Mavor sees a clear sky outside, but opens the door anyway when Baer tells him Eries is the new job.
"Thank yoooouuuu!" Eries says as she steps inside. She walks up to your table and sits down on one of the empty chairs.
"Now I can properly see all of you, let me introduce myself agaaaaain. I'm Eries Yelloweyes, though friends sometimes call me Yellowteeth as weeeeeell. Ghihihi!"
A short giggle-fit later Eries continues, "I was told you're good people who don't judge others based on appearanceeeeees. Seeing as you're quite a varied gathering I feel much at eeeeeaaaase! Therefor it's probably best I first show you somethiiiiing."
Tiny hairs start appearing all over Eries' face and whiskers appear on both sides of her nose, which grows considerably longer. Eries' two front teeth grow longer as well. When she stops transforming, Eries has changed in a humanoid version of a rat.
"I'm a wereraaaaat," Eries says matter-of-factly. "This is what I usually look liiiiike. I barely ever use my human form, so you seeing that is actually more unusuaaaal! Ghihihi!"
Quorthos' eyes widen slightly at the transformation, but he (mostly) keeps his cool. "You take a risk, revealing yourself to strangers in this way, do you not?" he asks. "I don't imagine you are welcome in many places in your, er, true form."
"I was told Baer's a very kind persooooon," Eries replies.
"Save for one," she says while looking at Denario, "I imagine everyone here has faced prejudice for being of a less common or hated raaaaace. The wererats of Korvosa only exist in rumors that tell of the supposed great evil they poooose. Yet there are never actual reports of anyone seeing uuuuus. Know whyyyy? Because we stay out of sight, just minding our own busineeeeess."
Eries looks down. "Usually, that iiiiis..."
Denario shrugs.
"Not on account of race, no. Only on account of social class when i was little. Rich and the poor, nobles and commoners."
"I was told Baer's a very kind persooooon," Eries replies.
Baer might not really be a kind person, but she does understand the nature of hate, and racism, and worrying about being different. She tries not to take more than a glance or two at Eries.
"I didn't expect that. And, yes, I know how people can be," Baer snorts, taking a sip of drink. "What did you need of us? We probably won't or can't do anything illegal, but we'll help as long as its not breaking the law...too much."
Tural raises an eyebrow at the creature, not really sure he sees what he is seeing. Though he is not in the place to say anything. He remains quiet and waits to see what she has to say.
"Most Korvosans believe we're nothing but storiiiiieeeees. We just mind out own busineeeeess. Yet trouble arose when a mob of Midland citizens discovered one of us and publicly executed him with a silver
aaaaaxe. Their misguided violence quickly extended to a few drunken dockworkers entering the sewers to hunt uuuuuus..."
"Most of us responded to the attacks by abandoning our dens and hiding elsewhere in Korvosaaaa. One of us, however, refuses to do sooooo. His name is Girrigz Ripperclaws and he's called our kin to war against the weakened humans in the cityyyyy..."
"Girrigz just wants to stand up for us, but he hasn't seen what I haaaaave. I've lived in secret as a wererat for more than fifty yeeeeaaaars. I'm one of the oldest of our kin in the cityyyyyy. A couple of decades ago there were devastating government-directed rat-purges, a return of which I fear if Girrigz's warmongering ways aren't stoooopped!"
Eries shakes her head sadly while fidgeting with her claw-like hands. "I ask you, please stop Girrigz from starting something irreversible, which will inevitably doom our kiiiiin! He will likely not listen to reason thooouuugh... So offer him an example of the force the city will doubtlessly employ should his rebelliousness continuuuueeee."
She looks up at you, looking each of you in the eyes for a moment. "In exchange for your help, you can take the spoils of Girrigz his caaaaamp. There's one more thing I can do for yoooouuuu. I've heard you're looking into Korvosa's plaaaague. Once you've disbanded Girrigz his army, I will be able to give you information on iiiit."
Tural nods, hearing a lot of new information. The accent bothers him but he tries to set it aside as he thinks it over.
"So you want us to give him a good beating? That's all?"
"So spare him if we are able to huh? Just roughen him up and probably some of his followers? We can certainly try, but I cannot make any promises about casualties. The heat of the moment, you understand."
Baer listens to what her companions have to say before agreeing with them.
"Sure, we can do that, Eries. And I will echo the sentiment that we will aspire to keep him alive," Baer says. "How many followers does Girrigz have? Should we keep them alive if possible as well?"
Baer snorts, thinking more.
