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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1445335" data-attributes="member: 15470">Issue #13: The Rat Man Warren, Pt I - Episode 5 of 5When Hands of Fire has finished his bloody task, and Miriel has returned from escorting the slaves to safety, we prepare to proceed down the next corridor. With Paks in the lead, we follow the right-hand wall. The passage curves to the left, then opens into another room, this about twenty feet in diameter. There are a number of mats on the floor, made into nests about the size of a bed. It looks like sleeping quarters for the adult ratmen. Drawing our immediate attention are seven giant rats, each larger than a tomcat. They are milling about in the room, rustling through the bedding, and don’t seem inclined to fight. Paks stops at the entrance, where she notices that two more corridors lead off from this room, one back to the left, and one from the far right corner. She yells back, “Telryn! It connects. Send the lizard men around the other passage.” Telryn translates her command into Draconic, and the two lizard men work their way around, proving her theory correct.Hands of Fire bursts into the room, leaping upon the nearest two rats with tooth and nail. He pins one to ground with a claw, breaking its neck, and bites the second, killing it as well. His momentum drives him through to a third, which he kills as well. Fists of Fury follows right behind him as Paks and Chuck step in from the other passage. Fists of Fury swings his club at the rat in front of him, but misses. It leaps at his crotch, but he knocks it aside. The other three rats bolt out the unblocked passage. Paks stabs with her torch at the one remaining rat, but it dodges away from the flames. Chuck steps to the far passage with his bow. As his snake pursues the fleeing rats down the corridor, Chuck looses two arrows down the corridor. One kills the trailing rat, but the second shot misses. The viper catches one and bites it, but it lives. It turns as though to fight just as Hands of Fire runs down the corridor after it, battle rage hot in his blood. He attacks it and kills the hapless rat.A hail of crossbow bolts comes down the corridor towards Hands of Fire just as he stands up. Two of them hit him, and he collapses on the cold stone. The last fleeing rat escapes into the darkness.Chuck steps aside as the other bolts skip harmlessly into the room, alerting the rest of us to the new threat. Fists of Fury steps to the opening of the corridor and looks down it, but it is pitch black and he can’t see anything. Hearing the noise of crossbows resetting, he ducks back. The last giant rat, forgotten momentarily, leaps at him again. The lizard man sidesteps it, and as it lands he bashes it with his club, crushing it. Telryn takes out a crossbow bolt and casts light on it, causing it to glow with a golden radiance. Paks drags Hands of Fire back out of the corridor and into our little room. Chuck throws his bread to Paks and moves over next to Miriel. He picks up his viper with his left hand. We’re all out of the line of fire now. Miriel runs over to Hands of Fire, and two more crossbow bolts come out of the dark at her. They both miss, and she quickly studies the lizard man. Two crossbow bolts protrude from his chest, and she deftly removes the bolts and bandages the wounds before they can bleed too much.  Three crossbow bolts fly from the other passageway, from between us and the exit. One hits Chuck, while another lodges in his leather armor without hurting him. The third skips off the wall just beside Fists of Fury’s head. We can hear a ratman scream from down the corridor, but it sounds more like pain than a battle cry.Telryn begins casting a spell, and he gestures down the hallway. We hear the snarling of a wolf, and screams from ratmen. Telryn calls out, “Charge ’em!” Chuck drops his bow and draws the glowing dagger and his longsword.Paks sticks Miriel’s healing bread in Hands of Fire's mouth. Again she lays her hands on him and prays to Madriel, and for the third time today, her prayer is answered. He wakes, and quickly eats the bread. The combination of healings helps, and he looks much better. Paks stands and draws her longsword, dropping her torch on the floor just as Miriel lights a torch of her own.Chuck charges down the corridor between us and safety, longsword at the ready. By the light of his glowing dagger, he sees another narrow room with corridors opening off to the north, east, and southeast. He thinks he can see another cavern to the east. There are three ratmen standing in the