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The Rat Bastard Campaign Chronicle (Updated 3/28/05)
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<blockquote data-quote="RatPunk" data-source="post: 277009" data-attributes="member: 1246"><p><strong>Chapter One - Narwell</strong></p><p></p><p>The day had begun like any other. Waking at dawn, Eldrin had prepared the tavern for the day’s regular entourage of customers. The city of Narwell, being one of the few free settlements left in the lands of the Wild Coast, always attracted more than it’s share of mercenaries, adventurers, and ne’er do wells. The tavern’s location on the edge of town meant that more of those shady characters frequented here than most of the other places in town. Of course, Eldrin thought, that was both a blessing and a curse. The increased traffic meant more gold in his coffers, but it also meant that the potential for trouble was greater as well. In fact, a band of orc warriors had recently begun stopping at the tavern every few weeks to cause just that trouble. With the city guard already spread thin due to the city’s proximity to the Pomarj and the influx of refugees that had settled in the area after the Wars, the tavern’s rowdy orc problem was a low priority with the constable. Besides, it wasn’t like they had killed anyone, yet. But now, Eldrin was getting a sneaking suspicion that something was about to get out of hand. </p><p></p><p>It started, innocently enough, about an hour before the normal evening crowd would start coming in. There was only a handful of people in the place, when an elf walked through the door. With a wolf. </p><p></p><p>“Hey! We don’t allow animals in ‘ere!” Eldrin said. “The dog’ll ‘ave to wait outside!”</p><p></p><p>The elf walked over to the bar and sat down. “Not to worry, good sir,” he said, “My name is Rumblethorn Darkbriar, and I’m a druid in the service of Ehlonna. This wolf is a friend and I promise you he will not cause any trouble what so ever.”</p><p></p><p>Eldrin was skeptical, but the elf seemed convincing enough. “Alright, he can stay. Just make sure he stays out of the way.” With that, Eldrin went back to cleaning mugs.</p><p></p><p>It was several minutes later, when the two dwarves entered the bar, that Eldrin started getting a nervous feeling in his stomach. Not only did they just look like trouble, but the taller of the two actually had the holy symbol of Kord branded into his forehead. The dwarves looked around for a minute, getting the lay of the place, Eldrin guessed, then they spotted the elf. </p><p></p><p>“This,” Eldrin thought to himself, “will not be good...”</p><p></p><p>The dwarves walked over to the bar and sat down next to the elf. Eldrin did his best not to listen in on the conversation, but he couldn’t help overhearing bits and pieces. The tall dwarf with the brand was named Ostler, while his shorter companion was Shuglin. They both seemed intent on harassing Rumblethorn, though he tried his best to ignore them. The dwarves were oblivious, however, and continued to pursue what they obviously believed was a good conversation.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, the doors burst open and Eldrin’s worst nightmares were realized. Four members of the wandering orc band had arrived for their monthly “tribute” of alcohol and mayhem. All eyes in the place were on the orcs, except for Eldrin, who stole a glance toward the dwarves. Sure enough, they were already sliding down off of their barstools. With a quick glance at each other, they started walking towards the orcs. </p><p></p><p>“Oh, bloody hell,” thought Eldrin.</p><p></p><p>Ostler walked up to the orc leader, who stopped dead in his tracks. This was obviously not what he expected when he came in today. </p><p></p><p>“What the hell you doing in my bar?” barked the orc in guttural but understandable Common.</p><p></p><p>“Your bar?” asked Ostler. “I wasn’t aware that this was your bar”. </p><p></p><p>“When we come in to drink, it my bar!” declared the orc matter of factly. “Now get out of way, shorty.” </p><p></p><p>With that, he tried to push Ostler aside, but Ostler was ready for him and lunged at the orc. With his head. The orc was so surprised by this that he couldn’t even begin to move out of the way. It was obvious by the way the orc staggered backwards that Ostler’s head was quite thick. Seeing their leader get hit was all the encouragement the other three orcs needed, and the brawl was on.</p><p></p><p>“Terrific,” Eldrin thought, “there goes my profit for this year...”