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Story Hour
Jodo Kast's Savage Tidings (Updated July 9, 2007)
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<blockquote data-quote="Jodo Kast" data-source="post: 3396557" data-attributes="member: 4810"><p><strong>Monster on the Loose</strong></p><p></p><p>Rubbumba raced to Zhandlegarrii's side. She spread her arms, expecting an embrace, but instead Rubb's nimble hands went about the work of buttoning Zhandle's blouse. "There there, darling -- can't be fighting pirates looking like a floozy. That's much better." Zhandle's cheeks blazed red.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Johari pulled the crossbow bolt out of her shoulder, her jaw clenched against the pain. She mumbled some exotic sounding words and a green aura appeared around her hand, healing her wound. Jouko stood alert, spinning his chain in a tight vertical loop.</p><p></p><p>The door beneath the quarterdeck flew open forcefully, and two more thugs stepped out onto the main deck, rapiers at the ready. Zhandle screamed and pointed furiously at the men. This sent Rubb into a screaming fit of his own. His scream rose as, eyes wide with terror, he charged at the thugs. For their part, the men clearly did not expect to be met by a shrieking halfling rushing their way. Rubb buried his short sword in the thigh of one of the men, and for an instant the two stood there, eyes locked, screaming at one another in terror and surprise.</p><p></p><p>Johari sheathed her scimitar and began casting in a strange tongue. She held her open hand before her, and flames as bright as a torch sprang from her palm. She stepped forward slowly, sizing up the uninjured thug.</p><p></p><p>Jouko sent his spiked chain whirling overhead as he surged across the deck. "We be here for Vark lads, ye best get over the side lest yer skulls get crushed!" Jouko stopped short of the melee, chain at the ready, and waited for either of the thugs to make a false move. The thug that Rubb had veritably skewered pulled free of the halfling's small blade and made a desperate break for the stair leading to the quarterdeck. Jouko's chain lashed out, seeking the man's fleeing legs. The thug managed to stop in his tracks, tumbling out of the chain's path ... and right back into Rubb's stabbing sword. The thug slumped onto the deck, fatally wounded. Rubb's scream continued, but transitioned from terror to triumph.</p><p></p><p>The remaining thug lunged at Johari with his rapier. She skillfully pushed the attack aside with her long wicker shield. Just then, however, two more combatants emerged from the door beneath the quarterdeck. Jouko immediately recognized one of them, a bald man with a jagged scar running the length of one arm, as Soller Vark. The other was a dangerous looking woman. Both stepped into the fray. The woman's flashing rapier cut a gash across Jouko's chest!</p><p></p><p>Zhandlegarrii cried for Rubbumba to look out. Then, instinctively, she sputtered an arcane spell, sending a mystic bolt into the melee. The magic missle struck the woman, and she whipped her head around to glare at the little wizard.</p><p></p><p>"My beloved, stay back! Stay hidden, dear!" cried Rubbumba. He stepped between his wife and the vicious woman, jabbing his short sword up and into her gut. The woman's eyes flew wide, her rapier clattered uselessly to the deck, and her hands grasped the halfling's bloody blade. She sank to her knees, and then toppled over backwards.</p><p></p><p>"Ketrana! No!" Vark lashed out at Rubb. The halfling tried to duck under the brute's rapier, but the blade traced a bloody line across Rubb's bald forehead. It was a glancing blow, but the rage smoldering in Vark's eyes promised that the next strike would be lethal.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Johari struck at the other remaining thug with her open palm. The blow hit the man squarely on the chin, and the mystical flame in her hand seared his upper chest and face. "Ye should have taken the swim when you had the chance, lad. Now I've no course but to crush yer skull," Jouko lamented. He sent his spiked chain whistling in a low arc at the sailor's legs, tripping him to the deck. Snakelike, the chain snapped out again, fulfilling Jouko's grim promise and shattering the thug's face. The man's legs twitched for an instant, and then he lay still.</p><p></p><p>Mindless of Soller Vark, Zhandle raced to Rubb's side. As she arrived, her face turned pale and she retched violently at Vark's feet. Disgusted, Vark called out an order. "Burn them, Mera! Burn them all! The prisoner, too!"</p><p></p><p>One of Rubbumba's eyebrows arched skyward. "Prisoner?"