Nydourl and Bethsheba
"Once upon a time, in a small village in what is probably now India, lived a Bone Gnawer youth called Nydourl. He lived a quiet life with his family and people, until one day when plague came to his village, borne by rats. Nydourl could not die from the plague, being Garou, but watched as one by one his family and his people succumbed to the plague."
"When his mother, the last of his family was dead, Nydourl resolved to speak with the only other Bone Gnawer that he knew - the Wise One, who lived in a cave in a hill not far from the village. Nydourl travelled to the cave and spoke to the Wise One, who was old and creaky. Nydourl wished to know why Rat, the protector and teacher of his people, had turned so harshly against them. The Wise One said that only Rat knew what Rat knew, and that the rats do as Rat says. Nydourl said to the Wise One that he would seek to find Rat. He would learn why it was that Rat had turned against his people and he would make Rat stop."
"Having cremated his family, Nydourl left his village with only a bit of food, a small knife and the clothes he wore. He travelled for many days upon many roads and he had many adventures. But he could not find Rat anywhere."
The Remix
After walking all day, This Time for Sure see a small town ahead of them. They reach the gates just before dawn and wait in line with others who want to enter. While they are waiting, Bandit glances downwards and sees a glint, as of gold. He bends down and looks at this metallic thing and finds a gold ring, intricately etched with feathers around the outside. He pockets it before the guards can see what he is up to. He checks the ring, but finds that it has no particular mystic sense associated with it.
Nydourl and Bethsheba
Nydourl looked for somewhere to sleep the night. As he walked through the town, he came to the market place. By a large stone plinth in the centre of the market place, a line of people were standing. The hands of each were tied and each was tied to the person in front and behind by rope. A slave master was near-by, settling his slaves down for the night to be ready for the market in the morning. Nydourl could see that one of the people in the line, a young woman, was one of the Changing Breed, even if she was in her human form. Nydourl resolved to free the woman and the other slaves."
The Xena Version
This Time for Sure looked around the town for evidence of Rat. The town was made of mud bricks and thatch rooves. They wandered into a market place where people were packing up for the day. Bites noted a grain merchant and made a mental note to try and get some spilt grain for Rat. The others notice a chain of slaves tied together being strung around a plinth. Smurfette is all for releasing them on general principles, but the others are a bit concerned that they don't want to not fit in. As a compromise, LED uses Sense Unnatural to check the group. He notices that one of the slaves, a young woman, was very strange - she had a sense not unlike that of a Garou. The pack thinks that perhaps she's strong kinfolk, or a Garou emanation of the realm.
The night rocks on, dully lit by burning brands. After much discussion and the use of stealth talens, Bites and Bandit approach the woman in homid and lupus form respectively. She is awake as they approach, and seems keen to be released. A pair of guards swing into the square, but don't seem to notice them. While they are chatting to the woman about releasing her and helping them, they notice that she is wearing a ring on her left hand similar to the one that Bandit found earlier. They come to an agreement about helping one another and start planning an escape. Figuring that he'll need his hands, Bandit retreats up a nearby alley. He goes through the shapechange, turns around and sees two guards staring at him. Bandit gives some thoughts to bluffing, but one of the guards yells "MONSTER!" and lunges at him. Bandit communicates this to the others, leaps onto a window sill, thinks about it again and leaps at the two guards, disabling them. In the meantime, Bites asks the woman if there is an informer amongst the slaves, and she says that the guy around the other side is the straw boss. Bites starts heading around the other side when there is a shout of "MONSTER!" from nearby. He jogs around there quickly and sees the straw boss tied up. The guy goes to take a breath, but Bites knocks him out cold and then becomes the whirling dervish, slicing slaves out of the ropes that tie them up and encouraging them to run like hell.
To help distract the guards, Moon River changes to crinos and uses Call of the Wyld to enhance a howl. Well, a sort of whimper. He flips back to homid and wanders away nonchalantly. Mulder and Smurfette are runnign around town scaring the hell out of the locals, Bites and the woman run for the nearest gate. Moon River gets there first and warns the guards about monsters coming in the far gate. The guards decide that they'd better be extra careful about guarding the gate then, in case monsters come this way too. Moon River sighs and gives serious thought to killing them all, but saner minds prevail. Bandit heads towards the nearest wall and tears a big chunk out of the wooden pallisade. Everyone runs for it out the hole and into the cold desert.
Nydourl and Bethsheba
"That night, when everyone in town was asleep. Nydourl crept back to the market place. The slaves were sleeping near the stone plinth in the centre. By stealth, Nydourl crept up to the slaves and cut their ropes with his knife. The woman he freed last. When the slaves realised that they were free, they leapt up and began running in all directions. Nydourl and the woman slipped away into the night."
The "you what?" version
When they had got a sufficient distance from the city, the pack and the woman stop and take a break. The woman introduces herself as Bethsheba, one of the Corax - wereravens. LED knows what they are and that they exist, but the rest of the pack have no idea. The pack give serious thought to capping her in the head and running for it. Bethsheba says that as they have helped her, she will help them. Bandit remembers about the ring and gives it to Bethsheba, who seems very happy to have it back. She says that they were given to her by a dear friend and she would have been very sad to loose them. Someone asks if she needs them to change form and she just stares at them.
