[scifibarbie]

I did it...I finally made the choice. It was so simple..I dont know what i was afraid of. Though, I wish the circumstances were different.

It started out as a decent enough day...I had jsut gotten off the boat from lore in katherian. I hate going to that slaver city, but i was heading past teh bloody gate to do some fishing at the lake of glass.

All of a sudden this woman appeared out of nowhere crying and being all hysterical! Turns out she had just discovered her husband and son had been mauled to death. She wanted us to seek out the creature responsible and put it to death! I felt terrible for her, but i wasnt sure finding a creature that may have been defending itself from hunters necessarily warranted its death. Still..best to make sure the creature wouldnt harm any others.

She took me and a small group to see a farmer Sagert who it turns out discovered the bodies. After meeting with hte farmer we convinced him to show us where the bodies were found. He was not too keen on it, he said he saw the tracks of the creature, and the bodies...he said they had been slashed..throwing blood 20 feet or more into the air! With tracks the likes of which he had never seen, and so far apart he didnt know what kind of creature could have done that!

A few in our group who had been paying attention to matters like this of late, immediately thought that a dragon may be the cause. In which case, we neede to check it out. What with those dragon nappers out causing trouble, and the rumors of dragons being corrupted by some disease. We needed to make sure this dragon was alright and why it was attacking random farmers.

Miss Sasha said there was a blue living in the woods nearby and we should check to see if it was that one. The blue was living pretty deep in the woods, and after a while, we could smell the swamps nearby.

We came upon a tribe of trolls...their guards attacked us on sight of course, and we made short work of them, It was then that teh tribal cheif came to talk to us! that was a surprise to say the least! Well..he gave us safe passage to the dragons lair so long as we wouldnt harm any more of his tribe. He told us that the dragon only required that teh trolls leave the animals in its domain alone, prolly so they wouldnt eat all its food! And that it required tribute of shinies every once in awhile. He said that the last group that went to deliver the shinies hadnt returned. They feared the dragon was angry with them for some reason and had attacked teh delivery boys.

Well...we found out what happened..

I had never seen a bear so large as the one i saw that day! I had heard of bears like that..legendary dires...From a distance you could see it tower above the trees, its breath caused the trees to bend, and its steps to shake the earth!

As we got closer...we coudl tell something was wrong..the smell on the air was off..and the bear was acting like it was sick. As we got closer...my heart sank into my feet...

Its beautiful hide was calloused and diseased and leathery..the fur was patchy and falling off. Its eyes were red with fear and anger, and had a thick green ooze coming from them. It smell was horrid...we heard it roar and my heart quailed...it couldnt tell if it was crying out in pain or anger! Like a beast that is wounded and cannot stop the pain.

Yvale..she tried to calm it...to try and see what had happened...I ..i couldnt..I knew in my heart it was mad with disease and pain. I stood frozen to the earth. It stomped her into the ground then threw her body against a boulder. She crumpled to the ground in a heap.

We were all stunned..no one knew what to do against such a beast. It was then. It was then that i knew what must be done. My heart cried out in agony as i moved forward. I whispered a silent prayer to the longstrider to help me end the suffering of this great bear. To put down the aberration it had become.

We fought the beast long and hard. Its pain giving its rage an unyielding fury. In the end, we had the victory, but it felt so hollow, so empty.

Afterwards..something came over me. I dont know why, but I felt i needed to release the bears spirit. I wanted to cut its heart out and wash it in the stream nearby, to cleanse it of the poison that had corrupted it. The others wanted to study it, take samples for the clerics..I didnt have a problem with this, take what they need..just let me cleanse the heart of this great creature. I fought them long and hard..I got into a heated argument with Miss Sasha. My blood was boiling so bad...and then Brian had to stick his 2 coppers into the mix. The jerk. How could he be so cold and heartless.

In the end we burned the body of the bear so no other creatures could be infected by whatever had harmed the bear.

In the end, we found the lair of the dragon empty. There was a dragon there..but it was an illusion. The blue was no where to be found.