<strong>Eshalu - dealing with the lizard infestation</strong><br/><br/>In the back of her mind, Eshalu was dimly aware of something having radically changed on the field of battle. The powerful alpha appeared to have gone, together with the scent of blood and iron, and so too was the light, floral perfume of the high-status human. Now wasn't the time to think of what the abhorrent, unnatural reptiles were planning - though, having seen their snapping, fanged jaws and sharp claws, Eshalu was fairly certain they were carnivorous and not especially discriminating of the kinds of flesh they consumed - when the time came she would track them down and get Lazerette back. No member of a hunting band could ever be abandoned - the aphorisms of the Moon Huntress were clear on that point.<br/><br/>Engaged in fierce combat with two spearlizards, her blades meeting a stubborn and surprisingly skilled wall of hardened wood and wicked, dark iron, Eshalu felt a hint of a movement in the air. Just a feeling. A breath of a stirring current and that dry, reptilian smell.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Roll Result: Eshalu rolled: 4d6<br/>Comment: Eshalu - Notice roll to defend against Spearlizard stealth check to outflank her<br/>Result: 5, 3, 1, 5,<br/>Net result: <strong>+3</strong> (+1 dice rolls and +2 Notice skill) a <strong>Good</strong> success</div></div><br/>Then she heard it. A sudden, perhaps inadvertent flick of a forked, reptilian tongue tasting the air. They would be behind her soon. Eshalu sidestepped and adjusted her guard, hoping to minimise the element of surprise coming from the saurian marauders seeking to outflank her and meet their attacks head-on.<br/><br/>That complicated matters when it came to the fierce oncoming spear-thrusts of the two Spearlizards she had been engaging. Up close, their mottled, scaly hides and soulless, cold-blooded gaze were apparent to her. She had heard stories of creatures like these - possessed with a cold, unfeeling and ancient intelligence, devourers of unwary children, keepers of unspeakable sanguinary cults. But these - these were skinks and geckoes compared to the vast, inscrutable monitors of legend. They bled, feared and fell like any prey.<br/><br/>Eshalu saw two jagged spear-points thrust simultaneously before her, piercing and whistling through the air. She would only have one chance to duck beneath them, lunge forward and counter-attack. It was a move she knew in the very depths of her muscle memory from endless winters and summers of training and now was the time to show that she had nerves to pull it off in the heat of battle.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Roll Result: Eshalu rolled: 4d6<br/>Comment: Eshalu - Fighting roll to defend against Spearlizard 3 Pack 3 attack<br/>Result: 4, 6, 3, 4, <br/>Net result: <strong>+5</strong> (+1 dice rolls and +4 Fighting)</div></div><br/>Her reflexes did not betray her. Eshalu tensed her thighs in anticipation, blades drawn back abandoning even the pretense of a parry, and then slipped under the sharp, heavy spears, half-crouching half pouncing, emerging under the guard of the hissing saurians, and lashing out with her riposte. She lined her gleaming shortsword up for a diagonal cut on a first Spearlizard's belly and, focusing on the momentum of that attack, sought to muscle in on the second Spearlizard, her midnight-black obsidian dagger thirsting for the blood of its scaly flank.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Roll Result: Eshalu rolled: 4d6<br/>Comment: Eshalu - Fighting roll to attack Spearlizard 3 Pack 3<br/>Result: 6, 6, 4, 1, <br/>Net result <strong>+5</strong> (+1 dice rolls and +4 Fighting)</div></div>