Nydourl and Bethsheba
"Bethsheba said that as Nydourl had helped her twice, she would help him twice. Bethsheba was wiser than Nydourl and knew that Rat would not give up a secret except for a secret in return - one that he could not refuse. Likewise he would not give a gift (the gift of lifting the plague) without a gift in return. Bethsheba said that she would help Nydourl find a secret and a gift."
"Now Rat had thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters. Bethsheba knew that Rat's seventh son, Tenacity, had disappeared and had probably been kidnapped. Rat was searching everywhere for his son. If they could learn where Tenacity was, that would be a secret that Rat would give anything to know."
"Bethsheba also knew that Tenacity had been last seen in a large port city to the west. She told Nydourl what she knew, and they resolved to set out immediately for the city. They travelled for many days and h ad many adventures on the way."
The "who will rid me of this turbulent moggy" version
This Time for Sure crest a hill on the dusty road and find themselves at the top of a shallow slope which leads down to the sea. A city rests at the point where a river reaches the sea, and mote-like boats float upon the waters. As the pack and Bethsheba travel down to the city, they see an ever increasing number of cats - mangly mongrels, looking half starved in a lot of cases. When they get into the city, they ask a shopkeeper about the plague; he tells them that the plague started about a month ago, and no one knows where they are coming from. One of the pack comment that at least they don't have a rat problem and the shopkeeper agrees with a laugh - he hasn't seen a rat since the cats started to appear.
Nydourl and Bethsheba
"Nydourl and Bethsheba walked through the city until they reached the docks. Several galleys waited by the docks, but one galley Nydourl spotted straight away because of the foul Wyrm taint that drifted from it and it's crew. A nearby pottery vendor told them that it was a pirate galley, and that everyone was too scared of the pirates to do anything about them. Nydourl and Bethsheba resolved to keep an eye on the pirate galley and it's crew."
The "reconnoiter" version
Figuring that they know why there are lots of cats, but not who is responsible, the pack wander the city. Moon River tries to approach a car to talk to it, but they don't like him. Mulder has more luck, and chats to the little pussy about how they came here and why, the outcome of which is basically that they came in a box within a box and it rocked and rolled and they didn't want to, they were captured and brought here. The pack consider this and come to the conclusion that they probably came in a ship. To the docks!
Once at the docks, sensing for general weirdness points them towards a rather foul smelling galley away from other ships. A fearful local tells them that the people on the ship are pirates, but everyone is too afraid to do anything about them. The pack persuade Bethsheba to change into her raven form and keep an eye on the ship from above while they look around. Moon River waits until some of the crew are walking along the dockside, and bumps into them. Even that brief touch tells him that even random members of the crew seem to be strongly wyrm tainted. The two pirates bluster and push him around a bit and then continue to a waterfront dive. Bites finds a local townguardsman and tries to tell him about the evil pirates, but it seems that the guard has been paid off.
Bethsheba returns about dusk and says that the ship is a galley, thin and fast. There are slaves under the decking who row the ship and a large crew quarters at the rear. She would guess there are about 20 pirates all up.
Nydourl and Bethsheba
"Late that night, Nydourl and Bethsheba watched the galley from the shadows. No-one else was in sight when pirates started carrying large crates down the gangway from the galley to the docks. The pirates opened the crates, and dozens of cats leapt out and ran in every direction (although not back to the pirate galley)."
"Bethsheba suddenly realised what was going on. The pirates were bringing in cats in order to keep all the rats out of the city. As long as there were no rats in the city, they would have no way to find out the Tenacity had been here or where he had gone. Since the pirates were involved in keeping the rats away, they must know something about what happened to Tenacity."
The "no, let me, I'm a professional" version
Late that night, Bites and Moon River swim out to the ship, which has been moved away from the quay. They climb up to the oar-ports and slip onboard. That is to say, Moon River does, but Bites slips and falls back into the water with a splash. One of the guards heads towards the sound straight away, and Moon River dives into the ship without looking. He finds himself face to face with an old slave who looks a bit surprised, but who points to a shadowy niche for Moon River to hide in. Bites-at-Treads decides that drowning is the better part of valour and swims under the ship and away a distance. The guards eventually shrug and move back to their patrol around the boat.
Just as things seem to have gone quiet, a group of pirates come out of the crew area, carrying a big box with shoulder poles ala the arc of the covenant. They do not seem to see Moon River, and pass quickly out of his view. The rest of the pack watch as the ropes are pulled tight and the galley drifts close enough for the gangplang to be put down. The box carrying pirates walk down and put the box down on the pier. They remove some bolts and open the front of the box and tens of cats shoot out at speed, scattering into the waterfront as soon as they can. The pirates return and the ship is allowed to drift away again.
