Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1802634" data-attributes="member: 1210">The Jackal-Things10:30 a.m., 7/30/368 O.L.G., in the Brown HillsWhen they encounter the weird jackal-creatures, it almost ends their tale once and for all.The party is traveling through the hills, still heading north for the dwarven community.  Their new... friend?  Traveling companion, anyway- Naomi- ambles along with them, her hands digging in her pouch for bits of jerky almost constantly.  Something about her is creepy- perhaps her continued attempts to persuade the group to eat Orderly Brown.  “That’s wrong,” Federico protests.“Why?” demands Naomi.  “It isn’t like it’s cannibalism.  He isn’t a halfling, after all.”  Hmm, neither are you- and you look sort of like a chicken, she reflects, staring hungrily at the kobold.  Kobold’s good, as long as it isn’t too tough, but this one looks awfully scrawny.  Something to think about, anyway.  She licks her chops.  Later in the morning, the group encounters a gnome named Boddynock.  Poor Boddynock, it turns out, was sort of exiled from his village when he played a practical joke of some sort that went awry, or offended the wrong person, or something.  The details are hazy; nonetheless, Boddynock mentions that he is a wizard, and as he is a small folk, the rest of the party is happy to welcome him to the group.  He joins the party, at least for the moment, but he is a little taken aback by their quest to return the escaped inmates to the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment when they are the ones who let the escapees out in the first place.“Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” Sandy says.  “We’re seasoned adventurers; it all makes sense.”The group’s journey takes them through a small valley with a brook running through it.  Several large rock piles are nearby, and as they thread their way through them, they suddenly find themselves confronting a trio of what appear to be humans.  “Who are you?” calls Federico, cautiously casting mage armor on his dog Ethel.  The figures grin wordlessly and their features change.  It’s like watching wax melt and flow into a new configuration.  Before they know what’s happened, the ‘human’ heads have changed into jackal-heads... and Orderly Brown’s legs fold from under him as he drops into a deep sleep!Things go from bad to worse as the jackal-headed creatures prove nearly immune to halfling weaponry.  Their blows glance off the monsters, leaving little more than scratches!  Sandy drops into slumber a few moments later, and Federico, Naomi and Boddynock are hard pressed to hold out against the strange jackal-men, who press in with scimitars, slashing and cutting at all of them.  Ethel, growling fiercely, pulls one from its feet, and though her teeth don’t hurt it as much as they should, she manages to keep it out of the fight as it tries to get up only to have her trip it again!Namoi’s potent mind helps.  The monsters’ supernatural resistance to weaponry avails them naught against her mind thrust; and when Boddynock manages to stun one of the creatures with a color spray, the group cheers.  This allows them to focus on the standing one, but he swings his scimitar at Ethel and connects, knocking out her two front teeth!  She yelps but keeps fighting. Then the monster that stands gives a great howl and clutches its head.  Its blade falls to the ground at its feet.  Blood begins to pour from its nose, mouth, ears and eyes, and it collapses.  Behind it, Naomi grins a sharp-toothed grin.  Once this happens- with a second creature struggling to fend Ethel off long enough to regain his feet, and failing, a the final one in a stupor from the color spray, it’s only a matter of time before they whittle the conscious one down.  And when Boddynock, once he’s expended his offensive spells, wakes up Orderly Brown and Sandy, they simply choke the stunned one to death, cutting off its air supply and suffocating it.Shaken, the group is nonetheless intact.  “If only one more of us had succumbed to the sleep gaze,” groans Federico, “we’d probably all be dead!”Indeed.  Fortunately, they all survived.  And unbeknownst to them, reinforcements are on the way!Next Time: The return of Thelonious, Martini and Timothy’s psychological evaluations, and bugbears!</blockquote>

Verification