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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NiTessine" data-source="post: 329219" data-attributes="member: 475">Here, the beginning of Chapter Three, for your enjoyment.Chapter 3 – Row, Row, Row Your Boat…The trial was short. The judge was a red-bearded priest of Ulric, with a great warhammer he used as a gavel. The merchant noble family of Dzugashvili wanted the party's heads, for the assault upon the young Liut. It was soon pointed out that they acted only in self-defence, and actually healed the man after wounding him. Both Khuritsa and Predeslava spoke for the adventurers, praising their honour and valiant deeds, and saying that Liut himself had been at fault, for attacking them.In the end, the judge banged his great warhammer, and gave his verdict: the adventurers were banished from Kislev for twenty years, and were to be escorted to the border by a man named Khaelas. As it turned out, he was a wood elf, clad in green, and claiming to wield sorcerous powers.By the end of the day, they were well on their way up the river Lynsk, in a small, leaky wooden barge, captained by a greasy man of impressive girth. Kase calculated that if they were to chuck him overboard, not only would the boat travel faster, but the river would flood, and with all that fat, the man would float. However, as they found no way of lifting the fellow, let alone extracting him from his cabin, they resigned to their fate of spending the next week watching the idyllic and monotonous Kislevite countryside slip by as the barge ponderously made its way downstream in the slow-moving water.During the voyage, it quickly became clear that Khaelas couldn't have cared less about his duty. He'd got his gold already, and was to leave country along with the heroes. He was also an adventurer who'd had disagreements with the law, after some irresponsible spellcasting.As they sat in the boat, day after day, confined to the company of each other, and forced to listen to Fisibbei teaching Kase how to speak Reikspiel, tensions began to rise. Franz was irritated at the two elves, for being elves, and at the world as a whole, for getting him exiled of Kislev, where he was on a mission from the church.The barge's skipper didn't help things. He was rude, smelly, and made constantly fun of the elves and Franz. The corpulent man was so large he could barely fit inside the small cabin where he steered the barge, and apparently was unable to leave it. Huge, drooping folds of flesh concealed his legs.All that considered, it wasn't such a surprise when Franz got it in his head that the man was tainted by Chaos. They were a day away from their destination, when the Sigmarite decided to take action. With great protest from the captain, Franz smashed apart the cabin that held him. The others were too afraid to stop him. Immediately, like a huge glob of jam, the captain's flesh expanded out of its constraints. It was as if he had no muscles or bones at all. Now, thoroughly disgusted, the others joined in, and with a great wail, the strange, jelly-like man was hurled overboard, to disappear into the black waters of Lynsk.The next day, they arrived in Erengrad. The great port city was bustling with traders from the Empire, Marienburg, Estalia, Tilea, and even Araby, all peddling their various wares. As the five adventurers were jumping to the pier, a great tendril of flesh shout out from the water, wrapping itself around Khaelas' leg. The elf cried out in pain as he was violently yanked from the pier to the barge.Fisibbei was the fastest to act, taking his sickle and jumping down in aid of the elf to hack at the strange tentacle. As the weapon drew blood, the creature rose out of the water. It was their former captain, now grey-skinned and looking like a drowned corpse. Yet, it was still very much alive, as proved by the wicked grin and red-glowing eyes. It formed its fleshy body into more tendrils, attacking the halfling druid, who was quick to dance out of the way. From the pier, Kase was shooting arrows at the creature. Franz and Frederich joined their comrades in the boat, bringing their weapons down on the creature's body, prompting a great scream of pain. The creature still had fight left in it, though, and it hauled its entire body on the barge. Repulsed by the creature, Khaelas cut off the tendril holding his leg, and scrambled away. Fisibbei and the others stabbed it again and again, and the deck ran red with the unholy creature's blood. However, the fleshy mass of the creature was still coming forward, forcing the heroes to jump back to the pier, all the while fighting off the pseudopods trying to snare their limbs. Finally, it was Khaelas who brought about the creature's death. He flung a ceramic jar from his backpack at the barge. It shattered, spraying the creature and the deck with black fluid. Oil, the creature realized, but too late. A jet of flame burst from the elf's hands, and the liquid caught fire, prompting another scream from the Chaos-tainted captain.Soon, the barge was a blazing inferno, and the smell of smoke and charred flesh filled the air. The adventurers, along with the crowd of onlookers they had managed to collect, watched the grim bonfire, departing only when the last the boat had sunk in the deep waters of Erengrad's harbour.</blockquote>

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