</p><p></p><p>While the orc leader stumbled towards the doors, the two orcs who had been behind him stepped up and squared off against the dwarves in an attempt to pummel them into submission. Fortunately for the dwarves, the orcs either weren’t experienced when it came to fisticuffs or they weren’t used to fighting such short opponents. Either way, Ostler managed to beat his opponent into unconsciousness first. Seeing that the dwarves were going to be more of a problem than originally anticipated, the orc standing by the door drew his sword. The orc fighting Shuglin took a step back and did the same. The escalation of the conflict was met with glee by the two dwarves, who took the momentary break in the action to draw their own battleaxes.</p><p></p><p>“No weapons! NO WEAPONS!” Eldrin shouted, but in the noise and mayhem, nobody paid any attention.</p><p></p><p>In a panic, Eldrin glanced around the bar, looking desperately for any sign of hope that the fracas might die down without too much bloodshed. Most of the patrons were cowering in the corners trying to make themselves as invisible as possible, but the elf was still sitting at the bar, calmly finishing his drink as he took in the scene. </p><p></p><p>“No doubt he thinks this is fitting revenge for the dwarves harassment.” Eldrin thought.</p><p></p><p>The loud clang of weapons brought Eldrin’s attention back to the fight. The two orcs, with weapons drawn, had closed on the dwarves. The dwarves, of course, were fighting back. </p><p></p><p>“Odd that they don’t look more comfortable with those axes.” Eldrin thought. “Still, they’re holding their own.”</p><p></p><p>Just then, seemingly out of nowhere, the elf’s wolf friend leapt on one of the orcs from behind, gnawing on his leg and knocking him to the ground, where the orc lay bleeding and unmoving. Now freed from his opponent, Shuglin turned and pointed at the last orc, who was still trading blows with Ostler. With a few words, an unearthly ray of white light sprang from Shuglin’s fingertips, passed over the orc’s head, and hit the wall by the door, where it promptly turned into a small patch of ice.</p><p></p><p>“No spells! NO SPELLS!” Eldrin shouted, now in an almost complete panic. He didn’t want some out of control spell slinger chucking spells around in his bar! One misplaced flaming spell and his entire life’s work would be gone in an instant. Eldrin’s fear quickly passed, however, as Shuglin, with a disgusted look on his face, hefted his axe once more and stepped up to give Ostler a hand.</p><p></p><p>Between the two of them, they made short work of the remaining orc, who finally dropped to the floor. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, Eldrin wiped his sweating brow and began to offer his gratitude to the dwarves for getting rid of the orcs with a minimum of damage. Just then, a loud orcish yell came from the doorway. Eldrin turned to see the orc leader, who had managed to stumble to the door. And he was yelling for reinforcements.</p><p></p><p>----------</p><p></p><p>Across the street from the tavern stood Kenden’s General Store, a small purveyor of most things necessary to maintain at least a meager existence in the lands and fields surrounding Narwell. Being on the edge of town made it a convenient place for those who had homes and farms in the outlying countryside to stop and pick up supplies without having to deal with the hustle and bustle of entering the city proper. It also made it a favorite spot for people like Baldo Nash, two-bit low life and generally shady character.</p><p></p><p>Baldo had just arrived outside Kenden’s to set up shop and start casing out likely “prospects” to hustle, when the commotion erupted inside Eldrin’s tavern. He had, of course, seen the ten orcs arrive outside the tavern, where they had promptly split up to pursue their own activities. He kept a cautious eye on the tavern door as the sounds of fighting changed from mere brawling to the distinctive clanging of weapons. When the noise had died down, he had assumed that the orcs had taken care of whoever was troubling them. Then he heard the yell of “bree yark” go up from the orc leaning in the doorway. </p><p></p><p>“This, “ thought Baldo, “should be interesting.”</p><p></p><p>Almost immediately after the cry went up, the other orcs returned to the street looking to see where the trouble was. The orcs had indeed split up, with two coming from behind Kenden’s store, two coming down the street to the east and the final two coming up the street from the west. All of them, however, were converging on the bar. Baldo also noticed from his vantage point that the commotion and the sight of the orcs running down the street had attracted the attention of a few other people. </p><p></p><p>Coming up from the east were a gnome with a short bow and a halfling dressed in strange clothing, while from the west approached a tall, blond guy with the shiniest chain shirt Baldo had ever seen. Even from his perch across the street, Baldo could tell that he reeked of a holier-than-thou attitude. “Definitely a paladin,” thought Baldo. It was obvious that all three had noticed the orcs and decided they were up to no good, as they all drew their respective weapons. </p><p></p><p>“Oh yes, this will definitely be interesting.”