room, with crossbows. One more lies dead on the floor, a bolt embedded the back of its head. It looks like one of the others shot him accidentally. Only one of the ratmen has a bolt ready as Chuck runs in. It looses a hurried shot, but the bolt caroms off of his leather armor without injuring him. The Vigilant screams a battle cry and attacks that one with the dagger. He wounds it, and his momentum carries him to the next, which he slashes across the chest with the longsword. At his feet, the viper bites the third one. Fists of Fury runs into the room behind him, swinging his club at one of the ratmen, but he misses. The ratmen drop their crossbows and claw at the lizard man, one of them scoring him on the left arm.Telryn fires down the other corridor with his lighted crossbow bolt. He intentionally aims high, and the bolt sticks in the far wall to light the room with a magical, golden light. In its light we can see part of a large, rough room, probably about forty feet in diameter. About half of the area is lit, and in the darkness, we get hints of quite a few ratmen waiting. It looks like they’ve turned over some low tables to provide cover. At the moment we can see only four, and they are all battling a great grey wolf. Only one hits, and the wolf bites that one, injuring it much worse than it had done to him. Paks charges down the corridor, swinging her longsword at the first ratman she meets. The strength of Telryn’s bull’s strength spell still powers her muscles, and her first stroke lops off its head. Hands of Fire and Miriel are right behind her. The room they have entered opens into a cavern about the size of a great dining hall. It is an oval shape, perhaps fifty feet long and forty feet across, and the ratmen have set defenses in it. Overturned tables and troughs perhaps ten feet into the room provide cover for crossbowmen and archers that kneel behind them. Most of the ratmen are a sickly grey, but there are a group of larger, whiter ones. They carry crossbows and wear black robes over armor. An older ratman stands in the middle of the room, surrounded by the larger warriors. He wears the black robes, and his fur is of light silver. A huge albino, as large as any of the lizard men, stands by the overturned tables. Strapped to his back is an evil-looking scimitar which would be a two-handed weapon for anyone of human size, but he has a long bow drawn with an arrow knocked.In the western room, Chuck whirls through the ratmen in a deadly dance. He kills one with his longsword, and steps further into the room, but his dagger misses. The snake bites the third ratman again, and the poison of its venom kills it. As the last ratman leaps at Chuck, Fists of Fury’s club catches it in the face, smashing it to pulp. The ratmen all lay dead, but before the victors can even draw a breath, four more crossbow bolts whistle out of the southeast corridor at them. All of them miss, caroming wildly off the stone walls and floor. Chuck charges towards the crossbowmen before they can reload.In the cavern, the shaman pounds the floor with a claw and shakes the ground under Paks, but she manages to keep her balance. Paks steps into the cavern and casts her first spell, protection from evil, on herself. One of the ratmen swings at her, but Madriel’s protection causes it to miss. Hands of Fire steps in past her to attack that ratman, but it parries his blow. The wolf continues to fight viciously with three ratmen. Not only can they not hit it, but the wolf bites the one it had previously wounded, and presses the ratmen back out of the corridor opening. Telryn comes up behind Miriel, but he can’t see much through her and the tall fighters in the doorway. Chuck bursts out of another corridor perhaps fifteen feet to Paks’ left. He reaches the turned over tables and attacks the crossbowmen that shot at him. He hits one with his longsword and kills it. The one next to it is holding its arm, a crossbow bolt protruding from its shoulder, as though it, too, had been shot by a comrade. Chuck’s viper attacks that one, and bites it. It squeals as poison courses through its veins, and it collapses, writhing on the floor. Fists of Fury follows Chuck into the cavern, and clubs the next crossbowman. He hits it hard, and it turns as though to run from him. Before it can escape, the lizard man’s club hits it again and kills it.Miriel calls out, “Madriel, bless your allies in this battle!” One of the larger warriors, behind the tipped over troughs, shoots at Hands of Fire, but misses, while another lunges at him with claw and tooth. The two fighting the wolf miss it, while another