Episode 39
"The Rat Pack"

(c) 2002 by Matt Grossman and J. Sage Schreiner

Nigil Palom, noble from a far-distant land -- Kevin Osborn
Tron, a resourcefull elf -- Matt Grossman
Sapphire, a blood thirsty gnome warrior -- Corey Paganucci
Norel, a big ranger of the Adri forest -- Tom Morin
Laurallie, an unlucky Elf priestess -- Claudia Darcy
All others -- J. Sage Schreiner

The party joins up with Ilde and Gaspard, and prepares to ride to
Ratikhill.

Tron: Hey Nigil, did you get a new sword or something?
Nigil: Not really, we got that half-orc smith to add some magic
grumbah to my old sword. Now it's magical and extra sharp too!
Laurallie: I loaned my magic sword to Norel.
Tron: Why don't you keep it for yourself? It's your magic sword.
Norel's a big guy.
Laurallie: Because it's for the good of the party, a concept you seem
to have difficulty understanding. Also if we run into any more demon
monkeys, I'd rather have Norel fight them, than fight them myself.
Tron: Hmm, makes sense.
Sapphire: Grumbah?!?
Laurallie: Oh yeah, we also found that we have a potion of charisma.
Ian: How did we find this out?
Nigil: It was in the bottom of my pack. Also we had some oil of
timeliness...
Laurallie: Timelessness.
Nigil: Whatever, anyway, we sold it to Kyoru the Magnificent for some
nice cash.
Laurallie: Kyrou the Magnificent is a jerk, by the way. In case anyone
didn't know already.
Tron: I gambled away 200 silver. That was the first vacation I've
taken in years. Drinking, gambling, secular music... the only thing
missing was wenching.
Ian: Yeah, I've already noticed the sad state of the prostitution
industry here. I think it's because they're all up in Ratikhill,
cashing in on the army.

They ride south, in the general direction of Ratikhill.

Ilde: I've never actually been there, and I don't really know how to
get there. You can ask someone.

At the next inn they send Ian in to ask the innkeeper.

Norel: What sort of person would hang out a sign like that in front of
their inn?
Jainos: "The Lusty Goat"? Gods, the provinces make me sick.
Ian: (emerging from the inn) He, uhh, he wants fi... I mean ten silver
to tell us the way to Ratikhill.

After receiving directions ("Go that way, then make a right, then go
straight for a week") the party continues. Soon they come to a cart
track heading south. They are unsure if this is the road mentioned by
the innkeeper but decide to follow it. After traveling for a while
they come to a hamlet.

Tron: Greetings, peasant! Is this the way to Ratikhill?
Peasant: Ehh? An elf? We don't see many of your sort around here, boy.
Laurallie: Could you tell us, good sir, if this road should perchance
lead to Ratikhill?
Peasant: Ehh? Purchase? I'm not for sale, at any price!
Laurallie: DOES... THIS... ROAD... GO... TO... RATIKHILL?
Peasant: Ehh. I don't know.
Norel: Where does the road go?
Peasant: I don't know. I've never been farther than Larsson's
Crossing.
Laurallie: Is there anyone else in this hamlet who might know?
Peasant: Ehh. No. All the young men went away to fight the orcs.
It's just women and children now. And old men.

The party bids the peasant farewell and continues down the road.

Laurallie: It's a shame to see so many poor and crippled people. I
wish there was something I could do for them, but Obad-Hai has not
given me enough power to heal these people.
Tron: Why do you care about them? They're just peasants.
Laurallie: Wha... but... don't you believe that all people are
created equal?
Nigil: You're joking, right?
Ilde: [snicker]
Jainos: Where did you pick that one up?
Tron: Of course we're not equal. I mean, I'm on a horse with a sword,
and he's digging ditches.
Laurallie: Bah. I can't believe you're saying this. In an elven
community, nobody is allowed to go hungry. We all share our wealth.
Nigil: That's the way it is with peasants here. And we share among
ourselves too. That doesn't mean that we should share with them.
Sapphire: I guess I'll just never understand you surface dwellers.
Norel: In the forest, none of that stuff matters.
Tron: Hey, look over there. I wonder who those guys are.

The elf has spotted six figures on a ridgeline, about a mile away.
They are moving north, the opposite direction the party is going. All
that can be seen at this distance is that they are dressed in gray, and
moving futively.

Norel: Maybe there's a reason they're not on the road.
Ian: Hey, I have an owl familiar! I'll send him to investigate!
Owl: Hoo. (flies away)
Sapphire: I miss Rhahid. [snif]

Soon the owl comes back.

Ian: Hmm, all he says is that they are "big food", whatever tha...
Tron: Hi-ho, Trigger! (gallops towards the figures)
Nigil: Dammit, wait for me! Come on, Dead Meat IV! (spurs after Tron)
Norel: Hoody-hoo! (spurs after Tron)
Ian: Hey, where are you all going? What's going on?
Sapphire: Come on, or you'll miss all the fun! (gallops off)
Ian: Fun?!? I have a bad feeling about this...

