Monster Party Book 1: I hunt, therefore I am!

Chapter one: Yeah, never thought I'd be on a boat

FN: (Firecat Note) Welcome one and all old fans of my work alike, I'm proud to say that I've started work something brand new. This story like every "Monster Party" story I post will be based on an adventure from the Ravenloft setting. When the story is done I'll let you know which one so you can try and find the book yourself and read it if you're interested.

Captain Eli Stewart of the good ship Sunset Empires settled down into his seat in the small cabin and gazed long and hard at the man before him. In his history as a ship captain he'd taken on some disreputable passengers in his day, but this fellow... Well he didn't exactly take the cake but he was up there that was for sure.

"So how many passengers would you be bringing with you exactly Mr... Diamondclaw was it?" The captain asked dubiously.

The man said his name was Alexander Diamondclaw, which was a mouthful, (and likely an untrue mouthful at that) but it would hardly have been the first time he'd have ferried people away from a port before some aggrieved local lawman, husband, father, brother, mother, or other relation caught up wit them.

Alexander didn't quite seem the type for that though, those types tended to be shaky, nervous, and subsequently easy to shake down. Mr. Diamondclaw on the other hand had a face which gave away next to nothing. It didn't help that he wore a black eye patch over his right eye which meant if Stewart tried to focus in his single visible green eye to see how it reacted his keen observation would be quite easy to spot.

Aside from calm manners Alexander Diamondclaw's salient feature was that he was simply too... neat.

He was dressed in a midnight black outfit with a couple of intricate and strange looking silver symbols on it. If a man could afford an outfit as fancy as that then he should have been able to buy his way out of any trouble he got himself into.

Not only that but his hair which was an absurd shade of silver and was worn far longer than the local custom. It would have been laughable, if it weren't for the fact that few people were prone to laughing at a man who had to be over six feet tall and had a sword of similar length strapped over his shoulder.

"It will be myself an four companions. If it will help put your mind I'd be more than willing to also tell you what cargo I plan to bring with me." Alexander offered.

"It would at that." The captain declared at once.

"Life at see is plenty dangerous on its own. The last thing I need is for passengers to be bringing more ways to damage my vessel on board." The captain growled.

Alexander leaned back in his seat slightly.

"We won't be bringing anything dangerous with us I can assure you of that.. Simply a minor mystical bauble to be returned to its owner. Well that and what remains of a dear friend to myself and those who are traveling with me. Before they passed away they made it clear that they wished to be buried in their ancestral graveyard alongside their fore bearers." Alexander admitted.

Captain Stewart's eyes suddenly blazed with excitement. Now, now he finally had that smarmy cycloptic bastard exactly where he wanted him.

"Passed away of what? No doubt some horrific and horribly contagious disease! Plague's will already spread like wildfire on a ship what with the rats everywhere, I've seen ones that have to be at least two feet long at times If you think you can bring some rotting festering corpse aboard my ship without paying extra for it you're out of your mind!" The captain exclaimed while slamming a hand forcefully on the table.

Alexander Diamondclaw however kept his face completely neutral.

"If you must know the friend in question perished from blood loss after being wounded. If you can find a way to have that particular condition spontaneously spread from man to man then my dear captain there are countless generals who would pay you a king's ransom for your unique skill. As for the rats..." Alexander clasped his black gloved hands together his single eye fixing Stewart with a deep stare.

"The magical item in question, it was designed by a mage who spent much of his time at sea I have been told. It generates an aura of fear that only strikes rodents, but it is so powerful that rats wold prefer to throw themselves overboard into the ocean rather than remain close to the thing.

It's hardly an artifact of device of world shaking power, but can assure you that by journey's end there will not be a single rat left alive on board your ship." Alexander promised.

"Not a single rat?" The Captain repeated the phrase, he had little enough love or trust for magic, but he had even less for the rats which perpetually plagued his vessel.

"Would you care to make a wager on that particular boast? Say if it succeeds I won't charge you any extra for your unusual baggage. If not then your fair is doubled!" Captain Stewart did not even try to fight back a smug smile of his own at the brilliance of this wager as he was bound to benefit no matter its result.

"Done." Alexander replied with such quickness that the Captain couldn't help but momentarily second guess himself wondering if he had missed some key facet of the deal.

"Also the nature of your companions? I don't have anything against a man who swings a sword, but its bad enough that I'll be having some arcane doodad on board if you tell me that there will be actual spell slingers as well and all the ill fortune that comes with them..." The Captain did not bother to complete the statement.