Moon River speaks briefly with the old man, trying to figure out how to perhaps free the slaves. It will not be possible to do so quietly and quickly - there are long chains fixed at the rear of the boat, and the chain is thick and heavy. Moon River slips along the boat, waking practically every slave on that side of the boat. He gets to the rear quarters and tries to hear anything, but the pirates mostly seem to be asleep. He slips off the boat, drawing the attention of the guard again to the splash. This Time for Sure lay their plans. They decide to wait until the morning.
Nydourl and Bethsheba
"Bethsheba told this to Nydourl, who decided to sneak onto the galley to see what he could find. While the pirates were busy with their cats, Nydourl quickly and quietly ran up the gangway and onto the galley. In the galley were many slaves, tied to the benches from where they pulled the oars. Nydourl spoke to one of the slaves, an old man who had been there longer than anyone. The old man told Nydourl that just before they started their regular cat-carrying trips, the galley had made a voyage to a small rocky island far out to sea, and that they had carried no cargo except for a rat in a box. He knew that it was a rat in the box because it kept gnawing it's way out of the box and running around the ship, with all the pirates chasing it. The pirates would catch it and put it in a new box, but it always managed to chew it's way out."
"Nydourl crept back off the boat and told Bethsheba what he had learned. They decided that they must get to the island. The easiest way would be on the pirate galley. Bethsheba said that they should approach the pirates and offer to pay them gold for passage to another city along the coast. The pirates would wait until the galley was out at sea before attempting to steal the gold, whereupon they could defeat the pirates and take the galley. Nydourl agreed to this plan."
The "boring conversation anyway" version
The next morning, the pack wait for some of the pirates to leave the ship, intending to see if they can kidnap and interrogate some of them. LED finds a convenient empty warehouse - the only flaw with it is that its some distannce from the main part of the city. The pack work on a plan.
About midmorning, the pirates send out a small group, apparently to lay in supplies. Theorising that this means the pirates are probably going to leave, the pack decide to take this opportunity. Four pirates leave the ship and head for the markets - two solidly corrupted, two only strongly tainted. The pack follow them around for a while, and eventually the two less corrupted bucaneers are sent back to the ship fully loaded down. The pack follow the two corrupted pirates as they make some purchases of more expensive items, like liquor and such. The plan is put into action. Bandit and Smurfette find an alley a bit closer to the warehouse they want to be in. The rest of the pack spread out in front and behind the pirates. Bites-at-Treads runs past the pirates and yoiks a small barrel of something expensive from one of them, taking off at some speed along the streets. The pirates give unsurprisingly yell for guards and give chase, hampered by Bethsheba and Mulder, who have a screaming domestic in the middle of the street after Bites has slipped past.
Bites is moderating his speed to make sure that the pirates don't fall behind, while making his way towards the aforementioned alley. LED and Moon River help cut down the number of guards that are also giving chase, but one of them is a bit more nimble than the others, catching up and passing the pirates in their pursuit of the pickpocket (ok, snatchpurse). Accordingly, Bites doesn't stop in the alley, but keeps running past Bandit and Smurfette, leading the guard over a short fence at the end of the alley. The two pirates, on the otherhand, run into Bandit and Smurfette, who use Falling Touch and a bit of 2b4 with a nail in it to disable and capture the pirates. The pack take them off to a warehouse and proceed to "make enquiries", during the process of which both pirates die. However, they do tell This Time for Sure that they are releasing cats into the city to make sure there are no rats to give word that Tenacity was taken from here. Tenacity was taken by the pirates to a castle on a rocky island in the middle of the ocean. Neither of the pirates were involved in taking the rat to the castle, so they don't much more about it. Neither can they navigate their way there (presumably the captain knows more), which becomes irrelevant when they pass on.
Feeling that they now have some justification for their frontal assault plans, they carefully watch the pirates until night. The loss of two of their crew doesn't seem to cause any great furore - maybe its thought they pissed off with the cash or something - but no further expeditions are launched from the ship. The plan is arrived at to try and take the guards out as quickly and quietly as possible, then push it out to sea and finish the job. At night, the pirates again let their ship drift away from the docks a bit. The garou and Bethsheba slip into the rather rank waters and change to Crinos. Its quite dark around the ship, and they can easily slip up to the sides. Feeling that his white, white fur will probably be a bit too visible, LED stays at the rear with Smurfette as the primary propulsion. Bethsheba, Bites and Moon River take up one side of the ship and Bandit and Mulder the other. Bethsheba uses her gift of silence to muffle all the sounds in the area, but the pack still have their mental link so they can communicate easily. Bites and Moon River quickly climb into the ship in glabro, up through a oarlock.
At Bandit's mental "now", the pack move. Bites and Moon Riveer swarm up and over the decking, and break the neck of the guard. Mulder creates tentacles of shadows from out of the darkness and tugs the guard clean off the boat. Bandit kicks up out of the water, catches the guard and sinks into the water with barely a splash, waiting underneath the surface until the guard stops struggling. The twitching quadraplegic is kicked off the side and the ropes are cut. With Bethsheba's gift suppressing all sound, the slaves are freed from the chain, although the manacles will have to wait. Bites, Moon River and Mulder guard the three entrances to the crew quarters, while the rest of the pack slip back into the water and start pushing the ship out of the harbour.