"In the sewers, you say? Any other dangers down there?"
Quorthos' ears prick up as Eries mentions she has information on the plague. "We will do what you ask, Eries, but if you know something that can can help stop this plague, we must know it immediately. People are dying, and to withhold information that could save Korvosans would be criminal." He tries to sound friendly, but comes across as quite stern in his request.
Denario nods in agreement with Quorthos.
"He's right, you know. The majority might be the average humans, afraid of were-people, but there's plenty of hard working humans and non humans in Korvosa who could die in the time we are in the sewers."
"I think he has about twenty followeeeeers. Some will likely be guarding the place from outsiiiiide. If you would be able to spare all of them, it would be niiiiice. The sewers are of course also home to various rat species and otyuuuuughs."
Eries turns to Quorthos and shakes her head. "What I know will not stop the plaaaaague. It will, however, help you understand where it's coming frooooom."
Baer nods, agreeing.
"We'll do the best we can. Tomorrow morning alright? It's...it's been a long day already," Baer asks.
Assuming so, she'll spend the rest of the day in quiet study or talk in the tavern, enjoying the solitude among friends and fronds (Tural).
In the morning, Baer will prep and be ready to go, anxious to get some use out of her new belt.
Tural listens attentively and tries to remember some things about the rats and otyughs.
After the meeting is concluded Tural gets back to studying his spells with his spirit animal.
"That is goooood," Eries says. "I will give you the location and you can go in the morniiiiing."
Eries describes how you can get to Girrigz camp in the sewers and then leaves you.
Tural recalls quite a lot about rats, and even more about otyughs.
------
The next morning Mavor and Allyph find themselves cured of blood veil.
The faces of Baer and Tural, however, are now filled with red pox.
"I'm no longer ill!" Allyph cheers as she throws the door to the girls' bedroom wide open.
Baer can then read shock all over Allyph's face. "Oh my gosh! Baer, your face is ugly!"
"What's wrong with my face?" Baer says, already feeling the unhappiness. "I know I will never be pretty, Allyph. I am to be as scarred on my outside as I am within."
Baer coughs.
"No matter. I'm sure I'll fight through it."
Baer goes to the appointed place when the party is ready...unless someone has spare cure to offer.
Tural wakes and feels very itchy and slightly feverish. He stands up and looks in the mirror to find small red pox covering his body. He grunts and grabs the wand from his pack to remove the damage done. He heads downstairs to the others and sees that Baer is also sick. Just being in the process of storing the wand back to its former place he stops and holds it up for Baer.
"Want a tap?"
Quorthos rises in the morning, and heads downstairs for breakfast. He blanches at the sight of Baer and Tural, though, and runs upstairs to grab some antiplague. He stands and waits while they each drink one.
"Come to think... The sewers are going to be nasty. Everyone should drink one of these before we head down."
Once everyone's ready to head out, you go to the sewer entrance Eries told you about and enter Korvosa's sewer system.
Through the disgustingly visible haze of noxious sewer reek, the flow of unmentionable slop through the sewer tunnel's filth-slick channel unexpectedly forks. Most continues on its expected path, but a small stream of ooze diverts off through a wide cleft in the moldy masonry wall. The man-sized crack cuts deep into the rock behind the wall, and wisps of thin white smoke issue forth.
"I... I meant the pox Baer," Allyph says apologetically. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad about yourself..."
Later, when Quorthos offers her an antiplague: "Oh, thanks, Quorthos, but I still have two of those! You don't have to share with me, I'll drink one of my own."
Allyph takes an antiplague from her backpack and holds it up, to show it to Quorthos, before she drinks it.
Allyph casts dancing lights to allow Denario and herself to see.
"Yuck," she comments when seeing the ooze diverting off through the cleft in the moldy wall. "I really don't want to go through that..."
"I didn't mean to make you feel bad about yourself..."
Baer snorts, taking no offense.
"I know what I am. And if you don't make me feel bad about myself, then I'll do it myself anyway. It's easier if I do it," Baer grumps. "but I don't mind sharing the burden."
Baer sniffs around the sewers, trying to get her nose used to smell as quick as possible so she can smell again.
At the entrance to where the rattyfolk live, Baer pauses and gets ready for combat. She gives others time as well.
She nods at Mavor, ready to either lead or follow the big orcy guy in.
The light spell is appreciated, as Denario can properly see now.
"Thanks Alyph, we'd otherwise be a disadvantage when the 'fun' starts.
