NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sniktch" data-source="post: 473394" data-attributes="member: 7704">The Big Chicken, or Welby gets stonedThe next day they returned to their exploration. This time the Royston Crow complained about feeling poorly and remained behind, but Filthy Ike was much better and rejoined the party.  The companions proceeded down until they came to the room where they had faced the undead bear, this time selecting the doorway on their left.It led to a long hallway with doors on either side of the passage spaced about every thirty feet down its entire length.  They moved up to the first two doors and halted while Ike examined them.“Seems clear to me – neither of these doors have been opened in years.  There’s some writing here but I can’t make out what it says.  I think it’s in Dwarven.”Jack leaned down and examined first one door, and then the other.  “Says ‘Rocksteady’ an’ ‘Hammerhelm.’  I’d guess that these’re the old clan halls.”They opened the door to what once had been the Rocksteady residence.  Inside they found a small area consisting of a den with a fireplace, bedroom, privy, small dining area, and smaller kitchen.  It was thoroughly ransacked, and they were about to give up hope of finding anything useful when Ike called out that he’d found a loose stone in the hearth.  Inside they found a small coffer containing four bars of solid mithral, which they let Ike hang onto for safekeeping.Heartened by the find, they proceeded to search the clan halls of the Hammerhelms, the Ironfists, and the Undermounts, but found nothing else of interest.  They moved up the hall and stopped between two doors labeled ‘Silveraxe’ and ‘Ironhammer.’  They decided to explore the Silveraxes’ home first and immediately knew something was amiss by the rank stench that greeted them upon opening the door.  The odor seemed to originate from the bedroom area, the door to which was partially open.The bedroom door flew fully open when Jack and Welby stepped into the abode and three ghoulish forms loped out and sprang to attack.  The horrible fetor washed over them even more strongly as the creatures approached and Ike and Eldred were overcome with nausea and fell to their knees retching and gasping for fresh air.  Artimas gave a strangled cry of “Ghast!” before he too was overpowered by the smell and retreated from the area gagging.Jack squared off against the first undead and chopped it down as soon as it came within reach.  The second creature launched itself over the falling corpse and slammed into the dwarf, biting and raking with its claws.  Jack felt the ice of paralysis forming in his blood and fought against it, and this time his dwarven constitution prevailed and he remained standing.The third beast went around the angry dwarf and tore into Grick, but the half-orc ignored the wounds he received and snapped his elbow into his foe’s face.  The ghoul’s head snapped back and Grick followed with a snap kick that crushed its abdomen and dropped it twitching to the floor.Meanwhile, Welby and Quinn went to Jack’s aid against the last remaining undead.  From the miasma surrounding it, they guessed this beast to be the ghast.  Jack was having trouble landing a solid blow on the agile monster, while his face and forearms were now covered with angry red lacerations.  Quinn aimed a blow at its head but it ducked and knocked her sprawling back toward the doorway, but Welby had more success, dropping into a crouch at the last moment and hacking into the back of its leg just above the knee.The ghast was knocked off balance for just a moment, but it was all the opening Jack needed.  “For Clangeddin!” he cried and smashed the blade of his axe into the creature’s face, ending the battle.They searched, but the abode held nothing else of interest or value save the ghast’s treasure, a large mound of gnawed bones.  The party sealed off the room in disgust and moved to the next door.Welby pushed the door open and moved inside.  The entry area was empty save for the wreckage of furniture and accumulated debris of centuries of neglect.  Welby entered, kicking a pile of loose stone across the floor.  Something struck him as odd about the stone he’d just kicked, and he picked it up to examine it more closely.  It was a rat!  A tiny sculpture of a cave rat, the attention to detail breathtakingly realistic.  Peering at the floor more closely, he saw that a myriad of tiny statues was scattered on the floor – rats, bats, lizards, and even a couple of large spiders.Puzzled, the halfling passed the model back to his friends to examine and stepped further into the room.  Hearing a noise from further back in the abode, probably the bedroom area, he readied his axe and crept slowly forward.  As he neared the next room of the clan hall a curious creature stepped into view.  It resembled a rooster, except that it stood nearly three feet tall and had a long, reptilian tail.Welby started to drool immediately.  “BIG CHICKEN!” he yelled, raising his axe and rushing forward.Jack saw the target of the halfling’s attention and shouted, “Welby, no!” but it was too late.  The barbarian reached his target and gashed its side with a vicious swing of his axe.  The ‘big chicken’ responded by squawking raucously and pecking the halfling right on the nose with its large curved beak.Welby stopped as a curious sensation overcame him.  He tried to lift his feet but they felt leaden and too heavy to move.  He looked down at his arms and saw them changing before his eyes to a gray stony color.  He found himself unable to move at all now and let out a scream of fright.“Nooooooooo-*-,” the halfling’s cry was cut off as the transformation ended, leaving him cold, unmoving stone.</blockquote>

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