By now both he and Alexander knew that since the Sunset Empires was one of the very few ships leaving this port for the next month it behooved the pair to come to an agreement rather than Alexander being delayed for quite some time and Captain Stewart being denied an opportunity to extract a great price from a man who had precious little other choice in the matter.

"Don't worry, there are no magicians, god botherers, sorcerers, or other wielders of mystical power be it of divine or arcane nature among my companions. Just a delightful botanist, an quick witted elf who has quite a way with numbers, a rather rambunctious young man whose exuberance for life causes me to forgo his follies and an alchemist." Alexander concluded, though both men instantly knew that his words had offered Captain Stewart a target too tempting to refuse.

"An alchemist? Some doddering old fool who'll want to practice his craft on board my ship no doubt! It'll be a toss up if he manages to burn the ship up like a box of tinder and we all get roasted alive or he blows a big enough hole in my vessel that we'll sink and drown instead!" Captain Stewart blustered.

"The alchemist in question is a long way from a doddering old fool, and he knows better than to practice his craft in conditions as unsuited to it as a sea voyage. If it wold put your mind at ease though the five of us could put forward as much as you would normally charge six people for the crossing." Alexander offered.

"Ten people!" Stewart countered instantly, which would be quite a windfall indeed given that he was already charging Mr. Diamondclaw and his associates three times as much for the journey as he normally did passengers.

"Let us say seven and I will wager you triple that against no payment for our cargo if your ship is rat free by the time we reach port." Alexander suggested as a counter counter offer.

Captain Stewart considered it, and then slowly extended his hand. At the very least twenty one normal passengers worth of payment for only five mouths needing to be fed, the Sunset Empires might just make him a rich man yet!

(Scene Break)

"You realize he's taking you to the cleaners don't you Alexander?" Insisted a blue haired female elf in azure dress as she stood in the shadow of the Sunset Empires.

Coiled about one wrist of the brown eyed elf maiden was a most unladylike like flail (though it was of the non spiked variety) and if you looked closely at her vermillion gloves once might notice slight bulges at the knuckle of each finger.

"He is at that Devi." Alexander noted dryly.

"On the other hand, within this town resides some some poor, in a non-monetary sense of course, old ex-adventurer who honestly believe his illnesses are being caused by the curse of a wizard he robbed years and years ago instead of the guillotine sharp hands of time. So in the interest of putting his mind at rest, and his money to good use, we're taking him to the cleaners in the process of delivering what he stole back to the mage in question." Alexander noted wryly.

"That's life for you, everybody gets taken to the cleaners, and yet nothing ever gets clean." Reflected a man following in Alexander's wake.

He had dirty blond hair, and was dressed in a dark brown cloak though it was just possible to make out a pair of pants of the same color navy blue shirt with red tie beneath it. His cold blue eyes were accented by a pair of similarly colored lenses.

This man and Devi were alike in height, bot a bit above average and thus noticeably shorter than Alexander. At the moment his hands were both full carrying a large ornate wooden coffin from the front though he had a well made firearm strapped across his back.

"Just try to make sure we don't end up getting dirty okay Cal? I can't see where we're going." Piped up a voice from the other end of the of their shared burden.

Supporting the back half of the coffin was another male figure this one of a decidedly of wiry build and somewhat less than average height who seemed to have just recently entered into adulthood. He was dressed in a dramatic bright red outfit with a red vest, pants, shows and wide brimmed hat of similar color. His green eyes flitted this way and that struggling to see much other than the burden before him.

"I hope the kids haven't been misbehaving while I was away Alex..." Asked a second woman who approached the small procession carrying a few sacks strung over her back.

She was dressed in a rather outlandish green leotard like outfit which was adorned with many flowers and vines. The "woman" in question looked human at a distance, but up close there was the tiny matter of how her skin had a noticeable green tint to it, or how her blond hair seemed to be made of carefully woven thatch.

Alexander's expression brightened from dour to simply stoic as she approached him.

"On and off again Florence, same as always. I take it you've got all the supplies we need?" Alexander inquired.

"That and more with any luck. As I'm sure Devi will be happy to hear I followed her shopping list to the letter." Florence answered.

As for the elf woman in question, she shrugged with feigned indifference.