As the party rides towards the figures, they turn and flee towards the
hills. Sapphire's pony and Gaspar's war horse cannot keep up with
the rest of the party. Ilde spurs her horse into the lead, riding
recklessly but clearly with great skill.

Ilde: Why are we chasing these things?
Tron: They're giant ratmen! Great sport!
Ilde: Rodents of unusual size? They don't exist.
Norel: Believe me, they do. They're abominations against nature!
Laurallie: I don't see how you can say that! You probably never even
tried to talk to them!
Tron: How'd you know?

As the party enters the hills, they lose sight of the ratmen.
Suddenly:

Ilde: Look out!
Ratmen: (three of them stand up and hurl javelins at the party. Nigil
is wounded) Squee!

The ratmen are standing at the top of a short, steep slope.

Jainos: I'll, uhh, guard the rear.
Ian: Me too. I'm scared of rats that walk like men.
Norel: (Dismounts) I don't know how to fight from horseback...
Ilde: (fearlessly, she spurs her horse up the slope and cuts down one
of the ratmen) Take that, vermin!
Tron: Damn. Come on, Trigger! (the elf guides his horse up the slope)
Nigil: Bah! I can't be beaten by a little girl! Up we go, Dead Meat!
Dead Meat IV: (balks at the slope) Neigghh!
Nigil: Dammit!
Laurallie: (tries to spur her horse up the slope, but almost falls off
as her horse balks) No! I have to save those poor rat things!
Ratmen: (flee)
Tron: Oh no you don't! (chases after them and shoots one down at close
range) Yes!
Nigil: (finally gets his horse up the slope, charges after the other
ratman and cuts him in half as he runs) Hoody-hoo! Gimme five!
(hi-fives Tron)

The ratman that Ilde attacked is still barely alive. Laurallie bandages its
wounds.

Tron: It's no use taking it prisoner.
Laurallie: Listen, the next time you're in trouble, do you want healing
or not?
Tron: Err...

They search the bodies of the ratmen. One of them is wearing a pouch
which contains a few silver and a paper with two sketches on it. One
sketch is recognizably of Vodius, and the other is of the sea-troll's
crown, currently in Vodius' possession. Norel and Tron try to track
the remaining ratmen, but soon lose the trail in the hills. The party
decides to head back to the road and camps in a copse of trees near
the road. Laurallie uses magic to revive the ratman.

Ratman: Squee! Squee! (refuses the food and water the cleric offers
it)
Tron: See, he has to prove his courage as a warrior by resisting
torture, so...
Laurallie: Tonight I will pray to Obad-Hai for the power to understand
this creature's speech. And Tron, he better not be killed "while
trying to escape" tonight.
Tron: Um, sure.

That night, during Tron's watch:

Tron: Wake up, I hear something approaching the camp. I'll go scout,
wake up the others.
Nigil: Ok.

The elf scouts into the woods, and soon sees two figures. The elf
sneaks close behind them.

Tron: Freeze!
Peasant Girl: Eeek! An elf!
Peasant Boy: Err... ummm... err...
Tron: What are you doing here?
Peasant Boy: Ummm... (removes his hand from inside the girl's bodice)
Tron: Well, go do it somewhere else. And be careful, there's ratmen
out there.
Peasant Youths: (flee)
Nigil: That was an anticlimax.
Tron: Yeah, I was sure that was more ratmen sneaking back. Those two
are lucky to be alive.

The next morning:

Laurallie: Obad-Hai, give me the power to understand all speech!
Ratman: Squee squee I'll tear your throat out if you come closer, you
elven slut. You hairless ones make me sick! Someday we'll kill you
all, and then there will be nothing but lovely gray fur! We will
cover the world in fur! We are the master race! Just come a bit
closer...
Laurallie: (holds up the paper with the picture of Vodius on it)
Ratman: Vodius! We're supposed to go kill him! Kill him 
and take the crown! You can't understand anything I'm saying, can you! Ha ha!
The Devourer told us to kill him! We will kill him! The Great Consumer
will punish the hairless ones as he has punished the lesser gods!
Laurallie: He says that he's on a mission to kill this Vodius guy.
These rat people are followers of the "Devourer", whoever that is.
Norel: This "Devourer" is probably the Dark One we are pledged to
defeat.
Nigil: Kill Vodius, huh? Maybe we should let him go.
Laurallie: Sounds like a good idea. (unties the ratman)
Ratman: Sayonara, suckers! (runs)
Nigil: Umm, you know I was joking there...
Norel: (draws his bow and shoots the ratman down as he runs)
Ratman: (pitches forwards onto his face, writhes in agony for a while,
then lies still)
Tron: Bwahahahaha! (to Laurallie) That was really funny! You're ok!
Gaspar: (to Norel) You b... ba... ba... ba... bad man! (takes out his
holy symbol of Hieronyous and prays)
Ilde: (tries hard not to laugh and succeeds)
Laurallie: Why did you do that? Don't you know that the enemy of my
enemy is my friend?
Norel: Not when he's also my enemy. Come on, let's get going.

The party travels on. As evening is falling they come to a village.

Norel: Are there any hunters in this village?
Peasant: Ehh. Try over there. (points to a hut with several wolfskins
hanging out front)

The hut turns out to be inhabited by a stocky woman, who apparently is
a skilled hunter.

