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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2093142" data-attributes="member: 1210">A Tragic Loss5/4/369 O.L.G., 11:30 a.m., in an outrigger canoe just off an isolated tropical islandA pleasant light rain falls upon our heroes as they move towards the next island.  It often rains in the afternoon here.  Naomi fairly itches to retrieve the idol of the ancestors.  The others are more than willing to help her.  Dogtooth pilots the vessel adroitly, and the canoe starts to skim across the waves away from the island when suddenly a red streak falls from the sky.  Dogtooth cries out a hoarse surprised curse and staggers.  He’s bleeding.  “What in Bleak’s-“ he cries, then shouts in dismay, ducking and covering his head with his arms as another two blood-red birds slash down at him.  Bows and crossbows come out; Martini draws his greatsword and stands ready.  “Dogtooth, are you all right?” cries Timothy.  He blasts one of the hawks from the sky with a volley of magic missiles.  A few arrows fly at the hawks, but they dodge quickly and then make another pass, flying down-Martini swings, cutting one of the deadly birds in half in a spray of blood.  The other hawks flash by, dragging trails of crimson gore in Dogtooth, dealing a ripping blow to Martini’s shoulder and slashing Whisperclick across the face.  As the hawks wheel away again, Martini can feel his strength flagging.  Those claws are vicious, he realizes.  I’m bleeding severely... looks like the gnome is too.  Gritting his teeth, he casts down his blade and unlimbers his bow.  He starts firing arrows, sinking one after another into the scarlet-plumaged birds.  They wheel in again, but Naomi dives behind cover and Martini dodges aside as well.  Several of the birds have fallen, but the others, oddly, seem intent on fighting to the end.  Combined with the color of their plumage, Martini abruptly realizes, These are blood hawks!  Very dangerous, very vicious... and carnivores.  He continues firing arrows- there are only three birds left, and then two, as another round of magic missiles blasts another down and wounds another so severely that it spirals down onto the water.  Martini fires another arrow, and with a squawk another blood hawk falls into the sea!  And a final one- Martini is quite good at firing rapid shots- and the last bird dies.“No,” Naomi’s voice comes to him, choked with emotion.  Fearing the worst, Martini turns.  Naomi is weeping over Dogtooth, whose eyes are wide open, staring sightlessly into the distance.”NOOOOOO!!”Our heroes weep and moan over their fallen friend.  “Dogtooth was our best buddy here,” opines Timothy.  “He knew so much, and even when he didn’t have a weapon he’d throw a coconut or unripe mango at a bad guy!”His tale grows in the telling.  “Remember that time when Dogtooth saved us from the goblins?” sighs Beau.  “Ahhh, Dogtooth!”  He wipes his eyes.Eventually, it gets kind of creepy staring at his corpse in the boat with them.  “We can’t just dump him,” Whisperclick exclaims.  “It’s a burial at sea,” Martini replies.  “That’s what you do when someone dies at sea.”“Can’t we just take him with us to the next island?” Timothy asks, then looks at the corpse and blanches.  “Wait- never mind.”After a considerable debate, Martini and Jawbreaker heave the corpse overboard, but through a quirk of fate the currents generated by the boat draw it behind our heroes until they reach the next isle. ***The party spends a few days investigating the island, but finds nothing of real interest.  On their way to the next isle, a group of sahuagin rises from the sea and demands tribute for safe passage; in return, Jawbreaker intimidates the hell out of them and they flee without a fight and with far less than they demanded.  It’s very impressive, and when it’s over, Jawbreaker declares, “Fish-men smart.  They know leave Jawbreaker alone.”  He guffaws.  Soon enough our heroes reach the next isle.  Timothy keeps an eye on the waves, half-afraid he’ll see Dogtooth- and, more than once, in the distance, he’s convinced he does.***5/7/369 O.L.G., 2 a.m., the next islandBeau wakes Martini up. “Your turn to watch,” he murmurs.  Martini nods and sits up.  He takes a moment to stretch, then pulls out his bow.  The low embers of their fire gives out more than enough warmth for a night like this.  Beau hunkers down, putting his gear away- and pulling something out.“Hey Martini,” he says, “I forgot to give this to you- it’s yours.  I saved it for you when you died.”  He proffers Martini’s helm.The ranger stares at it for a moment.  “Well,” Beau says cheerfully, “good night!”  And he crawls into his bedroll, leaving the helm next to the fire.Martini stares at the helm some more.Some days back, after fighting the vampire, the party had found a magical gem.  When they diced for it, Martini won.  After a moment, he puts the gem in one of the helmet’s settings.  Then, slowly, biting his lip, he pulls the helm over his face.Next Time:  Our heroes start to find themselves in some trouble with the locals.  Watch out, halflings!  There are some pretty bad dudes on this island!</blockquote>

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