</p><p></p><p>************************************************************************************</p><p></p><p>Gauruloc Au'Nast had booked passage on the Darkmaiden's Dance largely by chance. The vessel was sailing out of Port Joli in the Hold of the Sea Princes, bound for an exotic southern port called Sasserine across Jeklea Bay. Surrounded by the sea, vast cliffs, steaming swamps, and jungle, Sasserine sounded like the kind of place where Gauruloc might put his past behind him and start anew. He managed to buy his way onto the ship at the last instant, just before the Darkmaiden's Dance sailed out. During the voyage, most of the crew kept their distance -- not that the laconic half-orc minded. Gauruloc did, however, have some conversations with a disreputable sailor named Jouko. Gauruloc enjoyed listening to the coarse seaman spill yarn after yarn about his home port of Sasserine. If his tales were true, it was a rough city in a savage land, with but a thin veneer of civilization. Sasserine promised to be a place suited to both the human and orc sides of Gauruloc's nature.</p><p></p><p>The night before arriving in Sasserine, Gauruloc had the most vivid, haunting dream of his life. Disjointed images flashed through his sleeping mind:</p><p></p><p>An attractive human woman in a long, flowing blue dress and a handsome young man with a short beard stand against a crest featuring swords crossed to form a stylized "V."</p><p></p><p>Jungles, coastlines, glimpses of strange, exotic creatures -- some small and fast, some lumbering and huge, some winged, some with heavy natural armor, and others with cruel teeth the size of swords.</p><p></p><p>Most haunting, an enormous, vaguely reptilian creature with a somewhat humanoid form. Two baboon heads sprout from its twin snake-like necks, and its arms end in long tentacles. The tentacles of one arm hold an ebon pearl. The baboon heads cackle for a moment, and then the pearl explodes, engulfing everything in inky blackness.</p><p></p><p>Gauruloc awoke covered in sweat. He felt a dark power not unlike that which emanated from the caves beneath the Black Ram complex -- the kind of tainted, sentient power he had felt in the presence of Orcus, yet distinctly dissimilar. Gauruloc tried to forget the dream, but he was instantly reminded of it upon arriving in Sasserine. There in the harbor, he spotted a vessel flying under the very crest he had seen in his dreams. The vessel was called the Blue Nixie. Gauruloc felt compelled to investigate. When he approached the ship with questions, he was invited aboard. Before long, however, he was waylaid by a pack of vicious thugs. Gauruloc's sword drank deeply of the blood of two of the men, but their numbers eventually overwhelmed him. Their captain, a brute named Soller Vark, ordered the half-orc caged in the ship's hold. "Keep him alive," he hissed, "for when the Rhagodessa grows hungry. She takes her dinner warm and wriggling." The thugs moved the ship a short distance from the dock, hoping to avoid more questions and prying eyes.</p><p></p><p>************************************************************************************</p><p></p><p>Terrified that Zhandle was so close to such a dangerous enemy, Rubb attempted a dangerous maneuver. He broke from the melee, drawing Soller Vark's attention. Vark sliced downward with his rapier, but Rubb nimbly sidestepped and made for the stair. Racing across the quarterdeck, he leapt down at Vark, swinging his little sword wildly. Vark parried away the ineffectual attack, and attempted to skewer the halfling while he was in midair. His rapier narrowly missed, and Rubb landed at Vark's feet -- precisely where he had stood prior to his desperate gambit!</p><p></p><p>Billowing smoke and the sound of shrieking monkeys and parrots welled up from the hold below. An instant later, Jouko, Rubb and Zhandle heard the sound of a terrific crash, followed by a woman's high-pitched scream and a strange, shrill keening. Johari cried out: "No, not the animals!" She turned away from the melee on the main deck and raced for the ship's hold, the magic flame still burning in her hand.</p><p></p><p>His chain whirling above his head, Jouko grimly measured Soller Vark. "Vark, let's be talkin' about the Lady Vanderboren's purse." Jouku suddenly snapped the chain out, and it wrapped about Vark's rapier. With a flick of his wrist, Jouko snatched the rapier from Vark's hand, and it fell to the deck at the brute's feet. Zhandle, done retching, saw the sword fall nearby. Before Vark could react, she snatched the weapon and darted away.</p><p></p><p>Vark spat a curse and raised his hands above his head, palms open -- a clear plea for mercy. "Ye have me, now name yer price. Ye can have yer lady's purse."