</p><p></p><p>The orcs continued to approach the tavern, oblivious to the three combatants closing on them from behind. Just as the two from the west reached the door, all hell broke loose. The gnome fired an arrow, completely missing either of the orcs on the eastside of the tavern, but getting their attention. At almost exactly the same moment, the paladin gave a shout to get the attention of the two he was behind. As they turned to see who had yelled at them, a big wolf jumped out of the tavern door. It landed on the orc who had yelled from the doorway, and proceeded to maul him viciously.</p><p></p><p>With a crowd starting to gather around Kenden’s to watch the spectacle, Baldo seized the initiative. </p><p></p><p>“Five silver on the human and the dog!” he shouted. </p><p></p><p>“Five on the orcs!” shouted someone in the crowd.</p><p></p><p>“I’ll take seven on the halfling to lose a limb!” yelled a female voice.</p><p></p><p>Baldo smiled as the crowd quickly became engulfed in the shouting and taking down of wagers on who would be victorious and who would lose body parts. “This might not turn out to be such a bad day after all,” he thought as he tallied the bets, all the while keeping one eye on the fight.</p><p></p><p>As Baldo expected, the paladin was more than holding his own, having already dropped one of his opponents with a vicious cut that almost left the orc in two pieces. The wolf was biting at the other, but one of the two orcs who had been crossing the street was headed their way. The other was headed towards the halfling and gnome, who both looked like they were in trouble. Time after time, the gnome would back away to fire his bow, always missing, then the orc would step up and swing at him. Likewise the halfling tried desperately to connect with his sling. Fortunately for them, the orcs hadn’t managed to connect yet, either. “Surely, the arrival of the third orc would turn the tide of that battle,” Baldo thought.</p><p></p><p>Just then, the halfling managed to drop his orc with a well-placed sling bullet to the forehead. The timing couldn’t have been better. A moment later, the third orc arrived to take up his comrade’s fight and it was one on one once more. Things quickly began to look desperate again for the gnome and halfling, as they were forced to rely on their size and quickness to avoid being hit.</p><p></p><p>At that moment, the wolf came out of nowhere and landed on the orc fighting the halfling. Baldo suddenly realized that he had become caught up in the halfling’s fight and forgotten about the paladin. With a quick glance in that direction, Baldo confirmed what he suspected. The paladin and wolf had made short work of their opponents and the wolf had moved on to other game. The paladin was close behind him.</p><p></p><p>While the wolf mauled the orc it had just brought down, the paladin stepped up and, with a mighty swing, cut a large gash across the final orc’s chest. The orc fell to the ground in a heap with its friends. As the paladin glanced around for more opponents, Baldo paid off the winners and pocketed his “commission” of 60 silver pieces. </p><p></p><p>“Not a bad day’s work, if I do say so,” he thought. “I can go home early today.” </p><p></p><p>Still, he was curious as to what the 3 combatants would do next. The gnome, it turned out, was going through the belongings of the dead orcs. “Hmm,” thought Baldo, “A kindred spirit, it seems…”</p><p></p><p>With the bodies thoroughly scavenged, the three headed for the door to the tavern, where two dwarves and an elf had just emerged. Baldo decided to move across the street to see if he could learn anything more about this group.</p><p></p><p>“Greetings and well fought!” yelled the shorter of the two dwarves as the three reached them. </p><p></p><p>“Come, friends,” he said, “Help us pile the corpses out of the way over here so the local authorities can come collect them.” With that, the dwarves went back inside, only to emerge a moment later with a couple of orc bodies of their own. The wolf, meanwhile, had walked over and sat on the ground at the elf’s feet. It remained there until the others had finished piling the bodies against the tavern wall. They then went inside, with Baldo quietly behind them.</p><p></p><p>----------</p><p></p><p>Now that the commotion was over, Eldrin sincerely hoped that things would quickly get back to normal in the bar. When Shuglin, Ostler and Rumblethorn walked back in, accompanied by their new companions, Eldrin noticed Baldo quietly walking in behind them. </p><p></p><p>“That no good little thief!” he thought, “I’ll not have him causing trouble again in my bar!”</p><p></p><p>As the group seated themselves at one of the larger tables, Eldrin approached Baldo, who was trying to find a place nearby.