Episode 21
"Baywatch: Massacres"
(c) 2000 Matt Grossman and J. Sage Schreiner

Tron Malkaszar, an irreverant elf -- Matt Grossman
Norel Bolderdash, hulking woodsman of the Adri forest -- Tom Morin
Nigil Palom, noble from a far-distant land -- Kevin Osborn
Rhahid, a mysterious spell-crafter -- Eric Kruller 
All others -- Sage Schreiner

After an uneventful night, the crew starts unloading "Osprim's Will" and
readying the tools and scaffolding they will need to work on her.

Tron: While Cormak is setting up the stuff outside, I'll search his
cabin.
Nigil: I'll keep watch.

The elf searches Cormak's cabin and, indeed, finds the stolen wand and 
two bottle of perfume wrapped in a chamois. One of the bottles is the stolen
one. The wand is in a lead-lined, ivory box that also contains what appears to
be another wand of a knotted, esquitely hard wood. There is still no sign
of the necklace, however.  The elf takes the perfume and the ivory box 
containing Rhahid's lightning bolt wand, but leaves behind a soft leather bag of
coins and a fine pair of matched daggers.

Tron: A good thief takes everything.  A great thief knows what to
leave behind.

Meanwhile, the sailors are preparing to work on the ship.

Cormak: We'll need all the help we can get.
Sapphire: I'll help, I can fit into tight places.
Aran: A paladin of Hieroneous never turns aside from duty, however
unpleasant.

Tron: I wanna go kill some rats!
Norel: It's important to explore the surrounding area and secure our
perimeter.
Rhahid: I want to test out my wand, now that I have it again.
Nigil: A nobleman of Keoland never dirties his hands with "work".
Skanda: (sigh) I fear that you will have need of Pholtus' healing.

The "away team" sets off towards the ruined town.  Desh accompanies
them.

Desh: Rat yummy.

The bay looks something like this:


|           |
\    Bay    | Rocky Point
 1          |
  \        /
    __2___/
       |
       |stream
       |
       3
       |
1= Ship wrecks
2= Stream Mouth and "Osprim's Will"
3= Ruined Town

The party marches up the stream to the ruined town. The town appears to
have been abandoned some two or three decades previous.
The walls of the few stone structures are still standing, but the only
remnant of most of the town's buildings are blackened chimneys.

Tron: Hey, there are orc bones on the ground here.
Norel: Maybe a year old.  It looks like there was a battle -- we'd
better be careful.

They approach one of the stone buildings.  Tron sees a giant rat
peering over one of the walls.

Tron: [twang]
Rat: (falls back inside the building)
Tron: All right, I got it! (climbs through the window)

Rhahid: What is Tron doing?

Inside the building, the elf sees two huge rats and a six-foot tall
ratman, wielding a greataxe.

Tron: (ducks the greataxe) I could do with some help here!

At that moment several giant rats charge towards the rest of the
party.

Desh: Aaaa!  Big food! (flees)
Rhahid: (frantically casting) I should have had my armor spell up...
Nigil: At last! A fray!
Norel: Hang on, Tron!

The ranger rushes around to the north side of the building.  Here the
wall has crumbled and is only a few feet high.

Ratman: (crushes Tron to the ground with a mighty blow of his axe) SQUEE!
Rat#3: (leaps off the wall and gnaws on the elf's unconscious body)
Norel: Skanda!  Get over here! [twang twang]
Rat#1: Urk.
Skanda: Why did I know something like this would happen?

The cleric races to the building, leaps through the window, and
prepares to heal Tron.

Rat#1: SQUEE! (bites Skanda)
Skanda: Ouch! (gritting her teeth against the pain, she successfully
casts her healing spell, saving Tron's life by the thinest of hairs)
Tron: (blinks woozily) Ok, it's payback time!
Rat#3: (tackles Tron)
Tron: Die, you flea-bitten varmint!

The elf and the rat roll around on the ground fighting.  Meanwhile,
Skanda and Norel fight with the other foes.  Four more ratmen charge
from another building.

Norel: [hack] Uh-oh.