</p><p></p><p>************************************************************************************</p><p></p><p>Gauruloc awoke to a cry of alarm from above -- "All hand adeck, we've been boarded!" Groggy and weakened, he lifted his head and looked about, all too quickly remembering his dire circumstances. He lay on the hay-strewn floor of a cage barely large enough to accomodate him. A variety of monkeys, parrots and other animals occupied smaller cages. A very large cage nearby was occupied by a monstrous inhabitant -- a horrific spider-like creature roughly the size of a pony. The creature's body was dark brown with yellow stripes, its furred legs long and spindly. The monster's head was horrifically oversized, dominated by immense mandibles that chattered and clacked with obvious hunger. Gauruloc had heard his captors call the beast a "rhagodessa" -- right before they threw him into the cage, keeping him alive to feed the monster when it grew hungry. Gauruloc saw one of his captors nearby, a rough woman called Mera. She looked up the ladder leading to the ship's main deck, considering whether to answer the alarm -- but then, remembering her charge to guard the half-orc, she stood her ground and waited.</p><p></p><p>Gauruloc rose and grasped the bars of his cage as the sounds of pitched combat filtered down from above. He had no idea what was going on, but he had no plans to end up as food for a caged monster. He silently swore to Corellon Larethian, whom he called Sharp-Ears, that given the chance he would show the elf-god that he was a truly worthy warrior. This time, there would be no capture. Gauruloc would triumph -- or die.</p><p></p><p>Gauruloc heard a voice he recognized as Soller Vark call from above. "Burn them, Mera! Burn them all! The prisoner too!" Mera quickly set to lighting the animal cages with a torch, keeping one wary eye on Gauruloc as she went about the task. The smoke riled the animals, and the monkeys and parrots began shrieking wildly and throwing themselves against their cages. Suddenly, the rhagodessa hurled itself against the walls of its cage, causing the cage to crash to its side and the poorly latched door to fly open! The monster was upon Mera in a heartbeat. The front pair of the monster's ten legs reared up threateningly, their tips flattening into terrible discs studded with dozens of hooked suckers. It grabbed Mera, clutching her in its front legs and rending her body with one bite of its powerful mandibles. The beast shook its massive head, and the lower half of Mera's body took flight, slamming against the bars of Gauruloc's cage. As the monster went about devouring Mera's torso, Gauruloc noticed several keys dangling from Mera's rope belt, just outside his cage!</p><p></p><p>Gauruloc snatched the keys, and fumbled with them for an instant before finding the lock on the outside of his cage. He turned a key, and the lock was released. He was loose, but the rhagodessa stood between him and freedom. His eyes cast about, looking for his sword and shield. He could not see his own arms, but noticed Mera's thin rapier lying nearby.</p><p></p><p>At that moment, Johari dropped down into the ship's hold from above, landing crouched with her shield at the ready. The rhagodessa's head whipped around to face her. "Run, you useless cow!" Gauruloc bellowed.</p><p></p><p>Before Johari could react, the monster sprang at her, seizing her in its pedipalps. It attempted to deliver a crushing bite, but the druidess managed to wedge her shield into its beak. The rhagodessa's mandibles splintered the wicker shield. Johari screamed, but for the moment managed to keep the creature's snapping beak at bay with the mystic flame burning in her palm. Gauruloc knew, however, that she wouldn't last long in the monster's grasp.</p><p></p><p>Hearing Johari's scream, Jouko caught Rubb's eye. "Keep an eye on Vark, wee one." Jouko then raced away, leaving Rubb to guard the brute. Encouraged by his victories in battle, Rubb waggled his blade at the thug and tried to look menacing. Vark chuckled quietly, waiting for his chance. He would not have to wait long.</p><p></p><p>Below deck, Gauruloc went on the offensive. "Behold, spider-thing," roared the half-orc. "You are not the most savage creation on this accursed boat!" Gauruloc leapt at the monster, seizing its pedipalps. The rhagodessa struggled mightily, and Gauruloc was unable to maintain a hold on the creature. However, the attack did succeed in causing the monster to drop Johari, and it focused on this new prey. It reared, grappling Gauruloc in its pedipalps. The beast's mandibles snapped shut, squeezing the breath from the half-orc's chest!</p><p></p><p>Just then Jouko jumped down into the hold from above, landing on the creature's back and holding on as the monster reared up furiously. "Ahoy, mate!" Jouko called breathlessly to Gauruloc as they struggled with the rhagodessa.</p><p></p><p>On the main deck, Zhandlegarrii stumbled to the open door leading down into the hold, and promptly became violently ill. As she retched out the last of her stomach contents onto the combatants below, she spotted the rhagodessa. "Ack! Bug!" she shrieked. In her panic, she threw Vark's rapier at the beast. The blade clattered harmlessly to the bottom of the ladder. Zhandle jumped up and down, screaming incoherently, "Bugbugbugbugbugbugbiguglybug!"