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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8825789" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 11: SHAMBLING INPC Roster:Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 5             Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 5             Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 5             Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 5Game Session Date: 9 November 2022 - - -For once, the four adventurers were all off doing their own thing when the excitement hit.  They'd jointly decided to visit the marketplace in Ghourmand Vale, but once there Ageratum excused herself and went off on her own, exploring the dark alleyways, memorizing the layouts of the major streets and the various ways one might escape pursuit (should such a thing come to be needed), and keeping an eye out for any unwary travelers who might not notice the weight of their coin purse being significantly lightened.  Alistair went straight for the Dark and Light Inn, a tavern where those with spellcasting prowess met to swap tales and lore; the fledgling sorcerer had been learning quite a bit about the workings of arcane spellcasting from an older - if not particularly powerful - wizard named Blorkane.  Harlan was over in front of the Shrine to Pelor, feeding the orphans who often ran amok in the streets but were always ready to stop their mischief if there was a scrap of food to be had.  And Chaevaris had decided, like Ageratum, to check out the various streets and alleyways, but the elven archer chose to do it by climbing up onto a rooftop and getting a good view from a higher perch."I say," remarked Alistair, sipping a cordial, "I rather think that's a particularly foolish thing to do.""Whaddayamean?" demanded Blorkane.  "It's a brilliant idea!  Imagine how soft and flaky the pork would be!""But isn't an aboleth that three-eyed fish with tentacles that mentally controls its slaves and turns them into subservient fish-men?""It is," Blorkane conceded, not sure where the young nobleman was going with this train of thought."Well, then I rather doubt magically combining the two into one creature would be a smart idea at all.  Aboleths are restricted to Underdark bodies of water, yes?"  Blorkane nodded his agreement.  "Then we need not worry overly much about them, as long as we stay above ground, correct?  But if you start magically breeding them with pigs, you run the risk of creating a pig with the powers of an aboleth, capable of running around, overcoming people's willpower, and turning them into mind-slaves.  I hardly think the risk is worth it, just for some tastier pork.  Maybe a better approach would be coming up with some sort of, I don't know, pork tenderizer?  Or some spices?""Bah!  You're focusing on the possible bad stuff and ignoring the potential benefits of a...a pigoleth!"Alistair raised his eyebrows in surprise.  "Is that what you're calling this monstrosity?""I'm not necessarily sold on it," Blorkane admitted.  "Hamoleth?  Porkoleth?"Just then another voice called out, causing (not without some amount of relief) Alistair's conversation with Blorkane to come to a halt.  "Help me!  Help me!" the voice cried.  "They're gonna eat me!"Naturally, this drew everyone's attention to the person doing the screaming.  It was a man in dark studded leather armor, with a rapier and a dagger at his belt but both still sitting in their scabbards.  He came rushing into the marketplace from a side alley, screaming in terror and pushing people and carts aside as they got in his way.  Chaevaris could see the man quite clearly from the rooftop; curious as to what could be causing the man (who seemed somehow familiar to the archer) such fright, the elf glanced back down the man's wake and saw two supple women following him determinedly.  They each wore brown leggings and sandals, with tight vests and no visible weapons Chaevaris could see.  The women slowed down and got their bearings, as if quite surprised to find themselves in a crowded marketplace.  Glancing silently at one another, they seemed to reach some sort of unspoken consensus and mingled quietly with the crowd, breaking off down a back alley when the opportunity presented itself.  Chaevaris tracked them visually by their dark black hair until they passed behind a building and were hidden from the archer's keen sight.The panic-stricken man, however, seemed to have no idea the two women were no longer following.  Leaving a trail of overturned carts behind him, he rushed through the crowds and ended up heading for the outdoor eating area of the Dark and Light Inn, where he and Alistair locked eyes and immediately recognized each other.  "You!" each called out, but the other man begged to the young sorcerer, "Please!  