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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 575900" data-attributes="member: 6294">"Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht  - Part 6Hearing Mantreus' desperate call, Elspeth hurls herself at the rope, swarming up and over the wall in a scant few seconds.  Her swords gleam in the moonlight as she whips them from their scabbards.Twinkle is a little slower off the mark, but climbs the wall just as smoothly and easily as her elven companion.  Reaching the top of the palisade, the gnome tumbles over the iron-capped stakes and lands lightly on her feet.  Her hand drops to the hilt of her sword, but she does not get time to draw it before the rats are upon them.Driven to a frenzy by the smell of fresh blood, the giant rodents lunge forward fearlessly, targeting the two newcomers, who stand between them and the bleeding Mantreus.  Both rats strike true, their incisors tearing flesh.  Elspeth shrugs off the injury with little difficulty, but Twinkle stumbles back from her wound, blood streaming down her arm from a nasty bite.  The injury looks inflamed and puffy, and the gnome has to fight off a wave of dizziness as the gash starts to burn.Now protected by his two companions, Mantreus calls on his new-found magical powers and flings a bolt of energy at the rat that menaces Twinkle.  His concentration is not at its best, however, as the damage from the bolt seems only to anger the creature still suffer.Thinking quickly, Mantreus opens the familiar pocket inside his vest, and Shadow leaps free, landing on the lip of the palisade.  With only the briefest glance back at its master, the cat leaps down into the darkness, and streaks off to find the others back at camp.Despite feeling faint from loss of blood, Twinkle draws her sword and neatly skewers the injured rate.  Unfortunately, the loss of its companion seems to serve only to drive the surviving rodent to even greater ferocity, and it savages Elspeth twice while nimbly avoiding every counter-attack the adventurers can throw at it.  Deprived of Stormstrider's muscle and the Padre's healing magic, the companions seem to be in serious trouble.With the others still nowhere in sight, and suffering heavily from blood loss, Elspeth sweeps out blindly at the rat.  Finally her blade bites into flesh, and the foul creature dies with a harsh squeal.  It's not a moment too soon, as the elven ranger's vision is beginning to blur, and her wounds are beginning to burn in the same way as Twinkle's.As the three adventurers pause to gasp for breath, limbs shaking from the effort of the battle, their companions come crashing through the rows of berries, with Shadow a dark blur in front of them.  Stormstrider clambers over the wall without a second thought, but both the Padre and Sirdros are wearing heavy armour, and balk at the climb."Open the gate!" the Padre gestures toward the gatehouse.  As he does so, he notices the pale flag fluttering above it.  Immediately, he draws a spare shirt from his pack and ties it across his mouth as a kind of primitive mask.  Sirdros quickly follows suit.  The protective value of these masks is, of course, exactly nil.  But it seems to make the two clerics feel better.Since he is the only healthy member of the company to have made it inside the walls, Stormstrider climbs down from the tower and walks across to the gate, eyes and ears straining for any sign of danger.  Nothing leaps out at him, however, and he soon finds that the gate is held closed by only a single wooden  bar, which the powerfully-built ranger has no difficulty in lifting aside.The two clerics enter through the gate.  Seeing that the group still lacks a light source, Sirdros calls upon Pelor to provide light, and them climbs up into the tower.  With proper illumination, it quickly becomes clear that the body Mantreus discovered is dressed in finely made studded leather army.  The deceased male also clutches a huge composite longbow in one hand.  Prising the weapon free with a word of benediction for the corpse, the cleric strains to draw the string.  The pull of the bow is enormous, however, and he manages to take it to only about one-quarter extension.  Even Elspeth, on testing it, is unable to fully draw back the string."We can leave these here until we are ready to leave." he decides, receiving affirmative responses from those around him.  He then climbs out of the tower, with the others following behind."You look ridiculous." Mantreus greets the Padre, as the three injured party members straggle down to the ground.  "We need healing."The Padre resolutely leaves the shirt tied across his face, and quickly inspects the wounds his companions have suffered.  Mantreus' injury appears clean, but both Twinkle and Elspeth have wounds that are clearly infected."I can heal the cuts you have suffered," the cleric informs the trio, "But some of the wounds are tainted with either poison or disease.  Those are beyond my ability to treat.  If you begin to suffer the effects before we can return to Amberdale, there is nothing any of us can do to help you."</blockquote>

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