Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1443555" data-attributes="member: 15470">Issue #13: The Rat Man Warren, Pt I - Episode 3 of 5Miriel, Paks, Telryn, and Chuck gather over the outside hole, to discuss the plan, while Novalia, Goldpetal, and the lizard men watch over the holes inside the various huts. “Let’s collapse all three huts,” Telryn says, “And go down the outdoor hole.” Miriel nods in accordance. “I agree with Telryn.”Chuck shakes his head. “If we collapse the hut with smoke coming out of it, we’ll fill the warren with smoke, which is just as bad for us as it is for the rats.”“Okay.” Paks suggests, “Then, how about we collapse the other two huts, leave a guard or two at the third hut, and the rest of us go down the outside hole?” Before anyone can respond to her suggestion, a battle cry shatters the air. It sounds like a lizard man, and there is a sudden flurry of movement within the third hut, which Hands of Fire was watching alone. Miriel starts running towards the door of his hut. “Watch the hole,” Paks yells to Chuck, as she follows the priestess.Miriel reaches the door of the hut first. Within, she sees three dead eaters which have burrowed up from the ground around Hands of Fire. The huge lizard man is locked arm-in-arm wrestling with one on the floor. The other two try to pile on, but he throws them both off.  Madriel’s priestess quickly takes in the scene, and shouts, “Dead eaters! Help!” She steps aside, out of the doorway, as Telryn and Paks rush into the hut. Telryn fires his crossbow into the melee, catching the hard-packed earth, and Miriel casts sound burst. Concussion rocks the combatants, and the two dead-eaters getting to their feet are stunned. The dead-eater grappling with Hands of Fire rolls over on top of him. Even the mighty seven-foot lizard warrior cannot resist its unnatural strength, and it claws and bites him. The warrior is badly injured, and slumps back, stunned. Paks steps over him, trying to bring her sword down on the dead-eater to protect her friend. It turns its attention to her, catching her sword-arm with one arm, and ripping the other a claw across her thigh, tearing muscle. Chuck and Fists of Fury have both abandoned their holes, and Chuck pushes in through the narrow door of the hut, leaving Fists of Fury stuck just outside the door, looking for an opening. The Vigilant tosses his snake towards the fray, and draws his sword. His viper bites the dead-eater which is engaged with Paks. Splitting its attention between Paks’ sword and the snake, it doesn’t notice that Miriel has drawn her spear until she skewers it, and it collapses, dead, at the priestess’ feet. Hands of Fire rolls over, trying to stagger to his feet, and clutches at Telryn for stability just as the mage looses a crossbow shot. The shot goes wild, burying itself in the far wall of the hut. The other two dead-eaters attack the wounded lizard man, and one of them scores him deeply across the ribs. Bleeding heavily, he stumbles towards the door, trying to get behind the protection of the others.Fists of Fury and Chuck step around him, standing shoulder to shoulder and buying the wounded lizard man a space of safety. Fists of Fury swings his mighty club at one of the two remaining dead-eaters. It dodges his blow, but steps into Paks’ range, and she delivers a hard slashing blow across its chest, killing it. Chuck steps past him, bringing both swords onto the last dead-eater. The short sword in his left hand catches its chest, while the long sword in his right slices through its spine, and it collapses, nearly severed in two.Behind them, Hands of Fire eats the magical bread which Miriel had prepared, and as he eats it his wounds begin to close. In moments, all of his wounds have improved, and he is no longer bleeding heavily, but he still doesn’t look well enough to return to the fight.Outside, Novalia abandoned her hut, standing in the middle of the trio of huts with an arrow knocked in her bow, to better watch for any sign of trouble. While the battle still rages in the third hut, she hears a scream of terror from her hut, and the noise of combat erupts from the first hut as well. Red Scale bursts, fleeing, from the second hut, eyes wide with fear.In the first hut, two more dead-eaters are digging their way up out of the ground. As Goldpetal shouts a warning, they both attack Swims With Fishes. The lizard man dodges the first, but doesn’t see the second, and it claws him brutally, dropping the huge lizard to the ground. Goldpetal draws his scimitar to attack, but finding himself outnumbered, he is pressed back against the wall. He is hard-pressed for a moment, but then Novalia arrives at the doorway of the hut, her bow at the ready. She quickly unleashes an arrow, but her hasty shot misses high.Red Scale’s arrival in the center of the three huts, yelling in Draconic, comes just as the last dead-eater in the third hut dies on Chuck’s swords. Miriel, closest to the door, yells, “There’s more of them! Follow me!” Stepping into the courtyard, she runs to the door of the second hut. Rather than rush blindly in, she stops just outside the door, setting her spear in front of her in case anything comes out. Paks, next out, sees Novalia firing into the first hut, and runs towards her, while Fists of Fury follows Miriel. Chuck is the last one to step