diary

[cellio]

Aug 9 (Monday)

That was different. I'm not sure how much "different" I'm up for.

Tonight I was sitting in Jehan's. That gnome gambler was there, and also a couple other short guys (don't know where they came from; never seen 'em before). The cleric Mom called in the middle of the night last winter was there, too. And there was a merchant who just arrived in town (wow, a merchant! maybe he has some nice jewelry), and this very weird foreign guy who desperately needs guidance from someone who understands fashion. And he was criticizing the beer, too. I should give him some of Dad's; that ought to shut him up about Jehan's.

So anyway, the tavern was pretty full up, and suddenly the floor caved in. Just like that! I haven't seen anything like it since the time Dad insisted he knew how to build a shed and didn't need any help. One minute I'm sitting there drinking beer, and the next minute I'm sitting on a mound of dirt and broken furniture and floor boards several feet down. Me and most of the rest of the customers. Jehan somehow escaped.

So as if that's not bad enough, within seconds we were attacked by a swarm of giant rats. I don't mean like the ones that hang around the barn sometimes; I mean *huge* ones, almost as big as me. I tried to get out of the way quickly (what do I know about rats?), and some people picked up table legs and whatever to fight with. I figured that couldn't hurt and grabbed something too, though I hoped to stay out of the fight.

But it got worse. These were followed very quickly by rat-men. Rats walking on two legs, and wearing armor, and using weapons no less! Who could have imagined such a thing? I was hoping that they were after the rats, but they started hurling spears at us. Bah.

That gnome (named Prolix, I later learned) turns out to be an illusionist, and he blasted a bunch of the rat-men with a color spray. I took the direct approach and killed one with a magic missile and dazed another. That funny foreigner (named Torak or Turok or something like that; I think he keeps changing it, actually) is a pretty good fighter; he managed to drop several of them.

The merchant was in a bad spot; he has a bad leg, so he couldn't get out of the way. Some people stood over him to protect him while fending off the rat-men, and he managed not to get hurt.

We eventually killed all the rats and rat-men and climbed up out of the hole. Jehan was cowering in a corner. We told him what we saw, and he told us we have to go back down there and hunt out the rest. That doesn't sound like a bright idea to me, but I guess if we don't do it the problem will just get worse. I don't know how many other people in town could take on rats in armor with spears, though I can think of a few I'd love to see try. Like that nasty bully Roberto. But I digress.

Jehan gave us free drinks after that, and after a while he offered us money to go after them. Ok, that's starting to sound interesting. Gotta sleep on it.

I wonder what he's going to do about that hole in his floor?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

hii u all (hii u all)