GM1: Bizarre Bazaar

[covaithe]

Round 9, continued

Octavio moves behind the bowman and distracts him, while Tank uses his greatsword to its customary good effect, shattering both of the bowman's legs. The bowman collapses in an inert heap, unmoving.

End combat

The bowman's body consists only of black rags wrapped closely around a skeleton that should have mouldering peacefully in a grave somewhere. Unwrapping the rags does reveal a glittering chain shirt, perfectly clean and without so much as a scratch, hanging loosely around the empty rib cage. Also, a close examination of the skull reveals a small brand, a circle with two upward-curving points outside, and four inward curved points inside.

The longsword it carried is an unremarkable specimen of its kind, but the longbow is a masterpiece of its kind, sleek and powerful.

It is now twilight, and rapidly approaching full darkness.

 

[jaker2003]

Tank sheathes his greatsword and downs his potion.
(OOC: I'm assuming your description indicated a masterwork longbow of the non-composite variety)
Tank handles the bow and chainshirt affectionately. "If no one else has a claim on these, I would like them."
Once ownership of the spoils is settled, Tank procures another trophy:
[Tab]Looping some of the archer's rags through the eye sockets, Tank is able to tie the skull to his belt.

 

[Heckler]

"I believe we all can lay claim to the valuables, Tank. However, I am willing to give up my claim if you recompense me fair market value for my share."

"Let's keep these as well. This symbol on the skull intrigues me," Octavio adds as he picks up the long sword. "I wonder if the dogs have similar markings..."


ooc: this reminds me, do we still have the weapons from the wererats, or did we sell them in the last town?

 

[covaithe]

ooc: I don't remember anyone taking the time to sell them, but I may have handwaved it and misremembered. I'm happy to retroactively handwave it if you want to have sold them for SRD prices. Yes, that's a MW longbow of the non-composite variety. Be grateful it wasn't doing extra strength damage during that fight!


IC:

From what can be recovered of the scattered fragments of dog skeleton, no brand is apparent.

 

[Kenku17]

As the others checks bones of the skeleton, William settles the horses, and prepares to take off agian. "Cmon" he says "We need to get back some of the time weve lost with these diversions, or else were going to miss the auction."

 

[Heckler]

"While I appreciate your desire to hurry up, William, you're forgetting two things. One...it's almost dark and we need to make camp and get a good night's sleep, because; two, tomorrow morning we need to start digging our way through that...," Octavio says, pointing at the rock-filled entryway.

"You're right though, we have had several distractions on our way. Almost as if...," he trails off, only to start back up again. "Tank! Do you still have that halfling's tooth? There was a mark on it. See if it matches our archer's mark."

ooc: We can hold onto the wererats' loot for now. They had some coin which is what I remember us splitting. I'll make a note on my first post in this thread to keep better track of phat lewt.

edit: forgot about the stuff from Serena and the cave, also. We've gotten a nice little bit of loot so far.

 

[covaithe]

The halfling's tooth does not match the skull's brand. Instead, it's a vertical line with several shorter horizontal and diagonal lines emerging from it.

The night begins calmly enough. Tank uses his potion, and Phelan splits his small curing spells between William and Tank. (ooc: Tank regains 9 from the potion and 1 from CMW; William regains 2 from CMWs.)

It rains briefly early in the night, but about halfway through Octavio and Tank's watch, the rain stops, and the clouds thin. Soon, the moon breaks through a hole in the clouds. A perfect, full moon.

[sblock=Tank]As you stare at the moon, you start to feel angry. At first, it is just the frustration of the day's battle replaying itself in your mind, but soon you find your self standing, unreasoningly furious, every muscle locked rigid and trembling. A red haze forms at the edge of your vision, and as the rage grows, the haze darkens and expands, and the last thing you see before you lose consciousness is the full, red moon.

ooc: Tank is offstage for now, but he'll be back soon, so sit back and watch the fun. [/sblock]

[sblock=Everyone else]The peaceful night is suddenly ripped through by a scream of rage, and those of you who are asleep wake immediately and leap to your feet in time to see Tank, muscles rigid and veins standing out in stark relief in the moonlight. His scream seems to go on and on as his body seems to melt and slump like warm wax. Suddenly the scream cuts off, and in place of Tank stands a dire rat, red eyes glittering with malice in the lantern light. For a moment it looks as if it will attack you, but then it turns on its tail and disappears into the night. Where it stood is a pile of Tank's weapons, armor, and clothing. [/sblock]

 

[Heckler]

When Tank starts screaming, Octavio leaps to his feet and draws his rapier, expecting an attack. He is shocked into silence at his transformation, and after Tankrat has scampered off into the night, Octavio slowly turns to face the rest of the party as he asks, "So, umm, this seems like a good time to ask, "Was anyone else bitten by a wererat?""

 

[Kenku17]

Will gasps at the ghastly transformation as it happens, and he sees Tank run off. He then hears Octavio's question and responds. "I think if anyone else had been bitten deep enough, they would of changed by now...but this leaves a new question...do we go after him?"

 

[covaithe]

ooc: there doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm for going after him, so I'll fast forward a bit.

Attempts to follow the rat/Tank quickly prove futile; the darkness and the lack of any tracking skills among the party cause prudence to assert itself before any injuries are sustained on the steep and rocky hillsides. The rest of the night passes uneventfully, though sleep is elusive.

[sblock=Tank]Your head pounds as though you had finished a cask of Dwarven whiskey yourself, though you don't remember doing so. In fact, you don't remember much since the previous evening... You remember getting up for your watch, but nothing after that. Nothing except a glimpse of the full moon peeking through the clouds. You are sore, though that is to be expected given the previous day's fight, but you are also cold, which strikes you as strange.

You open your eyes groggily. It is dark, though that presents little problem for you. You are in a narrow cave, only a few paces wide, that seems to twist away in both directions. You are alone.

You are also stark naked. And you stink.

In fact, you don't remember ever smelling as strongly as you do now. The whole cave reeks of blood and sweat and urine and a powerful, musky smell that is as familiar as the hilt of your greatsword; the smell of your own body. Though many times stronger than you've ever noticed it before, it is not unpleasant... or wouldn't be, without the blood and so forth.

Checking yourself over, you are still slightly injured from the arrow wounds, though they seem to be recovering nicely. But despite the wounds, despite the cold and the headache, you feel tough and hard, quick and fierce.

Casting about the cave, you note that it goes on in both directions. It has a slight downward slope towards one end, while in the other direction, the smell of your own body is stronger, though older, as if you had passed that way a while ago. Your smell is also somehow slightly different there, in a way you can't quite put your finger on.

ooc: Tank now has the scent ability, among other goodies that I'll detail fully in time.
[/sblock]