Otis Stonesinger peered down the tunnel with his Dwarf eyes and there he saw what he predicted. "Eaters. Be ready for a pincher attack from the other end. Haygen! Get up in front of Wess!" He held his warhammer for a low angle attack and brought his shield up for the incoming charge.

"In position," said the Barbarian. He whirled Icefang in dizzying, practiced patterns limbering up his joints for the incoming attack. The ax tore through the dank air with dull, inorganic roars. His head skimmed the ceiling of the tunnel, limiting his attack moves.

Otis and Haygen book-ended Kayla and Wess in the tunnel. The purple butterflies landed on all areas of the tunnel, defining their area of attack.

"Eater heading my way," alerted Haygen. "She's a big one. Should we head back outside?"

"No!" shouted Otis. "Keep to the tunnel. We don't know what's in the room and we have the advantage here in the tunnel since they can't flank us. There could be more of them coming at us from there and we could get surrounded quickly." Unless they squash us together like a sandwich and eat us. He shook the thought from his head.

Wess held his short sword and Elf dagger, two blades of honed steel ready to deliver poisoned death to all comers.

"Graaaah!" Otis shouted a battle cry at the incoming Eater as it rushed into range. The giant, slimy centipede shaped terror glided along the ceiling with a hundred tiny legs biting into the dirt. Its paralyzing pinchers made a snapping sound as they clamped down in hunger.  The eater chomped down at the Dwarf but he blocked the bite with his shield and swung his hammer at its mouth, but hitting nothing but air.

Haygen's Eater headed straight for him, though this time the beast ran along the side of the wall. It came faster than he expected and the Eater tackled him. It drove its deadly pinchers around the Half-orc's throat! He tried to scream, but the pinchers stifled his cry. He felt his body slowly going numb, then finally he collapsed limp in a heap.  No matter how he tried to move, the paralyzing bite had shut his body down.  He just struggled to breath now.

Kayla held firm in her protection spell feeling helpless and useless, though she was the most important member of the four friends at that time.

"Haygen!" Wess reacted with severe and brutal intention at the sight of his friend being strangled. He once saw the horror these corpse-eaters could do and it would not happen to his friend this day. He spun in front of the Barbarian, drove his two blades into the giant insect and tore them away at odd angles allowing guts and blood to rush out of the monster. The Assassin's ghost frog poison would take effect, but it may not be in time to save his gasping companion.

Otis lowered his shield in a gamble and swung his hammer, crushing the Eater's pinchers into bony pieces making the creature cry out in chirping agony. "Har!" screamed the Dwarf in joy. The Eater fell from the ceiling with a thud, and then readied itself for another attack.

Meanwhile, the other Eater's tentacles squeezed tighter around Haygen, so Wess slashed his Elven dagger on an upward angle across the monster's slimy body, then swung his curved sword dangerously close to the Barbarian's face in a guillotine fashion, severing the pinchers that strangled him right at their base. The Eater winced, but reacted with a bite to the Faeling's arm. Wess moved faster.  He thrust his Elven dagger into its eye, once, twice, three times—each time bloody mucus spit from its gory wound. With the last stab the giant centipede collapsed.

Otis went wild with his hammer as if forging hot steel into a horseshoe. Up and down and up and down went the hammer onto the head of the eater's bony shell smashing it into a flat puddle of blood, brain, and fragments as its body shuttered. The stench of the creatures became overbearing.

"Otis!" Wess cried out. "Haygen needs you!"

Kayla pointed past Haygen, "Another Eater down your way. With haste, Wesley."

"I have it," said the Wess. He retrieved his short sword and gave his blades a flourish to knock the gore off before he sheathed them. The Assassin focused on the incoming Eater and breathed in slowly. He held his breath. In one smooth motion he found the grips of his crossbows, dropped to a knee, and fired—only then allowing himself to exhale. The bolts found their targets and the giant centipede stuttered and skid to the floor with a painful chirp. It limped toward Wess as he holstered his crossbows and narrowed the gap to thirty paces. He drew two daggers from his belt and hurled them in succession. Two thunks echoed in the tunnel and more shrieks of pain followed. It crawled towards him now, likely out of a primal instinct to feed on his previous kill, as Wess knew the creature was not intelligent enough to have pride. Not wanting to get any closer to the paralyzing pinchers, he calmly reloaded a hand crossbow and fired for the mercy kill. The last eater fell dead.

"Hang on big fella," Otis already stood at the paralyzed Barbarian's side. "We got ya." The Dwarf pulled apart the deadly pinchers still wrapped about Haygen's throat, his steel gauntlets protecting him from the tiny poison stingers. He set his head down gently and listened at his mouth. "He's breathing."

Haygen's hands twitched, then shot straight to his throat. "Yaht! Get 'em off! Get 'em off!"

Otis held his his friend's huge green hands to his side as best he could. "You're alright. You're alright." He drew back from the gaping wound on Haygen's throat from the wicked pinchers, blood pouring from them. "Now, this may hurt a little." He nodded to Wess to assist him. "Hold that hand down. I'll hold this one." The Faeling sat on one hand and Otis the other.

Wess tightened his grip on Haygen's arm. "Here we go."

The healer summoned his power once again a bright light burst from the Half-orc's wound.

"Nyaah!" Haygen screamed and tossed his two vertically challenged companions into the air. "I'll kill it! Where is it?" Icefang was in his hand longing for a taste of centipede blood.

"They're dead, my friend," Kayla broke in and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You're safe." This did little to calm him.

"WESS!" Haygen raged and searched for his new target. He picked up the Faeling by his black tunic, lifted him off his feet and pressed him up against the tunnel wall. His friend's glasses knocked to an awkward angle from the impact.

Now, Wess, having gone through this several times before, let his giant friend blow off some steam.

"Yes...Haygen...I do apologize and it will never...ever happen again," declared the Faeling with the whole group knowing full well it would happen again and soon.

Haygen pushed his face against the tiny Faeling. The Barbarian's words erupted as fierce as Dragon's breath and Wesley Whiteknuckle sat there and took his punishment. "Sharpen my ax for the next ten moons!"

"Yes," said Wess.

"And my spear!"

"Yes, of course."

"And my knife!"

"Yes, Haygen. I...will do that...yes."

A/N - Thank you again for reading!  I look forward to your comments.  Next time we will look into the Tenchi's resting place of the Skull of Dakadihm.  Don't forget to punch that star!