</p><p></p><p>Soller Vark took the opportunity to break for the side of the ship. Rubb managed to wound him with his sword, but it was not enough to prevent the brute's escape. Vark dove off the Nixie and into the warm waters of the harbor, swimming rapidly toward the dock.</p><p></p><p>Back in the hold, the beast attempted to finish Gauruloc, but the half-orc grabbed one of its mandibles in each hand and fought against the crushing jaw. He knew he could not hold the monster off much longer. His chest burned, and he was beginning to grow dizzy. Better to die in combat with the monster, he thought, than to become its helpless meal.</p><p></p><p>Jouko was thrown from the writhing monster's back, but landed cleanly on his feet. In one fluid motion he stepped back from the thrashing beast and launched his spiked chain in an overhead arc. The chain struck home with a meaty crunch, and the monster let out a keening roar of pain.</p><p></p><p>Rubbumba's voice called down from above. "Johari! Save yourself ... take my hand!" The druidess looked up to see the halfling, lying prone at the top of the ladder and stretching his arm as far down into the hold as he could reach. Johari looked up at Rubb just long enough for him to see the grim determination in her eyes. Without response, she thrust herself back into the fray, striking the creature with her flaming fist and causing another monstrous cry.</p><p></p><p>Gauruloc seized the opportunity, forcing the beast's mandibles apart with all his might. Then, before the jaw could snap shut, he ripped away from the rhagodessa's pedipalps, the tiny hooks and suckers that the beast used to clutch its prey tearing at his flesh. Gauruloc stepped back, screaming, "My SWORD! WHERE IS MY BLASTED SWORD?!!?"</p><p></p><p>Zhandle attempted to overcome her initial panic at the sight of the horrible bug-thing. Her breath coming in hitches, she finally spat out the words to an arcane spell. The attempt to daze the monster failed, however, and Zhandle nearly swooned with terror.</p><p></p><p>The rhagodessa once again grasped Johari in its clutches. This time, she had no shield to hold off its slavering mandibles. Its jaw snapped shut, rending flesh, crunching bone. The druidess fell limp in the monster's grasp.</p><p></p><p>Jouko stepped backward, swinging his chain overhead in slow circles. With startling quickness, the chain lashed out at the spiders head. Unfortunately, the attack glanced harmlessly off its tough carapace. Meanwhile, Rubb attempted to come to Johari's aid, flipping himself dramatically down into the hold. He failed to completely tuck one of his legs, however, and clipped the ladder on the way down. He landed prone on the floor -- beneath the monster's deadly maw!</p><p></p><p>"Sharp-Ears," Gauruloc grumbled, "heal my wounds." Divine energy coursed through Gauruloc's veins, mending cracked ribs and filling his lungs with air. Cursing, he grabbed up Mera's rapier. "The dead waif's toothpick will have to do."</p><p></p><p>Zhandle, fighting off another bout of nausea, choked out another spell, and pelted the rhagodessa with a ray of frost. It wasn't enough to distract the beast -- the rhagodessa seized Rubb in its pedipalps and pulled him towards its waiting mandibles. The creature then bit poor Rubb, shaking him like a ragdoll and hurling him away, unconscious.</p><p></p><p>Gauruloc charged recklessly at the monster, but unaccustomed to such a flimsy, contemptible weapon as Mera's rapier, his attack failed. Zhandle, horrified and enraged by Rubb's grievous wound, hammered the beast with another ray of frost, freezing the lowest segment of one of its spindly legs. The leg then broke off at the joint. Undeterred, the monster attempted to grapple Gauruloc once more, but the half-orc was able to fight off its bristling pedipalps.</p><p></p><p>Jouko shifted to his right and sent his chain whirling at the spider in a vicious downward arc. The chain wrapped about the rhagodessa's neck. Jouko pulled with all his might, snapping the beast's neck. The monster's oversized head hovered near Gauruloc for an instant before crashing to the deck with a gruesome crunch. The rest of its body collapsed an instant later, as if an afterthought.</p><p></p><p>Gauruloc quickly surveyed the carnage. It was apparent that the broken and bloodied druid was beyond even Sharp-Ear's aid. The half-orc immediately turned his attention to the wounded halfling. "Sharp-Ear, I demand that you fill this little one with vigor!" Again divine energy coursed through Gauruloc's mighty limbs, and he laid his hand upon Rubbumba. Color returned to the halfling almost instantly, and his condition began to stabilize. After a moment he blinked his eyes and looked about.</p><p></p><p>"Rubb!" Zhandle cried, throwing her arms around her husband. In her nauseous, trembling, asthmatic state, it had taken her a long moment to climb down the vomit and ichor encrusted ladder. Rubbumba looked over Zhandle's shoulder, down at the corpse of the monster on the floor.