from the lizardmen in her hands.

Anne had gambled several times in her life, but she had never put all of her money on one bet before. She let loose a shrill whistle to attract the attention of the thri-keen. Once she had the creature's attention she lifted her spear horizontally to her side and let it fall to the ground. She then lifted a hand to her mouth in a gesture indicating that she wanted to communicate.

Now all depended on how intelligent the creature was.

[Armen]

Tamora

No point staying hidden – the Thri-Keen will only wonder who Anne was talking to and in any case another person might just make it more thoughtful . . .

She took up Bas’ staff then pointed to Lorath, raised her hand palm-out, pointed at the ground where they stood then held her fingers to her lips. The situation was tense enough as it was, she’d like someone in reserve and, besides, there was no point all of them dying here if that was to be their fate. She turned then and walked briskly over to Bas.

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath felt perfectly fine waiting for them to "talk it out" with this creature. He figured, as long as he could stay hidden, he might make it out of this alive.

When Tamora did her gestures it wasn't clear if he actually responded, since he just kept doing what he was already doing - namely, stay out of sight and make no effort to rush out. Briefly he considered casting something to make the battle go better for them, but the noise might give him away, so instead he waited patiently on one knee.

[Kazilan]

The pain in Bas' leg brought into sharp focus the danger that was before him. He instantly began casting the spell Barkskin on himself, hoping that he could survive an attack that way while the others would be able to incapacitate the creature.

Bas had no illusions of fighting the creature with his fists, and once his spell was cast he would stay on the defensive.

[PurpleXVI]

(Anne's actions cleared with dplax for the sake of speediness.)

Lorath, Bas, Anne, Tamora

The creature seemed momentarily confused by Anne's action, then extended a hand towards her, in what was seemingly a peaceful gesture. Seemingly peaceful, that was, until she accepted it. Rather than grasping her hand, the hard, chitinous fingers locked around her wrist and yanked her towards the Thri-Kreen.

Grabbing her with another hand once she was close enough, she was lifted towards the Kreen's head and it sank it's mandibles into her throat. As it did so, she felt a dull, numbing sensation spreading throughout her body: Paralytic poison.

Once she had started to go slightly limp, it seemed to consider her no longer a threat and simply dropped her on the ground, then stepped over her and advanced on Bas and Tamora.

As she dropped to the ground, Anne felt weird, as though all of her limbs, and even her torso, were asleep. But they still responded when she tried to do things, she was weakened by the poison, but not defeated. The creature did not appear to have noticed this, however, and was ignoring her.

(Anne loses 4 HP, 26 HP remain.)

Bas, meanwhile, remained unmolested and got his spell off without any problems, his skin assuming the hardness and texture of bark.

(Bas has AC 4 now.)