Montague watches the situation unfold, his eyes open in amazement. Clearly this guy is Bat guano crazy... but he seems to have lived this long.
"Oh well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained".
Montague begins to follow along behind the man giving him about 10' in front of him.
"Be at ease then Orocrinos, chief of the scarf selectors, I am Taklishim Nantan, the grey wanderer."
"If we are ghosts then coyote has tricked us into belief of life...can we travel with caution perhaps letting a ghost in front to help you avoid danger?."
"Be at ease then Orocrinos, chief of the scarf selectors, I am Taklishim Nantan, the grey wanderer."
"If we are ghosts then coyote has tricked us into belief of life...can we travel with caution perhaps letting a ghost in front to help you avoid danger?."
"A pleasure, Talikshim." Orocrinos sizes Talikshim up. "Would you say Grey is your color? I would have gone with more of a maroon, perhaps with a grey stripe."
"If you wish to precede me, you are welcome to do so, but know that when in danger the change comes over me, and I am nigh invulnerable."
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Orocrinos proceeds to lead the party down the stairs.
The stairs consist of three flights that descend about 8 feet each time. The stairs double back under themselves and come out heading south. The hallway narrows briefly and goes through a low arch (as it did upon exiting the central room on the second tier), and then widens out to 10' wide again.
The hallway continues south for 20 feet, turns left, and goes for about 45 feet before turning left again. Now going north, the hallway runs for about 60 feet before narrowing again and through one of the low, narrow passages, which ends after 10 feet with a door.
There is a button beside the door. Orocrinos presses the button. There is a heavy grinding sound that vibrates through the floor and walls, and some of you think you can hear the sound of water flowing through pipes.
"It makes that noise sometimes. Don't worry," Orocrinos says sagely.
The noise stops with a "thud" and Orocrinos pulls on the handle of the door; it slides sideways to the left into a slot in the wall. Beyond the door is revealed another 10' wide hallway. It stretches north for 40' and then ends in another door much like the one you just went through. Unlike the other passages you have gone through, this one is walled with brick, and the barrel vaulted ceiling is only about 10 feet up at its peak.
Beside the door just inside are a series of buttons on the wall, each marked with a strange glyph.
"Don't touch those," Orocrinos says. "They take you to another dimension."
There are similar buttons beside the far door. Orocrinos goes to the far door and pulls it open; like the other it slides into the wall.
The passage ahead narrows once again, then widens back out after 10 feet. It stretches off into the darkness. Up ahead, you can see a group of small moving shapes. Moving the light closer you can see that they are enormous rats, perhaps two feet in length, not counting the tail. The rats perk up at the sight of you and begin moving towards you!
"Oh, don't worry about the mice," Orocrinos says, laughing. "They're quite harmless."
Draws his sword and readies his shield, well if they are harmless, then you get your 'mice' out of the way
"Food."
Sling
Ana says nothing, but merely unlimbers her bow and tries to put an arrow in one of the lead mice.
"Oh, don't worry about the mice," Orocrinos says, laughing. "They're quite harmless."
Zynazyr looks at Orocrinos questionably when he sees the size and number of rats. Despite his inclination to attack (or run) he delays to see what their guide will do.
"Are these your pets? I hope you have a way to get rid of them," he says as he prepares to cast a spell.
"Are these your pets? I hope you have a way to get rid of them,"
"Why would I keep dirty creatures like these as pets? No, just don't provoke them, that's all."
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Fistep gets ready for the enemy (I'll assume this counts as a readied action to attack a rat that comes within reach). Zynazyr gets a spell ready (again this sounds like a readied action).
Ana and Talikshim both hurl missiles, but only Talikshim's bullet finds a mark. The bullet does not do enough damage to kill the rat, however.
Four of the rats scurry forwards. One is about to attack Fistep, who is ready with his sword...
And cuts the rat cleanly in half.
Zynazyr, seeing the rats attack, casts his spell...
And four of the rats curl up, asleep, including a rat that was about to attack Fistep and another that would have attacked Montague.
Another rat gets through however and attacks Ferrous...
And manages to bite an unarmored spot.
Orocrinos looks around with concern.
"Look, you've stirred them up! Or perhaps they don't like ghosts? Many animals are like that."
Fistep gets ready for the enemy (I'll assume this counts as a readied action to attack a rat that comes within reach). Zynazyr gets a spell ready (again this sounds like a readied action).
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Montague slays the sleeping rat between him and Fistep, and then falls back down the hallway.
The remaining rats in the hallway that are still awake pour forwards.
They seem to ignore Orocrinos but otherwise everyone now has 2 rats attacking them except Ana who has 1 and Montague who is out of range.
Round 1 Initiative:
Block 1: Ana, Fistep, Talikshim, Zynazyr
Block 2: Orocrinos, Rats
Block 3: Montague
Block 4: More Rats
Block 5: Ferrous
Round 2 Initiative:
Block 1: Ana, Talikshim
Block 2: Rats
Block 3: Zynazyr
Block 4: More Rats
Block 5: Fistep, Montague
Block 6: More Rats
Block 7: Ferrous & Orocrinios
Ferrous concerned more about the welfare of his companions than a few rat bites whirls around and brings his axe down on the beastie between him and Zynazyr 11,14 Blue Rat
Harmless my arse! The dwarf shouted at the wolfman while realize that the rats did not attack him.