Nydourl and Bethsheba
"Nydourl and Bethsheba approached the evil pirate captain in a dock-side tavern, and offered gold for passage to another port. Bethseba used her powers of illusion to create the image of gold to fool the captain. The captain agreed and said that they would be setting off in the morning. Nydourl and Bethsheba agreed to be there."
"The next morning the galley left port. Bethsehba knew that the pirates would probably wait until they thought the passengers were asleep before they tried anything. Sure enough, that night, while Nydourl and Bethsheba pretended to sleep, half a dozen of the pirates crept up to attack them. Nydourl quickly killed the pirates before they could raise the alarm. He then crept up to where the slaves were being held and freed them. Before the pirates knew what had happened, they had been overrun by slaves and tossed over board. The freed slaves proclaimed Nydourl as their new captain and leader. So Nydourl told them to set course for the rocky island far out to sea where the pirate had taken the rat."
The Moulinex version
Smurfette is a veritable demon of pushing ("I used to be on the school swimming team") and its not an exceptionally long time before the ship is cruising along. Once it is outside the breakwater, things start to get a bit choppier. Those standing guard on the ship can hear some noises and muttering, as if people were stirring. Mulder nips up the stairs and stands above the doorway as footsteps come towards the leftside door, while Bites and Moon River rely on their Blur of Milky Eye talens. The curtain is moved aside and a man with a torch comes out. He looks for the guards, and doesn't see them, then looks straight at Moon River, yelling something briefly before Bites leaps into action and cuts his left leg off about half way up the calf. Unsurprisingly, this causes him to start screaming and the gentleman who was behind him runs back into the ship yelling about attackers and boarders.
Figuring that they are far enough out from shore now that they don't really need to keep pushing, the other Garou get onto the ship, while Bethsheba herds the slaves up the front of the boat ("don't look at the screaming and the yelling, really"). Pausing only to put the fallen pirate out of his misery and kick him overboard, the pack wait for a rush. Bites and Mulder stand at the left door, Bandit and Smurfette at the bottom door and Moon River above the right hand door, while LED makes sure no one is sneaky out the sides of the ship (although it would be a very tight squeeze).
Shortly after, there is a certain amount of yelling and feet stamping from all doors. However, assailants only rush out of the far righthand door. Moon River drops on the first one out from a great height, slamming him to the deck. Bandit causes the next one to go sprawling with his Falling Touch gift. The third runs out, intent on stabbing Moon River, but LED leaps atop him - unfortunately causing the guy to stab all the way through Moon River and into his friend, incidentally catching the now immobile hilt in the face and knocking himself out (of course, LED's weight on the ribs didn't hurt either). While Bites jumps up and down saying "I wanna hit something!", LED gets up and bodyslams the second assailant, now also on his feet. They are both incompetants, and end up on the ground, although the pirate is faster to his feet.
Bites decides enough is enough and he wants to see what is happening down the corridor he is standing in front of him, so he tears down the curtain. He can see people down there making lots of noise, but not showing any sign of coming out, so he starts yelling insults at them ("your mother wears sandals like that of a soldier!") rather ineffectually. More pirates come out of the door on the right. Bandit slogs one in the leg so hard that it breaks and he tumbles over the edge. Moon River slams the assailant about to attack LED and he too goes over the edge. The slaves all clap. Bites finally annoys one of the pirates, who attempts to throw a dagger at him, first tossing it backwards, but then scoring him a bit. As the last of the assailants on the right are disposed of, one of the pirates takes a step or two foreward towards Bites. From Mulder's point of view, roiling, black and smoky fire pours out from the crew quarters, enveloping Bites. Given the bare check he has held himself in, he nearly frenzies, but manages to get under control and get up onto the poop deck where Mulder heals his burns. The pirates slam a table up over that entrance and drag stuff in behind it.
Figuring that the need for stealth is past, the pack ask the slaves to start rowing out to sea, which they do enthusastically. The pack alternate before being jolly seamen and watching the doors to make sure the pirates don't attack again. There's certainly a lot of noise happening down there. Mulder notices that the front wall is taking on an unpleasant patina, like the wood was moulding or rotting. Examination leads them to believe that its some sort of wyrm power, and its only affecting the front wall of the crew quarters, not the table up against it or the floor. LED piles the exslave chains in front of the areas that aren't doorways, so even if the pirates get through, they'll be slipping & tripping. Bites decides to try a Cleansing ritual, and begins to dance around the wall (up onto the poop deck, down the left stairs, onto the main deck, dropping into the slave area, back up onto the main deck on the right, up the stairs, and so on). He is admist that when the exslave who is steering suddenly falls down and the wheel freewheels. LED glances over the rear and sees the lines for the rudder trailing into the water and feet disappearing into a porthole. Oh yeah, says the pack - rubbery wyrm tainted evil monsters.