So...we're in the sewers, looking for were rats to beat some sense into, without killing them."
Quorthos does stop off on the way to the sewers to pick up another 3 vials of alchemist's fire to deal with the potential of rat swarms.
Quorthos's nose wrinkles at the appalling smell, and he puts out his mask to cover his nose and mouth. The mask, a simple black face covering, leaves only spaces for his eyes and horns, covering the rest of his head completely.
"This place is disgusting," he mutters, stepping around the worst of the filth. He peers into the crack, trusting his darkvision to give him a rough picture of what lies ahead.
Tural shares all the knowledge he knows as they head towards the sewers. Before they enter he taps everyone to make sure their battle wards are up. He also gives Baer an additional buff, barkskin.
"Well no surprise down here, where else would rats dwell?"
The flow of sewer filth oozes into a rough-hewn stone cave, pooling near its center before continuing through a crude channel in the western wall. Fat black mushrooms and other disgusting fungus grow thick around the pool of slime. Several low alcoves are cut into the walls, each filled with moldering hay, filthy furs, and tiny bones. There are four wererats spread in the area north of the flow of sewer water, each wearing a breastplate and armed with a mithral rapier.
"Who goes there?!" one of the wererats yells as he hears your voices.
Mavor drops by the now familiar merchant to see if he can pick up an alchemical silver greataxe.
"I've got some nasty place to go to, won't be pretty. You've got an axe with silver on it? I would be much obliged, o yeah and also three flasks of alchemist's fire if you have that. Never know when I might need that."
He then puts a bag of coins on the counter, "This should suffice would it not?" The big half-orc says as he opens up the bag to reveal 260 gp in it.
Mavor lets Baer lead the way, she's now better armoured than he is, so he'll be the second one to bust through any opponent.
"Just some scroungers like yourself, don't be alarmed! We've came here looking for some old lady's what's-it-now? Some piece of jewelry, a bracelet that's what it was. She lost it, saw it roll into the sewers and now she's offering a big reward for anyone that finds it. If you help us out, we'll split it 50-50 alright?"
[b]"Don't go near that mushroom, hurts your ears if you get close."[b]
Tural says as they make their way into the sewers. Once they reach the rats the remains silent, letting Mavor handle the situation.
Baer listens to Mavor and snorts. She's above such posturing, but won't begrudge Mavor's attempt.
"Yeah. We're just here because we are," Baer grunts like a hooligan in the employ of another hooligan.
Baer will avoid the funky mushroom as Tural suggests.
"A screaming mushroom? Weird...but thanks for the heads up."
Denario likewise avoids it like the plague.
"Oh, I see!" the wererat replies to Mavor. "I've seen no bracelet though. You guys?"
"No."
"Nope."
"Have not."
"Hmm... You sure it was in this part of the sewers, stranger?"
The wererats visibly freak out when Bear moves within sight, one of them even running to the back of their little group.
"Don't!" one of them yells at Baer. "Stay there! If you come any closer to that shroom in the corner, it'll start to make noise and may hurt both you and us!"
The wererats appear to calm down when Baer stops moving.
"I can ask if someone found the bracelet," the wererat who spoke before continues, keeping a careful eye on Baer and the black mushroom. "What's it look like?"
Quorthos entes the room, following Baer. He pauses when he sees the group, and then puts on his biggest smile. "Oh, wererats... Excellent! You lot must be Girrigz's crew, yeah? I hear there's nobody who knows the sewers better'n these folks, ain't that right?" He turns to Baer and smacks her on the shoulder, slipping her a wink.
"So, you lot are solid, so I'll be straight with you... This bracelet is worth a lot. A LOT. Especially to our employer. It's worth enough that maybe we should have a little chat with your boss to cut him in on the action." He turns back to Baer, hands raised is supplication. "Now, I know we was gonna try and keep this just to us, but that was before I knew Girrigz was involved. If you'd heard half the things I heard about him... No, he's the up-and-comer here, and he's not to be trifled with. " Quorthos turns back to the wererats, smiling broadly. "So now 'bout we go see him and come to an arrangement that is to both our benefits?"
Baer grunts in return, glancing down as Quorthos strikes her.
Mavor glances and nods to Quorthos as he speaks.
"The bracelet is apparently an heirloom, made of platinum, set with gems of all kinds. It is rumoured amongst the treasure seekers that it also holds magical properties, but that's above us I'm afraid. I suspect we might be the first to search this part of the sewers, but it will get crowded here."
Baer grunts, listening to Mavor.
