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monkmania 06-18-07, 08:02 PM

So I've been playing an evil DnD campaign -- playing the role of a mad Sorcerer named Mania. He is a powerful magic user and has an intelligent rat as his familiar, his closest companion. His life ended the moment he stepped upon an island with a powerful priest of a goodly god. The priest cast a spell which permanently turned Mania batshit insane (Symbol of Insanity -- permanent confusion). Though the priest died in the conflict, Mania was still afflicted and now lives on the island, blasting fireballs and ice rays at imagined foes, living in a limbo. In a moment of clarity, he sent his rat off the island (onto the boat Mania arrived on the island on) to seek help. This is the epilogue I wrote for poor, insane Mania. ============ Taerinal looked at his companions approvingly -- as a Paladin of Kord, God of Strength, God of Heroes and Champions, the sight of his fellow party members filled him with pride. Fledgling heroes each of them -- the wirey halfling Yohalla, the pious Cleric of Pelor Frarl, and the gruff fighter of noble blood Bafford. They had defeated countless evils, cleared many dungeons of monsters, and many lands of tyrants. When they had heard news that frontier colony forces sent to Manic Island had all but disappeared, each of them were eager to battle whatever chaotic and most certainly evil forces resided there. Currently, they were on a boat en route to the island continent. They were moving slower than usual, so said the captain, as if they were carrying extra weight, but still progress towards the island was steady, and the wind was at their backs. Taerinal squinted and looked through a spyglass into the distance -- he saw a landscape both charred and frozen. He whispered a prayer of strength to Kord and addressed his companions: "Fellow adventurers! We shall prevail against all that threatens that which is good! The power of champions and heroes resides within us! We shall cleanse Manic Island of chaos and evil!" His rousing speech coaxed smiles from his fellow party members and drew some cheers from the ship's crew. The heroes retired for the night. --- Taerinal awoke to the sound of screaming and stamping feet... and terrible, inhuman squeaking -- the whole boat was alive with commotion. "TAERINAL! Come Quickly!" yelled the familiar, aristocratic voice of Bafford. Taerinal bolted towards the call, which came from Priest Flarl's room. What he saw disgusted him and pulled at his sanity. Flarl's body was covered in rats, and little was left of Flarl save bones and bits of flesh. His holy symbol of Pelor lay nearby in a pool of blood, being lapped up by dozens if not hundreds of hungry rodents. The entire ship was in an uproar, rats had suddenly appeared from everywhere, swarming the entire crew. Taerinal heard a scream behind him -- a light voiced female halfling scream. "YOHALLA!" the paladin cried, as he ran towards the scream with Bafford close behind, down the corridor towards the rogue's room. Normally full of vigor, nimbleness and speed, Yohalla was now limping -- limping away from a horde of rats, each nipping away at the flesh on her legs, her arms, her face. Taerinal closed in and batted away as many as he could, but he was helpless to save her and she was quickly consumed in a mass of squeaking, gnashing fur and teeth. Suddenly Taerinal heard a great crashing noise behind him. He swiveled around to see the corridor wall had burst next to Bafford and saw a stream of rats swarming over Bafford's head and many into Bafford's breastplate -- the suit of armor that had protected Bafford's noble ancestry for centuries now housed a bleeding sack of flesh and the dozens of rats which feasted upon it. Bafford opened his mouth to scream, but his cry was muffled by rats that had taken the opportunity to gnash at his tongue. Taerinal cursed loudly -- his companions were dead, what was he to do? As the collective swarms that had consumed his companions made their way towards him. The holy knight bolted towards the upper deck, wading as best he could past hosts of rats upon rats, passing the mutilated corpses of several crew. He burst through the doors to the upper levels and took a quick reconnaissance of the situation -- sailors were jumping overboard, many were screaming and futilely fending off hordes of rats. Taerinal slammed the door behind him, trusting it to keep at bay the rats that were chasing him for at least a little while. He took a step forward onto a deck, and saw his death. The hero saw an anomaly in the chaos -- a rat, larger than the others, was not scurrying around and gobbling the crew as the rest of its kind was doing. Instead, the rat stood only ten feet away from the hero, staring at him coldly. It wore dirty earrings, and it's tail was ornamented with rings. The rat gave the paladin a hard stare. The champion hesitated, not knowing what to make of this situation. This was all the rat needed. Quickly the rat begin chittering and waving its tiny limbs into the air. Before Taerinal could react, the ground beneath him suddenly became slick and he fell full force into a greasy, slippery floor. He struggled to get up, but fell once again on the floor. The rat caster used the opportunity to strike at the knight. Charging as soon as the hero fell a second time, the rat struck at Taerinal's exposed neck, clamping down hard and causing a forceful stream of blood to burst from the Paladin's neck. Taerinal was dead. --- Hours passed, and the rats had their fill. The head rat stood at the helm, chittering and squeaking orders to the other rats, who were more than worthy replacements from the human sailors. They set their course back for the mainland, no doubt they would crash this ship somewhere there... then wait for the next adventuring party who sought to threaten the one inhabitant of Manic Island. --- The head rat squeaked and quickly other rats brought up a spyglass and pointed it towards Manic Island. Through the device the head rat saw smoke rising, then a small flash of light -- a fireball the rat guessed. Good, he's still alive, the rat thought to itself. It hopped over the spyglass and looked over the ocean towards the island. With a tear in its eye, the rat then looked away and retreated into a dark crevice of the ship. --- http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/walkstheplanes/rat.gif Mania, I loved playing you. I'll miss you, buddy, hehe.