Run by: Myrana

Players: Valurian

Death_OK

 

A startled yell comes from the warm glow of the Strutting Cockerel Inn's dirty windows and into the snowy street where a few drunks stumble half-blind homeward through the gloom. Suddenly the door opens and a young woman spills out, followed quickly by a flood of regulars, some of them still sporting beard-foam beards and sloshing tankards, all of them struggling to get out at the same time and yelling at the tops of their lungs. The poor barmaid is all but trampled, and from inside the Inn its possible to hear the Innkeeper bellowing.

 

Valurian pauses in his step, the commotion from the nearby inn drawing his attention in that direction. Overtop the scarf wrapped around his neck and mouth and beneath the edge of his heavy winter cloak's hood, he spies the poor woman nearly being trampled in the flood of patrons. He needs little more motivation, and quickly alters his path to jog through the snowy streets in the direction of all the noise, sweeping his arm out ahead of him when arrives near the downed barmaid to soundly shove anyone who was in the middle of stomping over her to get out. He stoops, taking her by the upper portions of her arms and hoisting her to her feet with ease. "What the devil is going on here? Are you alright?" When the bellowing from inside reaches him, he looks over her shoulder in the direction of the open door, peering.

 

"Oh sir!" The young woman sobs as Valurian lifts her up out of the way of the fleeing customers. "Please! Mister Thrumdt is still inside!"

 

 As if to lend urgency to her words, a scream rises from inside, harsh and deep-throated. The owner no doubt!

More people scrabble out into the snow, heedlessly rushing past Valurian and the sobbing barmaid.

 

"Damn vermin!!" Comes the frantic bellow, struck through by pain that sharpens the voice. "Rada t--AUGH! GODS!!"

 

Valurian looks as though he's about to ask what exactly is inside the inn that's causing such distress, but the owner's yammering from inside seems to answer his question sufficiently. "Go, find somewhere warm that isn't infested," he says promptly, moving the girl to the side and behind him before reaching up and pulling the scythe upon his back free of the leather straps that hold it in place. Wrapping both gloved hands around it tightly, he makes his way inside the inn.

Inside it is totally empty. Tables and chairs have been knocked over in chaotic dissaray. Behind the counter, the entrance to the cellar lies ajar, and it is from there that the curses come.

 

<OOC> Myrana says, "You head down the stairs, right? :o"

<OOC> Valurian says, "Sure, why not? XD"

 

No creepy darkness below! Swinging lanterns shine crazily down upon a grisly scene; bottles smashed, barrels rolled aside, and provisions torn apart and partially consumed. The Inkeeper screams again and flails at the head of an enormous rat with a wooden truncheon. The rat chitters, savaging at the poor man's leg, long tail whippeting about and sweeping aside a string of sausages.

 

<OOC> Valurian says, "Well. I think I'd like to stab that there rat."

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+3: (8)+3: 11

GAME: Valurian rolls 1d20+2: (10)+2: 12

<OOC> Myrana says, "Okay! You go first!"

<OOC> Valurian says, "Hassan chop!"

<OOC> Valurian says, "I'll charge the rat."

GAME: Valurian rolls 1d20+8: (19)+8: 27

GAME: Valurian rolls 2d4+6: (4)+6: 10

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d8+1 to me: (6)+1 to me: 6

<OOC> Myrana says, "You mess up it's whole day."

<OOC> Myrana says, "It dies."

<OOC> Valurian says, "Take /that/, rat!"

<OOC> Myrana says, "Now, because I did forget, roll spot! XD"

GAME: Valurian rolls spot: (19)+5: 24

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+8: (11)+8: 19

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+8: (13)+8: 21

 

Valurian comes down the stairs as quietly and as rapidly as he can, though his armour really does much to mitigate his poor attempts at stealth, what with the clanking and clunking and so forth. Arriving in the cellar of the inn, the man being devoured by the dire rat is the first thing that leaps out at him. Wasting no time, the scythe is lifted and Valurian charges across the cement stones underfoot to assist the man he assumes is the previously mentioned 'Mister Thrumdt'. The scythe sweeps down from overtop his shoulder, cleaving the large and ugly creature cleanly in half at an angle, splattering the floor and the nearby shelf as Valurian follows through on his swing. Scythe still raised, he looks down at the man, "Are you hurt?"