</p><p></p><p>“Get out, ya little bastard. I’ll not have you causing trouble like you did last time,” he whispered quietly to the thief.</p><p></p><p>“It’s a free city, old man. I got as much right to drink here as anyone else.”</p><p></p><p>“We both know I can gut you three ways from Godsday before you’d even be able to scream. Now, get out!”</p><p></p><p>Angrily, Baldo stood and stormed out. “I’ll have to do something about him one of these days.” Eldrin thought, then he turned his attention back to the heroes of the hour, where introductions were just wrapping up. The human was Hugh Barringer, faithful paladin of Mayaheine. Several members of the little group rolled their eyes at this, but Hugh seemed oblivious to it. The halfling introduced himself as Jackie Woo, member of a monastic brotherhood of St. Cuthbert. Finally, the gnome introduced himself as Jebeddo Daergal, missile warrior.</p><p></p><p>“Missile warrior, huh?” thought Eldrin. “Looks like another stinking thief to me.”</p><p></p><p>“Excuse me, sirs,” Eldrin said to the group. “In gratitude for saving the tavern and taking care of our little orc problem, I would like to offer you a round of drinks on the house and free lodging for the evening, if you require it.”</p><p></p><p>“Excellent!” several of them shouted at once. </p><p></p><p>The bar patrons, whose numbers had quickly grown since the fight, also celebrated this announcement with a hearty cheer. Eldrin could already tell that the crowd would make sure the group wouldn’t have to buy a drink all night. “It’s just as well,” Eldrin thought, smiling to himself. “I’m sure to make more money this way.”</p><p></p><p>When he returned with their first round of drinks, the questions began.</p><p></p><p>“What were those orcs doing here, anyway?”</p><p></p><p>“Why hasn’t the constable or the city guard done something about it?”</p><p></p><p>“Where’s my honey mead?”</p><p></p><p>As best he could, Eldrin tried to explain the situation with the orcs, the city guard, and Narwell as a whole, but he could tell that none of them were satisfied with his answers. Jebbedo even muttered something about a conspiracy between the constable and the orcs!</p><p></p><p>“What a paranoid little bunch they are,” Eldrin thought. “They’ll probably go far in this world.”</p><p></p><p>He tried to assure them that there was no such conspiracy, just the circumstances of being located on the edge of a growing city in a bad part of the world. It didn’t help. They were already making up more elaborate conspiracy theories as he stood there. Eldrin could only shake his head and excuse himself to go take care of his other customers.</p><p></p><p>A few minutes later, as Eldrin prepared another round of drinks for the paranoid heroes, the door burst open again. It was the Constable and he looked pissed. It only took him a minute to spot the small group sitting at their table. He began to head their way.</p><p></p><p>“Oh, bloody hell,” thought Eldrin…</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RatPunk, post: 277009, member: 1246"] [b]Chapter One - Narwell[/b] The day had begun like any other. Waking at dawn, Eldrin had prepared the tavern for the day’s regular entourage of customers. The city of Narwell, being one of the few free settlements left in the lands of the Wild Coast, always attracted more than it’s share of mercenaries, adventurers, and ne’er do wells. The tavern’s location on the edge of town meant that more of those shady characters frequented here than most of the other places in town. Of course, Eldrin thought, that was both a blessing and a curse. The increased traffic meant more gold in his coffers, but it also meant that the potential for trouble was greater as well. In fact, a band of orc warriors had recently begun stopping at the tavern every few weeks to cause just that trouble. With the city guard already spread thin due to the city’s proximity to the Pomarj and the influx of refugees that had settled in the area after the Wars, the tavern’s rowdy orc problem was a low priority with the constable. Besides, it wasn’t like they had killed anyone, yet. But now, Eldrin was getting a sneaking suspicion that something was about to get out of hand. It started, innocently enough, about an hour before the normal evening crowd would start coming in. There was only a handful of people in the place, when an elf walked through the door. With a wolf. “Hey! We don’t allow animals in ‘ere!” Eldrin said. “The dog’ll ‘ave to wait outside!” The elf walked over to the bar and sat down. “Not to worry, good sir,” he said, “My name is Rumblethorn Darkbriar, and I’m a druid in the service of Ehlonna. This wolf is a friend and I promise you he will not cause any trouble what so ever.” Eldrin was skeptical, but the elf seemed convincing enough. “Alright, he can stay. Just make sure he stays out of the way.” With that, Eldrin went back to cleaning mugs. It was several minutes later, when the