You've got to save me!""I don't acknowledge the requirement," Alistair said stiffly, rising up from his chair and looking to see who might be following Beaufort "Shambles" Maguffin, the low-level thief they're had a run-in with up in Mirtek, when he and his band had ended up with the ceremonial Pelorian armor Harlan had turned into the church there, only to have had it stolen from underneath it by cohorts of this Shambles fellow.  Try as he might, the sorcerer could see nobody trailing after the thief - although quite a few merchants were shaking their fists at him (or engaging in other one-handed gestures) as they picked up the wares he'd tossed aside in his panic.  "Save you from who, exactly?" Alistair asked, puzzled."Two women - part of his, his harem or his band of loyal followers, I dunno!  They'll eat me alive, like they did to Callie!  Oh, poor Callie!"  Without asking, Shambles grabbed up the glass of cordial from Alistair's table and drank it down to steady his nerves.  Blorkane decided now would be a good time to go replenish his own drink and wandered off inside the tavern's interior, leaving Alistair to deal with this crazy man he apparently knew from elsewhere."Perhaps you'd better start from the beginning," suggested Alistair, frowning down at his empty glass.Shambles complied as best he could, but his tale was a somewhat rambling account, and he told it while looking all around him nervously.  Apparently, he and a bunch of his gang from Mirtek decided to come try their fortunes in Ghourmand Vale.  Shambles insisted on giving Alistair a full list of his teammates: besides the aforementioned Callie the elven rogue, there was apparently the leader of the bunch, one Dalton Bunge; a rather sinister elf named Elway; one Mabel Trant; a fighter named Patterson; a half-elf bard named Balatray who seemed to be a particularly close friend of his; and a pair of dwarven twins named Burkin and Pitkin.  They had all been on the road to Ghourmand Vale when suddenly...they were on a different road entirely, in a land with a hotter clime.  (Alistair, whose eyes had been glazing over during the recitation of Shambles' friends and cohorts in crime, started picking up interest in the tale now that he recognized them as having passed through a planar gate like the one his own group had encountered while checking out the Slippery Shaft Mines.)  And sure enough, they were brought before Jasgund Singh, who, over the course of the next three weeks, had enticed most of Dalton Bunge's group into joining his own forces.  This all came to a head at a banquet Shambles had attended just minutes ago, when Callie had finally decided she'd had enough and wasn't going to be a part of Jasgund's group."It was horrible!" Shambles wailed.  "This Jasgund, he had a wicked smile on his face, and he just gave a little nod and just like that, everyone was grabbing at poor Callie!  They pulled her onto the table, and they ripped at her clothes and they ripped at her flesh, and they started eating her!  One of Singh's men, he cut open Callie's chest and pulled out her heart, and tossed it into a goblet and presented it to Jasgund, and he said something about how she was too faint-hearted but even faint hearts served their purpose, and then he turned into a tiger, and started eating her heart, and all of my men - well, most of them - started ripping off chunks of Callie's flesh and they were eating her, and me and Balatray, we just got up and started running, and there were people chasing us, and we got separated, and I dunno where Balatray went but all of a sudden I was here in this marketplace, and--""Okay, okay, slow down," soothed Alistair.  "Whoever these women were who were chasing you, it doesn't look like they're here now, so you're safe."  Alistair still couldn't stand the low-life blubbering there before him, but he could at least acknowledge he'd been put through an emotional wringer.  By now, Harlan had seen the ruckus and had sent the orphans inside the shrine while he ambled over to the Dark and Light Inn to see what all Alistair was dealing with.  Ageratum had headed over as well, having recognized Shambles from her own previous associations with him.  Whatever trouble he was in now, she had no doubt it was something he'd brought on himself.  Harlan focused his attention upon Shambles' aura, and was somewhat surprised to see it was not suffused in evil.But then a cawing alerted Alistair's attention and he looked up to the top of the little shed in the back of the open-air dining area in which he and Shambles were talking.  Ambrose, his grackle familiar, was atop the roof and looking to the south.  "We've got incoming," the grackle informed his master in their special language.  "Two women, to the south."Alistair spun in place to look at where his familiar had indicated the women were approaching from, and that drew Shambles' gaze that way as well.  "It's them!" he cried aloud, drawing the women's stares directly at him.  As one, they smiled silently, as if pleased to have once again caught sight of their prey.  Shambles drew both of his blades, wielding them in shaking hands.  Without any fear of looking cowardly, he cowered behind Harlan.  The paladin unsheathed his own sword and set its blade aflame, ready for action.Without changing her stride in the least, the closest of the two women - changed.  Her skin, already darker than that of those around her, darkened further and sprouted fur, while her face elongated, her nose and mouth extending out into a short muzzle, her ears moving higher up the sides of her head as her long, black hair receded into the striped fur now covering her head.  Her body was still that of the human woman she had at first appeared to be - and she wore the same items of clothing she had worn into the marketplace - but it was quite obvious this was no human woman striding forward to reach Shambles - it was a weretiger in hybrid form.  Gurpeet gave a little growl of anticipation in her throat as she advanced."Evil?" Alistair asked Harlan, although he has fairly certain he already knew the answer."Evil, both of them," the half-elf paladin confirmed.Chaevaris hadn't been able to hear the conversation going on below, but didn't feel the need to know much else beyond "woman turned into a weretiger and is heading towards my friends with likely evil intent."  An arrow came streaking down from the archer's bow to hit the weretiger in the side, but it seemed to bounce right off her hide without effect - and it had been a sleep arrow as well, so if it had penetrated Gurpeet's flesh there would have been a blast of magical energy that might have put her to sleep.  The lack of such a burst informed Chaevaris the arrow had had no effect whatsoever.  For the first time, Chaevaris regretted not having picked up any silver-tipped arrows, for the archer knew from stories passed down from the family that silver was anathema to most lycanthropes.Harlan's assurances kept Alistair from feeling bad as he pulled out his wand of magic missile and sent a burst of five missiles at one of the two approaching women, but his own upbringing caused him to target Gurpeet rather than her companion Gurleen, who still wore the form of a human woman.  Somehow, it just didn't seem right to fire a combat spell at a woman who had yet to attack them, yet it wasn't as bad shooting a tiger-woman.  After all, even if she hadn't attacked anybody either, her mere appearance was causing quite an uproar among the marketplace members, as shoppers ran away from the tiger-monster and merchants abandoned their own wares to save their own lives.As Ambrose flew from the top of the shed to the top of the tavern - it was further away from the pair of Jasgund's followers, and the grackle had an instinctive fear of anything cat-related - Ageratum scuttled over to the shadows behind the shed, waiting for the two women to pass.  She had a kobold half-spear at the ready to throw at whichever one was closest.Gurleen shifted form as well, and now there were two obvious weretiger hybrids in the marketplace.  But while she shifted form she sprinted forward, showing incredible speed as she made a bee-line for Shambles.  She had to pass by Harlan to get to her prey, and the paladin wasted no opportunities to bring his flaming burst longsword crashing into her side.  She snarled in hatred at the paladin, seemingly more angered at he flame of his blade than at the blade itself, for as Harlan examined where he'd hit her there was no cut, merely a burn mark where the fire had struck her.  He spun in place and struck her again, and this time the momentum of his movement allowed the sword to cut into her a bit.  Harlan was glad to see although these weretigers had an impressive amount of natural protection against physical wounds, they weren't impervious!  it would just be a matter of time to take them down.Shambles thrust his own weapons out at Gurleen, missing with his dagger but hitting her with his rapier - but not, alas, with enough force to pierce her thick pelt.  Gurpeet, in the meantime, went after Harlan as he seemed to be an obstacle in her way to get to the man Lord Jasgund wanted dead.  But as she leapt at the paladin, she was hit in the side by Ageratum's thrown halfspear.  It wasn't silver-coated or anything, but the halfling's knowledge about where to strike to deal the most damage came in handy, for in hybrid form a weretiger's vital organs were in the same place as they were in human form, which worked to Ageratum's advantage.  The pain of the spear wound was enough to distract Gurpeet enough that her claws missed Harlan completely.The fight was now spreading out of the inn's outdoor eating area and into the streets beyond.  