Nigil: [hack slay] These rats go down pretty easy.  Rhahid, how are
you doing?
Rhahid: (casts Fly) Yes!  Now I shall destroy them!  Watch this, guys!

The mage swoops down, whips out his wand of lightning bolts, and lines
up a shot on the charging ratmen.

Rhahid: Prepare to be atomized! [bzort]

Unfortunately the ratmen's thick fur seems to insulate them from much
of the wand's power.  None are killed by the lightning bolt.

Rhahid: Bah!  Prepare to be atomized, again! [bzort]

Again, after the smoke clears the ratmen are still standing.

Rhahid: How can my magic fail like this?
Skanda: Sonic blast!

A deafening sound strikes the ears of the ratmen, discombobulating
them.

Norel: [poke]
Ratman: Urk. [thud]

Meanwhile Tron dispatches the giant rat.

Tron: And stay down! [stab]  That's the last time that I go diving
through windows.
Skanda: You should give thanks to Pholtus.
Tron: Uhh, yes, I should.  Hey, some of them are getting away!

The surviving ratmen flee to the largest building.  Its stone walls
are still standing.  The party moves in.

Rhahid: You know, guys, these rat people did nothing to harm us until
Tron attacked them.
Tron: Your point?
Rhahid: I am just making an observation.

Tron climbs a tree overlooking the structure, while Norel simply walks
up and peers in through a window.  They see that there are several
ratmen inside, armed with axes, in addition to a number of terrified
ratwomen and rat-children.

Norel: [twang twang]
Tron: [twang twang]
Nigil: Leave some for me! (kicks the door in and melees with the
surviving ratmen.

After all the ratmen have been killed, the party turns to regard the
helpless noncombatants, who stare at them with big terrified eyes.

Tron: Come on, they're giant rats. (tears an infant from its mother's
arms and dashes its brains out against a stone)  Hoody-hoo!
Norel: These monsters are an abomination against nature! (hacks a
ratwoman to death as she frantically tries to shield her children)
Nigil: Hmm, well, you two seem to have the situation well in hand.  I
guess I'll go loot the bodies.
Rhahid: Yes, guys, you won't be needing me for this.
Skanda: I feel as if... such Rat-man abominations are contrary to all
law. They have the stink of deep evil.

Desh: (reappears) Big food all dead now? Yum!
Nigil: Aran will never make a paladin from that one...

After the slaughter is over, they find a basement containing many
coins of different types and various other treasures.

Nigil: Two bottles of Keoish brandy!  Again I am reminded of my
homeland, and why I left. [snif]
Norel: What a haul!  And it's not even noon yet.
Tron: Hey, now's the time to use one of those healing potions I bought
in Bellport.

The elf produces a flask from his backpack and takes a sip, which he
immediately spits out.

Tron: Ack!  Ptui!  Blah!  This is some kind of poison!  I could feel
it burning my mouth.  When we get back to Bellport, I'm going to feed
that alchemist his own intestines.  Or maybe I'll just make him drink
this stuff.  Yeah, that's it...

Norel: It looks like there are tracks leading out of this town back
to the beach where our ship is, and also around to the south of the
bay.  Also we might want to scout upriver.

Skanda heals any wounded, and the party packs up and heads back to the
ship.  They arrive to find that repairs have been proceeding well on
the ship.

Cormak: This afternoon we'll start applying the tar.

After eating lunch, the away team decides to explore the shipwrecks
that Aran and Rhahid had noted the day before.  These are just a
couple miles down the beach from where the ship is, on the other side
of the ship from the ruined town.  As they approach, Norel finds rat
tracks.  The party waits on a dune overlooking the first two wrecks
while Tron sneaks ahead to the first wreck.  He sees a sleeping rat
and a ratman, who is lurking pressed up against the hull.

Tron: (tries to stab the ratman through the hull of the ship)
Ratman: (sees a swordblade stick out of the wall a whisker's breadth
from his nose) SQUEE!

The ratman steps out of the wreck and hits Tron with his ax.

Tron: Ouch! (starts retreating up the dune the rest of the party is
standing on)
Nigil: What's Tron done now?
Norel: I don't know, but the rats don't like it.

