"Oh, yes, the orc! That would be Tank. Nice enough fellow, really, as far as orcs go, anyway. Really good at breaking stuff. But, ummm, anyway, here's the thing...kind of funny really...well, no, not really,...but anyways, several days ago we got into a bit of a fight with these rat-men. We finished the vile things off, but I'm afraid Tank did get chewed on a bit in the process.
Now, we didn't think much of it and kept on about our business. It didn't occur to any of us that they might have infected one of us, but last night, under the full moon, Tank sort of, well, changed, he became a rat and ran off into the darkness.
So now we're in a bit of a pickle, well, not as big a pickle as Tank mind you, but anyway, we're a bit torn. Its terribly important we get to this auction on time, but we also don't want to leave our boon companion behind. I mean, he's out there, somewhere, and hopefully he hasn't been found by some fox or owl. And if he's changed back, well, then, he's completely starkers because he left all his stuff behind. Hopefully there's some way to cure him of his condition, though I'm sure I don't know of one myself. You wouldn't happen to have any insight, would you?
And you know what, as long as I've got you here? We found a scroll several days back. All we can make of it is that its in Dwarvish, and, well, would you mind taking a look at it? I believe its over here in Tank's stuff, actually. He was kind of the party packrat...errr...I mean, he held onto a lot of stuff. Ah, yes, here it is!"