"Sea voyages are always risky things, best to be prepared for every possible situation wouldn't you agree Sir? After all, one thing I am certain of is that I've never been on an adventure yet where a few dozen yards of good strong rope doesn't prove useful." Devi reminded them.

(Scene Break)

Captain Stewart looked down the plank leading up to the deck of his ship as the five passengers who would be coming along on this voyage approached.

"What exactly is she?" He demanded staring angrily at the strange green skinned woman before him.

"She..." Alexander growled back sounding not at all pleased by the accusation implicit in Stewart's comments.

"Is Florence Bastien. She's a dryad, a nature spirit primarily of forest and thicket, but sailing on wooden ships has not overly discomforted her. Why do you ask captain, do you have some sort of problem with the women onto whom I bestow what meager affections I am capable of feeling?" The adventurer demanded.

Captain Stewart was wrong footed by that reply, back at the bargaining table every time he had tried to put one over on the silver haired man his foe in negotiation had worked hard to hide any sign of anger. Now however, now that anger was as evident as the longsword strapped to Alexander's back. It was still sheathed for the moment, but all the same its existence could not be denied.

It was clear that if he answered wrongly here Stewart might loose not just the fee from Alexander's passage, but possibly a great deal more as well. Alexander and the other still still had their feet on solid ground, best to give him what he wanted.

"A problem? I have none, I was only worried that my ship, which is after all only a simple traveling vessel might not be equipped to cater to her needs." Captain Stewart even went so far as to throw a slight bow in Florence's direction.

Alexander relaxed considerably and then turned a gloved hand in the direction of his others followers.

"Don't worry, she is made of far hardier stuff than most suspect. With that matter out of the way, no time like the present to take care of introductions I believe. This elf is Devi Skye, who handles the necessary maters of provisions and supplies. After all, no adventurer can slay the beast or rescue the maiden if they have not water to drink or food to eat first. Carrying the coffin which holds the remains of our departed friend are Callan Wright..." Alexander began before being interrupted.

"Call me 'Cal' captain if you would be so kind." Insisted Mr. Wright before relenting to let his superior finish what he had begun.

"Whatever name he may go by, he is a master mixer of potions and tinctures. His steady hands also make him something of an expert at working his weapon of choice as I'm sure you might have guessed. Finally last, but certainly not least is James Kantrar. Where Cal's hands are sure, then James' are the most nimble I have ever encountered. He can spot a trap from mile away and disarm it with equal ease." Alexander concluded.

"Nimble hands..." Captain Stewart sniffed making a mental note to make sure this young man never got anywhere near his private chest.

Alexander could try to dress it up however he wished, but he'd bet the entire Sunset Empires against a single copper coin that James' 'nimble hands' had a habit of working their way into other people's pockets. Right now he was glad the appendages in question were busy supporting a coffin (hard to imagine anything could make him feel glad to have a coffin with a body in it on board his ship) rather than left to roam free, though he knew this happy state of affairs would not last.

"Very well then, my first mate Mr. Monterey, will take you to the section of the hold I've set aside for your baggage." Stewart explained.

He wasn't giving these adventurer's baggage a separate room out of the goodness of his heart, far from it. He wanted as much space between their no doubt cursed magical talisman and their supposedly infection free corpse and the rest of his cargo as possible.

Mr. Monterey was a blond half elf who much like Alexander wore an eye patch over his right eye, though Stewart knew the truth behind that patch. It was just there to help his second in command transition from the bright conditions aboard ship to the dark ones below (a task even a half-elf might find daunting otherwise) more swiftly rather than covering up a deformity or injury.

Monterey was reliable as the day was long, and given Stewart's lack of offspring (or even the possible prospect of offspring) at the moment, he would probably end up captaining the ship once Stewart was no longer fit to. Assuming of course the captain lived long enough to get tired with sailing, otherwise he had a magically verified parchment serving as his will which clearly stated that the ship was to be torn apart, burnt to ash and buried as close to Captain Eli Stewart's body as possible and Monterey had witness its creation personally.

Misses Stewart hadn't raised any fools, that was for certain. The pointed eared fake one eyed first mate would outlive his current captain weather or not he hurried along the process, but all the same best not to give him any incentive take maters into his own hands. If a sea captain wanted to have a chance to die in a nice warm bed on dry land he had to be as cruel as the sea itself, and canny as a fox!