Woman: Yeah, I tracked a bunch of big rats a couple weeks ago. They
were heading north. They seemed... unnatural.
Nigil: Well, you should be on your toes. There might be more ratmen
coming through. They're evil and aggressive.
Woman: Great. What do we pay taxes for anyway?
Ilde: (mutters under her breath) Because it's your duty.
Norel: Do you know if this is the road to Ratikhill?
Woman: Yes, it is. If you go south a ways you'll come to a fork in
the road. Both forks go to Ratikhill. The right hand path is not
often used and runs through a forest. The left hand path runs through
the valley and is the way that caravans take.

The party spends the night in a stable (Laurallie does not rest until
she has found and healed a small child). Outside a terrific
thunderstorm rages. Inside, the party plots what they will do when
they get to Ratikhill.

Ilde: My plan right now is to keep a low profile and find out what the
situation is. I need to find out more about this "Gabriel" and what
his plans are.
Norel: We might need to disguise ourselves then, since Gabriel would
certainly recognize us.
Nigil: Does he have a woman with him by any chance?
Ilde: I don't know. How is it that you guys know him so well?
Norel: Well, we were at this keep...

The next morning the party continues south. They take the left hand
fork, and around noon Tron glimpes a group of horsemen in the distance
riding towards them. The horsemen disappear behind a copse of trees
and don't come out.

Ian: My owl says that they're waiting in the trees. He says that
there are "lots" of them.
Nigil: Hmmm...
Norel: Hmmm...
Tron: Maybe we should just ride straight through.
Laurallie: No, maybe we should go around.
Tron: Yeah, I thought there was a better plan.

The party leaves the road and circles around the copse of trees at a
distance of about a mile. When they get back on the road, there is
some debate.

Laurallie: We could just keep going...
Norel: We need to find out what this is about.
Tron: Wait here for me. I'll go scout.

The elf sneaks up to the trees. As he is moving cautiously forwards,
he sees a flicker of movement to his left. He dives behind a bush,
then cautiously peeks out. Tron sees a wood elf, clad in black
leather and carrying a battle ax and hand ax, rushing towards him with
murder in his eyes. Fortunately, Tron remembers Laurallie's
description of the renegade wood elves...

Tron: Oh shit! Feet, don't fail me now! (runs)
Elf: (chases Tron)
Tron: (runs like a little girl)
Elf: (stops running, takes out a bow, and starts shooting) [twang
twang twang]
Tron: Ow! Ow! Ow! (keeps running)
Elf: (seeing that Tron is out of range, he heads back towards his
cohorts)

Tron keeps running until he reaches the party. Quickly, he explains
the situation. Even as he reaches them, there is the distant rumble of
hooves on the road behind him.

Nigil: So, do we run or fight?
Gaspar: W... w... e should stand and f... fight like heroes and die like men.
Norel: Remember the bugbears?
Nigil: Ok, we run.

The party mounts up and gallops away. Sapphire's pony is far too
slow, and Gaspar takes her onto his warhorse.

Sapphire: Goodbye Blossom! [snif]

Norel's panther also cannot keep up with the galloping horses and runs
into the bracken.

Norel: She'll be ok.

As the party rides, shadows lengthen and the sun dips below the western
mountains. The hooves of the pursuers sound louder and
louder. The party has to travel at the speed of Gaspar's war-horse,
which is slower than a normal riding horse. To the left of the road,
the land drops away into what seems to be a vast swamp.

Norel: Hey guys, remember that swamp we saw from the hills when we were
running away from the bear? I think we're on the other side of it now.
Nigil: We can turn aside into the swamp and lose them.
Norel: I can hide some of our tracks.

The party spurs their horses from the road into the swamp. As they
leave the road, Laurallie summons a dense cloud of mist. They ride
recklessly into the swamp, but out of fortune or skill none of the
horses are injured, although several of the less competent riders
are injured from branches and falls. Several hundred yards from the road 
they stop and hear the hoofbeats of their pursuers pass and diminish into 
the swiftly falling night.

Nigil: We'd better make camp.
Laurallie: Let's travel into the swamp several more miles. They may circle
back.

They head for a hillock and set up camp on top of it. They do not
light a fire. The exhausted horses crop the scanty marsh grass. Tron
feeds them with the last of his oats. It is clear that the horses
will need more fodder soon.

Nigil: Why do you suppose they were chasing us?
Ilde: Yeah. Are they my enemy or yours?
Tron: Probably us, for a bounty. They picked up our trail in Marner, rode
around us in the night, and then just waited for us. That's why they
couldn't catch us, their horses are probably even more tired than ours
are.
Norel: Well, we can travel through the swamp, and then come back onto
the road somewhere they won't expect.
Tron: Remember the horses. We should have brought more fodder.
Laurallie: Let's hope there aren't any monsters in the swamp.
Nigil: I'd welcome a monster at this point. (flexes his sword arm)
Gaspar: (Unsheathes his sword and peers into the darkness)

In the moist darkness, there are many strange noies.

TO BE CONTINUED...