</p><p></p><p>"I -- I did it! I killed it!" He puffed out his chest for an instant, but his bravado vanished when he saw Johari's shattered body next to the rhagodessa. As if by unspoken agreement, Rubb, Zhandle and Jouko spent a long, quiet moment staring at their vanquished companion. Gauruloc finally broke the silence.</p><p></p><p>"Did any of you see a sword?" he grumbled, tossing down Mera's rapier with disdain. "A <em>real</em> sword?"</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jodo Kast, post: 3396557, member: 4810"] [b]Monster on the Loose[/b] Rubbumba raced to Zhandlegarrii's side. She spread her arms, expecting an embrace, but instead Rubb's nimble hands went about the work of buttoning Zhandle's blouse. "There there, darling -- can't be fighting pirates looking like a floozy. That's much better." Zhandle's cheeks blazed red. Meanwhile, Johari pulled the crossbow bolt out of her shoulder, her jaw clenched against the pain. She mumbled some exotic sounding words and a green aura appeared around her hand, healing her wound. Jouko stood alert, spinning his chain in a tight vertical loop. The door beneath the quarterdeck flew open forcefully, and two more thugs stepped out onto the main deck, rapiers at the ready. Zhandle screamed and pointed furiously at the men. This sent Rubb into a screaming fit of his own. His scream rose as, eyes wide with terror, he charged at the thugs. For their part, the men clearly did not expect to be met by a shrieking halfling rushing their way. Rubb buried his short sword in the thigh of one of the men, and for an instant the two stood there, eyes locked, screaming at one another in terror and surprise. Johari sheathed her scimitar and began casting in a strange tongue. She held her open hand before her, and flames as bright as a torch sprang from her palm. She stepped forward slowly, sizing up the uninjured thug. Jouko sent his spiked chain whirling overhead as he surged across the deck. "We be here for Vark lads, ye best get over the side lest yer skulls get crushed!" Jouko stopped short of the melee, chain at the ready, and waited for either of the thugs to make a false move. The thug that Rubb had veritably skewered pulled free of the halfling's small blade and made a desperate break for the stair leading to the quarterdeck. Jouko's chain lashed out, seeking the man's fleeing legs. The thug managed to stop in his tracks, tumbling out of the chain's path ... and right back into Rubb's stabbing sword. The thug slumped onto the deck, fatally wounded. Rubb's scream continued, but transitioned from terror to triumph. The remaining thug lunged at Johari with his rapier. She skillfully pushed the attack aside with her long wicker shield. Just then, however, two more combatants emerged from the door beneath the quarterdeck. Jouko immediately recognized one of them, a bald man with a jagged scar running the length of one arm, as Soller Vark. The other was a dangerous looking woman. Both stepped into the fray. The woman's flashing rapier cut a gash across Jouko's chest! Zhandlegarrii cried for Rubbumba to look out. Then, instinctively, she sputtered an arcane spell, sending a mystic bolt into the melee. The magic missle struck the woman, and she whipped her head around to glare at the little wizard. "My beloved, stay back! Stay hidden, dear!" cried Rubbumba. He stepped between his wife and the vicious woman, jabbing his short sword up and into her gut. The woman's eyes flew wide, her rapier clattered uselessly to the deck, and her hands grasped the halfling's bloody blade. She sank to her knees, and then toppled over backwards. "Ketrana! No!" Vark lashed out at Rubb. The halfling tried to duck under the brute's rapier, but the blade traced a bloody line across Rubb's bald forehead. It was a glancing blow, but the rage smoldering in Vark's eyes promised that the next strike would be lethal. Meanwhile, Johari struck at the other remaining thug with her open palm. The blow hit the man squarely on the chin, and the mystical flame in her hand seared his upper chest and face. "Ye should have taken the swim when you had the chance, lad. Now I've no course but to crush yer skull," Jouko lamented. He sent his spiked chain whistling in a low arc at the sailor's legs, tripping him to the deck. Snakelike, the chain snapped out again, fulfilling Jouko's grim promise and shattering the thug's face. The man's legs twitched for an instant, and then he lay still. Mindless of Soller Vark, Zhandle raced to Rubb's side. As she arrived, her face turned pale and she retched violently at Vark's feet. Disgusted, Vark called out an order. "Burn them, Mera! Burn them all! The prisoner, too!" One of Rubbumba's eyebrows arched skyward. "Prisoner?" ************************************************************************************ Gauruloc Au'Nast had booked passage on the Darkmaiden's Dance largely by chance. The vessel was sailing out of Port Joli in the Hold of the Sea Princes, bound for an exotic southern port called Sasserine across Jeklea Bay. Surrounded by