(Scene Break)

Once Alexander and his companions were safely on board the ship's anchors were undone and Sunset Empires got herself underway. As the shoreline faded away Captain Stewart turned his attention to two tasks in particular. The first was nursing from a well stocked hip flask, and the second was using his tongue to flay the hide off any man he saw slacking.

Not that Stewart was any more soft spoken when it came to passengers who earned his ire of course.

"Just what do you think you're doing you pus bleeding, blood-tainted son of baaezu? I've seen open sores that have more brains than you, and I'll see you at the gates of Baator before I let you endanger my crew by acting upon some fool notion that must popped into your head, though why it didn't fall right out the other ear I'll never know!" Stewart raved as he seized James Kantrar by the wrist.

In addition to his passengers the Sunset Empires was transporting a black leopardess that some rich idiot wanted shipped to them so that they could hunt the thing. Personally, that fop could commit illicit sexual actions upon the beasty for Captain Stewart cared. What mattered was that the Sunset Empires had to transport the creature to its new home first.

So the creature in question was currently being kept in a cage that was carefully tied down to the deck of the ship.

"Listen lad, I've paid for some of the finest iron-working I could afford to be done to keep that thing locked up. But however strong the bars of the cage that held the creature, it still had one noticeable design flaw, THE CAGE HAD TO BE KEPT CLOSED!" Captain Stewart announced loudly enough for the entire ship to hear him.

At the moment the cage door in question it was secured in place by a simple latch and bolt system that would be quite secure against anything lacking a prehensile thumb. What it wouldn't stand up to was idiotic passengers who seemed bound and determined to release the foul tempered feline upon them all.

"Look, it's hurt..." The youngster pleaded sounding strangely touched when it came to the plight of the foul tempered leopard.

On the other hand, if he thought it was a good idea to let the thing free he might just simply be touched in the head.

"I saw one of your men jabbing it with a jagged piece of wood, that's why her belly is bleeding..." He spluttered out an explanation.

Captain Stewart has going to have none of it.

"I suppose you feel just a bit upset over that? You think I should punish my men for seeking a little pleasure where they can while they are so very far away from home? Tell you what, maybe you'd like it better if I put you in the ship's boat and set you adrift, then you could be its captain and rule over it as you saw fit!" Stewart spat derision like a cobra did venom.

"Lay off James, he's our good luck. Besides, in this case he's right." Announced a voice from behind the captain.

Stewart spun around still keeping a grip tight on the forearm he had seized to find himself face to face with Cal Wright now.

"What's this? Have I taken on board an entire ship full of dandelion sniffers? I suppose it's either that, or you mutiny runs through each of your veins, if you insist upon disobeying orders given by the captain of the vessel you travel upon. I know I told each and every one of you when you first came on board not to touch the leopard's cage, and then I find this rascal doing exactly that!" He screamed.

The alchemist seemed to be far less discomforted by Stewart's tongue lashing than the young man had been though.

"Oh I couldn't care a wooden copper about what happens to that mangy sack of fur and bile. If it rolled over and died right here and now I'd be quite happy to see it shuffle off this mortal coil.

It would mean whatever scant meat rations you had set aside for it could instead be given to your crew and in turn an even scantier amount of it to you passengers No, it's not an issue of compassion, it's an issue of money.

I am getting paid, oh I don't know, nothing if the leopard dies and a great big fat, whopping zero if if it lives to get delivered successfully In your case captain, I am willing to bet that there's a noticeable discrepancy between that first and second figure though. If that leopard which was given to you in at least passable health is dead when we pull into port, well I'm sure a man of your brilliance can figure out what will, or won't happen next.

Now it seems to me that my friend was trying to secure you a fair bit of money by keeping that leopard alive. He was doing it in his usual 'who needs to measure when I can just keep cutting till it looks right?' manner, but he meant well.

That said, James maybe you should head down to the hold and get Florence, she knows a lot more about bandaging wounds than you do." Cal suggested in a gentle tone of voice.

Captain Stewart was about to protest, but he was momentarily confused by the discovery that all of a sudden he was holding a hand full of nothing.

Not just nimble fingers, young Mr. Kantrar seemed to be as supple as an eel when it wanted to be.

Either way he threw off a quick salute to his fellow adventurer and then skittered across the deck with remarkable celerity.

"Seems he got his sea legs faster than I would have expected." Stewart admitted coming as close to a compliment for that redhead as he planed to for the rest of the voyage.