attacks Paks, but she parries its blow easily. Two of the crossbowmen shoot at Fists of Fury. Both bolts hit him, but the lizard man stays on his feet. The shaman casts another spell, clearly directing it at Paks, but it doesn’t seem to affect her. She laughs aloud, a clear and ringing laugh, and gestures for him to come at her. He blanches. Telryn steps past Miriel and tosses a vial of Alchemist’s Fire over the barriers. He’s aiming for the shaman, but he misses. Madriel’s blessing ensures that the vial hits one of the larger warriors anyways. It catches on fire, while the flaming liquid splashes on other ratmen in the area.The albino shoots an arrow at Hands of Fire, and it hits the big lizard man. Badly wounded, he retreats past Miriel, back down the passageway. The ratman nearest to him takes one last claw swipe at him, but the lizard man’s luck holds, and it misses.Telryn’s wolf attacks an uninjured ratman and hits it, but then the magically summoned beast disappears, back wherever it came from. Paks swings at the ratman nearest her, his fur alight from the Alchemist’s Fire, but she misses as he drops and rolls to put out the flames. Chuck leaps over the tables, deeper into the room; one ratman swings at him and hits. Chuck’s two blades whirl about him with deadly accuracy, and he kills two injured ratmen. A look of joy suffuses his face as he dispatches more of his favorite enemy. The viper slips under the troughs and bites at one of the ratmen behind them, but misses. Fists of Fury steps up as well, at the far left of the line, but his wounds must be troubling him, as he misses. Two arrows whistle past him. One of the archers leaps over the low wall, away from them, and shoots at Chuck. His arrow catches the Vigilant in the back just as another archer fires from deeper into the room. This arrow, too, hits, and Chuck collapses. Miriel pulls out her scroll and casts protection from evil on herself. The albino notices that she cast a spell, and tries to shoot her, but the arrow hits the wall just past her head. Right in front of her, two ratmen swing at Paks. She parries one blow with her sword, and blocks the other with her shield. She steps inside the reach of one of her enemies and stabs a wounded ratman, running her blade through its heart.The shaman readies something. Beside him, the burning warrior rolls on the floor to try to put out the flames. He succeeds in dousing the flames just as Telryn throws a flask of acid at the shaman. The acid hits the shaman, and splashes over the prone warrior.On the left front, the snake bites at the same ratman and hits it, poisoning it. Fists of Fury swings at the ratman in front of him and hits it, caving in its skull. He leaps over the trenchers, deeper into the room, where one of the larger warriors swings a sword at him. A smaller ratman attacks him with his claws, but the lizard man dodges both of their attacks. The shaman rushes towards Fists of Fury and tries to touch him, but the lizard man dodges away. Three of the warriors shoot their bows at Paks. Two hit her, hard, and their arrows penetrate her chain mail. She slumps unconscious at Miriel’s feet. One of the smaller ratmen steps over her and claws Miriel as the albino shoots at the priestess again. Both of them miss. The priestess rushes past Paks’ body and dodges around the smaller ratman to reach Chuck. She kneels beside him, and quickly bandages the worst of his wounds, stabilizing him.With Chuck and Paks down, and Miriel and Hands of Fire having left him, Telryn finds himself standing alone at the mouth of the right hand corridor. He resolutely casts a magic missile at the nearest ratman. Two iridescent blue bolts hit it, wounding it badly, but it stays on its feet. Hands of Fire comes running back down the corridor with a potion of healing ready, unstoppered. He tries to reach Paks to heal her, but the ratman standing over her body claws him before he can, and he collapses by her side. Things look very grim.The gods do not desert us, however, and at the moment of our darkest need, Fists of Fury brains the shaman with a critical hit. His club crushes the shaman’s skull and kills it. The snake hits the injured ratman attack Fists of Fury, and poisons it, and it, too falls. Two warriors attack Fists of Fury, but he fights like a madman, and not only do they miss, they give ground before his onslaught.The last two archers shoot at Telryn. Not only do they both miss, but one hits the injured ratman standing over Paks, and kills it! With a brief opening, Miriel grabs Hands of Fire’s potion of healing, which has miraculously neither broken nor