06-25-2009, 03:50 AM
1)
For a brief instant, he saw her face lit by the faint light, a mask of pale shock, and turned just in time to see the mass of teeth and claws surge through the doorway at them.
Daniel pushed Robin back as the thing lunged at him. A huge talon scraped across his chest, tearing through the red tabard and scoring deep scratches across his borrowed breastplate as it knocked him sideways off the stairway with the force of the blow. A burst of carrion-tainted breath washed over him, a sickening stench of venom and reptilian musk but mostly rotted meat that promised the owner wasn't too picky as to what it ate.
Frantically he rolled as jaws snapped at his legs. The armor may have saved him from being gutted, but it was also getting in his way, making it hard to move with the speed he was used to, speed which he needed right now. He struggled to get to his feet as the jaws snapped at him again, and instead scrambled back crablike until he ran smack into a wall.
The creature lunged-
-and abruptly jerked to a stop, snarling and spraying hungry spittle from its maw.
Daniel finally got a good look at the thing. He'd never seen anything like it before: it was large, about the size of a prize-winning sow, but that's where the similarity ended. It was covered in both scales and tufts of fur with some spikes mixed in for good measure. The head was reptilian with a small crest and powerful jaws that contained a collection of the pointiest teeth he'd ever seen and looked wide enough to swallow his hand and possibly his arm whole. A long powerful tail lashed behind it angrily as it pulled taunt on the chain that bolted it to the nearby doorway and was the only thing keeping it from having Daniel as a late evening snack.
"HEY! OVER HERE!"
The dead torch bounced off the creature's shoulder. It turned its attention away from Daniel and over to the girl on the stairs.
"Robin!" He'd lost track of her during the attack. What's she doing now?
"Just get ready to move!" she shot back. "Hey ugly, up here!" She threw her helmet at it next, nailing it right between the eyes.
The angry monster made a loud snarling hiss and lunged for the stairs.
For a brief instant, he saw her face lit by the faint light, a mask of pale shock, and turned just in time to see the mass of teeth and claws surge through the doorway at them.
Daniel pushed Robin back as the thing lunged at him. A huge talon scraped across his chest, tearing through the red tabard and scoring deep scratches across his borrowed breastplate as it knocked him sideways off the stairway with the force of the blow. A burst of carrion-tainted breath washed over him, a sickening stench of venom and reptilian musk but mostly rotted meat that promised the owner wasn't too picky as to what it ate.
Frantically he rolled as jaws snapped at his legs. The armor may have saved him from being gutted, but it was also getting in his way, making it hard to move with the speed he was used to, speed which he needed right now. He struggled to get to his feet as the jaws snapped at him again, and instead scrambled back crablike until he ran smack into a wall.
The creature lunged-
-and abruptly jerked to a stop, snarling and spraying hungry spittle from its maw.
Daniel finally got a good look at the thing. He'd never seen anything like it before: it was large, about the size of a prize-winning sow, but that's where the similarity ended. It was covered in both scales and tufts of fur with some spikes mixed in for good measure. The head was reptilian with a small crest and powerful jaws that contained a collection of the pointiest teeth he'd ever seen and looked wide enough to swallow his hand and possibly his arm whole. A long powerful tail lashed behind it angrily as it pulled taunt on the chain that bolted it to the nearby doorway and was the only thing keeping it from having Daniel as a late evening snack.
"HEY! OVER HERE!"
The dead torch bounced off the creature's shoulder. It turned its attention away from Daniel and over to the girl on the stairs.
"Robin!" He'd lost track of her during the attack. What's she doing now?
"Just get ready to move!" she shot back. "Hey ugly, up here!" She threw her helmet at it next, nailing it right between the eyes.
The angry monster made a loud snarling hiss and lunged for the stairs.