two dwarves entered the bar, that Eldrin started getting a nervous feeling in his stomach. Not only did they just look like trouble, but the taller of the two actually had the holy symbol of Kord branded into his forehead. The dwarves looked around for a minute, getting the lay of the place, Eldrin guessed, then they spotted the elf. “This,” Eldrin thought to himself, “will not be good...” The dwarves walked over to the bar and sat down next to the elf. Eldrin did his best not to listen in on the conversation, but he couldn’t help overhearing bits and pieces. The tall dwarf with the brand was named Ostler, while his shorter companion was Shuglin. They both seemed intent on harassing Rumblethorn, though he tried his best to ignore them. The dwarves were oblivious, however, and continued to pursue what they obviously believed was a good conversation. Suddenly, the doors burst open and Eldrin’s worst nightmares were realized. Four members of the wandering orc band had arrived for their monthly “tribute” of alcohol and mayhem. All eyes in the place were on the orcs, except for Eldrin, who stole a glance toward the dwarves. Sure enough, they were already sliding down off of their barstools. With a quick glance at each other, they started walking towards the orcs. “Oh, bloody hell,” thought Eldrin. Ostler walked up to the orc leader, who stopped dead in his tracks. This was obviously not what he expected when he came in today. “What the hell you doing in my bar?” barked the orc in guttural but understandable Common. “Your bar?” asked Ostler. “I wasn’t aware that this was your bar”. “When we come in to drink, it my bar!” declared the orc matter of factly. “Now get out of way, shorty.” With that, he tried to push Ostler aside, but Ostler was ready for him and lunged at the orc. With his head. The orc was so surprised by this that he couldn’t even begin to move out of the way. It was obvious by the way the orc staggered backwards that Ostler’s head was quite thick. Seeing their leader get hit was all the encouragement the other three orcs needed, and the brawl was on. “Terrific,” Eldrin thought, “there goes my profit for this year...” While the orc leader stumbled towards the doors, the two orcs who had been behind him stepped up and squared off against the dwarves in an attempt to pummel them into submission. Fortunately for the dwarves, the orcs either weren’t experienced when it came to fisticuffs or they weren’t used to fighting such short opponents. Either way, Ostler managed to beat his opponent into unconsciousness first. Seeing that the dwarves were going to be more of a problem than originally anticipated, the orc standing by the door drew his sword. The orc fighting Shuglin took a step back and did the same. The escalation of the conflict was met with glee by the two dwarves, who took the momentary break in the action to draw their own battleaxes. “No weapons! NO WEAPONS!” Eldrin shouted, but in the noise and mayhem, nobody paid any attention. In a panic, Eldrin glanced around the bar, looking desperately for any sign of hope that the fracas might die down without too much bloodshed. Most of the patrons were cowering in the corners trying to make themselves as invisible as possible, but the elf was still sitting at the bar, calmly finishing his drink as he took in the scene. “No doubt he thinks this is fitting revenge for the dwarves harassment.” Eldrin thought. The loud clang of weapons brought Eldrin’s attention back to the fight. The two orcs, with weapons drawn, had closed on the dwarves. The dwarves, of course, were fighting back. “Odd that they don’t look more comfortable with those axes.” Eldrin thought. “Still, they’re holding their own.” Just then, seemingly out of nowhere, the elf’s wolf friend leapt on one of the orcs from behind, gnawing on his leg and knocking him to the ground, where the orc lay bleeding and unmoving. Now freed from his opponent, Shuglin turned and pointed at the last orc, who was still trading blows with Ostler. With a few words, an unearthly ray of white light sprang from Shuglin’s fingertips, passed over the orc’s head, and hit the wall by the door, where it promptly turned into a small patch of ice. “No spells! NO SPELLS!” Eldrin shouted, now in an almost complete panic. He didn’t want some out of control spell slinger chucking spells around in his bar! One misplaced flaming spell and his entire life’s work would be gone in an instant. Eldrin’s fear quickly passed, however, as Shuglin, with a disgusted look on his face, hefted his axe once more and stepped up to give Ostler a hand. Between the two of them, they made short work of the remaining orc, who finally dropped to the floor. