"Well Ah think this is downright disgusting. What in Asmodeus' blazes is all this?"
"Smells like a rot-pit." Ganner's muffled voice comes from behind the rag covering his mouth. "Long abandoned."
Bardigan lets Rexus head down, then follows behind his aunt shortly thereafter, ducking his head one last time as a broom whips past. He frowns heavily when the smell reaches his nose. His face twisted into a grimace as he descends the ladder, he offers, "What an incredible smell you've all discovered!"
Aula looks around the filthy room, clearly hesitant to touch anything with her glowing hand. "Do y'all think this was used on people, or just horses?"
Before the others can begin to make their way down the ladder after Larenti's fall, there is activity within the crates and barrels, and a few large and vicious-looking rats scurry out after the intruders into their nesting room.
"Rats." Ganner spits out the word like a curse. He steps to the SW and kicks at the rat! for damage!
"Gyeeeeek!" Aula shrieks as rats come scurrying--literally out of the woodwork.
Ganner and Aula are surprised by the sudden ferocity of the rats before they themselves can make a stand against them, or Larenti can just stand. They rush from the shadows of their hiding places to gnash teeth at the intruders to their foul nesting room.
Most of the biting and hissing is a useless show of force, but one of them actually connects on Ganner's shin, giving him a nasty gash on his lower leg.
Despite the clatter of the broom wooshing past his face and a pail smacking into the floor by his aunt's foot, Bardigan hears the trouble down below clear enough and slides down the ladder. The greased rungs nearly send him falling into a heap with Larenti, but he catches himself and lands gracefully, a broad and bright smile on his face. "What's this? Now we've rats to deal with? Should be easier than those dogs, I hope!"
HP: 10/10
AC: 16 (12 T / 14 FF)
CMD: 15
F/R/W: +4/+2/+3
Hellfire strikes used: 0/3
Eldritch Pool used: 0/5
Lvl 1 Spell Slots used: 1/2
Ongoing Effects
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Larenti froze for a moment at the first sign of movement.
Dachshunds?!
Jinx is so distracted by consistently blocking the random floating objects and the discomfort of her own armor, that she isn't even aware of activity down below until after the creatures have already struck.
Given his location at the top of the chute still facing oddly floating paraphernalia, Rexus doesn't quite notice that more things have come to attack the group.
Aula raises one straightened leg up into the air, leaning back as she does so. She brings it down quickly as if to stomp on the rat in front of her, but if she had any intention to do so, she clearly missed; instead it seems more like some kind of strange dance step to the side. "Ugh! Disgusting rats are assaulting us down here!" she calls up to the group.
Ganner nods thanks at Aula, then tries to kick the rat to the SE twice!
for damage!
for damage!
Edit: for damage!
Despite typically never going for the kill as much as the incapacitate, even a very large and dangerous rat can only take so much of a solid series of kicks without suffering serious injuries. Ganner definitely delivers those kicks, and the rat's body crumples under the blows and begins to bleed.
Aula, with an odd kick-stomp, dances away from the rat nearest her. The move is alluring, and given Larenti's prone position, probably reveals more of the underside of her dress than intended, or probably not. Nonetheless, there is a feeling of warmth and comfort than covers Ganner and Larenti.
Despite the kick delivered but not landed by Aula, the rat chases and nips after the woman. The large teeth dig into her recently stomped foot. As the one rat lay wheezing ragged breaths of its own blood, the last one snaps at Ganner with less conviction than last time.
Larenti found himself in the mud with Aula's skirts covering his eyes. The tiny dogs were near, but he wasn't sure where exactly. He instinctively rolled away from their...squeaking?
I'll Acrobatics prone to S19 (one left) with a move, and then another move to stand up. The Acro is to avoid the AOO. Not sure of the penalty of trying this prone.
Also, my current hit points are 9, as I started this scene with 11 of 12. So the two net damage put me at 9.
Pulling himself to his feet, he tried to keep his boots off the floor, hopping from one foot to the other, while brandishing his rapier in effectively random directions.
Bardigan steps around, trying to get an angle on one of the blasted rats.
HP: 10/10
AC: 16 (12 T / 14 FF)
CMD: 15
F/R/W: +4/+2/+3
Hellfire strikes used: 0/3
Eldritch Pool used: 0/5
Lvl 1 Spell Slots used: 1/2
Ongoing Effects
Slipping and stumbling, Larenti swished about with energy of Aula's skirts, but without their beauty or grace.
Bardigan moves in to rescue a lady in danger, but the vermin easily avoids the jab of his blade. Meanwhile, Larenti picks himself up off the floor with a stab of his own at the rat, yet all he is rewarded with is a nip on the forearm as he was pushing himself to his feet.
With her hands full, Jinx spends her time putting her shield and weapon away so that she can descend the ladder at all. She urges Rexus onward though, "Go now, get down there and I will follow." Heeding her words, Rexus makes for the ladder to make his own way down. As soon as he steps onto the rungs, he looses both footing and grip, dropping down the same way Larenti did.
Ganner continues to kick and strike at the rats!
Ganner stomps and kicks at the second rat that he faces, but the creature is fairly quick. Although it doesn't avoid his blows completely, he has trouble delivering more than a single small hit to the thing.
As Aula prepares herself more for dealing with any consequences of the fight, the rats themselves do not take any pause in continuing the fight. The single-minded creatures stay primarily focused on their original targets. The one harassing Aula tries to shift so that it can back away from the others before it bites, but its caution causes it to stumble and scurry to right itself. Whereas Ganner manages to intuit the rat's strike and sidesteps it at just the right time.
Larenti realized he was facing rats, not dogs, and his fear subsided immediately. With a clearer mind, he rushed in a wide circle around the rat facing Ganner, and attacked the creature's back.
