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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 3805928" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dungeon Crawl Classics #11 The Dragonfiend Pact For 2nd Level CharactersTurn 30: Where Badger?Anya screams, “Get out of the way, FIRE.”Cas struggles backwards rats all over him, more bites, he never knew he had so much blood.FWUNGAn arrow thumps into his right thigh, he falls to his knees.Newt rolls over and up, and is on all fours, rats filter towards him, biting his feet and legs as he shuffles forward. He struggles on, kicking and flailing with his legs trying to get the vermin off of him. He thrusts his hand into his belt pouch, comes out with a small flask, swigs the contents down- cuts and tears mend in an instant.Cas thumps back into Ala.“My baby.” She whispers.And pours her healing magic into him.“FLAME ON.”Rats crisp, burn and die. And yet there are plenty more of them left.“Sandwich.”Bec charges into the swarm, he’s mad I told you, swats and swishes, and is soon covered in the creatures, Jim dives in and begins to swish and swot- neither of them are having a great effect.“LET ME GO.”Cas shouts, levers himself upright, and charges through the swarm again- bursts out the other side, veers right at the shape that seems to be dislodging itself from one of the stalagmites.“Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaastard.”The Paladin flings himself forward.FWUNGAnd is smashed again by an arrow, he staggers, but heads on.Bec begins to see the sense of it, he crunches down and rolls out of the Rat Swarm, splattering the rats still on him in the process, he’s covered in nips and bites.Jim follows the giant man, heads out of the swarm, and charges after Cas.Newt rolls from behind a stalagmite, crossbow in hand, and fairly rat-free, aims at the shadowy figure, where Cas is heading.Fwung.He misses, damn that was one of his poisoned bolts.Ala slashes at the swarm, tries to stay out of their reach, “Anya, again”, she screams.“FLAME ON.”The entrance to the chamber is filled with flames, and in an instant the swarm is gone, scattered stragglers skitter away from the crisped remains of their cousins, they flee.Cas rips the arrow from his gut, pours healing energy into the wound, which stops bleeding and then closes over.Then crashes into his enemy.Who seems to be some half-Badger, half-Man- actually a Werebadger named Tarn.Cas’s longsword slices into the man’s furred body, ripping a gout of flesh from his side. The creature swiftly lashes back; a great clawed hand slices Cas from neck to chest.The Paladin staggers backwards, drops his sword, and collapses onto the cavern floor.“More meet for the grinder.” The terrible creature whispers.Newt kisses his crossbow, mutters a prayer, and fires again.Fwung.A hit. Except the bolt bounces right back out again. The Werebadger turns and growls, but Newt by then is hidden behind a stalagmite shaking.“CAS.”Ala screams and charges forward through the burnt remains of the rats, towards her lover.Jim’s into the fray- slashes wildly- misses by a mile, and is raked badly, for his efforts; he breathes hard as blood cascades down his face and into his eyes.Bec races forward, and at lightning speed.Jim backs away swiftly waves his hand before him, nearly out on his feet. Newt stays hidden, sneaking glances every now and then. Ala squats over Cas, cradles his head as she fires healing into him, tears in her eyes. Anya enters the chamber.“You must pay for your meddling ways.”Tarn, the Werebadger shouts as it lurches forward to meet the much bitten Bec.CRUNCHBec swings his great sword, hits decisively.Yelp.Tarn staggers back, holding his right arm to his chest, it’s all but severed.GrrrrOOOWWWWLLLThe creature morphs and shapes, everyone stops what they’re doing to watch, it turns into a large Badger, then scurries-waddles backwards into one of the darkened tunnels, bites down on its bow, en route, and drags it after it, in seconds its gone.“Pelor.”Cas opens his eyes, takes a breath, tries to get up.“Wait.” Ala holds him down.“You’ve been bitten by a Were-Creature, you could be infected. You could all be.”Jim, in particular, examines his wounds, sits down hard.“I’m a Paladin, Ala, Pelor will protect me.” And Cas is up and on his feet.“See what you can do for Jim, we’ll head to the temple as soon as we’re done here, they’ll have the cure.”Ala nods, all business, heads over to Jim and uncorks a Healing Potion, soon his wounds are gone.“Right then, we need to search this place- thoroughly. Newt.”The Gnome comes back from poking around in one of the dark tunnels, nods at Cas.“We need your eagle-eyes.” Cas finishes.They set to work.  The bed, mostly rags and furs, is stinky, nothing of use, over the fire-pit a cauldron and a bubbling foul stew.Jim finds a bunch of strange, and small, leather harnesses.“What are these for?”Anya wanders over, examines them, Newt takes a look.“Rats.” Anya has it.“What for though?”“You steal something nice, and small, then you put it in here”, Anya indicates a part of the harness, “then the rat runs along and delivers whatever it is, through…”, Anya turns and points at one of the dark tunnels, “there.”The others mooch about and take a look at the strange devices. Newt heads over to the chest, gets to work.“With these.” There’s more to Anya’s story, she holds a set of pipes in her hand, “I think these will prove to be magical, I’ve heard of them, ‘Pipes of the Sewer’, or some such- they’re used to Summon and Control rats. Like the swarm we fought earlier.”“I hate rats.” Newt looks up.SPRUNGAnd then springs the lock on the chest- there’s lots to see inside.“Anya.”Newt proffers papers from the chest, while slipping a handful of coins and gems into a secret pocket.Five minutes later they’ve sorted through their find, and what a find, the first thing is a map, which Cas identifies, “it’s the tunnels, it’s a map through the tunnels.”“What use is that?” Jim asks.Cas shrugs.Also in the chest is an Ivory Scroll Tube, with some sort of intricate locking mechanism, Newt soon finds a way, it contains a bunch of scrolls- they’re passed to Anya.“Strength spells, all of them.” She states.Then a rack of identical potion flasks, all labelled. Newt reads, then mumbles, through a giggle, “they’re shrinking potions.”“What?” Ala asks.“Shrinking, reduces your height, your size and that.”“Oh.”“I bet we’d fit down the tunnels with one of these.”Newt giggles again.Passes another sheet of paper to Anya and then starts to scoop out of the chest the pile of gems and coins.“It’s a spell scroll for something called, ‘Improved Reduce Person’, probably the same as the potions.”She looks around.“The pipes are magical, you’re right.” Ala confirms.“So, where next?”They turn to look at Cas, who as they watch shrinks down till he is only one-and-a-half feet tall.“Onwards.”The Paladin states, in a voice a little like Donald Duck.Next Turn: The Diddymen.</blockquote>

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