A horde of ratmen boils out of the wrecks and charges the party.

Ratmen: SQUEE!

The fighters form a line and fight shoulder to shoulder against the
monsters, while Rhahid flies around providing air support.

Rhahid: Behold the power of wizardry! [zot fizzle]
Ratmen: SQUEE! (Several fall dead, hair smoking)
Rhahid: Hmm, well, that was the last lightning bolt from that wand.
I'll have to go back to using my wand of magic missiles again...

Within less than a minute the ratmen have all been slain.  The party
cautiously approaches the first wreck, finding inside it only some
ratwomen and rat-children.

Tron: Allow me. [spuck]

They also find a finely made boot. The leather is worked with strange
runes.

Norel: Just one boot?
Nigil: Maybe it's magic.
Tron: There are sounds drawn on it.

They give the boot to Rhahid.

Rhahid: Hmm... this language is similar to ancient
Suel... hmm... yes... it is clear to me now guys.
Tron: Well?
Rhahid: This boot will protect your foot from cold.
Nigil: We didn't need you to tell us that.
Skanda: The fact that it's fur-lined is pretty big clue.
Rhahid: No, I mean it is a magic boot.
Norel: A fur boot that keeps your foot warm by magic, huh?
Tron: Maybe the other boot is in the second wreck.

They go to the second wreck.  Peeking in through a hole in the hull
they see that it is full of noncombatants, with a single massive
ratman, obviously a chief, standing with ax ready. The ratman growls
threateningly and brandishes the enormous ax.

Tron: Now's the time to use my superior intellect.

While Nigil shows himself at one opening, the elf sneaks around to the
other and shoots the chieftain in the back. The chieften coughs blood and bites
at the sand before falling still. The obligatory massacre of the helpless ratwomen
and rat-children is soon over.

Tron: (emerges from the wreck, dripping with blood) I found the other
boot!

Rhahid puts the boots on.  They fit perfectly.

Rhahid: See?  Magic.
Nigil: Or laces.
Norel: Laces? What are those?
Rhahid: Bah. Heathens.

They find nothing in the other two wrecks, and return to the ship
around evening.  Sapphire is completely covered from head to toe in
tar.

Norel: Let me guess, they were using you as a brush.
Sapphire: Bleah. [drip]
Aran: (wiping his armor clean with a barely soiled rag) Strange, the tar doesn't
stick to me like that.
Jola: Oh no, Sapphire!  We've got to get you cleaned up. I think the hair
might be hopeless...
Skanda: I could do with a bath too.

The three "girls" head down the beach, out of sight of the men.  There
is an uncomfortable silence.

Rhahid: (stands up) Say, I think I will go scouting.
Tron: Good idea.
Aran: Scouting?
Nigil: [shing] Rhahid, this is my sword.  Jola is my girlfriend.  Got
it?
Rhahid: Maybe I will just open one of those bottles of brandy
instead. (sits down)

Meanwhile, down the beach...

Jola: [scrub scrub] This just won't come out.  You'll have to cut off
your hair.
Sapphire: ...

Nigil: (A bit drunk) So after that, me and my friend decides to join up.
It seemed like a good idea, y'know. Seemed. Wenches dig uniforms, and --
Jola: (glares)
Nigil: I mean -- a great chance to serve Keoland. Automatically an
officer and all that... But they kept telling me what to do. Wasn't
into that. So we decides to travel, see the world, that sort of thing...
(Looks contemplatively into the beach bonfire) He didn't make it. Federess
was his name. Grew up with him -- played in the orchard, though he was
a servant's son.
Jola: (Pours Nigil more brandy) So tell me about more of your heroic
adventures!


That night passes uneventfully.  The next day dawns cloudy and
overcast.  Norel finds only a few rat tracks around the camp.

Cormak: We should be finished sometime tomorrow, but there's lots of
work to be done today.
Tron: That's our cue.
Norel: Let's check out the other side of the bay.  I found tracks
leading in that direction yesterday, remember?