out of the third hut, and he looks significantly at Hands of Fire and kicks the doorframe on the way out. The wounded lizard man stares after him blankly.A dead-eater charges out of the second hut, rushing at Miriel with its jaw open and its arms spread wide as though to claw at her. Her set spear saves her, as it impales itself on her spear, and dies a scant foot from her. She struggles to free the spear, which is stuck deeply into it, as Fists of Fury reaches her side. Hands of Fire and Telryn wait in the central courtyard, looking for targets.Inside the first hut, the two dead-eaters have pushed Goldpetal up against the wall. Swims With Fishes is bleeding heavily, and the slight elf fights grimly. He parries a blow from the first dead-eater, but the second ghoulish enemy scores him down the back with its claws. Novalia grabs an arrow from her quiver and runs into the hut, leaping on the back of the dead-eater and trying to stab it with the arrow. It brushes her aside. Paks reaches the door, her bloodied sword in her right hand, and yells back over her shoulder, “There are two in my hut!” Goldpetal cannot spare a glance for the reinforcement, but he deals a scything cut to one of his opponents, killing it in a single blow. The other dead-eater attacks him, but he nimble dances around the slower creature, leaving it trapped between he and Novalia. The archer stabs her arrow into its back, and it staggers, but doesn’t go down. Chuck steps into the hut as well, and Paks, seeing that it is outnumbered four to one, turns to check on the others.Another dead eater rushes out of the second hut towards Miriel, reaching her before she can free her fouled spear. It claws her shoulder, just as she gets the spear free. She steps back and calls, “There’s just one over here!”  Red Scale and Fists of Fury drive it back from her with a flurry of club blows, as Chuck’s viper reaches the fray.Just as it looks like we have the situation in hand, four more ratmen crest the hill from the south. They are each armed with crossbows, and the reddish-furred troupe lets loose a vicious volley. Hands of Fire dodges the first bolt, but the next three all hit Telryn. The mage is knocked to the ground unconscious and bleeding. Paks yells, “Miriel! Telryn’s down!” and charges towards them with Hands of Fire at her heels. She reaches the closest one while he is still struggling to reload his crossbow. Before he can bring it to bear, the young warrior reaches him, hewing him down. Hands of Fire comes up beside her to attack the next one, but his earlier injuries are still bothering him, and he fights defensively, cautious, staying out of range, and giving his opponent time to draw a wicked curved blade.The floor of the first hut is becoming damp and slick with Swims with Fishes’ blood, and the three heroes inside fight grimly to try and buy time enough to heal him. Chuck charges across the hut with his longsword and wounds the dead-eater. Goldpetal also cuts it with his scimitar. Wounded in three places, it looks weakened, but continues to struggle on, shaking Novalia off of its back and making her miss as she tries to stab it with her arrow again. At the door of the second hut, the dead-eater attacks Fists of Fury, but it stumbles, falling against the door frame, and it is briefly stunned again. Red Scale turns to go deal with the new threat from the south, while Miriel rushes towards Telryn. Chuck’s viper and Fists of Fury are left on their own. The snake misses, but Fists of Fury finally hits the dead-eater with his club. It snarls at him and fights on, though the lizard man has the advantage of reach.Red Scale throws a javelin at the ratman on the far end, but his spear misses, flying further on down the hill. Miriel reaches Telryn’s body and begins trying to bandage him, but blood quickly soaks through the cloth. Another group of ratmen appears from the west. These five are armed with short bows. Two shoot at Fists of Fury, both missing. One misses Miriel, while two more shoot at Red Scale. Only one hits, wounding Red Scale. One of the other ratmen’s bow string breaks, while another drops his bow, wringing his left arm as though it were in pain. From the southern group, the three survivors attack Hands of Fire and Paks. She blocks one blow with her shield, but Hands of Fire is further wounded as two of them attack him at once. Paks ignores her opponent to help protect the injured lizard man, who is having trouble raising his left arm. It hangs, useless, at his side. She kills the one which delivered the blow, and Hands of Fire brings his club down one-handed, killing the second one. Only one ratman remains before them. In the first hut, the dead eater grabs Chuck and bites him, a deep wound to Chuck’s left shoulder. As it hangs onto him, he swings at it with his short sword, but the wounded arm cannot get enough force to wound it. With his right arm, however, he runs it through with his longsword, killing it at last. As Chuck pushes its body to the floor, Goldpetal drops to his knees beside Swims With Fishes. He starts bandaging the wounds, but the lizard man is bleeding very heavily and from the elf’s grim look, the others aren’t sure he will be in time. Outside, Red Scale charges the new group of ratmen from the west. He clubs the ratman whose bowstring broke, but doesn’t kill it. One of its