As Denario and Allyph are still outside of that bit of warren,
"Mavor's pulling a good bluff, do you think they'll buy it?"
Allyph smiles at Denario. "It's looking good so far. They don't appear very intelligent. Though we should probably join them, just in case?"
She moves into the small passage that gives access to the area with the wererats, but soon regrets it.
My dress! Oh, yuck! There's ooze everywhere!
"Of course!" the wererat who's been speaking to you replies. "Just follow me!"
He briefly turns to his companions. "You guys staying here? Good!"
The scrapes and scratches of tiny claws cover the uneven walls of the crudely carved cave you end up in. Amid these marks, dozens of dark, fist-sized holes dot the stone like a rocky bee's hive. You see a couple of rats watching you from the holes. Hundreds of bones—of rats, horses, fish, and humans—lie scattered across the floor, and a cleft in the earthen wall leads off to the east. There are five wererats talking to each other in this space.
The wererat that's leading you moves on the another area to the east. Several crates, mismatched boxes, and poorly kept weapons lie stacked and scattered about this dingy stone chamber. Pinned to the side of one stack is a crudely sketched map of Korvosa. A large rat's nest, strewn with moldy pillows, fills an elevated hollow in the south wall. There are six wererats assembled in this room.
"We'll talk about it later," one of the wererats says, and the others move to give you enough space to enter the chamber.
The wererat who lead you to this chamber walks up to the wererat who dismissed the others. "Girrigz, we have visitors. They have a good deal for us!"
Girrigz looks at you, then cocks his head as he looks at the other wererat. "Now really...?"
Fully turning toward you, Girrigz asks, "And what is this deal?"
Baer will follow Mavor, who is leading this charade.
Quorthos follows Baer, trying to look the part of the smart minion. He scans the room nonchalantly, looking for anything which may be a threat when the beatings start.
Mavor looks around a good deal and whistles softly as he is shown around the wererats hideout.
"Nice place, more comfortable than I imagined."
Mavor scrapes his throat and continues his potential charade.
"As it so happens, we're here in the sewers to look for a bracelet, a very valuable heirloom to some pompous lady above-ground. I don't know the woman, but she saw her bracelet fall into the sewers and apparently she pays well. We understand this is your part of the sewers and would like to offer an arrangement that suits us both. If we work together we can search for the bracelet and split the reward fifty-fifty. It seems we're the first treasure hunters to be going this way, but I have a feeling more might follow and it will get crowded in your hideout eventually. We can help you to find it quicker if your men might help us out."
Quorthos notices every wererat present in the room is armed with a mithral rapier and wears a breastplate. He also notices one of the wererats looking down the corridor to the west, which is the corridor you passed through while being lead to Girrigz. It's obvious to Quorthos that most of the wererats in the room you're in and those in the previous room can easily see each other.
Girrigz listens intently as Mavor speaks. "We were actually in the middle of some planning, but I'd be interested to hear more. What's the value of this bracelet, and what do you expect to receive for it? What's it look like?"
Mavor eyes up Girrigz a moment, then continues up with his story.
"It's apparently made of platinum, set with many different kinds of gems, rubies, emeralds, sapphires that sort of thing. It's also supposed to be magical, but we don't really know about that sort of thing. The reward money was currently set at 15,000 gold pieces, might be worth more maybe. Word on the street was that many people were searching already, in these times of trouble, they'd do anything on a chance to pay for a cure it seems. Us as a group though, we're not as desperate, seems like clever pickings to us, nuthin' more. You and your kin know this place and the flow of the sewers well, perhaps you can spend some of your men to assist us? We'll split evenly of course."
Mavor then barks something in Orcish to Baer.
"Forgive my rude tongue, she's quite deaf to most languages besides the hard Orcish tones."
"What boss?" Baer asks, moving closer.
Denario tries to read the leader as well, hoping to see through the rat's composure.
Will he backstab us on this, or not?
Girrigz seems honestly interested while listening to Mavor. He appears a bit confused when Mavor suddenly speaks Orcish, but seems to buy Mavor's explanation about Baer being quite deaf.
"There aren't too many I can miss right now, as we're in the middle of something important," Girrigz tells Mavor. "I can provide you with a guide though, if you wish."
Girrigz nods at the wererat who escorted you to him. "In fact, you've already met him. Phillip here is our best scout and knows every corner and cranny of Korvosa's sewers."
"Also, I have some of my men constantly patrolling this area of the sewers. I'll ask them to keep an eye out for the bracelet."