 

Stalwart though the hairy old bastard may be, a rat bite fucking hurts. Especially when that rat could probably eat a whole halfling without worrying about picking all the fiddly bones out first. Beads of sweat stand out on his red face as he clutches at his leg, trying to stop the bleeding. The rat falls in two pieces (if you don't count the confetti of organs that appears somewhere between the halves), and it is all that Mister Thrumdt can do to pry it's clenched jaw off of his shin.

 

 Something skitters in a corner.

 

 Bright red eyes gleam as the second rat springs from behind a tumbled beer barrel, hissing and foaming!

 

<OOC> Myrana says, "Roll an init again, please! :o"

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+3: (7)+3: 10

<OOC> Myrana says, "Anyhow! You go first :o"

<OOC> Valurian says, "Well, regardless. Hassan CHOP! I'ma charge this one too."

GAME: Valurian rolls 1d20+8: (5)+8: 13

<OOC> Myrana says, "Ohh, you just miss."

<OOC> Myrana says, "(muahaha)"

<OOC> Valurian le sobs.

<OOC> Myrana says, "Okay, it attacks you!"

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+4: (1)+4: 5

<OOC> Valurian says, "Ha! XD"

<OOC> Myrana says, "Rat weeps as it is taught the futility of ratty endeavour."

 

This rat is even larger than the first. Swollen and foul, the stink of urine and rotted food that rises off of it is nearly overwhelming. Its yellow teeth yawn wide and snap at the air before Valurian's face, though it fails to climb over the poor shrieking Innkeeper in its haste.

 

<OOC> Valurian says, "Boy. He's ugly."

GAME: Valurian rolls 1d20+6: (10)+6: 16

<OOC> Myrana says, "You hit!"

 

"Gods, get it off of me!!" the Innkeeper shrieks.

 

GAME: Valurian rolls 2d4+6: (4)+6: 10

<OOC> Myrana says, "You keel it."

 

Valurian takes a quick step back when the ugly, monsterous thing comes crawling out of the dark to snap at him, not managing to waddle it's girth over the poor tavern owner. The scythe is handled expertly, the blade held towards the ground with the glittering - and gore spattered - tip pointed in the direction the scrambling dire rat. With a quick upswing, Valurian imbeds the blade of his scythe in the rat's skull from beneath, the point erupting out of the top of the cranium with a sickening crunch and quick splatter of blood and brain matter. The scythe is twisted once and then withdrawn, the body punted solidly to knock it clear of the poor man beneath.

 

Mister Thrumbt looks up at Valurian, pale faced and drawn... then faints dead away, head thumping down onto the dirty floor, covered in viscera and blood. It looks as though he'll need a healer's attention, and quickly.

 

<OOC> Myrana says, "Do you want to try a heal check to stop the bleeding?"

<OOC> Myrana says, "Or run upstairs to get help?"

<OOC> Valurian says, "I'll try the heal check."

GAME: Valurian rolls heal: (19)+2: 21

<OOC> Myrana says, "You manage to clean out the wound, preventing sickness, and bandage it quite neatly."

<OOC> Myrana says, "He'll be fine when he wakes up. Maybe not happy, but fine. :o"

<OOC> Valurian says, "And then I'll go upstairs, to see if there's anything else crawling about."

<OOC> Myrana says, "Go ahead and pose. I would like a spot check."

GAME: Valurian rolls spot: (13)+5: 18

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+8: (11)+8: 19

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+8: (20)+8: 28

<OOC> Myrana says, "You see nozink!"

