>>5334550>>5334547…But it is not beyond you!
You open your eyes and… <See> them, in truth! Several of them, hidden by some natural or learned psionic ability and by their camouflaging cloaks and unconventional silhouettes, are now outline din your vision with an ethereal, bluish glow.
>Gained spell: <See Invisibility>There are ten of the spike-men in this chamber with you, several holding slings or throwing-knives perched behind rocks. This includes your three guides, who look at your strangely as they notice the change in your demeanour—or perhaps some physical tell of your magical exertion. None of them seem to be making a move to attack immediately, but you can see how quickly you will be swarmed if negotiations go purely. Your talons flex, almost instinctively, and your tail slaps the ground with its spade-tip.
“Yes, go, I wait,” you attempt to communicate in dwarf-speak. They look at each other, and two of the three who led you here indeed advance into the next chamber or tunnel… To fetch their leader, you presume. Or to prepare for your capture. You guess you’ll see.
With your magically-enhanced vision, you witness the devils move into position behind you… To cut off escape, should you make a break for it. The tension grows. You consider readying a blast of flame, be it from your mouth or a fireball from your Ring of Elemental Command, or assuming your <Augmented Dragonshape> just to keep them in-check…
But then, you hear deliberately-conspicuous footsteps, and turn back to see your two guides returning… And behind them, a leaner, taller example of their kind—nearly as tall as you. His spikes are pronounced, almost look deliberately cut away or styled to create an asymmetrical grown pattern, and thus to accommodate a pauldron and chestplate. He wears the robes of his fellows, but with his sneering, long-nosed, wide-mouthed face exposed—this, too, is framed by spikes, albeit smaller and thinner ones more resembling hair such as the ape-men of the surface can grow. Around one arm, he has repeatedly wrapped a spiked chain. In his other… He holds no weapon, unlike any other of his kind in this assembly. Is the chain weapon enough? Or is he… Yes, right, your vision implied something magical about him. A spellcaster?
“You, killer,” he says, in… By the Dark Gods, is that ACTUALLY a form of elf-tongue? “You understand me?”