compatriots tries to step between them, to attack him tooth and nail, but the great club has the advantage of range, and it cannot get close enough. The other two bowmen continue to fire, one at Red Scale and one at Miriel, but both miss. Miriel ignores the arrows coming down around her, and finishes bandaging Telryn, who is no longer bleeding as heavily. Novalia steps out of the first hut with her bow, and quickly fires at the archers to the west, trying to provide some protective cover fire for Miriel.Along the southern ravine, Paks and Hands of Fire have circled around the ratman so that they are flanking it, attacking from opposite sides. It swings at Paks, but she blocks easily with her shield and delivers a slicing blow across its chest with her longsword. Moments later, Hands of Fire’s great club cracks across the back of the hapless ratman’s skull, and it pitches onto the ground face-first, unconscious or dead.Fists of Fury and the dead-eater at the door of the second hut seem to be stalemated. He fights timidly, frequently missing the dead-eater, while the luckless creature fumbles for a third time, stunning itself again! The snake takes advantage of its momentary distraction, biting it on the ankle, but the viper’s poison has no apparent effect on the diseased monstrosity. The ratman Red Scale had wounded drops its useless bow to leap at him with claw and fang. One claw scores him along the flank, and the lizard man looks visibly weakened. The other ratmen on the western side of the hill continue to fire their arrows into the rest of the group, but they seem inexpert with the bow, and their shots fly wayward.Inside the first hut, Chuck helps Goldpetal bandage Swims With Fishes, and together they staunch the bleeding. Goldpetal draws his bow and gets up, running out the door of the hut towards the battle. Chuck looks after him with frustration on his face, and looks back down at the helpless lizard man, clearly torn, but he decides that he can’t leave a companion helpless and unguarded. He begins dragging Swims With Fishes out of the hut.As he steps outside, Goldpetal shoots an arrow at the three archers to the west, grazing one. Red Scale continues to fight the two ratmen between himself and the archers, and his next club swing is rewarded with a satisfying crunch of breaking bone as he crushes the skull of the injured ratman. His remaining adversary looks intimidated, but claws at him resolutely, missing. It looks as though we are in control, but again the tide of battle shifts against us.Miriel drags Telryn into the third hut, out of the line of the arrows, and watches outward from the doorway. Two ratmen come up the unguarded hole behind her, and leap upon her. Both bite her, one at the neck, and the other into the soft flesh of her side. “Help!!” she yells, shaking them off and turning to face her tormentors.Just at that moment, the three archers to the west unleash a volley of arrows at Fists of Fury, who is engaged with the dead-eater outside the second hut. One of the arrows hits him in the head, knocking him unconscious. Suddenly, the lizard man is down. The dead-eater leaps upon him and bites at his throat. While it is so occupied, the snake bites it twice, but it looks like Fists of Fury is dead.Hands of Fire and Paks have finished off the ratmen from the south, and they split up. Paks runs to the west to help Red Scale, while Hands of Fire dashes east to the third hut to help Miriel. Novalia shoots at the archer Goldpetal had hit earlier, and she hits, just grazing it again. Paks charges at the ratman which is fighting Red Scale. With the force of the charge and Telryn’s spell, a single blow from her long sword lops off its head, and she continues towards the three archers. One of the archers fires an arrow at Goldpetal, wounding the slight elf.Chuck drags Swims With Fishes out of the doorway of the first hut by his legs, and leaves him at the feet of Novalia and Goldpetal. Goldpetal shoots at the sole surviving dead-eater, but just as he fires, Chuck bumps into him, spoiling his aim. Goldpetal is lucky to stay on his feet and hang on to his bow. Novalia and the ratman archers exchange arrows, but none can hit. Red Scale runs towards the second hut, charging recklessly at the dead eater. He reaches it as it continues to rend Fists of Fury’s body, and delivers a mighty blow with his club. The dead-eater shakes its head and drops Fists of Fury’s body, his blood staining its mouth as it gets ready to attack Red Scale. It launches itself at Red Scale, and though he dodges its bite, its left claw catches him across the temple, knocking him unconscious. Chuck draws his bow and fires, but his first shot misses. The Vigilant shoots a second time, and this arrow flies true, pegging the dead-eater directly between the eyes, and it collapses beside the bodies of its two lizard man victims. At the third hut, Miriel stabs one of the ratmen, but she is forced back to the door and steps backward out of the hut. With lightning quickness, the two ratmen grab Telryn and drag him away, down the hole. “They’ve got Telryn!” she shouts in a panic just as Hands of Fire reaches the doorway. The lizard man lieutenant yells something in Draconic over his shoulder as he enters the hut, and Miriel sees him follow the ratmen down the hole.Paks charges at the three archers