Episode Seventeen Write up

An Urban interlude part 4 - rats, rats more rats and yet more rats

Dramatis Personae

Leon – a Brandobian Human Fighter & self styled hero

Nyadryn – a Brandobian Human, fighter

Esme– a Brandobian human, a loud over enthusiastic person, Nyadryn’s girl friend

Siskin – a Halfling Cleric of Chance Quirrel’s cousin

Larifus – a Gnome,

Quelsteine– a Gnome

Lori – a Gnome, rescued captive

Briana – a Half Elven fighter magic user 

Aeneste – a Brandobian? Human rescued captive  

Varill – a Brandobian Human the tanners apprentice and rescued captive

Location

Some where in the sewers under the new town of Vayham

Events

(These take place during episode XV of the main story and they follow on exactly from the end of the previous session)

Tension built and the company passage hurriedly readied their weapons, but the large rat did not register them as a threat and after a casual but pulse raising glance turned back to feast on the corpse it had been gnawing at previously.  There was a hurried whispered conversation about tactics and several of the company took the chance to try to estimate the numbers of rats. One massive one perhaps half a dozen of the big ones and a lot more, more normal sized ones than could be accurately counted in the  light of the single torch which illuminated the room. Larifus picked up a large gnawed bone and hurled it across the heap into the rooms far corner intending to distract the rats, the throw was wild and the rats took little notice of half a human femur bouncing off a pile of bodies in the middle of them. Most carried on eating a few looked up but did not attack. Siskin grew bored and started a charge towards the mass of them. There was going to be a fight so best get it started in the company’s favour. Leon joined the charge followed by Briana and Quelsteine, who circled to the right clinging to the shadows the lone torch cast. Nyadryn would have followed as well but was too intent on stopping Esme from joining the charge. He managed this only by grabbing her tunic by the collar and applying main force. The rats where briefly startled by the charge and the majority of the smaller ones fled scurrying for the bolt hole on the far side of the room. The bigger ones and the massive Oliphant rat turned and moved to meet the charge. 

Key

Blue arrows are the rats movement

Red arrows are the companies charges

A smaller rats escaping

B Quelsteine and Larifus 
C Leon & seconds latter Briana
D Siskin

E Esme & Nyadryn after she got free
1 Oliphant rat & a Large rat

2 Pair Large rats
3 Second group of large rats flanking

With his typical valour Leon directed his charge at the largest of the rats and Brianne drawing her uncles gift blade charged in an instant latter to Siskin’s side thinking that you could not fault the little man for bravery even if he was only a Halfling and more at home on the farm especially as even the smaller rats where much nearer his size than hers. Preferring guile Larifus and Quelsteine slipped along the wall seeking the shadows from whence to launch an attack with guile. Esme and Nyadryn both would have joined the charge as well but that the latter wanted to stop the former taking any part in the fight delayed their involvement for a while.  Leon, Siskin and Brianne largely stopped the rats with a wall of flashing steel and Quelsteine darted in and out of the shadows plying his dagger to good effect, whilst Larifus still wary of the slavering beasts and their frothing mouths, horribly snapping jaws and yellow teeth sent his throwing knives into the fray in his stead with some effect indeed on struck one of the smaller, but still terrier sized, rats next to the great one so hard it sent it tumbling back into the hillock of rotting bodies behind it. Esme and Nyadryn joined the fray to intercept a pair of the smaller rats which had circled around to the flank and the fell on them in a strange dance where each tried to maneuver around the other. Nyadryn intent on keeping Esme out of the fight even so and Esme intent on getting as involved in it as she could, her axe swinging with wild abandon. For a few tense seconds all was furious action but eventually steel won over teeth as Leon slashed open the great rat and sent it staggering back and following up slew it with the aid of Quelsteine in an economy of brutal strokes. Brianne cut down the last of the rats facing her and Siskin much relived found he had no foe to fight. To the flank Nyadryn and Esme did their deadly work despite their strange method and it was all over and the room was quiet save for the heavy breathing of the company after its exertions. The company was by no means unscathed and Siskin in particular was convinced he was only alive because the lord RISK had stood at his shoulder parrying the rat’s fangs with an invisible blade. Brianne fell to the unpleasant task of attending to the company’s injuries but could not help thinking that this was the job for a servant not a noble elf.  Mean while Larifus investigated the rest of the room, finding it to be like the rest of the complex so far well if plainly built but with deliberate damage having been done to provide the rats with access to the earth beyond the stone facings of the walls. He did not investigate the maw of the large rat tunnel for fear of luring any more of the beasts into the room which might lair within, he recovered one of his precious throwing knives before discovering the exact state of decomposition of the corpses at the bottom of the pile the hard and defiantly unpleasant way and deciding the second was not that precious.