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, Eldrin wiped his sweating brow and began to offer his gratitude to the dwarves for getting rid of the orcs with a minimum of damage. Just then, a loud orcish yell came from the doorway. Eldrin turned to see the orc leader, who had managed to stumble to the door. And he was yelling for reinforcements. ---------- Across the street from the tavern stood Kenden’s General Store, a small purveyor of most things necessary to maintain at least a meager existence in the lands and fields surrounding Narwell. Being on the edge of town made it a convenient place for those who had homes and farms in the outlying countryside to stop and pick up supplies without having to deal with the hustle and bustle of entering the city proper. It also made it a favorite spot for people like Baldo Nash, two-bit low life and generally shady character. Baldo had just arrived outside Kenden’s to set up shop and start casing out likely “prospects” to hustle, when the commotion erupted inside Eldrin’s tavern. He had, of course, seen the ten orcs arrive outside the tavern, where they had promptly split up to pursue their own activities. He kept a cautious eye on the tavern door as the sounds of fighting changed from mere brawling to the distinctive clanging of weapons. When the noise had died down, he had assumed that the orcs had taken care of whoever was troubling them. Then he heard the yell of “bree yark” go up from the orc leaning in the doorway. “This, “ thought Baldo, “should be interesting.” Almost immediately after the cry went up, the other orcs returned to the street looking to see where the trouble was. The orcs had indeed split up, with two coming from behind Kenden’s store, two coming down the street to the east and the final two coming up the street from the west. All of them, however, were converging on the bar. Baldo also noticed from his vantage point that the commotion and the sight of the orcs running down the street had attracted the attention of a few other people. Coming up from the east were a gnome with a short bow and a halfling dressed in strange clothing, while from the west approached a tall, blond guy with the shiniest chain shirt Baldo had ever seen. Even from his perch across the street, Baldo could tell that he reeked of a holier-than-thou attitude. “Definitely a paladin,” thought Baldo. It was obvious that all three had noticed the orcs and decided they were up to no good, as they all drew their respective weapons. “Oh yes, this will definitely be interesting.” The orcs continued to approach the tavern, oblivious to the three combatants closing on them from behind. Just as the two from the west reached the door, all hell broke loose. The gnome fired an arrow, completely missing either of the orcs on the eastside of the tavern, but getting their attention. At almost exactly the same moment, the paladin gave a shout to get the attention of the two he was behind. As they turned to see who had yelled at them, a big wolf jumped out of the tavern door. It landed on the orc who had yelled from the doorway, and proceeded to maul him viciously. With a crowd starting to gather around Kenden’s to watch the spectacle, Baldo seized the initiative. “Five silver on the human and the dog!” he shouted. “Five on the orcs!” shouted someone in the crowd. “I’ll take seven on the halfling to lose a limb!” yelled a female voice. Baldo smiled as the crowd quickly became engulfed in the shouting and taking down of wagers on who would be victorious and who would lose body parts. “This might not turn out to be such a bad day after all,” he thought as he tallied the bets, all the while keeping one eye on the fight. As Baldo expected, the paladin was more than holding his own, having already dropped one of his opponents with a vicious cut that almost left the orc in two pieces. The wolf was biting at the other, but one of the two orcs who had been crossing the street was headed their way. The other was headed towards the halfling and gnome, who both looked like they were in trouble. Time after time, the gnome would back away to fire his bow, always missing, then the orc would step up and swing at him. Likewise the halfling tried desperately to connect with his sling. Fortunately for them, the orcs hadn’t managed to connect yet, either. “Surely, the arrival of the third orc would turn the tide of that battle,” Baldo thought. Just then, the halfling managed to drop his orc with a well-placed sling bullet to the forehead. The timing couldn’t have been better. A moment later, the third orc arrived to take up his comrade’s fight and it was one on one once more. Things quickly began to look desperate again for the gnome and halfling, as they were forced to rely on their size and quickness to avoid being hit. At that moment, the wolf came out of nowhere and landed on the orc fighting the halfling. Baldo suddenly realized that he had become caught up in the halfling’s fight and forgotten about the paladin. With a quick glance in that direction, Baldo confirmed what he suspected. The paladin and wolf had made