[color=gray][quote=Ealdwine]There was nothing left for a bard to do but play and sing- and so he did.[/quote]

[quote=Seloria]The needles that landed on her body were absorbed into the aura, as if melted almost. As the savager landed on her and made moves to stab her in the head, her 7 tails snaked around the body of the savager and grabbed his arms and legs. Slamming it into the ground, she turned and used her clawed hands, picked him up and slammed into the ground once more. It bouncing off the ground from the force that Seloria threw it down with, she used her arms and hammer punched it dead the face, not knowing that it could possible kill the thing, but with enough force that it could break anything and everything under the masked face.

Seloria jumped back and was low to the ground, waiting to react if the Savager got up from the devastating blows to the head and body.[/quote][/color]

While [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02nLHpSLTxo]Ealdwine's music[/url] filled the room, violet brightness burst throughout the tavern, and the Salvager's limp body was flung and crashed and crushed by whipping energy.

All around the tavern, the walls shook and the beams cracked. Everything left standing toppled over; the floor was a mess of sticky foam and shards of wood; The mounted troll's head had fallen into the hearth, burning and scattering fiery wood pieces; the air was filled with smoke and dust and a potent stench of burning flesh, rotten intestines, spilled beer and vomit.

The Salvager lay twitching in a puddle of ale on the floor. Its mask had been crushed like an egg, and dark foul goop seeped out from beneath it. The Salvager's ale-soaked fingers scrabbled against the floor, and its legs shifted and feet spasmed every few moments like a crushed spider, but it would not stand up again.

[h3][i]The Needle Salvager is Crushed[/i][/h3]

[color=gray][quote=Fate]She swung her solo hammer round, smashing a stool or two, before lunging forward and thoughtlessly wrapping her strong jaw round it's throat, ripping away cloth and deteriorating flesh along with a handful of spine.

It took her a few seconds for the taste to sink in. Vile. Just vile. Ew. Ew. EWW!!!!! Gagging violently, her stomach rebelled, causing her to spew out a spray of rotten, saliva-slathered, hunks of stinky flesh.[/quote][/color]

The Scimitar Salvager rocked on its feet, unsteady and dripping dark rotten slime from the gaping muzzle-shaped hole in its neck. Its faceless masked head, with nothing left to support it, flopped and twisted grotesquely behind its shoulder. And yet it did not fall.

The Salvager raised the scimitar and slashed mechanically at the gagging werewolf, but the blade was only caught in the thick fur. Its fingers flexed and shuddered, and it wavered uselessly while black goop soaked its once-pristine robes.

It dropped Milo to the floor with a [i]thump[/i]. Soon afterward, the Salvager collapsed in a heap at the base of the smoking hearth; its scimitar clattered to the floor. Even afterward, the Salvager's wrecked body continued to shift and struggle and gurgle in a puddle of ale and its own rotten flesh.

[i][h3]The Scimitar Salvager Has Been Decommissioned[/h3][/i]

[color=gray][quote=Dirion]Dirion his hand on Wink's shoulder and whispered to her, "Stay down" He stood up from the glass covered floor and began to inspect the man. He was paler than Dirion had ever seen him, and there was that same dead, grey fog in his eyes. Normally Busker had some sort of expression on his face, whether it was a scowl at some argument or a grin at the idea of profit, but now the muscles in his face just sat slack, emotionless.[/quote]
[quote=Henri]Dr. Vickers wasn't sure of what to make of the scene inside, apparently some sort of ruckus was going on. Deciding not to worry too much, he skirted around the room, along the walls, only occasionally asking someone to move out of the way.

"Excuse me. Pardon me, miss. Ah, no sir, this is my pig, you cannot play with him."

He made his way to where he could get a drink.

"One Ale and one slop for my friend, thank you."[/quote]
[quote=Gharlyc]"no...  No nonono no no.  No!  Hey!  Hey~ buddy, look at me.  Can you hear me?  Can you hear-can you see your daughter, Wink over there?  What's wrong?  Eh?  Well, whatever it is, we'll fix it ok?  We'll get you patched up and running the tavern again in no time.  Just sit down here and rest up ok?  Leave things to your old pal Gharly...c..."

"Busker.  Where are you going?"[/quote][/color]

It was quite the scene that Henri had walked into.

A seven-foot werewolf stood heaving and gagging by the hearth, next to the twitching, rotten remains of two white-robed figures and the small mummy-wrapped form of a child.

The walls were vibrating and the air was swirling around the glowing violet energy of a many-tailed fox, which stood over another crushed rotten corpse.

There was a gaping hole in the wall beside the bar, letting in the cool night air; the wall was beginning to buckle, and the beams in the ceiling were creaking with strain.

Several foreign objects had fallen into the hearth and were letting off thick black smoke; burning pieces of wood were scattered on the floor and surrounding splintered tables and chairs. Not a single piece of furniture was left unbroken.

The entire room reeked of rotten meat, burning flesh, sick and vinegar and spilled putrid ale, and a romping song was played and sung by the bard sitting injured on the sticky floor.

But the doctor and his pig managed to find the only stool left standing at the bar, and with a pleasant voice raised over Ealdwine's song, requested the attention of the barkeep.

Busker shifted on his feet. His eyes were gray and dead, and his clothes and the side of his face were soaked and shining with blood. With shuffling feet, the owner of the Bawdy Dog walked along behind the bar, stepping over Pallas and Edward. With a pale hand, Busker grabbed a tankard from the bar, the same one that Dirion had been drinking from previously before Edward's weapon had shot holes into it. Mechanically, he filled the tankard at the ale barrel and set it down with a wet splash in front of Henri. The ale leaked quickly out of the tankard and pooled on the bar.

Busker stood quietly staring into nothingness, the blood drying on his clothes.

Wink, meanwhile, took in a shaking breath and stood, holding onto Dirion for support. She, too, was covered in ale and her father's blood; the breeze from the hole in the wall dried the tears on her face, and she was no longer crying.

[color=gray][quote=Jargo]Although, as he pouted at his misfortune, the heat from his filthy palm was allowed to coax the tiny residue from the bottle's sides and a single drop was able to form in the bottom rim. Immediately, his attention was back on the bar and so was a new grin--a wicked, toothy, and crooked grin full of elation with a dangerous game playing in his mind. Without another thought, the insane demon threw the bottle into his mouth and shattered the thing in one mighty chomp--the bitter sting of the potion and blood exciting his tongue and body.

Goodbye, Jargo the Luck Demon and, hello, Jargo the Flesh Eater.[/quote][/color]

The elixir -- at such a low dosage to someone who was not at all on the brink of death -- had a very different effect on Jargo than it had on Busker and Milo.

The Luck Demon's eyes turned a shade of gray, and his bloody mouth stretched into a red wolfish grin. Whatever humanity had been in him before was gone, replaced with something altogether dangerous and wicked.

Jargo -- or, rather, the thing that had once been Jargo -- sprang off the table and launched off the bar with an animal hiss and wide-jawed breath. He dashed out of the hole in the wall and into the night, off to track down his new master.

[i][h3]An Eerie Quiet Returns to the Bawdy Dog[/h3][/i]