The others who where available and neither wounded not involved in treating the wounds has a casual inspection of the human remains and managed to persuade themselves that the cause of death of the fresher ones where it could be seen was rat bites and that the dismemberment of the more rotted bodies was also caused by rats dragging parts form the pile to gnaw on. The only thing which the identifiable corpses had in common was that they where mostly male appeared to be of manual workers and had been striped of all their gear as well as most of their clothing before being dumped in here.

Having grown tired of the stench of decaying bodies and well aware that the presence of the large rat hole in the far wall of the room, into which the smaller more timid rats had fled at the beginning of the fight, suggested the probability of more large and aggressive rats which might arrive at any moment the company retired back into the passageway they had originally come down here Siskin and several others tried to determine how the bodies had got into the Mortuary room and where from. Believing rightly or wrongly that for all the rats had apparently killed them; something other than rats had stripped them of their gear and the majority of their clothing and dragged them into the room and had placed and lit the torch. Traces of blood was found on the floor in the passage to the mortuary room as where drag marks and whilst it was difficult to find actual identifiable tracks which could not be put down to the recent passage of the company it was apparent that a general track lead out of the side passage across the main one and to a door a little way further down on that side. Further Larifus and Quelsteine could see a dim illumination emanating from all around the door and those without the gnome’s gift for night sight could see a little light in the gap under the door when this was pointed out. Siskin and others tried to make out any activity beyond the door by listening at it but where unable to do so as the door was thick and solidly built and the company behind was not exactly silent and masked what might have been picked up by a sensitive ear in a quieter environment. As ever decisive Siskin lifted the latch and opened the door which sung on well used hinges quite easily despite the Halflings modest strength. Beyond was a stone chamber built in the same manner as the rest of the complex and well lit by at least four torches the room was as wide as the previous one but square rather than rectangular, so perhaps a little smaller over all. It had an obvious door on the opposite wall to the way in but the thing of greatest interest to Siskin was a group of raggedy men to the left of the entrance clustered around a feature on the floor which might be a lipped pit of some sort they seemed to be gambling, betting in the local dialect of Brandobian on something going on in the pit.  They failed to notice the Halfling open the door and come in they failed to notice when Siskin quietly drew his sword and threw himself bodily at one of the ragged men until he impacted. Then all hell broke lose as the Halfling bounced off the under weight but full sized human. Every one else charged lead by Leon and Nyadryn who was as usual eager to keep Esme out of the fight if he could but was even so too much the gentleman to actually shove her out of the way. Briana’s Elven sword sang as it cleared the scabbard and Quelsteine and Larifus circled to the back looking for opportunities to fight with cunning. The Beggars for that was what they seemed to be seemed to be prepared to fight at least to start but it became apparent that they where no match for the company quite quickly and those that could backed off all the time lacing the air with vile oaths and threatening the company with death and worse, if they continued. Threats they looked less and less able to make good on as the seconds passed. Siskin backed away after his initial charge and falling back behind the big people fighters he span up his sling and loosed stones at the beggars who where now distinctly beginning to cower one shot slammed into the wall missing the target it seemed by a whisker before bouncing back and stinking the man hard on the left buttock from he Siskin was pleased to hear squealed like the proverbial girl whist the actual girls here present plied their arms with skill, Brianne, and wild enthusiasm, Esme, driving their foes back the while.

