Draque's tumble leaves the Bugbear stumbling after him, as he pops up on the flank of the Thing.<br/><br/>For an instant, the Thing's hide is his focus.  And he finds, in that instant, a strange aspect of the beast:  Its fur is lustrously silky, of the most beguiling shade of blue.  Its course decants over the Thing's pestilential flesh like some manner of pure light made solid, its deep hue changing artfully in a dance across its corner of the spectrum.  And in texture, it is surely almost liquid in refinement, surely a singular pleasure to touch but once.<br/><br/>Draque spends less than a mortal instant reflecting on such things before plunging his dagger into the Thing's side.<br/><br/>Fern, at nearly the same moment, nearly slides her dagger into one of the rolling globes of its eyes.  Her jabbing at its mouth keeps it from biting her.  Instead, it only barks a spray of wet all over her, bellowing from its colossal maw.<br/><br/>Its horrid howl shakes the atoms of the room, douses everything in an instant of panic. The roaring becomes only worse as Miaren's arrow stings through the gnarled shell of its ear.<br/><br/>The Thing takes its rage out on those it holds - shaking the girl and shaking Fern.  Strength rolls like broken teeth from her body, and her bones heave as if about to all explode loose at once.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote from: O.O.C.</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote"><span class="bbc_u">Round Five</span><br/><br/>Draque Tumbles and hits.  Fern misses.  Muttering Bugbear, still clinging to life, follows Draque.  Miaren hits.  The Thing fails to damage Fern.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Draque, still aside the Thing, lunges up to slash it twice under the arm holding Fern.  The first opens a viciously tough slab of muscle, letting blood drain down the bottom of the colossus' bicep.  The second seems to only dent its armpit at first.<br/><br/>Then out of the shaggy hair, a hose of dark black blood begins to spray.  It shoots out with terrific pressurized force and volume, gutters down to only a flood, and then geysers again.<br/><br/>And the Thing goes crazy with fear.<br/><br/>It wheels around for the rear of the room, off in the darkness.  It is so focused there that it hardly notices when Fern gouges a jagged line nearly a foot long in its cankerous gums.  It pauses for a second, tossing the other girl aside, sending her to curl up in fear on the floor.<br/><br/>Then Miaren's arrow hits the Thing in its haunch.  And like a spurred steer, it begins to stampede at its imperceptibly fast speed into the darkness at the rear of the chamber, carrying Fern.<br/><br/>The Bugbear swings at Draque, the awful club roaring over his head, then bolts after the Thing.<br/><br/>Draque lashes at both as they pass, slitting open the Bugbear's side and taking a chunk out of the Thing's leg.  The Bugbear is now sheathed in a skirt of blood from his abdominal wounds, and lurches after the fleeing Thing.  As for the Thing, it only runs faster.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote from: O.O.C.</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote"><span class="bbc_u">Round Six</span><br/><br/>Draque hit the Thing and scored a very impressive critical.  Fern also hit and did maximum damage.  The Thing decided to cut its losses and run.  Muttering Bugbear nearly brained Draque, but missed.  Miaren hit the Thing, giving it additional incentive to flee.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div>