to the west. They all fire one last volley as she approaches, and although two of the shots deflect harmlessly off her shield and armor, the third catches her in the shoulder of her sword arm. Just as she reaches them, Novalia’s arrow flies over her, wounding one of the archers. Two of them are wounded, but Paks goes directly after the uninjured one. He tries to parry with his bow, but her blade slices through the bow and deep into his shoulder. His left arm dangles uselessly from the wound.Miriel and Goldpetal run over to the two wounded lizard men. Miriel reaches them first, and tends to Red Scale. She quickly recognizes that the bleeding, although it looks bad, is normal for a head wound, and she quickly wraps a bandage around his head, stabilizing him. Goldpetal looks at Fists of Fury, and says, “He’s alive!” He presses his hands over Fists of Fury’s neck, trying to limit the bleeding, but crimson blood continues to spurt around his hands.Meanwhile, Hands of Fire crawls down the tunnel after the ratmen. After about fifteen seconds of crawling, the tunnel opens up into a small room. He finds himself in a small cave, perhaps ten feet wide and twenty feet long, filled with piles of cloth and twine. He spots three ratmen dragging Telryn back into the warren. The ceiling is too low to use his club, so he runs past Telryn’s body and attacks one of the uninjured ratmen with his claws and teeth. It doesn’t see him coming at all, and he hits with all of them, killing it. His momentum carries him on to the injured one, and he bites it, killing it as well. The largest ratman drops Telryn and turns to fight the enraged lizard man. The ratman and Hands of Fire launch themselves at each other with animal roars. The ratman’s first attack fails, and Hands of Fire presses the advantage with claws and teeth. As the ratman gives ground, Hands of Fire trips over the body of one of his other victims. His head hits the rock ground hard, and while he is stunned, the ratman leaps on him, clawing and biting, and Hands of Fire slumps into unconsciousness. Goldpetal and Miriel continue desperately trying to perform first aid on Fists of Fury. He is bleeding from numerous wounds, and the bite to his neck seems to have gotten the jugular. His life blood is pouring out before their eyes, and nothing they try works. Bandages soak through, but they continue to work at it. On the western side, Paks is outnumbered three to one. The three wounded ratmen circle around her, trying to surround her, but her shield and sword are everywhere in a steel barrier. As she holds them off, Chuck fires two arrows in rapid succession. The first arrow catches one of the ratmen through the throat, while the second penetrates the heart of another. Both collapse, and the odds are even.Novalia fires an arrow at the last one just as Paks steps between her and it. Her arrow bites deep into Paks’ back, and she falls, losing her grip on her sword. The sword flies out of her hand, and goes straight into the ratman’s heart. It falls back in shock and dies, and Paks offers a silent prayer to Madriel.Miriel offers a quick prayer to Madriel of her own as she and Goldpetal work grimly on Fists of Fury. Finally, with her help, Goldpetal stabilizes Fists of Fury. He’s no longer bleeding to death, but he’s lost too much blood and hovers right on the verge of death. When they look up, the fight is over. All of the ratmen are dead, and there are no dead-eaters remaining.Chuck straps his bow to his back and picks up his snake. He rushes into the third hut to look for Hands of Fire and Telryn. The hut is empty, save the bodies of the three dead-eaters, and he walks to the edge of the tunnel. The young Vigil grimly pulls out his magical dagger and crawls down the tunnel. Miriel prays to Madriel for healing, and revives Red Scale. She hands him her bread, which he eats. Goldpetal pours a healing potion down Fists of Fury’s throat, while Novalia prays to Tanil for healing for Swims With Fishes. The magical healing from different sources gradually works on all three lizard men, and they revive. Swims With Fishes still looks hurt, but he staggers to his feet. When Fists of Fury wakes up, though he looks extremely weak, he asks Red Scale a question in authoritative Draconic. Red Scale gives him a quick answer, pointing at the third hut, and Fists of Fury issues something that sounds like a command.  Seeing the gesture, Paks starts running towards the third hut, and Red Scale leaps to follow her.Chuck bursts into the underground chamber, where he finds the solitary ratman standing over Telryn and Hands of Fire, its muzzle red with blood. The magical dagger glows in his left hand, and he throws the snake at the ratman with his right. He misses, and the snake hits the far wall of the chamber, and falls to the rock stunned. The ratman hesitates, giving Chuck the time to climb to his feet. As he stands, he draws his long sword. He looks like a grim king, and the ratman bolts through an opening in the far wall, leaving Chuck in possession of the room.Chuck steps into the underground room and kneels beside the two bodies. He checks to see their condition. Both are alive, unconscious and not bleeding. Paks and Red Scale arrive in the room moments afterward. For a brief moment, all is quiet both above and below ground.</blockquote>

Verification