"I did not mean I was food!"
Club
Swings his sword at the nearest of the "mice".
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Ana pulls out her battle axe and swings at the rat attacking her...
And kills the rat easily.
One of the rats facing Talikshim attacks (the blue one)...
But misses.
Round 2 Initiative:
Block 1: Ana, Talikshim
Block 2: Rat
Block 3: Zynazyr
Block 4: More Rats
Block 5: Fistep, Montague
Block 6: More Rats
Block 7: Ferrous & Orocrinos
7 conscious rats remain.
Montague watches the battle unfold, willing to stay out of it unless the party seems to be in trouble. He'll toss chunks of debris away from himself and the party to see if that distracts any of the rats.
"Oh, my," Zynazyr thinks as the swarm of rats overtakes the party. He attempts to stab the nearest one with a dagger. (green 10:14)
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Zynazyr skewers a rat on his dagger, killing it.
One of the rats facing Fistep attacks him...
...but Fistep sidesteps the attack.
Fistep counters and kills the offending rat with his sword.
He'll toss chunks of debris away from himself and the party to see if that distracts any of the rats.
Montague throws his much hated shortbow down the hall past the party...
But fails to get it under the low lintel of the doorway ahead of the party.
More rats attack...
but only Talikshim is hit.
Round 2 Initiative:
Block 1: Ana, Talikshim
Block 2: Rat
Block 3: Zynazyr
Block 4: More Rats
Block 5: Fistep, Montague
Block 6: More Rats
Block 7: Ferrous & Orocrinos
Round 3 Initiative:
Block 1: Rat
Block 2: Party
Block 3: More Rats
Orocrinos' eyes dart around with fear at the sight of the rats attacking his new-found friends.
He begins to shake. His head snaps back and he howls.
"ARRRROOOOOOOOOO!"
He hunches over, and his fingers curl into an impression of claws.
He lunges towards Talikshim (who seems to be in the most trouble), and takes a swipe at one of the rats attacking Talikshim, but his claw grasps nothing but air.
Ferrous seeing that the threats to Zynazyr were removed whirls around to attack a rat between him and Fistep.
"GRRRRR!"
With a snarl, Orocrinos swipes at another rat with his claws...
...But once again hits nothing.
Turns and swings at the one of the rats between him and Ferrous.
Montague continues to watch the combat, ready to rush in... but only if any of his party falls. My master always said, let the experts do what they do.
"The tide turns!"
Club
Zynazyr recoils his dagger quickly, somewhat shocked and surprised that he killed the rat. Realizing there is no danger in front of him, he turns to see if anyone else needs help. Shrugging his shoulders as if to say "why not", he attempts to stab the rat between him and Taklishim. (blue)
Stones and Scars! Ferrous mutters as his swing misses wildly most likely due to his turn around. Thankfully Fistep brings the rat down seconds later leaving a single new target for Ferrous's pent up frustration and rage.
If Ana can reach the rat threatening Taklishim, she will attack it with her battleaxe.
Orocrinos gasps.
"They must... have... silver... teeth...."
With a heavy breath, Orocrinos dies.
Grunts, Ouch damn rat came back to life and bit me! and he swings at the rat with his sword, making sure his shield is positioned for defense.
Ferrous sees out of the corner of his eye the wolf-man collapse. He moves so that he is standing over his unmoving body and makes an attack on the rat threaten the Shaman..
Zynazyr looks stunned as he kills another rat. He glances at his dagger wondering if it is somehow enchanted and then looks around to see if anyone else witnessed his success. His excitement is squelched when he sees Orocrinos collapse. "That didn't actually kill him, did it? Maybe he just thinks it did. He's a strange one."
He then tries his luck again with his dagger against the last rat on Talikshim.
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he swings at the rat with his sword, making sure his shield is positioned for defense.
Fistep stabs the rat and kills it easily.
Ferrous tries to crush the last rat but misses.
He then tries his luck again with his dagger against the last rat on Talikshim.
Zynazyr hurls his dagger and skewers the last conscious rat.
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"That didn't actually kill him, did it? Maybe he just thinks it did. He's a strange one."
Zynazyr checks on Orocrinos. He is truly dead.
The party kills the two sleeping rats. The rats aren't especially big (though they are big for rats of course), but there are a lot of them. Skinning and cleaning them will provide 28 half-meals. However, Several of you know enough about rats to know they sometimes carry diseases.
"This meat is plenty, but like the squirrel and the armadillo without caution one risks disease, the squirrel from fleas upon, the armadillo from taint within, these are like both together. My wisdom says much risk to make many meals, but we can obtain fewer meal more safely."
DM
Ferrous knelt down next to wolf-man and straightening his body leaning it up against a wall. He thought about taking the wolf mask but remembered that in his culture it was rude to appear without one.
Rest well, Mad one. He muttered under his breath. Standing up
he called back to the rest of the group. Harmless he said. Bah! And I would not be up for eating this unless it came down to risking it or dying. But we should leave the choice for those upstairs. They are harder up for food than us. I would have us also look upstairs quickly to make sure there was no more water up there before continuing down here.
Montague simply nods and starts about cleaning and quartering the rats.