Unfortunately, the reeking beast heard Larenti's footsteps and it whirled and dodged his rapier thrust.
Man I f@!+ing suck at this damn game and can't hit shit!
Bardigan frowns as he tries to catch one of the rats with the tip of his rapier again.
HP: 10/10
AC: 16 (12 T / 14 FF)
CMD: 15
F/R/W: +4/+2/+3
Hellfire strikes used: 0/3
Eldritch Pool used: 0/5
Lvl 1 Spell Slots used: 1/2
Ongoing Effects
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"Jinx, darling, are you coming down? It's positively... lovely down here."
As Aula waits for the last of their group to descend, Bardigan and Larenti move around to get better aim or positions. Bardigan steps up toward the rat facing Aula, but just misses the annoying creature.
Larenti takes a circuitous route to get around the south-westernmost rat and help Ganner, but it seems the sting of the bite he took to the forearm offset his swing.
As Jinx waits for Rexus to move off the floor under the ladder, the man does just that, standing and stepping up beside Aula. He pulls the sword from its hiding place within his cane and is prepared to help.
With him out of the way, Jinx is able to dare the climb. With her hands free, she makes her way down the overly slick ladder, trying to remain cautious. Her care pays off as she makes it safely to the bottom without falling off. "I'm coming, don't you worry, I'm just not going to end up flat on my back like a bunch of these reckless fools."
Finally, Aula has everyone from the group assembled in one room.
Aula steps back from the rat, swishes her hips back and forth several times, and momentarily flips up her skirt as she kicks can-can style.
Ganner kicks at the rat he's flanking!
for damage!
for damage!
With another somewhat exposing dance move while stepping away from danger, Aula causes a flush of bodily warmth to fall over the group, closing small cuts and causing maybe a bit of blush to the cheeks.
Ganner uses the distraction of Larenti to his advantage, and solidly delivers a kick to the rat between them, with a quick follow on of an axe kick that has definitely caused a lot more damage to the animal than he likely intended.
The one rat still conscious turns to Bardigan, gnashing its teeth at the man that had poked at it a few times already. It gets in close but isn't able to get its teeth past the hardened leather plates of his armor.
Larenti looked at Ganner with a mix of admiration and frustration. Every time Larenti brought his wavering rapier to bear on a rat, Ganner's blows landed and the beast fell.
Larenti felt like he was two steps behind in a dance.
In a desperate attempt to regain some of his lost self-esteem, he pushed past Ganner, Jinx and Rexus to reach the remaining rat.
He slashed back and forth and up and down, but the wiry rodent dodged him easily.
Aaargh! Larenti yelled, frustrated.
"Bothersome rats!" Bardigan lunges with his rapier at the troublesome vermin deftly, the blade sinking deep into its flank.
HP: 10/10
AC: 16 (12 T / 14 FF)
CMD: 15
F/R/W: +4/+2/+3
Hellfire strikes used: 0/3
Eldritch Pool used: 0/5
Lvl 1 Spell Slots used: 1/2
Ongoing Effects
Where Larenti fails to strike the lone remaining rat, Bardigan steps up and finishes the job, skewering the animal hard as it proceeds to bleed out.
Grimacing, Larenti dispatched the still-living rats. He took a moment to see if these rats could have been responsible for the strange tracks they saw up by the trap door.
After that, he began to search the room, taking a look at the rusty knives and other debris.
Is any of this still being used, or is the whole place just a junk pile? he mused. His nose itched, and he wanted to rub it, but he didn't want to touch it with his filthy sleeve.
"Well Ah never! Filthy creatures, those were. Good job dispatching them, all of you." Aula winks at Ganner and begins to brush off the bottom of her dress.
"They never discusses rodent attacks during the briefing.." Ganner mumbles.
Jinx chuckles, "What? And ruin the surprise?".
Looking at the rats Larenti determines that the odd small tracks up above do not match the shape of the rats' feet. He does notice that the commotion up above has ceased, yet there is a slight hint of scrabbling noises coming from within the old walls. Looking over the rest of the room, there is nothing of any remote value left in the filthy room. There is also nothing more of danger either.
"All right, there's nothing of value here. I don't know what made the tracks up there, or what is going on with the flying objects. But we haven't learned anything about the Silver Ravens yet, so we'll have to press on."
With that, Larenti made his way over to the western door and examined it for safety.
Eventually, he opened it quietly to see what was beyond.
Bardigan shakes his head at his aunt's joke and looks to Ganner, "It wasn't anything we couldn't handle at least! Come on now, with the rats dealt we needn't worry so much."
"I hope!" Ganner nods, sighs and moves forward to check out the door.
Larenti finds no danger in the door, and in opening it sees a long open chamber beyond, the lengths of which extend beyond the range of his night vision. The room is almost as wide as it is long, and the half-orc can make out enough of the southern wall to see that it ends before the darkness, unlike the space to the west.
Dirty salt and sawdust coat the floor of this gloomy hall. Bits of the wall masonry have been chewed or clawed away, revealing narrow, winding animal tunnels beyond. Steel rails are mounted in the ceiling, with a few lonely iron hooks dangling from them. A pile of stained pillows and motheaten blankets lies in a ten-foot-square depression in the floor to the northwest.
Larenti waved the others forward has he walks into the room.
"Watch out for more rats," he warned.
He walked cautiously towards the southwest, scanning the room for danger.
Ganner follows, his fists tight and his muscles tense for the next scare.
"Ah do sincerely hope we find some kind of clue quickly; this place is downright filthy." Aula slowly picks her way to the west, placing her feet carefully to avoid the worst of the muck on the floor.
Jinx nods and follows the others, scanning the dark shadows with her unnatural sight, looking for clues, rats, or worse things that might be lurking.