Soon the away team has set out.  They follow the tracks around the bay
until the beach ends at a steep cliff.  From this point only cliffs
stretch out to the point at the south end of the bay.

Norel: It looks like the tracks went into the water.
Rhahid: Hmm... (leans around the edge of the cliff)  It looks like
there is a cave there.
Tron: They must have swum into the cave.  That must be where they keep
their treasure!  Let's get a boat and check it out.

They return to the ship, commandeer Arlo and a longboat, and head back
across the bay.

Cormak: You know, if they would help us we would get out of here
faster.
Aran: Do you really want Tron helping you?
Cormak: Good point.

By the time the boat reaches the cliffs it has started to drizzle.
Approaching from the sea, the party can see that there are two caves.
They choose to enter the one on the right, the one closest to the
beach.

Arlo: Are you sure about this?  There might be monsters in there.
Tron: Duh. That's the point.
Nigil: This weather is miserable. [sniff]

The water extends into the cave for some distance, then ends in a
sandy beach.  There is a passage leading to the right.

Rhahid: Ok, Arlo, you stay here.  We will go and search...
Arlo: You don't need to search, they're already here!

Many ratmen rise up out of the water and charge towards the beach.  At
the same time several giant rats charge out from the corridor.  The
party is attacked from both sides.

Arlo: Ahh!  Gods save us!  Giant rats walking on two legs! (flees from
the water, but not before being cut bloodily)
Rhahid: Hey, we could do with some help back here guys!
Nigil: Hang on! 

There is a desperate struggle in the flickering lantern light.

Arlo: Ahh!  Giant rats! (stabs ineffectually with his dagger)
Rat: [chomp]
Arlo: Oogh... (falls)

Tron: (stabs a giant rat behind the skull, severing the spinal cord
and killing it instantly) Yes!
Skanda: (heals Arlo, who crawls out of the way as she draws her
scimitar)

Soon the party takes a formation with Norel and Nigil facing the water
and Tron and Skanda facing the rats.  They can hear more ratmen
approaching from the landward side.

Tron: Rhahid, can't you blast 'em with your magic or something?
Rhahid: Let me think, let me think... ah, of course!  A simple web
will solve our problems!

He casts Web, blocking the passage leading onto the beach and trapping
several ratmen.

Meanwhile, Norel and Nigil face waves of ratmen coming from the water.
The ranger's axe and shortsword flash in the lantern light as he
strikes down his foes, while the fighter is a one-man whirlwind of
destruction.

Suddenly, a huge rat-chieftain looms out of the darkness.  Froth
bubbles from around his yellowed fangs and his eyes glare with battle
madness.

Ratman: SQUEE! (lands a mighty blow on Nigil with his greataxe)
Nigil: Argh!  Take that!

The fighter lands an equally mighty blow in return.

Ratman: SQUOOO!
Nigil: Norel!  Take him!

The ranger drives his shortsword deep into the ratman's belly.  The
mighty creature staggers, eyes dulling, as the ranger's axe cleaves
his skull.  He stiffens and falls backwards into the water.

Norel: Yes!
Nigil: Look out, here they come again!

However, the ratmen seem to have been disconcerted by the fall of
their leader.  Only a couple more attack, then they withdraw.  The
surviving rats are quickly killed, then Tron and Norel begin target
practice on the ratmen caught in the web.  The bodies of two are left
hanging in the web, while one more breaks out and flees.

Tron: Hoody-hoo!  We won!
Rhahid: Many of us are injured.  I think we should leave while we can.
Tron: We'll come back soon, right?  I bet that was their boss you guys
killed.  We should have no trouble getting their treasure.
Norel: Maybe.

They get in the boat and paddle back out of the cave.  As they are
leaving the cliff, they see a ratman swimming underwater for the boat.

Tron: [twang]
Norel: [twang]

The ratman is hit and swims away, trailing a streamer of blood in the dark water.
As they head across the rain-grayed bay, a great voice booms from the cave
behind them:

Heavily-accented Voice:  Kursiss Lak will have your heads!

Tron: Maybe that wasn't their leader after all...

TO BE CONTINUED...