Repeat

After a bit of traveling, Bosco has just collapsed on the floor of the cavern.

Bosco: Hurts...stomach...
Belphanior: (glances at Ged) We need to kill him now.
Ged: What?!?
Belphanior: You know what's going to happen...all of you do. He at least deserves our mercy.
Peldor: You're insane!
Otto: No, he's right. It's the only possible way-
Peldor: (steps between them and the flagellating Bosco) No.
Songa: But-
Bosco: AieeeeEEEEEEE-

The debate over the possible courses of action was cut short by the fountain of bright red blood that jetted from Bosco's stomach. This blast was followed by the appearance of a small, monstrous head, whose emergence sprayed entrails and bits of bone all about.

tiny monster: (emerges, its slick, fanged head craning around to regard the people surrounding it) Screeeee!







Peldor: (wide-eyed, he stares at the thing)
Belphanior: Dammit-
Otto: (his crossbow already ready, as it was when Bosco first started showing signs of distress, he aims and fires)

The dwarf's bolt hit the grotesque little monster directly in its toothy face, knocking it back away from Bosco.

Arnold: (deftly sidesteps the twitching body, whose tail whips about wildly) Aaa.
Otto: Watch the acid.
Arnold: (looks on as the dying creature's white blood bubbles and sizzles its way into the cavern's floor) Good shot.
Ged: Is it dead?
Arnold: (scrutinizing the thing, he kicks it carefully) Yah.
Peldor: (still in shock, he stares at Bosco's eviscerated corpse)
Gorin: (shaking his head) Bosco...
Belphanior: We should have put him out of his misery before this happened.
Ged: Now just you wait-

The fully-grown monster that had been following and waiting above, clinging to the ceiling, chose this moment to strike.

monster: (drops to the floor of the tunnel, directly behind the bulky armored form of Arnold) Sssssss!
Arnold: Aaa? (he whirls)

The weird foe had the element of surprise, as well as alarming speed. Its glistening dark talons raked across Arnold's plate mail, digging furrows in the metal and causing a terrible scraping sound.

Arnold: Aaa! (he swings his sword around, a reflexive self-defense action more than anything else)

The angle of the barbarian's attack was a weak one, but his great strength powered the weapon's course as it sliced the monster from shoulder to hip, crosswise. The wound wasn't enough to cut the foe in half, but it was deep.

monster: Screeeee! (it staggers back as great gouts of yellowish-white acid spray forth)
Arnold: (doused with the acidic blood) AAAAAARGH! (he begins to melt away, accompanied by a great deal of fumes and a terrible smell)
Gorin: Arnold! (being closest to all of this, which has taken only a few moments to transpire, he charges, axe held high) You'll die for that, beast!

The creature turned to intercept, then changed its mind and tried to evade the heavy axe. However, its wound slowed it, and Gorin's weapon bit deeply into its leg. The young dwarf was ready for the acid, too, stepping aside as he wrenched his weapon free.

Gorin: (notes the hissing and bubbling which is eating his axe-head away) Dammit...
monster: (lunges forward, a seven-foot flurry of claws and acid) Hssssss!
Gorin: Whoa-

The dwarf went down under the foe's attack, just as a blast of flame from Belphanior's wand singed its back. A moment later, Otto's crossbow bolt buried itself in the thing's head. Gorin, however, was screaming and yelling as he wrestled with the acid-dripping opponent.

Ged: For Boccob! (he launches a Color Spray at them both)

The array of colored beams didn't seem to affect the thing, though it did stand suddenly, apparently contemplating its next move. That option, however, was taken away by Peldor.

Peldor: (using his TK ring, he picks up the monster, moving it about thirty feet away, and slams it against a wall) Die. (he slams it again) Die!
monster: (flailing in place, acidic blood dripping from its wounds and burning small pits in the walls and floor) Ssssss!
Peldor: Bastard... (he slams it into the wall yet again)
Alindyar: Allow me. (he launches a Burning Hands, which engulfs the thing in its fiery blast)
monster: (still screeching, a weird and disturbing sound)
Belphanior: Allow me. (he conjures up a fireball, which incinerates the thing and fills the next few hundred feet of the passage with flames)

This time, there was no doubt: the charred husk of the creature lay there, smoking...dead. But the price paid was a high one, and now the adventurers numbered eight.