Leaping over to an adjacent roof, Chaevaris had a better vantage point of the two weretigers.  Out came another arrow - a standard one, not a sleep arrow - and the archer started lining up a shot against one of the weretigers, aiming at a point for maximum damage.Harlan channeled holy energy through his longsword and sent a smite evil slash of his blade at Gurpeet.  Once again, the damage from the blade itself was minimal, but the heat from the flames and the holy power seemed to have an effect, as the weretiger once again snarled in pain and anger.  Alistair sent another blast from his wand over to Gurpeet, wanting to aid his friend Harlan more than he felt it necessary to keep Shambles safe.  At least magic missile spells dealt with force energy, which was powerful enough to affect targets no matter how thick their pelts."Ageratum!  Silversheen!" Chaevaris called down from the rooftop perch, still aiming at the weretiger target of choice.  Ageratum held the vial of silversheen the group had discovered in the wizard's house where they'd fought the barghest, and if the elven archer was suggesting she use it, Ageratum was more than willing to trust it was a smart move.  She quickly pulled out her masterwork short sword and applied a coating to its blade.  Then she moved forward, to flank the weretiger attacking Shambles.  She snorted in disdain at the thought of having to rescue the little idiot, who'd gotten his nickname by the way all of his plans seemed to fall apart.Gurleen went into a flurry of motion, striking out at Shambles with claws and teeth too fast for the slow-witted thief to be able to stop.  One set of claws ripped at his throat and he fell backwards, conking his head on the cobblestones as he lost consciousness.  But while the blow might have been a lethal one otherwise, within the proximity of Harlan's Blood Mirror his wounds sealed up and he remained stable, near death but not in any danger of crossing that line.Gurpeet went into a similar frenzy against Harlan, and while he was able to avoid her bite - the most dangerous of her attacks, he was well aware, for its ability to transmit the curse of lycanthropy to her victims, although as a paladin he was personally immune - her claws ripped into him, digging in deep.  He stumbled a few steps backwards under the effects of the attacks, blood streaming through the seams in his armor where she'd cut him.  He was forced to use his new-found ability to cast actual spells to heal some of the damage he'd just taken by casting a cure light wounds spell upon himself.  But, having expended the only spell he was capable of casting that day, Harlan was well aware he would not survive many other attacks of that nature.Chaevaris continued aiming at Gurpeet but did not yet let loose the readied arrow.  Alistair, having heard Chaevaris calling down the suggestion to use silver weapons against the weretigers, recalled he had been given a silver dagger of his own.  He pulled it out of his scabbard with his left hand, but knew full well his own skill with the weapon would not allow him to deal as much damage as he could do with his wand.  Still, it looked like Harlan could use a breather, so Alistar moved over in front of the paladin and waved the silver dagger about, hoping to distract Gurpeet's attention away from the half-elf.  To help focus her attention away, he blasted her in the face with another charge from his wand of magic missile, which he realized he was starting to get rather dependent upon, for it dealt a lot more damage than he was capable of dealing himself at this level in his adventuring career.Ageratum, in the meantime, sent the silvered blade of her short sword deep into the back of Gurleen, who was standing over the downed Shambles.  But while she dropped to her knees as a result of the attack, it wasn't solely for that reason - she'd also wanted to drop her muzzle down to Shambles' unprotected neck, and she did just that, ripping out his throat with her impressive set of feline fangs.  Blood flowed from Shambles' neck in such quantities there was no denying he was dead, far beyond the Blood Mirror's ability to stabilize.Unfortunately, Alistair's attempts at drawing Gurpeet away from Harlan were unsuccessful, as the werebeast continued focusing her attention upon the paladin.  She managed to graze him with one set of claws, enough to cause him considerable pain but not enough to drop him - nor enough to get him to back down from a fight against evil.  In fact, he summoned up his reserves and channeled a second smite evil surge of holy power through his flaming blade, catching her for a decent amount of damage.  And then Chaevaris finally released the arrow and it sank into Gurpeet's shoulder, causing her to hiss in additional pain.But by now both weretigers were looking to be fighting on the last dregs of their own strength.  