<img alt=":gulp:" src="./images/smilies/munch.gif" title="Eat!"/>Kaelen's well-timed snap earns him a surprised yelp from Brown Coat as his jaws close, however momentarily, around the fleeing catboy's leg. Unfortunately, he doesn't catch much more than that - Brown Coat is already moving too fast for Kaelen's needle-sharp teeth to find purchase before his prey yanks free, leaving him with only a teasing taste of feline blood as the cat boy disappears down a side street at a limping run.<br/><br/>If only his partner could be so lucky...<br/><br/>Orange Fur kicks, screams and flails with all his might, but there's not much he can do to save himself at this point. In seconds, the little orange furball is nothing but an indistinct bulge in Dagnyr's throat, then a tiny lump beneath his belly fur - if it weren't for the occasional shifting bulge, the catboy's presence would be practically unnoticeable from the outside.<br/><br/>Inside, however, is another matter. To Dagnyr's stomach, the thrashing lump traveling down his throat is an unmistakeable and much-anticipated sign: food!<span style="font-style: italic">Live</span>food! As Orange Fur plunges into the gnoll's stirring gut, the stomach walls are practically drooling with anticipation, flooding the already claustrophobic confines with thigh-deep liquid that tingles through the catboy's fur as he splashes down into his temporary prison. Orange Fur yelps in mixed panic and disgust, and tries to scramble up Dangyr's stomach walls without much success - being wet is bad enough, but he knows what comes next...<br/><br/>That next step, however, the next step seems to be taking much longer than expected. The liquid surrounding Orange Fur's knees remains as itchy as ever, but not painful - not yet, anyway. The catboy pauses in his struggles for a moment, wondering at the paladin's unexpected generosity - well, relatively so, anyway - until a reason strikes him:<span style="font-style: italic">he was right!</span>Dagnyr is one of the bright chompers, after all - the gnoll wouldn't just digest a valuable witness like himself, especially not for a high-profile crime like this. Besides, who else was he going to interrogate - one of the scrappers? If he can just be patient, maybe he'll get out at the station and-<br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Dagnyr wrote:</cite>"Rrffh... heh, consider it a life sentence," </div></blockquote><br/><span style="font-style: italic">-what? NO! Nononononono!</span>Orange Fur howls in panic at Dagnyr's announcement, understanding all too well what the implications of the gnoll's words are. Dagnyr's slow-acting stomach isn't a sign of mercy, it's a torture device; the most horrible and fatal one in the world. He has to get out of here, NOW, or he's going to watch himself melt to death in a chomper's gut! Terror-driven, Orange Fur throws himself back at Dagnyr's stomach walls, struggling toward the sealed ring above with renewed vigor.<br/><br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Allie: I'm still working to nail down the rescue rules. For the time being, you can attempt either a grapple or Escape Artist check against the pred's CMD (minus Dexterity for being flat-footed). Botching the roll may have unpleasant consequences. <img alt=":gulp:" src="./images/smilies/munch.gif" title="Eat!"/></div></div></div><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Alyssa wrote:</cite>"Is everyone alright? Miss Celaire? Sri Padma? Miss Rynn?"</div></blockquote><br/>"Hmph... Stiff as ever," Padma replies. "But I still got my skin on, so I suppose I can be thankful." The elderly vanara disappears from the speaking slot with a grumble, reappearing a second later as a head and shoulders peering over the edge of the carriage roof. For someone as stiff as he claims to be, he seems remarkably at ease hanging from the side of a moving carriage - a fringe benefit of being vanara, one supposes.<br/><br/>"So these are the culprits?" Padma asks, nodding at the two Big Bellies. "Not exactly the sort I would've figured for criminals. What do you suppose they were after?"<br/><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Blood,</span>is the answer to Kaelen's query - and maybe Padma's as well. The scent washes over Kaelen as he flicks open the speaking slot, Assaulting his nostrils and tastesbuds alike with the cloying metallic stench. As his eyes adapt to the interior gloom, he quickly identifies the source of the scent, spread across the far wall in a smear of crimson mixed with something foul and dark. A crumpled, leathery heap that might be Vignar occupies the space between the benches, but he sees no sign of Elona save for a scorched outline from Orange Fur's attack, also spattered with blood and grime- and quite a distressing amount of it. It looks quite fresh...<br/><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">&lt;&lt;REWARDS&gt;&gt;</span><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">All players gain 2,560 XP (new total: 75,960 XP)<br/><br/>Celaire gains 375 VP, and an Arcane Emulation nutrion of <span style="font-style: italic">reduce person</span>. (Details on Arcane Emulation will be in the next VSRD update!)<br/>Dagnyr will gain his VP and nutrion once he decides to finish off Orange Fur.<br/><br/>More treasures to come later - it might be worth searching the cats. (HInt, hint.)</div></div></div><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">&lt;&lt;STATUS SCROLL&gt;&gt;</span><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Alyssa HP: 70/70 (100%) [AC: 25 (+2 armor, +1 deflection, +4 Dex, +1 dodge, +7 Int), CMD: 30 (32 vs. grapple)][invisible]<br/>"Angel" HP: 56/67 (84%) [AC: 27 (+7 armor, +1 deflection, +3 Dex, +2 natural, +4 shield), CMD: 27 (29 vs. grapple]<br/>[spoiler]Dagnyr HP: 70/86 (81%) [AC: 21 (+9 armor, +1 Dex, +1 natural), CMD: 25 (27 vs. grapple)]<br/>Kaelen HP: 49/69 (71%) [AC: 24 (+6 armor, +1 deflection, +6 Dex, +1 natural), CMD: 25 (27 vs. grapple)] [1 negative level]<br/>Larynn HP: 100% [AC: 21 (10 + 6 Armor + 0 Dex + 2 Natural + 3 Deflection), CMD: 20]<br/><br/>Padma HP: 100% [AC: 19 (+2 class, +1 dodge, +1 Dex, +5 Wis), CMD: 24 (26 vs. trip]<br/>Vignar HP: 0% [unconscious? dead?]<br/><br/>Big Belly (C1)'s HP: 0% [unconscious, stable]<br/>Big Belly (C2)'s HP: 0% [unconscious]<br/>Orange Fur's HP: 69% [AC: 19 (+1 armor, +3 Dex, +4 shield, +1 size), CMD: 17][swallowed]</div></div></div>