A voice yells from below, wanting to negotiate. It feels that while the attackers might have control of the ship right now, the pirates could sink it via their magic, and once out of the boat, the battle might not be so one handed. The voice asks what they want, and Bites (having finished the ritual) replies saying they want to go to the island where the pirates took Tenacity. This seems to catch the voice by surprise and it says that it will talk to them again in a few minutes. The pack in the meantime have a philosophical discussion about dealing with the Wyrm, and whether slaughtering them after agreeing not to, whether implicitly or explicitly, would expose the party of the first part to the potential degradation in increase in Renown, vis Honour. Some discussion is also had regarding the fate of the merely tainted crew, and once its been established to be likely that the "We will only kill those who deserve it" threat is unlikely to win any confidence, the pack decides to slaughter them all.
The voice returns and says that they would be willing to take their new friends to the island in question, but in return they would want their boat and all its property afterwards. Bites says that's fine, except no slaves. The voice points out that the slaves are property, part of the ship. Bites is adamant, and the voice points out that they will not find such a small island in the wide ocean without help. LED, who is down in the rowing pit, feels a tug on his pants. One of the slaves says in a whisper that he can guide them to the island - he watched the sun and the starts on their trip, and could easy guide them there, and a couple of the other slaves agree. LED passes this on, and negotiations suddenly become a little bit irrelevant.
Figuring that plan B was much more interesting anyway, Bites continues to bargain ineffectually while they plan their assault. LED will be healing and backup, Bandit and Bites will go in the right door, over some various bits of furniture that are blocking the path and Moon River, Mulder and Smurfette will go in the lower door. With the exception of Bites, everyone is glabro (its a bit too squashed for crinos) - Moon River borrows the fae sword for the nonce.
The pack burst in ("if you must burst, please do it somewhere more private"), catching the pirates a bit by surprise. Bandit leaps over the furniture, and lands on his feet, flailing wildly at a pirate who leaps to attack him. Moon River and Mulder close and attack a pair of pirates, sustaining some damage before butchering the two of them. Bites leaps over the furniture in lupus, and the two pirates who were waiting there grab the rope and try and pull the furniture into the legs of Bites and Bandit. It doesn't work, and they don't live long enough to try again. Bandit gives up on a knife or a kick and just wanders along felling pirates with a single punch while Bites ... er, bites and claws them in lupus.
Mulder, Smurfette and Moon River find themselves facing the firebreathing pirate, who has apparently decided both of his compatriots are not just resting, and flames the area. Mulder bodyslams him into a wall, stunning him, and then finishing the job with a quick stabstab. From deeper into the ship arises a horrible howling, roaring noise - Smurfette, Mulder and LED all decide to be somewhere else and flee out the quarters, along the ship, over the terrified slaves and into the ocean, swimming out to sea. The rest of the pack quaver for a moment, but manage to resist the urge to flee. Moon River is now being engaged by two opponents, but stabs one of them in the throat so hard that the hilt almost sticks in the vertebrae. The three remaining Garou continue their whirling devish dance of death through the tight corridors. A horribly savage moment between two adept pirates, Bandit and Bites leaves the pirates dead or unconscious, but the Garou hurt, yet they continue.
The music changes and the loadbearing boss appears. One of the remaining pirates is much uglier than the others and he grapples at Bites as Bites claws at him. Bites is pinned as Bandit tries to hit the one pirate who understands how to dodge. Briefly. Changing to crinos breaks the captain's (oh what a giveaway) grip, dropping Bites to all fours. Now suddenly being unable to strike at Bandit, the other pirate stabs at Bites fairly ineffectually. Despite his hard, tough exterior, exceptional strength and scary howling, the two Garou wear the captain down, and dispatch him. Moon River also chops a couple more pirates to pate, and joins them. The slaves all cheer as the pack exit the cabins covered in gore, realising that they are now also free. The proclaim Bandit their captain and offer to row him with all their strength to the island they wish to travel to. Firstly, though, they pick up their pack members who are swimming for Madagascar - then, onwards!
Nydourl and Bethsheba
They sailed for days until they spied the island; a rocky outcrop topped by a ruined castle. At the bottom of the cliffs was a simple dock, with stairs running up the cliff to the castle. Having docked the galley, Nydourl, Bethsheba and the freed slaves, now armed with the pirates weapons, crept up the stairs until they were facing the front gate of the castle. Nydourl and Bethsheba decided to sneak into the castle and open the gate by stealth, allowing the freed slaves to enter."
The "Subtle Approach" Version
Or LED could just use his Open Seal gift on it. Pesky not-Ragabash!
Nydourl and Bethsheba
"With the gates open, the freed slaves poured into the courtyard. The castle was defended by hideous Goblins: some with three legs, some with no legs, some with four arms, some with two heads, some blue, some green, some yellow, some grey. A great battle broke out between the goblins and the freed slave, while Nydourl and Bethsheba entered deeper into the castle."