short work of their opponents and the wolf had moved on to other game. The paladin was close behind him. While the wolf mauled the orc it had just brought down, the paladin stepped up and, with a mighty swing, cut a large gash across the final orc’s chest. The orc fell to the ground in a heap with its friends. As the paladin glanced around for more opponents, Baldo paid off the winners and pocketed his “commission” of 60 silver pieces. “Not a bad day’s work, if I do say so,” he thought. “I can go home early today.” Still, he was curious as to what the 3 combatants would do next. The gnome, it turned out, was going through the belongings of the dead orcs. “Hmm,” thought Baldo, “A kindred spirit, it seems…” With the bodies thoroughly scavenged, the three headed for the door to the tavern, where two dwarves and an elf had just emerged. Baldo decided to move across the street to see if he could learn anything more about this group. “Greetings and well fought!” yelled the shorter of the two dwarves as the three reached them. “Come, friends,” he said, “Help us pile the corpses out of the way over here so the local authorities can come collect them.” With that, the dwarves went back inside, only to emerge a moment later with a couple of orc bodies of their own. The wolf, meanwhile, had walked over and sat on the ground at the elf’s feet. It remained there until the others had finished piling the bodies against the tavern wall. They then went inside, with Baldo quietly behind them. ---------- Now that the commotion was over, Eldrin sincerely hoped that things would quickly get back to normal in the bar. When Shuglin, Ostler and Rumblethorn walked back in, accompanied by their new companions, Eldrin noticed Baldo quietly walking in behind them. “That no good little thief!” he thought, “I’ll not have him causing trouble again in my bar!” As the group seated themselves at one of the larger tables, Eldrin approached Baldo, who was trying to find a place nearby. “Get out, ya little bastard. I’ll not have you causing trouble like you did last time,” he whispered quietly to the thief. “It’s a free city, old man. I got as much right to drink here as anyone else.” “We both know I can gut you three ways from Godsday before you’d even be able to scream. Now, get out!” Angrily, Baldo stood and stormed out. “I’ll have to do something about him one of these days.” Eldrin thought, then he turned his attention back to the heroes of the hour, where introductions were just wrapping up. The human was Hugh Barringer, faithful paladin of Mayaheine. Several members of the little group rolled their eyes at this, but Hugh seemed oblivious to it. The halfling introduced himself as Jackie Woo, member of a monastic brotherhood of St. Cuthbert. Finally, the gnome introduced himself as Jebeddo Daergal, missile warrior. “Missile warrior, huh?” thought Eldrin. “Looks like another stinking thief to me.” “Excuse me, sirs,” Eldrin said to the group. “In gratitude for saving the tavern and taking care of our little orc problem, I would like to offer you a round of drinks on the house and free lodging for the evening, if you require it.” “Excellent!” several of them shouted at once. The bar patrons, whose numbers had quickly grown since the fight, also celebrated this announcement with a hearty cheer. Eldrin could already tell that the crowd would make sure the group wouldn’t have to buy a drink all night. “It’s just as well,” Eldrin thought, smiling to himself. “I’m sure to make more money this way.” When he returned with their first round of drinks, the questions began. “What were those orcs doing here, anyway?” “Why hasn’t the constable or the city guard done something about it?” “Where’s my honey mead?” As best he could, Eldrin tried to explain the situation with the orcs, the city guard, and Narwell as a whole, but he could tell that none of them were satisfied with his answers. Jebbedo even muttered something about a conspiracy between the constable and the orcs! “What a paranoid little bunch they are,” Eldrin thought. “They’ll probably go far in this world.” He tried to assure them that there was no such conspiracy, just the circumstances of being located on the edge of a growing city in a bad part of the world. It didn’t help. They were already making up more elaborate conspiracy theories as he stood there. Eldrin could only shake his head and excuse himself to go take care of his other customers. A few minutes later, as Eldrin prepared another round of drinks for the paranoid heroes, the door burst open again. It was the Constable and he looked pissed. It only took him a minute to spot the small group sitting at their table. He began to head their way. “Oh, bloody hell,” thought Eldrin… [/QUOTE]
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The Rat Bastard Campaign Chronicle (Updated 3/28/05)
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