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I dug into my pack again and came up with two very squished candy bars and handed them to Viper. "They're not much, so please divide them up so that everyone gets a piece okay?" I knew better than to pull out the pastries I had stuffed in my pack - they were for later if we didn't find any better food.
"Rats? What do you mean BG? Where... rats?" I peered intently into the darkness to see if there was anything there. I looked at BG again questioningly, "Rats?"
Last edited by DQueene; 26/03/03 06:03 PM.
~DragonQueen~
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"thanks DQueene, I owe you one. Who wants a piece!!"
Viper
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As I floated and the rest of the group walked down the long dark narrow low smelly corridor, I wondered how they could enjoy eating chocolate candy bars while holding their noses from the squishy stuff on the floors. "Must be a magical talent." I concluded.
"The rats are all around us, in the cracks in the walls mostly. " I added. "I'm guessing there's about a dozen or so quarreling over something somewhere in front of us, judging by the sounds. By the way, I found a 1998 Larian Nametag back at the first coat of arms. If anyone sees another one, I want it. I'm trying to collect the whole set."
-- BG
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I ate my small piece of candy bar as we walked down the corridor. The smell made it hard to eat, but I guess I was getting used to it. The candy bar tasted delicious, to me anyway. The imp hadn't taken any so I guess it wasn't what he needed anymore.
Now I could hear the squeeking too. It didn't sound that far away and it sounded like it was coming closer. Suddenly a head shot out of the wall directly in front of me. Before I knew it, my hand was around its neck and I was pulling it out of the wall. The funny thing was I had to keep pulling for several seconds. It wasn't a rat! I grinned at everyone and held up the 6 foot snake. "Look, it's dinner!"
~DragonQueen~
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"No, Nero, don't kill the rats - they mean no harm... Look, they're hiding already from the light..." I was angry, stupid warriors - always wanting to sharpen their blades on innocent animals... He gave me a nerved look - I glared back at him and raised my hand with the glowing flame. Then I realised what I was abt to do: Attack one of the group! My anger changed into a cold shock, I lowered my hand again, shrugged my shoulders and went on - trying to overhear the deathcries of these furry little animals.
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Suddenly a group of about 15 rats charged around the corner - their little red eyes glistening in the darkness. I grabbed Kiya's arm and pulled her behind me; dropping the rat snake on the ground in the process. It slithered right into the approaching group of rats with a small hiss, reaching out and grabbing a furry body in its mouth. I saw two of the rats turn an attack the snake and suddenly it was rolling around as if in tremendous pain. I immediatel grabbed my bow and started shooting the rats. "Don't let them touch you! They're poisonous or something!"
Then I noticed that the first one I'd hit with an arrow was sizzling; and suddenly it evaporated in a cloud of nasty smelling vapor.
~DragonQueen~
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[color:"yellow"]Poof![/color] Unseen and unheard, I floated safely above the rats by crawling upside down on the corridor ceiling. It was a funny sensation, looking back and seeing all of my friends standing on a filthy ceiling/floor while I crawled along on a clean floor/ceiling.
As the rats were catching arrows they did their own version of Poof, and fell/rose toward me, so I scrambled on ahead. I rounded a corner just in time to avoid a stray arrow. "That was too close for comfort." I warned myself.
That's when I saw the gold coins glittering in a ray of light from the sun through a crack in the floor/ceiling.
-- BG
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pff Finnaly I go this arrow out of the bodies, some were in pretty deep, I also hid them. Ok Now I can back to the group phew.
I went back into the cave, I could see nothing cause silly me stared into the sky just before entering, tought i heard a bird talk. "hello! heeello? hellooow? anyone here?" "shitze", and then I saw something glittering, "hmm" I went ot the glinstering, almost there "what would that be? maybe it's AAAAAAAAh" DUMF!! "E'ow!" The fall helped me to see better, or was it cus as usual i got used to the darkness?
"help! where are you ppl?!" I looked around and concluded "E'ow I'm stuck"
It's one of these days...
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[color:"pink"]Foop![/color] I decided it was safer to be visible than become a random target of rogue arrows. While I was viewing the glittering gold coins from a distance to see if they were bait for a trap, I heard a distant yell that sounded like Draghermosran. He didn't sound happy, so I thought I'd better go see if he was having orc troubles again.
I happily ran back around the corner, over the poofing rats, over DQueene, Kiya, and the others, and back past the numbers "2" and "1" with their respective coats of arms. When I got to our starting point -- the pit that Kiya discovered in the cave -- I stood looking down/up at the cave and saw nothing untoward. Then I looked up/down and saw Draghermosran standing knee deep in the ceiling/floor muck. He didn't look too happy.
I turned rightside up and floated down to the mucky floor near him and offered to help, "Need help? If not, you should hurry up and follow me to the rest of the group. You're missing all the fun! They are eating chocolate and shooting poisonous rats."
-- BG
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"ta na creoso" wich meant: Help would be very welcome.
what did you think i was beeing stuck for the fun of it? grr.
OK that did come out english, my anger has probably something to do with it.
It's one of these days...
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"I'll get some help for you." I whispered.
Then, I yelled "Hey, guys! Dragh is stuck in the muck and is down on his luck.!"
Then, I waited patiently for help to arrive.
-- BG
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With the help of the others we had 'killed' all of the vicious little rats. The poor snake that I had planned to have for dinner, now had some alarming looking splotches appearing on its hide. "Well, I guess we won't be having that for dinner."