The "wait until the music changes" version
As the ex-indentured manual corporate human resources rushed through the open gates, Bites tries to sense to get an idea of what they are facing, receiving an impression of both wyrm and wyld. Goblinoids suddenly pour out of everywhere to create a Errol-Flynn-esque castle forecourt fight scene, right down to the wagon full of hay. Moon River decides to do something about the bowmen on the parapets and leaps up a ladder to carry the fight to them. Figuring he may as well take advantage of the sheer many-hundred metre high cliff, Moon River lifts up the first bowman only to have the goblinoid suddenly melt and run down his arms. The rest of the pack are also discovering that the Goblins have many strange powers (as well as looking like freaks). LED is making fast headway through some of the goblins when everything goes woozy and dizzy. Despite this handycap, he finishes off his opponent and dodges several more, inflicting a considerable amount of carnage.
Bandit is in his hispo form and chewing away on a 3 legged blue goblin that is trying to stab him with a sword when another goblin bamfs out and reappears next to him, also starting with the sword tricks. The archers on the left side of the courtyard try and pick the garou with their bows, but they're just not powerful enough. Bites makes short work of one opponent and leaps over to help Smurfette, which is having a bit of strife. Some of the Goblins have claws as well as melee weapons, which do aggravated damage. Bandit glances across and watches one of the goblins eat a slave in a single gulp - he calls that one as his own opponent. Moon River suddenly finds that everything that people say or think os buceming uneq gb haqrefgnaq - cerfhznoyl gur rssrpg bs bar bs gur tboyvaf. Bites slices one of Smurfette's opponents in half, giving her a chance to drop back for a moment or two. Bandit jumps at the guy with the weird mouth and misses. The guy manages to wrap his mouth around Bandit's arm, starting to chew away at the point where said new arm was connected. LED mentally starts to say "not again" just as Bandit frenzies. Bites finds himself alone as Smurfette leaps over to help attack Mr Mouth. The yellow paisley goblin he was about to attack starts to emit the most delightful sound, sort of like a hum. While Bites stands and listens to the charming ditty, his lizard brain is screaming "KILL IT".
Bethsheba runs out of one of the buildings, yelling something about the Master of the castle ("Znfgre bs gur pnfgyr!" to Moon River), but those few members of the pack still able to think think that they'll wait until it comes out to face them. Moon River dispatches the last of the bowmen on his side and runs around to the other. One of them is cut in half and the other two crash tackle him. All three of them roll off the parapet, slamming into the ground hard. Moon River is Garou sandwich, but fortunately the guy underneath is squashed by their combined weighs. The goblin on top bites Moon River with a giant stomach mouth, but doesn't last long in spite of this.
Figuring that the situation in the courtyard is in order, the Garou bring their packmates around, heal some damage and head into the tower Bethsheba ran out of. Within is a huge orange skinned giant, with two faces and four arms. Bandit, still frenzying, slams into the giant with no appreciable effect. "Uhoh" is the general pack feeling, especially when the giant slams one enormous fist down and smashes Bandit's abdomen into some much paste. Game on! The giant is nearly uninjurable, seeming to stand up to all but the most solid of blows. Smurfette is cripped and crawls away. Bites is kicked across the room, but comes back for more. Bandit leaps up once again, red flame filling his eyes and wounds, and starts hammering at the giant. LED, who has shaken off some of the dizziness, hammers at the giant's eyes, but is forced to fall back or be clubbed. Kimu whips out his dagger and slices some of the giant's flesh. The giant winds up again and kicks Bites so hard that he flies across the room and into the far wall with a loud meaty splat, dropping the fae sword at the same time. There is a brief scrabble between the giant and Moon River, but the latter is victorious and the universe pauses for a brief light-running-up-sword moment. The three sentient members of the pack close in a circle around the giant, slicing from all sides, and it collapses to the ground. Before Bandit can stomp it into paste, the giant points at Moon River and croaks "You are too late! The rat has gone to the Rajah of Madness, within Malfeas itself..."
Nydourl and Bethsheba
"In the throne room of the castle, they found the master: a huge orange Giant, with four arms and two faces on either side of his head. Nydourl and the giant leapt at each other while Bethsheba dealt with the giant's goblin guard. After a furious battle, where Nydourl's greater speed and agility won out, the giant collapsed, mortally wounded. As he lay dying, the giant gasped out that Nydourl was too late. The rat had already gone to Malfeas, to the Rajah of Madness. Then he died"
"The freed slaves had managed to defeat the evil goblins, and a great cheer went up. They spent the next few days searching the halls and tunnels of the castle. Many of the room were filled with chests stuffed with gold and gems. Nydourl, being a humble sort of lad, took none of the riches for himself, but gave it all to the freed slaves in return for their years in bondage. After they had taken all they could carry, they sailed away from the island."
"Nydourl and Bethsheba discussed what they should do next, now that they had a worthy secret to give to Rat. Bethsheba said that the gift they should give should be of use to Rat in rescuing his son. Anyone who sought to enter Malfeas to rescue another would need strength and courage, two characteristics that Rat lacked. They should therefore make a gift to Rat of strength and courage. Bethsheba said that they should go and seek Lion, who was renowned for his strength and courage. Bethsheba knew that Lion lived far to the west, so off they sailed, into the setting sun." ... Please insert disk 3.