Taking a gamble, Alistair fired off another shot from his wand, this time splitting up the magic missiles such that one hit Gurpeet - the most ragged-looking of the two - while the other four went streaking over to strike Gurleen.  The sorcerer had guessed correctly, for both werebeasts collapsed to the cobblestones, unconscious and reverting back to their human forms.  Ageratum went quickly to the nearest, feeling for a pulse.  She nodded over at Alistair, nodding that she was still alive."I say!" Alistair declared.  "You look quite the worse for wear, my friend!"  He took Harlan by the elbow and walked him away from the others, under the shade of an overly-large umbrella atop one of the abandoned merchants' carts.  He fished a potion of cure light wounds from the pouch at his belt and passed it over to the wounded paladin, all the while making surreptitious stabbing motions back at Ageratum.  The halfling took the hint, slitting the throats of Jasgund's fanatical devotees, realizing neither of the two of them would ever give over any information about their terrible master, trapped in his faraway lands.  By the time Harlan had opened the flask and drank down the contents, the deeds were done - the women in the brown garments and sandals were well and truly dead, and Ageratum was polishing her short sword before returning it to its scabbard.Chaevaris had scrambled down from the rooftop and joined the others.  Looking down at Shambles, the archer observed, "He's dead as well.""No big loss there," Ageratum replied, looking over at the black, studded leather armor Shambles wore.  "You think that's magical?" she asked Alistair.A quick detect magic spell gave Alistair her answer.  "It is indeed.""I thought so - here, give me a hand getting it off of him.  If it's magical, it ought to alter size to whoever's wearing it.""Um," began Alistair, looking nervously around them to see if they were being observed; he didn't want to be seen "rolling the dead," as the slang went."Nobody's watching," Ageratum said, scowling.  "Quit being such a worry-wart and give me a hand here!"  Face red with embarrassment, Alistair pulled off Shambles' boots and tugged the leather pants down the dead thief's legs as Ageratum struggled getting the top piece over his head.  She managed, but the armor was hopelessly soaked in the corpse's blood.  "Clean this up for me?" she asked the sorcerer, who sighed and obligingly cast a prestidigitation spell to clean the blood from it.  "Thanks!" the little halfling said, gathering up the too-large armor and scampering off into the shed to change.By the time Harlan had found someone to summon whoever represented the forces of law and order in the area and they had finally made an appearance, Ageratum was in her new magical armor - and sure enough, it now fit her as if it had been designed for her frame.  Harlan explained to the authorities that the two dead women were in fact weretigers - or had been, before they had been forced to slay them to protect the locals.  Fortunately, with the combat over, many of the merchants had returned to their carts and were able to confirm the paladin's tale that these had both been tiger-women, and that one of them had slain the man lying in the street in his underclothes."Don't worry, I seen a lot worse than this in my day," said the weary man in charge of keeping the peace in the boomtown environment of Ghourmand Vale.  He motioned to Merton Funk, the streets commissioner, and a few of his workers who'd come along to investigate the source of all the excitement.  "Pack 'em up," he said and the two workers hurried to comply, wrapping them in blankets."I say," Alistair said to one of the workers.  "What happens to them now?"The worker snickered and replied, "You prolly don't wanna know.  Just, you know, maybe don't go buying your bacon from Mistbrenner's farm if you’re particular about your vittles.  Oink, oink, oink, and the problems're all gone--hah!  Mister Funk here ain't too particular.""Hey, less talk and more work!" called out Merton Funk."Yessir!" replied the worker, bending to his task.Alistair realized the worker had been quite correct: he hadn't wanted to know. - - -This was one of our shorter sessions - not surprisingly, since it was basically just one combat encounter with some backstory ahead of time - and we were done in less than an hour and a half.  It made for quite a difference from our previous session, in which Dan had used 41 different counters to represent the monsters we encountered and the other NPCs we dealt with!Incidentally, we'll be skipping the next two Wednesday sessions, as I'll be on a business trip this week and then next week Dan and Vicki have company in for Thanksgiving.  So we're planning on starting this back up on 30 November.</blockquote>

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