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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1307817" data-attributes="member: 1210">BloodsuckersTrinia sighs happily, taking a deep breath of the crisp air.  It’s spring; everywhere around the party is new growth, the budding of new green on the trees, little yellow buds threatening to blossom into flowers on bushes, the bare beginnings of fruit.  Here and there the druid spies signs of other new life, too; a family of bunnies hops across the grass in the distance and a doe and her fawn are drinking from a stream at the base of the next hill over.  Smiling, Trinia gives her wolf a rough scratch and watches him lope off to sniff and drink from the creek himself.  Ed is a little withdrawn, but no storm seems brewing at first glance.  Well, that’s nice, isn’t it- I’m sure I’m not the only once who was worried their might be (immediate) trouble. The rest of the party had gone smashingly (as in, quite a few of the folks involved got smashed).  The Featherheads were polite and pleasant hosts, and there were a number of wild partying youth types there (ahem, the Barleybrew twins).  It was a good time, other than the little scene with Zenvo, which made pretty much everyone uncomfortable.  But that was last night, and this is today, and our heroes are en route to this old druid guy’s hut to ask for his weapon.  Seems simple enough, eh?As our heroes cross through the grassy plains they start moving into a rougher area where the land rolls up and down more, with occasional boulders and rocks strewn about.  The grasses are more than waist high on our halflings.  “For once, I’m the tall one,” Captain Cavedwarf jokes.Soon the party descends into a gully, intending to ascend immediately up the other side.  A small creek and a stand of trees are in the gully; and as the halflings descend into the gully, a trio of ticks scurries out- ticks the size of... well... of halflings.“Eeek!” Airhead Ed screams, bursting into tears.  Shakily, she pulls out her blade.  Trinia and her wolf are already moving towards the vermin and in an instant they’re upon them.  Trinia’s scimitar slashes out at the first tick, and her wolf darts forward, growling loud and fierce; its vicious teeth snap out, tearing a chunk of tough tick carapace free.  The wolf shakes the tick, knocking it onto its back!Ed moves up to try to flank, but the first tick has already got a hold on Trinia!  The druid gasps as the filthy vermin sucks her blood at a prodigious rate!  Its blood-sac starts to fill... With a thin scream, she thrusts her scimitar at it at point blank range, slicing its thorax and cutting open the sac.  Her own blood trickles out of the tick.  Barking savagely, the wolf grabs the tick in its jaws and savages it, but it remains attached.  Sandy hurls sling stone after sling stone as Ed stabs wildly; but Sandy’s stones go wide while Ed’s blow bounces off a tick’s thick shells.  Another tick bites the wolf, starting to suck at it audibly, and the animal gives a startled, loud yelp.  Then, worse yet, the third tick manages to get ahold of the wolf as well!  With a horrible yowl, the wolf tears one tick loose and rips its head off (literally).  One down, thinks Sandy.Trinia manages to cut the tick on her free at last with her blade, then turns to help her wolf.  Screaming in rage, she slashes and hacks as the rest of the party follows her lead.  Sandy rushes in, stabbing with a shortsword, and the tick that’s been forced off of Trinia catches him by surprise, biting his leg as he rushes by; and suddenly that whole rushes by thing comes to a dead halt.  With a groan, Sandy tries to defend himself, but he’s so small; he can only hold so much blood.  He gives out a weak cry.  “Help!”Ed rushes to help Sandy as Trinia tries to save her wolf.  Both strike home!  There’s a sickening spray of brown goo as the two ticks go down.  With a groan, Sandy collapses.Next Time: A little rest and recovery!</blockquote>

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