spilled, and pours it down Paks’ throat. As she comes to, Paks lays hands on Chuck and wakes him up, then lays hands on herself to heal herself. Miriel gives Chuck a chunk of bread, and he eats it. That easily, Chuck and Paks are both ready for more action. They climb to their feet just as the albino steps closer and shoots Telryn. His arrow hits, and Telryn collapses. Two more arrows, from the archers at the back, glance off of Paks’ mail.Fists of Fury hits one of the warriors hard. He’s pushed them most of the way across the back of the room, and is approaching the other two archers. Chuck’s viper remains with the lizard man, and wounds the other warrior. One of the warriors fumbles, falling in front of the snake, but the other warrior’s blow strikes Fists of Fury, and he goes down. Miriel reads the scroll and casts searing light at the albino. A bright white light flashes from her palms, and its white fur shows clearly the pink, as though a sunburn, which she has done to it. It is badly injured, but neither blinded nor stunned. As Paks and Chuck head towards it, the albino draws its scimitar, which is a great, evil-looking weapon. It’s silvery, and has a nasty shimmer to it. Paks steps up to it, and yells, “Madriel, guide my blade!” She smites it, a great overhand blow with the force of the bull’s strength and Madriel’s blessing behind it. Her blade bites deep into its left shoulder, and the albino’s left arm dangles uselessly by its side, but it is still standing. Chuck tries to hit it as well, but the albino’s parries his blow with the scimitar. The albino takes a great swing at Paks, and hits her. It slices through her armor, as hard a blow as she has ever taken, but she stays on her feet. She can feel a deeply evil power coursing through the blade, but whatever it is has no effect on her. The albino looks at her as though this, more than anything which has transpired before, has shaken him. Red Scale and Swims With Fishes arrive, running in through the passage on the left. Red Scale reaches the albino, and swings his club at the great ratman, but he misses. The albino has its back to the wall, and lays about itself with the great scimitar, trying to keep its attackers at bay.Further into the room, the viper bites one of the ratman warriors. That one tries to attack the snake, but the slithering serpent evades his blow, which strikes a bright spark when the steel blade hits the rock floor. Swims With Fishes rushes it, and his club catches the back of its skull before it looks up, and the rat warrior is dead.The other two warriors aim at Chuck. One fires a bow, while the other steps forward with a scimitar. They both hit, and he goes down. He is only out cold for seconds, as Miriel runs over to him. She takes the healing potion, which he has in a flask at his belt, and pours it down his throat. As his eyes open, Chuck finds a bow at hand. It isn’t his, which lies on the floor of another room, but he picks it up and draws an arrow from his quiver. Still lying on the ground, he fires a single shot at the albino, and this unexpected blow catches it in the throat. The great albino warrior topples backwards, dead. The remaining three ratmen, warriors all, turn to flee. The snake bites at one, while Red Scale swings at another. Both miss. Swims With Fishes chases them towards the corridor, wounding one of them with his club before they can make it around the corner. He traps one in the room, while the other two sprint down the corridor.Paks steps back to Hands of Fire and gives him her healing potion. Miriel runs over to Fists of Fury. She finds him bleeding, but is able to stabilize him easily.Chuck runs over to the far opening, and shoots down the corridor at the fleeing rat warriors. He wounds both, but they dodge around a corner and out of sight. The one trapped in the room swings at Chuck, but it misses. It doesn’t see the viper as the snake slithers up and bites it. The poison quickly fells the warrior, and suddenly the room is ours.Paks kneels beside Telryn and prays for healing again. She is exhausted, and can tell that she will not be able to heal again today, but once more wounds close under her hands and the mage wakes. Miriel uses her last energy to heal Fists of Fury back to consciousness as well. Hands of Fire is unconscious, but stable. He is too injured for either of the exhausted healers to treat, and both their prayers fall on deaf ears. He remains prone, and pale. It has been an epic battle, but we are now in possession of the hall. The shaman and the albino lie dead with perhaps twenty of their fellows.</blockquote>

Verification