[Adventure] The Seeds of Chaos - Judge Needed

[sblock=rolls]Insight, then Endurance (1d20+11=16, 1d20+4=5) [/sblock]
Ilex hears the sound of battle off in the distance. Just as she starts running, Fhangrim, his girls with Noctua hanging close to her friends also start running. This is working well until Leather and Haaku race past the group (they are the steel against steel of the fight). First Ilex gets bumped to the left managing to catch herself on a pipe, then just as she rights herself and starts moving again she gets bumped to the right, however there is no pipe this time to hang onto and Ilex slides down the side of the tunnel and right back into the muck. Noctua slows waiting for her master to get up. Ilex attempts to scramble to her feet hoping the hefty hooves of the Massive Mage following behind her don't trample her tiny torso to tinder.

"Wait up fellows!" Torqua cries, running as fast as a woman of size can while trying to keep her dress getting dirtier than it was. Whatever was down this tunnel must be important. She stops to help Ilex out of them muck. "C'mon girl, sooner we get this done, sooner we can be out of this place." The supersized Sorceress says, helping the downed Hamadryad off the ground. "I'll treat you to a night at the bathhouse once we're out of here."

Torqua helps Ilex to her feet, making sure not to hoof stomp the poor tinder girl into the muck. However, when the Massive Mage looks at her feminine compatriot, she gets nothing but a glassy-eyed stare as a response.

[sblock=Ilex]
Ilex hears the sound of battle off in the distance. Just as she starts running, Fhangrim, his girls with Noctua hanging close to her friends also start running. This is working well until Leather and Haaku race past the group (they are the steel against steel of the fight). First Ilex gets bumped to the left managing to catch herself on a pipe, then just as she rights herself and starts moving again she gets bumped to the right, however there is no pipe this time to hang onto and Ilex trips on something in the water: The dead body of Noctua! Ilex knew that this is not something that she should ever, ever see...since Noctua was not of this realm, and any severe bodily injury should simply send her back to the realm of the fey once more. Walking over to her best of companions, she kneels at her side. She can see no visible wounds on the owlbear, but it is still and not breathing. While she inspects Noctua, she offhandedly notices that her companions have moved along past her in the tunnels, leaving her there alone. For some reason that doesn't bother her...at least not until she sees a flickering of the lights in the area. Suddenly, the tunnel goes completely dark, and Ilex feels the splash of mucky water as Luna hits the ground. Now panicked, Ilex wonders just what in the world is happening to her companions! She doesn't have but a moment to contemplate this, however, as Ilex feels the floor beneath her give out and she falls....and falls...and falls...into a bottomless pit. Your heart races near to the point of palpitation and give out just before you black out, the anticipation of being dashed against the hard surface of whatever lined the bottom of the pit your last thought before it all went dark. [/sblock]

While Leather and Haaku race past Fhangrim, they, too, notice their large furry companion staring off into nothingness while his three companions attempt to prod him into a wakeful state...

[sblock=Fhangrim]
Fhangrim wasn't accustomed to running through this muck and though the tunnels were plenty wide, with his height, he often had to stop and duck making the exercise even more tiring.

"Maybe it's not worth it girls, what do you say?"

Ursa Major and Ursa Minor respond with a deep-throated growl and they lick their lips hungrily, circling around Fhangrim. The Gnoll ponders the actions of his well-trained and loved pets, wondering why in the world his ladies would do such a thing. The answer to his unspoken question was given when he looked down at his chest...

A bloody gaping hole could be seen where his major organs should have been, and a spectral claw slowly extracted itself back through that hole in his chest, and out of the hole in his back. Fhangrim manages to ask "why?" to his companions just before they descend upon him, eviscerating his flesh and chomping on his innards. You hear the sounds of your old pack mates laughing at you as the world goes black... [/sblock]

[sblock=MP]
Fhangrim and Ilex both gain 6 madness points.

Madness Points totals:

Fhangrim: 6/29
Haaku: 6/22
Torqua: 8/20
Leather: 2/21
Ilex: 16/29

[/sblock]

Seeing Fhangrim stop and slow Leather also slows. Seeing his glassy eyed stare he calls: "Haaku! Minds gone over here! No time for a race!"

Leather apparently had no idea why he was running in the first place and seeing that the game has abruptly ended he tries to aid his companions recovery with a firm slap across the chops.

"Fhangrim! Wake up! You're okay! Fight it, man! Gnoll I mean."

Leather remains tense in case Fhangrim tries to hurt himself and he has to intercede.

"C'mon, girl, wake up!" Torqua says, trying to shake Ilex awake. The wide witch pulls a orange tinted glass bottle for out of her bag and pulls the cork out with her teeth. "Smell this, a rare wine from the burning deserts. Made from exotic fruits and spices most people in this city have never even heard, aged for over a decade." Torqua explains as she waves the open bottle under Ilex's nose. "If this doesn't wake you up, nothing will."

After experiencing more horrors from whatever entity, energy, or otherwise that was attacking their minds, Fhangrim and Ilex are quickly snapped out of their respective deliriums by Leather and Torqua. The sounds of battle die quickly in the tunnel beyond you, ending with a few screams and squeals of pain from humanoid and various animal alike.

A flood of small rats stream by you from the direction of the squeals, obviously in flight from whatever was there.

[sblock=Perception DC 13]

The rats surging past you are wretchedly malformed. Some of them have two heads, quite a few have two tails, and a few of them had as many as eight legs! Something is just not right here...

[sblock=Nature or Arcana DC 19]

Mutations are a natural random occurrence for species with a breeding cycle as quick as the sewer rat, but the sheer number of different mutations shown by this swarm of rats is by no means natural. Something otherworldly is causing these mutations. Which other world is causing these mutations is, however, still a mystery at this time.
[/sblock][/sblock]

"Belly Ache! Dinner time!!" the warrior calls back into the darkness behind him. He heads off down the tunnel towards sounds of the battle, drawing his blade. "So that was why we were running. Next time say something. I thought we were having a race."

From behind the adventurers a cackle of glee can be heard marked by the squealing of rats and the soft crunch of feet stamping on bones.

"Maybe we should pause for a moment to clear our minds." Torqua suggests taking a swig of her wine. "I have no idea who's messing with our heads, but he should be thankful that I'm drowning his voices with wine as fine as this. It would of been worth a fortune unopened, a gift from a desert lord it was. Guess that's my fault for bringing it down here."

The wide witch's ramblings are interupted by a swarm of mutant rats. "Spider Rats?" Torqua cries in disgust, taking a step back. "I hope this Proudman fellow is paying us through the nose for all this."

Leather pauses, waiting for the others to clear their head.

Fhangrim finally snaps out of his waking nightmare. He notices Ursa Minor gently nudging him with her snout. He smiles a wide grin at both of his girls.

"Maybe you're right girls, perhaps a quick snack is in order... Eh but maybe not those rats, they seem a strange breed... strange breed indeed."

Perception (+13) is automatic.
Nature (1d20+11=19)