"I'm not surprised. If your line of work involved needing to disarm poison needle traps with hare's breath triggers on a regular basis then you also might develop a very keen sense for exactly how much weight you were going to put on any part of your body at any given time. That, or you might perish to one of the countless different poisons that people tend to coat their traps in.

I've seen some truly terrifying ones you know, one of my 'favorites' was called 'burnt othur fumes' it weakens a man's bones you see. Not overly much at first, but with repeated doses, well a fellow will try to stand up and he'll fall over while his bones are torn right through his skin. Not sure I'll ever forget the sound of that poor man's screaming... By the way, do you know how long it will be till the dinner bell is rung?" The alchemist concluded in an utterly dispassionate tone of voice.

Captain Stewart knew what Cal was trying to do of course, it was the old grisly story into foodstuff related matters surprise segway. If he'd seen the ship's cook Old Singe pull it off once he'd seen him do it a thousand times.

Captain Stewart was not going to let himself be distracted into a visceral reaction which made him forget just how upset he was with that idiotic flee brained passenger any time soon. In fact, he'd prove that point by matching this fellow tale for tale!

"Not for a few hours yet. It's important that we wait to eat our big meals until after the sharks are done feasting. Otherwise, when all the offal from the cooking gets tossed overboard the monsters will start to swarm the ship.

Sometimes they just ram into it again and again until it sinks so that they can have their way with the entire crew. Other times the vessel is luckier and instead a shark will just leap out of the water, land on deck and wiggle about crushing everything within reach with its jaws. Have you ever seen what a man looks like after a shark is done with him?

Not enough left to call him a man at that point, more like a pile of blood and bone loosely strung together. We need to push what's left overboard straight away or else even more sharks are drawn to it, not that it does much good if some of them are already feeling vicious enough to leap on board in the first place..."

(Scene Break)

James Kantrar wisely chose to remain below deck in the hold for almost the entire rest of the day and the evening as well. Even the ringing of the dinner bell did not summon him, not that the food being served has much in the way to recommend it beyond pure and simple edibility.

As the sky filled with stars, and it became impossible to keep an effective eye out for suddenly approaching obstacles the ship dropped anchor touches of serenity began to descend upon the Sunset Empires.

Captain Stewart retried early to his private corridors intent to finish the bottle he'd been working on all day and perhaps get acquainted with a few of its friends as well.

His first mate of course remained topside just to make sure that nothing so raucous as to endanger the ship took place. Not that he had much to worry about, during their first night at see the sailors were only just now being reacquainted with the majesty of the sea.

As day followed day and night followed night the sight of the ever expansive dark black void which surrounded the ship would loose its majesty and their tastes might turn to drunken revelry. For now however the men turned their attention to the simple pleasure of sharing sea stories and songs of a nautical variety.

Most of the music to accompany said songs was provided by one sailor who all his fellow sailors called 'Shanty' for this particular reason. Just as Shanty was finishing up a haunting melody about a drowned sailor returning from the ocean's depths to claim the girl who had once pledged to marry him a new sound broke out.

It was a harmonica being blown from behind a nearby ship's mast. It was being played off tune, but not much more off tune than Shanty's own squeezebox.

"Do you mind if I join?" James Kantrar stepped into view of the flickering firebox and gave another quick blow on his harmonica.

Alexander and Cal both winced, they doubted this would end well. With Captain Stewart no longer present, and no work to be done the ship's crew and some of their passengers had started to bond just a little, they'd even been willing to stop grumbling about how it wasn't decent to have women above deck while the ship was at sea.

Alexander sat within ease reach of Florence, and Cal did likewise for Devi, both of the older male adventures making it very clear that unwanted advances upon their female partners would have most unpleasant consequences.

"Just so long as you don't insist on bringing your girlfriend along with you!" Chuckled a crewman named Pintsized, a halfling and only member of the crew even shorter than James.

Luckily for whatever his other social failings, James was already to roll along with a joke aimed right at him, and even play it step further than its original author had.

"She's not my girlfriend! I mean what would a creature of grace and beauty like her want to do with a shrimp like me? He exclaimed with ernestly as he gazed at the leopardess which was curled up in its cage, in sleep it no longer seemed to mind how small its confines were quite so much.

The sailors appreciating his skills at self deprecation waved the youngest adventurer over to join them.

James happily took a position to the left of Alexander and began to blow still more notes on his harmonica.

"So long as you guys are in a musical mood..." He offered, and promptly burst into song before any of his friends could stop him.

