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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 598984" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #204] Demon Rats[/PLAIN]Finian felt the thing's hot breath on his neck and heard its teeth snap shut with a loud clack a hand width from his left ear. Then the Archer was in motion, spinning himself onto his back and drawing his knees up before kicking the skaven off of himself. It tumbled into the stable and recovered its footing almost instantly while Finian was still scrambling backward toward the door. Draelond's hands latched onto the ranger's nightgown and dragged him out into the yard. Ledare slammed her shoulder against the stable door and leaned heavily against it. A moment later, the skaven thudded against the other side, nearly sending Ledare to her knees. Draelond backed up against the door and braced himself, adding considerable bulk to the barricade."I - I think that wererat is Kirnoth," Finian sputtered as he got unsteadily to his feet. The rush of adrenalin was still coursing through him."What?" Draelond asked, his face screwed up in disbelief."I believe that Kirnoth is now a wererat because he was very badly hurt by Mom Bromson," the Archer explained. "And look at Great Celune; it's a full moon that triggers the change, isn't it?""I hadn't thought of that," the man said as the skaven thudded against the stable door. The horses were absolutely crazed within - shrieking with fear or pain."But would this disease change Kirnoth so radically that he would attack us like this?" Ledare asked, her face gone very pale in the moonlight. "Maybe this creature is some other skaven who is here to help bring in the 'new recruit'. Maybe Kirnoth is terrified and is hiding somewhere.""Maybe," Finian said. "But I really have a strong hunch that this is Kirnoth. I hate to kill him, so I perhaps think we should let him escape and track him, hoping he comes back in the morning.""Whether it's Kirnoth or not, we need to prevent him from hurting anyone else," Ledare said and raised her hand crossbow to her shoulder. "I say we aim to injure or subdue only."Draelond nodded. "I think subdual is the key here," he said. "I don't want to go off killing what appears to be an evil wererat to find out later that I slew Kirnoth." With some solemnity he thrust Ravager point-first into the ground beside the stable door. "I don't know a lot about wererats, but I know that they can change form. If we could keep this one in our custody until we can see what alternative form it takes, it could make our decision easier.""Okay," Finian said. "We'll open the door and when it comes out, I'll attempt to subdue it with the bola, and attack with the flat of my blade if it keeps coming after me.""I should be able to pin the creature without much trouble," Draelond said and Ledare nodded."I'll only shoot it if I have to in order to prevent it from hurting either of you," she said as she stepped away from the door and moved off to the side where she'd have a clear shot. "And then only to wound, not to kill.""Ready?" Draelond asked and then threw open the stable door.Ruze placed his scimitars on Kirnoth's bed and knelt down, gingerly scooping up the elf's familiar. He gave the duckbunny a little shake, but Gordigan showed no signs of snapping out of his fugue. The cleric scowled and set the small black animal on the bed and picked up his weapons again. With his jaw set, he moved toward the door and stepped out into the yard just in time to see a ravening ball of silver fur explode out through the stable door. The Battleguard started to run.The wererat was incredibly fast. No sooner had the Draelond opened the door than the thing was there, its eyes gleaming red in the darkness and spittle drooling from its snapping jaws. It came at the man before he could even fully register that it was there and its jaws clamped down over his left shoulder, drawing blood. Finian let loose his bola, but narrowly missed the target. Ledare carefully lined up her shot and would have landed a bolt into the wererat but at the last moment, she pulled up to avoid hitting Draelond. The quarrel thudded into the side of the stable.Draelond's wound was minimal, and he focused passed the pain to the matter at hand. He grabbed the rat man around the throat with both hands, easily avoiding its snapping jaws. It wasn't really very strong despite all its ferocity and it was a simple matter for the big man to grapple the bipedal rodent. It wriggled around in his grasp and pawed at him with both its hands and feet, but so far was unable to break free. "Hurry!" Draelond grunted as he struggled with the writhing man rat. "I can't hold it all night! We'll need to tie it up with something!"Finian ducked forward and picked up his bola. He was coming toward Draelond when three horses burst out of the stable at full speed. The horses were all squealing in pain, their backs and flanks dark with biting rats and streaked with their own blood. The Archer's uncanny reflexes allowed him to jump back, avoiding the stampeding animals, but Draelond wasn't so lucky. The first animal grazed a hoof against his head, making him lose his grip on the skaven. The wererat scurried away, dancing beneath the second animal's hooves. Moment's later, the third horse stepped squarely on the lycanthrope's right elbow, crunching the bone with a sickening sound. One of the same horse's rear hooves clipped Draelond in the left forearm, but miraculously, his injuries were minor.As the animals thundered off madly down the road, the skaven got to its feet and hissed. As they watched, its pulverized elbow snapped back into its proper shape.Finian raised his bola, determined to bring the creature down. Even as he let the bola fly and watched the two balls wrap snuggly around the skaven's torso, pinning its arms and sending the creature to its back, the world around him exploded in an arcing burst of chaos. A crackling web of magical energy arced between the four Companions who remained in front of the stable. The energy seemed to have no effect on Finian whatsoever, but the others twitched and jerked as if they were struck by lightning. When the arcing stopped a moment later, both Ruze and Ledare were visibly staggered. Smoke rose from their hair and blood ran freely from their ears and noses. Draelond, who had been weakened already by the skaven and the horses, fell unmoving to the earth.Finian's eyes darted around to find the source of this magical assault and his bowels turned to ice as he saw the dozens of glittering red rat eyes gathered in the darkness of the stable. They were piling atop one another into a squirming mound of furry bodies. As one they began to chitter and squeak, and somehow the unnerving chorus became a single unified voice that twittered a warbled as it spoke."This one is ours," it said. "Leave him to us and you may live. Persist and your lives are forfeit."</blockquote>

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