Finally backed into the corner beyond the pit and with one of their number down the pit and several down one with Quelsteine’s knife at his throat a Quelsteine’s quiet insistent questions in his mangled ear the wounded beggars where prevailed upon successfully to surrender. They threw aside there knives and where quickly corralled by Leon Nyadryn and Esme weapons drawn and ready, into a corner, as they had no fight left in them and looked in all honesty a sorry sight. Dressed as they where clad in rags covered by ragged hooded cloaks and hooded ponchos their faces where drawn almost gaunt and pocked and even in the light of the torched they all looked distinctly unhealthy, if not actually sick. Down the pit was a dead beggar being gnawed on by a pair of Oliphant rats and lying on a third which was apparently at least stunned by the impact of the falling man. Also down the pit or rather clinging to the ladder about half way up was another man he did not look like the beggars he seemed to be well for a start and was dressed in a poor but well looked after short sleeved tunic, was largely clean shaven and seemed to be at least adequately fed 

He was however terrified and had to be coaxed gently up the ladder and out of the pit however once out it was more than apparent that he was a respectable citizen if a poor one. However once he was convinced he had been rescued he proved to be more than helpful telling the company how he had been captured, buy being jumped in the alley not far form the shambles on the way back form working late he thinks a couple of days ago and that the Beggars had first set one of the smaller rats on him after his capture which he had killed and then thrown him in the cells beyond the door yonder only to bring him out again tonight to fight those behemoths now engaged in eating the beggar who fell in the pit during the fight he is he will say called Varill and apprenticed to the smaller of the two tanneries in the old town and that they had of late been rather busy as the demand for leather for amour and war gear had gone quite mad even if the supply of good hides had become difficult he supposes because the goblins burned the fore gate and practically shut down the beast market where most of it came form. His story is confirmed by Quelsteine’s questioning of the captives who are eager to cooperate especially when it is suggested half in jest that they should get to join their friend down the pit, they are all however some what drunk and probably not the most articulate in the first place even if sober which they are most certainly not having shared two thirds of a barrel of local brandy

Larifus on the other hand had noticed that the beggars had been drinking from a broached cask of something on the other side of the room form the fighting pit and moved to investigate. It proved to be some sort of cheap local brandy but Larifus found that after a few tentative mouths full it became actually quite palatable, it was however difficult for him to reach down into the half empty barrel to fill his cup as the beggars had so being small enough to do so he climbed in to it so as to make this easier, and passed the rest of the time the company was in this area continuing his investigation of the spirit. 

Siskin made sure to gather up the beggar’s stakes and obtained a larger handful of trade coins some of them so worn as to be almost unrecognisable after all they had been betting on a certainty and that offended RISK.

With Larifus deep in the barrel and Esme and Nyadryn the company guarding the captives every one else let Varill lead them to the cells. These where reached through the other door and down a short flight of shallow stairs and seemed to be well and deliberately built cage type cells, made with a grid of thick if tarnished iron bars being mortared into the floor ceiling and adjacent walls, four of them in a small area which was lit by a single guttering torch. Two of the cells seemed to be occupied one by a scruffy woman with a grim and oddly emotionless face in travellers garb and the other by a large sack, the sort dyers use to store large amounts of yarn in, the sack appears to be occupied and whatever is in it is not happy and is beginning to struggle and make muffled noises.  There is some worry that the occupant might be a rat but it was quickly realised that a rat even a normal sized one would make very sort work of a sack. It was also realised that the gates on the cells where locked and no one had either the keys or the where withal to pick the slightly rusty if well looked after locks. Leon tried the bars and the gates and quickly worked out that bending them or ripping door open was beyond his strength. At this point the woman volunteered that the beggars had keys she had seen this when they took the boy out.