Nydourl and Bethsheba
"The journey west took many days, and they had many adventures on the way. Eventually, they reached the far western shore. Here Nydourl and Bethsheba bid farewell to their crew, despite their entreaties to stay, and headed inland."
"They travelled for many days until they reached the lands where Lion lived. Both Nydourl and Bethsheba were in animal form when they came across mongoose running through the long grass. When asked where he was running to, mongoose said that Lion had pronounced that his daughter was to be married to the most worthy, and that all the animals were gathering. Then mongoose ran off."
"Bethsheba thought that this would be a good opportunity. If Nydourl in wolf form could be chosen as most worthy, then he could reveal his true nature and perhaps bargain with Lion for what they really wanted. Nydourl agreed, so off they went towards Lion's home."
"Eventually they reached the rock in the grasslands where Lion lived. A great throng of animals had already gathered, and more were arriving all the time. By evening, all the animals had arrived, and Lion appeared on the rock. After telling the hyenas, who were squabbling over Elton John's carcass, to keep it down, he proclaimed that there would be three tests to determine who was the most worthy to marry his daughter. There would be a test of speed, a test of strength and a test of courage. The testing would begin in the morning, so all the animals settled down to sleep. Bethsheba pointed out to Nydourl that they would probably have to cheat in order to win, and as Nydourl was Bone Gnawer, he thought that was cool."
The "thank god for my pack" version
During the evening, the pack plan out how they are going to win the tests. Moon River wears out his Dreamspeak gift given animals dreams about being chased to death or just generally disturbing dreams so they don't rest well. LED creeps around in the dark and generally makes a nuisance of himself by throwing rocks and sticks and keeping animals awake.
Morning comes, and Lion explains the race. All the animals will start near his home and race towards the sun until they find mandaril ("its a type of monkey, oh glorious pack leader") and everyone starts to line up. As things are getting a bit tense, Moon River and LED let loose a howl intended to hearten Bandit, who will be doing the running. Unexpectedly, it also causes most of the jumpier animals to take off, which sets off the animals who would normally chase them and so on. They hyenas find this amazingly amusing, and laugh their arse off. Bethsheba flies down, chuckling and with an evil look on her face (she is a raven, after all). She asks if they can do that again. The pack ask why, and she points out that the sun is no longer where it previously was - if they can delay things a bit longer, then everyone will run off in the wrong direction, while she will mark where the mandarill really is.
After a brief consultation, more plans are concocted - Mulder wanders around panting and looking hot and hungry at animals, who either make themselves scarce or go looking for water. Moon River uses his gifts again - when all the animals are lined up, he links springbok, rhino, cheetah and himself together with mindspeak and projects the sound of Lion yelling "go!". Unsurprisingly, all three animals take off - cheetah and springbok are quite fast, while rhino is not too tardy. Other animals seeing these faster ones get the drop on them, take off too. Much yelling at them to come back, there's been a mistake. More milling around than even before, especially as rhino just keeps stubbornly charging away towards the horizon.
By the time this has all been sorted out, its nearly midday. Lion finally gives the go-ahead and all the animals tear off at an enormous speed. Bandit actually gets a bit ahead of cheetah and turns his head to stick his tongue out - and then slams his butt into a tree at full speed. Its a good minute before he can even stand up again, let alone see straight or dodge all the irate birds who were watching the race from that tree. Bandit tries to distinguish Bethsheba flying way above from all the other spinning dots and heads off in the direction she is indicating ("Where the hell is wolf going? Should we follow?" "No way, he just slammed into a tree.").
An hour later, wolf trots up to the rather bemused Mandaril. They head back to Lion's rock, where lion agrees that wolf is the winner. Over the next few hours, the animals drift back to the rock and are surprised with the knowledge that wolf won the race. There is some rhubarbing, but no one is willing to challenge Lion's decision. Lion declares that the next challenge, one of Strength, will begin immediately. He leads the animals some distance to a large boulder. The test of strength will be to see whom can move the boulder the furthest. Wolf suggests that he should go last. While the pack planned like mad, each animal tried to budge the rock. The rock was so big that most of the animals couldn't move it at all. Only the strongest animals could budge it, and it was no surprise that Elephant moved the rock furthest. It was becoming dark when Bandit stood up to take his position. In the shadow below the savannah grass, a number of black tentacles emerged and grabbed the bottom of the rock, tugging it along. Bandit in the meantime exerted himself to the fullest, sweating and biting his tongue and cracking a nail and stepping in elephant shit and kinking his tail and almost frenzying. ("You botched again?"). Fortunately Mulder's control of the tentacle is sufficient to allow him to drag the rock even further along than elephant had moved it. Almost all the animals are starting at wolf with their jaws dropped. Lion, a bit reluctantly asks if any other animals want to try moving the rock. Silence. He declares that wolf has won the test of strength also.