"The ship sailed into harbor, after fifteen months at sea!" After hearing the first verse they no longer worried much about stopping James and simply sat back and relaxed enjoying the song.

They weren't the only ones either, if nothing else the fact that the adventurers having traveled far and wide which meant they knew some playfully bawdy (and in this case keen enough that their bawdiness might not be obvious at first listen) that the sailor's had never heard before.

When James finished up the song he was even given a fairly enthusiastic round of applause and the young man basked in their approval.

"Since you liked that one so much let me play you another!" he declared enthusiastically, blowing up a quick tune on his harmonica that Shanty was gracious enough to follow along with on his squeeze box.

"He was Barovia born and bread, long in the arm and thick in the head..." He began before promptly being interrupted.

The looks of apprehension that had graced his friends faces at James' first appearance were easily surpassed by the ones of unfolding horror they now showed. Luckily Devi was fast on the draw, and her flail unfolded itself from about her arm and lashed out fast as a lizard's tongue.

It wrapped itself around James' right arm with which he was gesturing dramatically and pulled him across the gap between the two of them culminating with his head landing firmly in her lap.

"James, Cal and I were thinking about turning in for the night, do you think you could take first watch outside our room in case pirates attack?" Devi asked in a somewhat strained tone of voice.

As for her swain, Cal was directing a look at James that suggested he didn't see the fairness in the young man being punished with such close physical proximity to his beloved's body, but rather than voice those words instead he gave a dramatic yawn of his own.

"Yeah, it's that kind of night, want to turn in early if I'm gonna get ready to... apply my anti-barnacle mixtures to the hull... You have to give it two coats if you want it to really take." He concluded In a lie so blatant it was a wonder that he didn't get struck down by a bolt of lightning from the clear sky overhead or some other form of divine retribution.

It was equally wondrous that young Mr. Kantrar seemed to have trouble at all believing his companions claims.

"Sure thing Devi! You two can head down to the hold, make yourselves comfortable and I'll make sure that any pirates who try to raid this ship end up regretting it!" He vowed with what seemed to be his normal inexhaustible enthusiasm.

The others watched them go in silence and only once he was sure the three were all out of earshot (and then waited a little longer just in case) did Alexander finally voice his thoughts on the mater.

"Lad has a mind like a steel trap, if you don't put enough weight on it then it'll just sit there doing nothing all day." He noted with a slight smirk.

This well twisted turn of phrase won him a few chuckles from crew members present and Shanty went back to choosing musical selections.

(Scene Break)

Even later that night the rats came out.

Ship's rats to a one they had all been born and bread upon the Sunset Empires. They knew the vessel better than its captain, especially all manner of tiny hidey holes in its warped wooden hull to which they could retreat in case of danger.

So once most of the crew was fast asleep the rats would scurry from those hiding places to feed, either upon whatever stocks of food had not been properly secured or in a few memorable instances if they were desperate enough upon the crew itself. This night like every night the rats raised their noses and sniffed checking for any possible dangers.

Unlike most nights there was a new danger that they had not sensed before in the air, that of a great cat.

The rats didn't like that smell, not in the least, but they were still willing to risk a nightly excursion, they would just have to be extra careful. Unable to find any poisons or other dangers beyond the great cat they then turned their nostrils to the task of finding food. Soon all their senses became fixed upon the ship's hold.

Down there was something wonderful, it must have been a new crate of rations, for all the rats knew was that if they could find the source of that strange smell they would feast as they never had before and so they padded further and further away from the safety of their hole.

Floorboards creaked as the rats began to slowly and carefully pad down stairs meant for the legs of creatures much larger than they. Their beady eyes fixated upon the container as it called to them louder than ever, though for a moment they wavered. None of them knew why, but as much as they could think, they thought something was wrong.

Then they banished those worries and pressed forward, after all there was not a room on the ship that did not contain at least one possible safe haven for the rats, besides, they were nearly upon their goal now, just a little bit further. As they crowded around the container wondering how to get inside things took a sudden turn for the worse.

"I've come for much more than your tails my little blind mice." A voiced hissed down to them in a language they almost understood.

What they did understand though, what they could not fail to comprehend was that this voice spoke with malevolence that a daemon would have envied.

The great cat, the great cat was in the room!

All the rat's saw was a blur of gray fur and then it was among them.