the sea, vast cliffs, steaming swamps, and jungle, Sasserine sounded like the kind of place where Gauruloc might put his past behind him and start anew. He managed to buy his way onto the ship at the last instant, just before the Darkmaiden's Dance sailed out. During the voyage, most of the crew kept their distance -- not that the laconic half-orc minded. Gauruloc did, however, have some conversations with a disreputable sailor named Jouko. Gauruloc enjoyed listening to the coarse seaman spill yarn after yarn about his home port of Sasserine. If his tales were true, it was a rough city in a savage land, with but a thin veneer of civilization. Sasserine promised to be a place suited to both the human and orc sides of Gauruloc's nature. The night before arriving in Sasserine, Gauruloc had the most vivid, haunting dream of his life. Disjointed images flashed through his sleeping mind: An attractive human woman in a long, flowing blue dress and a handsome young man with a short beard stand against a crest featuring swords crossed to form a stylized "V." Jungles, coastlines, glimpses of strange, exotic creatures -- some small and fast, some lumbering and huge, some winged, some with heavy natural armor, and others with cruel teeth the size of swords. Most haunting, an enormous, vaguely reptilian creature with a somewhat humanoid form. Two baboon heads sprout from its twin snake-like necks, and its arms end in long tentacles. The tentacles of one arm hold an ebon pearl. The baboon heads cackle for a moment, and then the pearl explodes, engulfing everything in inky blackness. Gauruloc awoke covered in sweat. He felt a dark power not unlike that which emanated from the caves beneath the Black Ram complex -- the kind of tainted, sentient power he had felt in the presence of Orcus, yet distinctly dissimilar. Gauruloc tried to forget the dream, but he was instantly reminded of it upon arriving in Sasserine. There in the harbor, he spotted a vessel flying under the very crest he had seen in his dreams. The vessel was called the Blue Nixie. Gauruloc felt compelled to investigate. When he approached the ship with questions, he was invited aboard. Before long, however, he was waylaid by a pack of vicious thugs. Gauruloc's sword drank deeply of the blood of two of the men, but their numbers eventually overwhelmed him. Their captain, a brute named Soller Vark, ordered the half-orc caged in the ship's hold. "Keep him alive," he hissed, "for when the Rhagodessa grows hungry. She takes her dinner warm and wriggling." The thugs moved the ship a short distance from the dock, hoping to avoid more questions and prying eyes. ************************************************************************************ Terrified that Zhandle was so close to such a dangerous enemy, Rubb attempted a dangerous maneuver. He broke from the melee, drawing Soller Vark's attention. Vark sliced downward with his rapier, but Rubb nimbly sidestepped and made for the stair. Racing across the quarterdeck, he leapt down at Vark, swinging his little sword wildly. Vark parried away the ineffectual attack, and attempted to skewer the halfling while he was in midair. His rapier narrowly missed, and Rubb landed at Vark's feet -- precisely where he had stood prior to his desperate gambit! Billowing smoke and the sound of shrieking monkeys and parrots welled up from the hold below. An instant later, Jouko, Rubb and Zhandle heard the sound of a terrific crash, followed by a woman's high-pitched scream and a strange, shrill keening. Johari cried out: "No, not the animals!" She turned away from the melee on the main deck and raced for the ship's hold, the magic flame still burning in her hand. His chain whirling above his head, Jouko grimly measured Soller Vark. "Vark, let's be talkin' about the Lady Vanderboren's purse." Jouku suddenly snapped the chain out, and it wrapped about Vark's rapier. With a flick of his wrist, Jouko snatched the rapier from Vark's hand, and it fell to the deck at the brute's feet. Zhandle, done retching, saw the sword fall nearby. Before Vark could react, she snatched the weapon and darted away. Vark spat a curse and raised his hands above his head, palms open -- a clear plea for mercy. "Ye have me, now name yer price. Ye can have yer lady's purse." ************************************************************************************ Gauruloc awoke to a cry of alarm from above -- "All hand adeck, we've been boarded!" Groggy and weakened, he lifted his head and looked about, all too quickly remembering his dire circumstances. He lay on the hay-strewn floor of a cage barely large enough to accomodate him. A variety of monkeys, parrots and other animals occupied smaller cages. A very large cage nearby was occupied by a monstrous inhabitant -- a horrific spider-like creature roughly the size of a pony. The creature's body was dark brown with yellow stripes, its furred legs long and spindly. The monster's head was horrifically