Nydourl and Bethsheba
"The rock was so big that most of the animals couldn't move it at all. Only the strongest animals could budge it, and it was no surprise that Elephant moved the rock the furthest of all those tested so far. The day wore on as the animals pushed and it had become dark when only Nydourl was left. Nydourl suggested to Lion that perhaps they should leave his testing until morning, as not all animals could see well in the dark, and he wouldn't want any of the contestants to harbour any doubts about his success or failure. Lion agreed and declared that the final contestant, wolf, would attempt the test in the morning. Again all the animals settled down to rest."
"Once all the animals were asleep, Nydourl and Bethsheba crept away. Bethsheba was looking for something in the few trees in the grassland, and soon she found it: a large bee's nest. She told Nydourl to remove the bees nest and take it back to the rock. The bees were all sleepy and didn't give Nydourl much grief when he pulled the nest off the tree and carried it back to the rock. Under Bethsheba's direction, Nydourl climbed to the top of the rock and looked for a large crack. When he found one, he opened up the bee's nest and carefully poured the honey into the crack in the rock. Nydourl and Bethsheba then headed out into the grasslands again."
"This time Bethsheba was looking for something on the ground, and soon she found it: a large ant's nest. Bethsheba called to the ants and told them of a very special rock that she had found that produced honey. The ants were very excited, and all immediately headed off in the direction she had said. Nydourl and Bethsheba headed back to Lion's rock to get some sleep."
"The next morning, the animals awoke to watch wolf undergo the test of strength. The ants had travelled slowly all through the night, and as Nydourl walked up to the rock, he saw the last ant disappearing underneath the rock. Nydourl placed his front paws against the rock and began to push. Much to the surprise of all the other animals the rock very slowly began to move. What's more it kept on moving. The animals slowly trailed after wolf as he kept pushing the rock, past the place where even elephant could push the rock no further. Wolf pushed the rock at least twice as far as elephant had. Raven, actually Bethsheba, circled overhead, crying that they should all head back to Lion to hear his verdict. All the animals turned and headed back to Lion, which was just as well, because they didn't see that the rock was inclined to keep moving even when wolf was no longer pushing it."
"When all the animals were assembled, Lion declared that wolf had won the test of strength. Again there was much muttering and mumbling amongst the animals, but there was nothing that they could do.
The "this looks easy" version
Lion announced that the final test, that of Courage, would occur now. He led the animals along through the grasslands until they finally crested a hill about midnight. On the plain below was a small human village, with a wooden pallisade around it. Lion told them that the final challenge would be to steal the secret of fire from the humans. Mentally, Bites asks Bandit if he wants to borrow a lighter, but Bandit decides to go along with the story.
One by one the animals attempted the test. Most could not bring themselves to even enter the human village at all, and of those that could enter the village, no one could bring themselves to take fire away from them. Finally, Wolf slunk down towards the huts. He snuck in through the gate, and oozed from shadow to shadow, towards the large fire in the middle of the village. A burning brand stuck out of the fire and Bandit grabbed it and headed back up the hill. The rest of the animals were gobsmacked once again. As Wolf stood there in front of Lion, Raven swooped down and landed on his shoulders. Bethsheba leapt up and landed in human form, laughing and nudging Bandit to do the same. Bandit flowed up through his crinos form and into his homid shape.
Nydourl and Bethsheba
"Nydourl trotted up to Lion, threw the brand in the air, changed into human form, and grabbed it as it descended. Immediately all the other animals began to scream and roar and screech. Lion demanded to know what was going on. Nydourl pointed out that Lion had placed no restrictions upon who was eligible to be tested. In theory even a human could have entered the contest, had he been privy to the event and had some desire to be married to a lion. However, said Nydourl, if Lion was prepared to grant a gift at least as valuable as his daughter, then Nydourl could be persuaded to renounce all claims to her."
"Lion, perhaps realising that there are few things worse than having one of the Changing Breed for a relation, agreed. Nydourl asked for the gift of Lion's strength and courage. Lion muttered a bit but agreed again. Returning to his rock, Lion wrapped his strength and courage up in leaves into a pretty parcel and gave them to Nydourl. Nydourl and Bethsheba took their leave of Lion and the other animals."
"Nydourl and Bethsheba travelled far and wide for many days, and they had many adventures. Wherever they went, they spoke to rats that they met, telling them that they had a valuable secret and gift for Rat, and asking where they might find him.
Eventually, they found themselves at the biggest city in the world, where they were told Rat lived. They made there way to a great palace, and by secret ways found their way to a golden room under the palace, where Rat lay on cushions surrounded by food. Nydourl said to Rat that he had travelled far to see him, as there was a secret that he wanted to know, and that he would give Rat a great secret in return. Nydourl was strangely insistent that Rat should agree to give up his secret in return for the secret offered (?), and hinted that the secret concerned the whereabouts of Rat's son Tenacity. Eventually Rat agreed that he would give his secret if Nydourl's information was valuable. Nydourl told Rat that Tenacity had been taken to the Rajah of Madness in Malfeas. Rat agreed that this was a valuable secret and that he would grant a secret in return. Nydourl asked Rat how he could find the spirit of Marion Perry -