With contemptuous ease each of its front paws descended like the hammers of some smith god. Two of the rats let loose with cries of boundless pain and fear as they were struck.

The other five all remained perfectly still, hoping that the great cat would begin to feast upon their unfortunate fellows and give them time to seek safety.

"This is the part where you run away..." The great cat whispered, and drove the point home by promptly claiming another victim.

The great cat unlike the rats had no desire to feast, it's appetite ran toward sport, blood sport. The four rats who could still move scattered in every direction possible. The great cat was all either blinding speed, or terrible stillness, and its paws reaped a horrific harvest.

So contemptuous of the rodents was the great cat that it had not yet unsheathed its claws, it seemed content to simply punish them with blows of its paws forceful enough to incapacitate instead.

Three more of the rats all fell before it's fury in a mater of seconds. The last one however felt relief start to flow through its veins as it's head cross the threshold of the rat hole it had sought safety in. Its body and rear legs soon followed which meant that all that was left... Then a monstrous paw came down upon the rat's tail which had been just inches from safety.

The rat sat there conflicting thoughts and desires waring in its tiny head. The great cat might have its tail, but that was all it had. Those paws might be mighty, but the rest of the rat was safe. In the end there was only one choice, the rat turned about slowly ready to start gnawing through its own tail.

Before its teeth could begin the grizzly business however the unfortunate rodent felt a strange tug upon its tail. It was not the crushing force of the great cat's paw directed downwards. It was a tug, a pull, a powerful one, and it was being directed down the length of the rats tail and into its body.

It barely had time to squeak in abject terror as it was drawn forth from the safety of its domain and left bare before the great cat who would not accept anything less than utter and complete success when it hunted.

"SIC SEMPER RATTUS!" The great cat bellowed its personal creed as loudly, informing ever other rodent on board the ship that a bloody pawed god of extermination has descended upon them and sooner or later they would one and all be added to its tally.

Then it suited deed to word and acted upon its newest victim.

FN: Well hopefully that should give you some idea of what the writing style of this story is going to be like and hopefully you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. If nothing else, I challenge you to find a story that makes mouse catching sound like something out of a slasher film right down to one poor fool thinking they're safe right before the monster hunting reveals it possesses at least one power that just can't be natural.

Don't worry exactly what is going on will become more and more clear as the story goes on. Also if you didn't know it already, the Great Cat is of course declaring "Thus Always to Rats" though of course Quidquid Latine Dictum Sit, altum Videtur, applies, or "Anything said in Latin seems profound".

As a side note concerning Florence, there is a rule in D&D about how Dryads need to remain within a couple hundred feet of a tree that is sacred to them or else they sicken and die. This rule can quite frankly go die in a fire. I'm not opposed to the principle of our heroes having weaknesses be they physical or mental (Florence will be more vulnerable to fire than any human, and her wounds heal more slowly) but they should be interesting weaknesses that facilitate telling interesting stories. Also I will be using D&D rules as inspiration and a baseline and I'll cop to it when I'm changing how they work here in the author comments but yeah, a system meant for people play an RPG in is not a perfect system to use to tell stories, who would have guessed?

Another side note, the first song James sings is "The Captain's Wife Lament by Paul and Storm its a nautical themed ditty which is exactly as "clean" or as "bawdy" as the singer/audience wants it to be.

The second however is a slightly modified (made the main character's hometown a location in Ravenloft) version of Monahan the Mutineer by either Ceann or The Town Pants, I can't tell which group played it first so I'll just mention both of them. It's the story of a guy who gets drunk, is forced onto a ship, gets whipped by the Captain and decides to lead a mutiny, which succeeds and then the ship is sunk by a storm.

In theory someone could swing that as a grisly tail of how mutiny never works out for the mutineers if they try hard enough, except that the song evidently sort of expects you to because it includes the lyrics

"And as we went into the sea
Monahan screamed this advice to me
"If we must die while we are young,
It's better to drown than to be hung!"

So yeah, not at all the kind of song Captain Stewart or his first mate would look kindly upon being sung on his ship, especially by passengers.

Oh also in case anyone decides to get upset over the fact that Cal has a gun as his weapon of choice, that is entirely in keeping with the setting of Ravenloft, where several realms manufacture firearms. His is going to be a custom job of course, but are you really surprised that a fantasy hero has weapon which is unique to them?

So yeah I think that covers everything I want to address when it comes to this particular chapter, let me know what you thought of it okay?