<OOC> Valurian says, "D:"

<OOC> Valurian says, "Ninja rats."

<OOC> Myrana says, "Also, roll me a listen when you get a chance."

GAME: Valurian rolls listen: (9)+2: 11

 

"Oh. Well, I guess not," he remarks when the man faints dead away, his head hitting the floor with a painful thud. Valurian's eyes travel down the man's tattered leg, a single eyebrow raising slightly at the mess that's been made by the rat that now lays silent and cooling in ap ool of it's own blood.

 

"Ouch," he says quietly, setting his scythe next to the man and leaning it up against the shelves as he kneels down to inspect the wound properly. "What a mess," he mutters idly, gloved fingers working quickly to strip away the ruined cloth and cleanse the wound with some nearby water from a basin. A minute later, he finishes bandaging it with some linen he found within the pantry as well. The man's life protected for the moment, Valurian grabs his scythe and moves up the stares cautiously, senses straining in the case that there are more ugly beasts scuttling about.

 

All seems as it was when last you saw the main room. No one has ventured back inside yet, though a few frightened faces peer in through the dirty windows.

 

 Valurian's sharp elven ears catch the sound of scuttling from his left as he steps back into the common room. Something scrabbles over the dirty floors, rushing towards him out of sight beneath the tables!

 

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+4: (7)+4: 11

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+4: (3)+4: 7

 

Two more of the enormous rats burst out of hiding!

 

<OOC> Myrana says, "Inits"

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+3: (3)+3: 6

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+3: (7)+3: 10

GAME: Valurian rolls init: (13)+2: 15

<OOC> Myrana says, "Okay! You go first. Then Rat1, then Rat2"

<OOC> Valurian says, "I'm going to charge rat number 1."

GAME: Valurian rolls 1d20+8: (11)+8: 19

<OOC> Myrana says, "Hit!"

GAME: Valurian rolls 2d4+6: (6)+6: 12

<OOC> Myrana says, "Dead!"

<OOC> Myrana pets her poor rats xD

<OOC> Myrana says, "Rat2 goes!"

GAME: Myrana rolls 1d20+4: (9)+4: 13

<OOC> Myrana says, "Your turn!"

<OOC> Valurian says, "Hassaaaan chop!"

GAME: Valurian rolls 1d20+6: (13)+6: 19

<OOC> Myrana says, "Go ahead and make your attack, and pose the whole thing in one go."

<OOC> Myrana says, "Hit!"

GAME: Valurian rolls 2d4+6: (5)+6: 11

<OOC> Myrana says, "DED"

 

Valurian lifts his scythe when the two ugly dire rats come out hiding, hissing and spitting in a rather ugly fashion as dire rats are wont to do. Luckily, he's faster than either of the two brutes and readies his scythe before either can attack, thundering across the wooden beams with echoing footfalls. Grabbing the shaft of the scythe near the base, he swings it in a brutal yet controlled overhand chop that causes the entire blade to sink through the spine of the rat and it's body, nailing it to the floor.

 

 Stuck as he is in this position, he isn't fast enough to escape the other living rat when it lunges at him. Luckily however, it discovers that his kidneys are protected behind a layer of black metal, causing a chipped rat tooth. It has little time to self-pity, however, as Valurian's scythe is pulled out of the dead rat with a meaty shunk sound. The messy blade is hefted up behind his right shoulder, and then swept down in a heavy carving motion to sever the rat as cleanly as he did the first rat he met down below.

 

In the manner of such thing, it's a few moments later that the Guard show up in a great clamour of spears and chainmaile. They rush into the Inn to inspect the cries of monsters and death, only to find... well, a very darkly dressed High Elf with an enormous scythe. Soon however they find the fainted Innkeeper, and all is explained by the flustered Barmaid, who witnessed all and intends to tell it to anyone who'll listen, with extra bits thrown in for good measure.