oversized, dominated by immense mandibles that chattered and clacked with obvious hunger. Gauruloc had heard his captors call the beast a "rhagodessa" -- right before they threw him into the cage, keeping him alive to feed the monster when it grew hungry. Gauruloc saw one of his captors nearby, a rough woman called Mera. She looked up the ladder leading to the ship's main deck, considering whether to answer the alarm -- but then, remembering her charge to guard the half-orc, she stood her ground and waited. Gauruloc rose and grasped the bars of his cage as the sounds of pitched combat filtered down from above. He had no idea what was going on, but he had no plans to end up as food for a caged monster. He silently swore to Corellon Larethian, whom he called Sharp-Ears, that given the chance he would show the elf-god that he was a truly worthy warrior. This time, there would be no capture. Gauruloc would triumph -- or die. Gauruloc heard a voice he recognized as Soller Vark call from above. "Burn them, Mera! Burn them all! The prisoner too!" Mera quickly set to lighting the animal cages with a torch, keeping one wary eye on Gauruloc as she went about the task. The smoke riled the animals, and the monkeys and parrots began shrieking wildly and throwing themselves against their cages. Suddenly, the rhagodessa hurled itself against the walls of its cage, causing the cage to crash to its side and the poorly latched door to fly open! The monster was upon Mera in a heartbeat. The front pair of the monster's ten legs reared up threateningly, their tips flattening into terrible discs studded with dozens of hooked suckers. It grabbed Mera, clutching her in its front legs and rending her body with one bite of its powerful mandibles. The beast shook its massive head, and the lower half of Mera's body took flight, slamming against the bars of Gauruloc's cage. As the monster went about devouring Mera's torso, Gauruloc noticed several keys dangling from Mera's rope belt, just outside his cage! Gauruloc snatched the keys, and fumbled with them for an instant before finding the lock on the outside of his cage. He turned a key, and the lock was released. He was loose, but the rhagodessa stood between him and freedom. His eyes cast about, looking for his sword and shield. He could not see his own arms, but noticed Mera's thin rapier lying nearby. At that moment, Johari dropped down into the ship's hold from above, landing crouched with her shield at the ready. The rhagodessa's head whipped around to face her. "Run, you useless cow!" Gauruloc bellowed. Before Johari could react, the monster sprang at her, seizing her in its pedipalps. It attempted to deliver a crushing bite, but the druidess managed to wedge her shield into its beak. The rhagodessa's mandibles splintered the wicker shield. Johari screamed, but for the moment managed to keep the creature's snapping beak at bay with the mystic flame burning in her palm. Gauruloc knew, however, that she wouldn't last long in the monster's grasp. Hearing Johari's scream, Jouko caught Rubb's eye. "Keep an eye on Vark, wee one." Jouko then raced away, leaving Rubb to guard the brute. Encouraged by his victories in battle, Rubb waggled his blade at the thug and tried to look menacing. Vark chuckled quietly, waiting for his chance. He would not have to wait long. Below deck, Gauruloc went on the offensive. "Behold, spider-thing," roared the half-orc. "You are not the most savage creation on this accursed boat!" Gauruloc leapt at the monster, seizing its pedipalps. The rhagodessa struggled mightily, and Gauruloc was unable to maintain a hold on the creature. However, the attack did succeed in causing the monster to drop Johari, and it focused on this new prey. It reared, grappling Gauruloc in its pedipalps. The beast's mandibles snapped shut, squeezing the breath from the half-orc's chest! Just then Jouko jumped down into the hold from above, landing on the creature's back and holding on as the monster reared up furiously. "Ahoy, mate!" Jouko called breathlessly to Gauruloc as they struggled with the rhagodessa. On the main deck, Zhandlegarrii stumbled to the open door leading down into the hold, and promptly became violently ill. As she retched out the last of her stomach contents onto the combatants below, she spotted the rhagodessa. "Ack! Bug!" she shrieked. In her panic, she threw Vark's rapier at the beast. The blade clattered harmlessly to the bottom of the ladder. Zhandle jumped up and down, screaming incoherently, "Bugbugbugbugbugbugbiguglybug!" Soller Vark took the opportunity to break for the side of the ship. Rubb managed to wound him with his sword, but it was not enough to prevent the brute's escape. Vark dove off the Nixie and into the warm waters of the harbor, swimming rapidly toward the dock. Back in the hold, the beast attempted to finish Gauruloc, but the half-orc grabbed one of its mandibles in each hand and fought against the crushing jaw. He knew he could not hold the