I heard BG yelling from behind us that Dragh was stuck. "What now?" I grumbled, being very careful not to stomp as I went back to help. "You guys stay here and I'll go get them."
I made me way back past my [color:"yellow"] 2 [/color] and my [color:"yellow"]1 [/color] to find Dragh knee deep in .... "Oh, you poor thing! Here let me help you out of ..." I waved my hands not wanting to say what he was knee deep in.
~DragonQueen~
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I decided to help by getting out of the way and holdimg my considerable-sized nose with both hands. When DQueene pulled Dragh out of the muck, his nametag fell off. I picked it up and put it in my Bag of Tricks. "He might need this later" I thought.
Once, Dragh was free, I followed the pair back, past the "[color:"yellow"]1[/color]" and the "[color:"yellow"]2[/color]". When we got to the group, we were standing at the wrong end of the group to be leading, so I decided to keep following, floating at their eye-level.
So far, I had managed to keep my feet clean.
-- BG
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Slashing through rats was fun I decided...a challenge at least...people are easy to hit, most are big and slow..."I Hate rats" after that I turned to see the little imp trying to get our attention..."dont worry little one Ill help him out" with that I walked back to our immobilized companion and yanked his foot out of the muck...I think I may have pulled a little hard though he let out a little yelp.
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Rats, I hate rats. Disease ridden vermin. I mutter a few more things to myself as I continue to root around in my pack. Ah! I exclaim as I manage to produce some peanut butter crackers and juice. Now who wants some? It's not much, but it should get us through for a little while.
The universe is expanding -- that should ease traffic.
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While the others ate peanut butter crackers and drank juice, I returned to the site of the possibly-bait-for-a-trap gold coins. I examined them thoughtfully, looking at them from this angle, then that angle. The rays of sunlight from the ceiling seemed to be aimed only at the pile of coins, and that seemed suspicious to me. So, I made a shadow puppet of a three-headed finger monster attacking the pile of coins. The monster didn't seem to scare the goild coins, though.
I scratched my head to help me think (and the lump complained appropriately). As I did so, I squinted my eyes to see the pile of gold better, because the sunlight seemed brighter than before. That's when I discovered a new skill: If you squint your eyes and scratch your head just so, you can see the trap hidden in a pile of gold.
Now I can see it very clearly. The trap requires the weight of the gold to keep it from attacking. I quickly ran back to the dead rats and asked the group:
"Can I have these rats? Does any of you mind if I take these rats? Anybody?"
-- BG
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"no I don't, just take them... What are you gonna do with them anyway? Is there something we need to know about?" I said. In the meanwhile I was resting, recovering my strenght from fighting those stinkin rats. It was really good that I was able to see well in the dark, otherwise it could have been a real problem. I think its our luck that does rats cant take many hits, cause they shure are fast... And difficult to hit, being that small. But in a way, after the fight, I felt good, in a strange way. Not realizing it could be true, I thought to myself: hah, so this is how it feels like to gain exp...
jvb, royal dragon prince
Cheers!
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I replied, "I'm trying to disarm a trap. You should probably wait here until I'm done, just to be safe."
As the rest of the group nibbled their snack and watched me do all the work, I dragged what was left of the rats around the corner into the partially sunlit chamber. I made a neat pile of them in a corner near the pile of gold coins.
Then I carefully counted the gold coins on the floor. I counted 14 coins. From my Bag of Tricks I removed 14 of my own coins and hefted them in my hands to guage their weight. I even made myself just weightless enough to float with them in my hands.
Then, using my toes, I grabbed the tails of the various snake and rat parts, which made me look a little like a baloon on a string. Without changing my weightlessishness, I dropped my coins on the floor one by one. I was still a baloon tugging on a pile of rats. Using my fingers, I pried rat tails away from my toes one at a time until I just started to float again.
Now that I knew exactly how many rats to use, I drifted the precisely calibrated pile of rats over to the sunlit pile of coins and gently touched down onto the treasure. One by one I picked up the coins while letting the rats settle onto the same floor stones. When I was done, the rats were neatly piled on the floor and my weightless coins and I drifted safely away.
Becoming unweightlessish I gathered up the coins I had dropped earlier, pocketed all 28 coins into my Bag of Tricks for a grand total of 33 gold coins. I patted myself on the back as congratulations for a job well done and mumbled, "Hah, so this is how it feels like to gain exp..."
-- BG
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I felt very sorry for the rats and the snake that had been sacrificed... as they hadn't attacked me I watched the fight from a distance and felt anger burning in my heart. My... comrades, were they my comrades? Did I want to share my time with these... fighting machines enjoying to kill? No, I didn't... turning my back on them I peered into the dark tunnel and thought about wandering on alone... Then I remembered Lynn, my only key to return to the life I was used to, a faint memory: Books, animals, peace. Well, I would have to stick to the group if I wanted to return. <Sigh> I would have to keep my emotions of anger and disgust down <doublesigh> - and I would try to keep out of fights I found needless, fight then when I was attacked or when the enemies were hostile and remained so in spite of me trying to convince them of another behaviour. I felt very alone...
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I walked back to the group and found Kiya lost in her thoughts, so I found her and brought her back.
"Kiya? Can you start a fire from a distance? I piled up the poisonous dead rat parts in the next room and I think they need a decent funeral pyre. The only problem is, I piled them up on a trap of some sort, so it wouldn't be safe to light the pyre from too close. Can you do this?"
-- BG
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