Returning up stairs and further interrogating the to the captive beggars quickly resulted in them handing over a small ring of keys which they swore blind and by all the gods they had forgotten about when first questioned, this was possible seeing how drunk they where but not worth pursuing any way as the keys where surrendered with out any resistance. Then every one save Larifus who was beginning to enjoy the fine vintage as well as slip into it in the barrel across the room and Nyadryn and Esme on guard duty returned to the cells releasing the woman who introduced herself in unfamiliarly accented Brandobian as Aeneste, the occupant of the other cell was a large well muscled female gnome who introduced herself simply a Lori. Naturally the company interrogated the now released captives and got much the same story both where pit fighting in one of the rougher taverns in the new town, but interestingly enough not the same one and had won their fights and a decent amount of coin. However both where bought drinks by those who had made as they said a killing on betting on them and don’t remember much after that. Lori being small seems to have come round after Aeneste and neither has any recall of how they got form the tavern to here. Varill could add a bit more to that as he was at least conscious when taken and remembers going down some steps and the opening of several doors before his captive’s threw him in here, however he admits to being a bit stunned and was covered in a filthy cloak all the while which made it impossible for him to see and difficult to hear and to work out quite what was happening with any certainty. Both the Tanner and the Gnome seem grateful for their rescue even if Lori is a little fixated on her missing gear but Aeneste is best described as totally blasé about the whole affair which makes some of the company a bit suspicious. It seems rather odd for any one to take such a misadventure so much in their stride.

What was important was that none of the captives had any idea of where the way out might be so the company was forced to rely on the word of the beggars.

By further interrogating the surviving beggars the company managed to discover that the way in was via a secret door the other side of the room with the pile of compost in. Siskin who was the only one of the company who had been up that way pressed them for more details and eventually they volunteered that it was in the room behind the door which Siskin and Larifus had discovered the foul smell issuing from and that the door lead to an old disused cesspit and thence to the surface behind a house just by the wall in the new town. Given that this was all that they had to go on the company chose to follow this information. After first securing the beggars in the cells and recovering the by now very inebriated and unwilling Larifus from the barrel, not forgetting to recover the torches from the pit fighting room to light them on their way, neither of the two original Gnomes where happy about this for their own reasons Larifus as there was still undrunk brandy in the barrel and   Quelsteine as red worms where such a very bad omen, trust him an evil omen and they where having far too much contact with them. Even so the company with varying degrees of enthusiasm and expectations of success went with the plan retracing its steps to the compost room.

Passing around the huge pile of composting vegetable market waste was more of an ordeal than ever before as it was a live writhing mass of huge red worms at which large but relatively small rats snapped continually occasionally dragging on off or rather out of the pile and eating it as it writhed still on the floor. These rats scarpered for the tunnels at the Companies approach and did not return till they had passed pressing themselves close to the wall most especially Quelsteine who was by now mumbling loudly in gnomish fortunately about red worms being a very bad omen. However this was the way the beggars had said under duress was the way out so it had to be hadn’t it.

It was something of a relief to get into the corridor on the other side of the composting room but that relief was soon dispersed when the company approached the door the beggars had indicated the stink was vile, so bad it fairly took your breath away even for Siskin and Larifus who had smelt it before and had some preparation.

The door was neither locked or latched and opened with the ease one would expect of a regularly used door. The place smelt even worse inside than it had even from the corridor and very soon every ones eyes where streaming and feeling quite nauseous even the tanners apprentice who had taken up a torch to help, out and was well used to working with vats of stale urine, was effected. Walking a short distance down the passage beyond the door into a broad vaulted room almost identical in construction and likely size to the abattoir room the company had found earlier entering this relatively brightly lit area revealed the source of this stench. It came from under two lids of slimy corroded wood over which hung a miasma of yet fouler air. Here the walls where streaked with slime and dripping with the condensate from the fumes which rose from under the lids little hindered it would seen by there presence. Not wanting to stay here any longer than needs be the company fell to looking for the hidden exit the beggars had spoken of it was not to be found after an initial search and the company began to wonder if it might actually be hidden beneath the slimy wooden lids in the maw of one of the pits to be found below.