Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 423423" data-attributes="member: 6971">9.28.02 - Session 1, Part 4Laurel finishes petting Greatpaw, who lazily rolls onto his feet, and begins lumbering off into the woods. The party tromps after him, happy that his massive bulk serves to clear a convenient path through the underbrush. They wander for about twenty minutes, and then the bear stops in his tracks and begins to growl. Laurel sees two humanoid figures moving toward them through the trees. She steps in front of Greatpaw as she points out the figures to her companions. As they draw their weapons, the party gets a closer look at the creatures. Their leathery skin is pulled taut over emaciated bodies, revealing naught but bone underneath. Their eyes are darkened hollows; their mouths, gaping maws, out of which pour swarms of flying insects. As the creatures move closer through the thorny underbrush, the swarms of insects that infest their bodies fill the air with a horrible buzzing. Taminnyd moves behind Scarlet as he pulls a thin golden wand from his belt. Shoji moves up to the first of the creatures and delivers a blow to its midsection. To Shoji's horror, he pulls his hand back covered in flying spiders, which he hurriedly brushes off. Scarlet moves up to the other creature and slashes at it with her bastard sword. Her blade cuts deeply into its weathered flesh, but does not fell the creature. Dew moves to flank the abomination of nature that Shoji is fighting, and her own blade deals damage to it. It ignores her attack, and swings at Shoji with a bony fist. The blow itself does little damage, but the swarm of insects infesting the creature's body pours out of its mouth and follows its fist. Shoji screams as he covered in thousands of bites, each of which immediately begins to swell and burn. He immediately feels his muscles seize and constrict as they are eaten away by the poison as it seeps into his body. As the swarm returns to its shelter inside the creature, Taminnyd lets loose with a blast from his wand. Three golden bolts of light fly from its tip and slam into the creature Scarlet is fighting. Insects are blown clear from the blast, and the creature lets out an audible groan. It takes revenge by sending forth its own swarm, which engulfs Scarlet. She, too, feels the pain of a thousand burning needles as the spiders sink their fangs into her skin. Her sword drops noticeably as her body is weakened by the poison. Scarlet falls back as arrows from Erendil's bow slam into the creature in front of her. Laurel moves up and fells the creature with a blow from the Oakenblade, a sword passed down through her family for over three thousand years. Shoji moves away as Dew continues her attack, narrowly missing as the creature dodges her blade. This time, the creature turns and hits her with its fist. The flying spiders swarm over her body, biting at any exposed skin. Unlike her companions, though, the only effect the poison has on her is to cement her resolve to destroy the unholy creature. Dew never gets the chance to fulfill her desire, though, as golden bolts jump from Taminnyd's wand again, and blast the creature off of its feet. The insects inside the creature scatter to the winds, leaving an empty husk behind. A cry from behind startles her as Shoji stumbles, his body weakened further as the poison continues to eat away at him. A second cry from Scarlet follows, and a third as Laurel spots two more creatures lurching toward them. This time, however, a man in green robes is slashing at one with his scimitar. "Die, you abominations," he screams, "leave this forest at once!" His blade slashes through the leathery hide of one creature, but is not enough to destroy it. The creature turns and hits him ineffectually, but the flying spiders engulf him, and he yelps as he is bitten. Erendil moves through the brush to get a better position, and lets another arrow go, slamming into the creature attacking the stranger. Dew steps forward and slices at the creature just hit by the arrow. Her strike is powerful and slices the creature in twain, but not before she is swarmed by spiders again. Taminnyd uses his wand a third time, and damages the other creature as Laurel steps in and finishes it off. Once again, desiccated husks lie at the party's feet. "Thank you for your help," gasps the stranger, fighting the pain of the poison eating away at his body. "You're welcome," Laurel replies, "what were those things?" "Abominations of nature," he replies, "other than that, I have no idea." Once he catches his breath, he continues, "What are you folks doing out here? And why do you have one of Proudclaw's bears?" "We're here to defeat a group of kobolds that are hunting these bears," Taminnyd interjects. "We met with Proudclaw and are taking on this task for him." "Oh," he nods his head, "I hadn't heard about that, but I'd be happy to help. I'm Wrayce. Where are you headed?" The group introduces themselves to their new companion, and explains that Greatpaw was leading them toward an abandoned dwarven forge that has been adopted by the kobolds as their new stronghold. Wrayce offers to lead them to the forge, and the party accepts, inviting him back to the airship to heal before they assault the forge. Laurel sadly scratches Greatpaw behind the ears, and tries to explain to him that he should get as far away from the area as possible. The giant brown bear nuzzles her for a few minutes and then lumbers off, crashing through the underbrush as he goes. Now without a bear companion, the group returns to the airship. Nym is still hanging over the railing, and waves weakly to his companions as they climb the rope ladders to the ship. He notes with some amusement that the wizard seems to be having a hard time pulling himself up, and looks especially winded as he reaches the deck of the ship. He is also happy to hear that the bear was left behind. Bears equal bad, he thinks to himself while he watches the treetops grow smaller as the airship moves gently into the late afternoon sky.More to come...</blockquote>

Verification