monster off much longer. His chest burned, and he was beginning to grow dizzy. Better to die in combat with the monster, he thought, than to become its helpless meal. Jouko was thrown from the writhing monster's back, but landed cleanly on his feet. In one fluid motion he stepped back from the thrashing beast and launched his spiked chain in an overhead arc. The chain struck home with a meaty crunch, and the monster let out a keening roar of pain. Rubbumba's voice called down from above. "Johari! Save yourself ... take my hand!" The druidess looked up to see the halfling, lying prone at the top of the ladder and stretching his arm as far down into the hold as he could reach. Johari looked up at Rubb just long enough for him to see the grim determination in her eyes. Without response, she thrust herself back into the fray, striking the creature with her flaming fist and causing another monstrous cry. Gauruloc seized the opportunity, forcing the beast's mandibles apart with all his might. Then, before the jaw could snap shut, he ripped away from the rhagodessa's pedipalps, the tiny hooks and suckers that the beast used to clutch its prey tearing at his flesh. Gauruloc stepped back, screaming, "My SWORD! WHERE IS MY BLASTED SWORD?!!?" Zhandle attempted to overcome her initial panic at the sight of the horrible bug-thing. Her breath coming in hitches, she finally spat out the words to an arcane spell. The attempt to daze the monster failed, however, and Zhandle nearly swooned with terror. The rhagodessa once again grasped Johari in its clutches. This time, she had no shield to hold off its slavering mandibles. Its jaw snapped shut, rending flesh, crunching bone. The druidess fell limp in the monster's grasp. Jouko stepped backward, swinging his chain overhead in slow circles. With startling quickness, the chain lashed out at the spiders head. Unfortunately, the attack glanced harmlessly off its tough carapace. Meanwhile, Rubb attempted to come to Johari's aid, flipping himself dramatically down into the hold. He failed to completely tuck one of his legs, however, and clipped the ladder on the way down. He landed prone on the floor -- beneath the monster's deadly maw! "Sharp-Ears," Gauruloc grumbled, "heal my wounds." Divine energy coursed through Gauruloc's veins, mending cracked ribs and filling his lungs with air. Cursing, he grabbed up Mera's rapier. "The dead waif's toothpick will have to do." Zhandle, fighting off another bout of nausea, choked out another spell, and pelted the rhagodessa with a ray of frost. It wasn't enough to distract the beast -- the rhagodessa seized Rubb in its pedipalps and pulled him towards its waiting mandibles. The creature then bit poor Rubb, shaking him like a ragdoll and hurling him away, unconscious. Gauruloc charged recklessly at the monster, but unaccustomed to such a flimsy, contemptible weapon as Mera's rapier, his attack failed. Zhandle, horrified and enraged by Rubb's grievous wound, hammered the beast with another ray of frost, freezing the lowest segment of one of its spindly legs. The leg then broke off at the joint. Undeterred, the monster attempted to grapple Gauruloc once more, but the half-orc was able to fight off its bristling pedipalps. Jouko shifted to his right and sent his chain whirling at the spider in a vicious downward arc. The chain wrapped about the rhagodessa's neck. Jouko pulled with all his might, snapping the beast's neck. The monster's oversized head hovered near Gauruloc for an instant before crashing to the deck with a gruesome crunch. The rest of its body collapsed an instant later, as if an afterthought. Gauruloc quickly surveyed the carnage. It was apparent that the broken and bloodied druid was beyond even Sharp-Ear's aid. The half-orc immediately turned his attention to the wounded halfling. "Sharp-Ear, I demand that you fill this little one with vigor!" Again divine energy coursed through Gauruloc's mighty limbs, and he laid his hand upon Rubbumba. Color returned to the halfling almost instantly, and his condition began to stabilize. After a moment he blinked his eyes and looked about. "Rubb!" Zhandle cried, throwing her arms around her husband. In her nauseous, trembling, asthmatic state, it had taken her a long moment to climb down the vomit and ichor encrusted ladder. Rubbumba looked over Zhandle's shoulder, down at the corpse of the monster on the floor. "I -- I did it! I killed it!" He puffed out his chest for an instant, but his bravado vanished when he saw Johari's shattered body next to the rhagodessa. As if by unspoken agreement, Rubb, Zhandle and Jouko spent a long, quiet moment staring at their vanquished companion. Gauruloc finally broke the silence. "Did any of you see a sword?" he grumbled, tossing down Mera's rapier with disdain. "A [I]real[/I] sword?" [/QUOTE]
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Jodo Kast's Savage Tidings (Updated July 9, 2007)
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