Indio stabs at the little pest trying to ruin his boots, those were perfectly new and serviceable calfskin boots, NOT for nibbling.
Bastargrae tried once again.
After scooting to avoid Asha's staff, the last rat is grabbed and skewered by Bastargrae and Indio. Whatever there may have been of worth in this room has been chewed into rubbish by the dire rats. The door on the west wall is the only exit other than the laddered trap door where you entered.
"Filthy creatures..." Indio mutters as he carefully cleans his blade.
Bastargrae cocked his head,ears perked....I hear someone playing a wind instrument. A flute or orcania,perhaps?
Oblivious, Idril flicked the blood off her bladed scarf, then wrapped it around her shoulders again. She then artfully straightened her blouse and skirt.
Erodel sees no sign of a trap at the door, and finds it unlocked.
Rexus descends the ladder, and quickly agrees with Erodel...
"Yes. Nicely done. Lets hope things continue to go smoothly."
He shudders when he glances at the gruesome remains of the dire rats, and covers his breathing holes with his handkerchief.
Grungy salt and sawdust coat the floor of this gloomy hall. Bits of the wall masonry have been chewed or clawed away on the wall to your right, revealing narrow tunnels. Steel rails are mounted in the ceiling, with a few lonely iron hooks dangling from them. A pile of stained pillows and tattered blankets lies in a ten-foot-square depression in the floor dead ahead... at the edge of your lightsource.
Idril stepped in behind Erodel, curious about what he found. She spread her Dancing Lights out to the max 30 ft diameter.
"Spirits watch over you", Asha whispers as her fingers lightly brush Erodel's and Idril's arms. As the illumination level increases, she peers around, trying to discern what is hidden in the gloom.
"Now things are starting to get truly interesting..."
The bedding is moth-eaten, stained with blood, and there appear to be broken bits of bone on and around it.
As you move forward with your illumination, you see a tiny humanoid figure scramble away between the north wall and the west wall with alcove, and out of sight.
You spot another tiny figure peering from the far middle pillar south of your position.
>map<
...We've for ourselves some rather small company... Bastargrae said.
Her tone low, Asha points with her chin to the south of the group, trying to keep her movements small. "There's another one in that direction. Looks like some kind of... rat-men? This one here seems afraid." Pitching her voice to carry towards the creature scurrying away from them, Asha calls out in a tone meant to be gentle and reassuring. "Don't be afraid. We won't hurt you if you don't hurt us."
The one hidden behind a pillar to the south snarls something.. "Nar nar ki ki.. ki ki." You then see it scramble from behind its cover and hop into a hole in the wall a few feet from where it'd been standing. You see it wriggle itself in.
Erodel sees a rusty iron gate around the corner... a wide stair leading down just beyond.
The door through which you entered shuts on its own as Rexus fully enters the room.
A tiny head pokes out one of the holes in the wall "Buh-lork..", and projectile vomits toward Erodel. The foul mass splatters against Erodel's backside.
Indio draws his blade again, resolving to keep it drawn from now on, then he directs his gaze towards the closer enemy.
Idril wrinkled her nose at Erodel and made sure to keep at least five feet away from him.
Spotting another creature, she wound up her scarf as a sling and flung part of a loose brick at the one at (J,11).
for a possible bludgeoning damage.
Erodel's falchion fatally hacks into the nearest creature before it can squirm back into its hidey-hole.
"Oh dear, they seem to be sick. Poor things." Her companions seemed intent on hacking them to bits though, so Asha hangs back and avoids getting in their way.
Alarmed at the rat-thing's method of attack,Bastargrae rushed forward with his pincher to prevent being showered in vomit. He snapped the pincers rapidly to catch hold of his target.
Revolting!
Idril's stone cracks against the edge of the creature's hidey-hole. Bastargrae nips the mangy vermin with his pincer after charging at it.
That one disappears into the wall, and out of sight. Another appears from the southeast corner, steps forward enough for only Bastargrae to see it, and beckons him with a tiny bestial hand.
Asha, Idril, and Indio see one gliding down (something like a flying squirrel) and land in the nearest part of the west alcove. It then appears to hop up into the wall.
Erodel sees another directly west of him hop down from the wall, and scramble south out of sight.
Rexus moves to the center of the room, and lights his lantern.
Feeling exposed standing out in the middle of the room, Idril saw Erodel advance to the NW and thought he must know where he's going. So she followed along close behind him (but not too close), taking her Dancing Lights with her.
Again,Bastargrae jabbed at the taunting rat thing and smacked the wall instead.
Indio moves further into the room, seeking to block one creatures path while his comrades deals with the others.
Seeing the master gnome rush forward with little apparent consideration for possible danger, Asha trost dutifully after him, not wanting to leave him alone in the gloom with these strange creatures.
You notice the greasy coating on the floor before stepping onto it.
The creature that had escaped Bastargrae through the hole in the wall, emerges behind the other taunter..
The taunter then leans back.. its gunnysack belly contracts...
"Buh.. hu.. lork!"
It projectile vomits toward Bastargrae... narrowly missing the gnome.
As Idril looks down the corridor, she startles the two rock-wielders who'd begun to advance - having lost their previous target.
One gestures and increases the area coated in grease. The other holds up a rock - "menacingly".
The one in the alcove wriggles back into the wall, and reappears at another hole almost directly overhead near the ceiling.. about eight feet up.
Idril shouted "Look out! Another one!" and slung another brick at the one at (D,1).
for a possible bludgeoning damage.
Urgh!! Bastargrae screeched in disgust as his poncho caught droplets of steaming sick that narrowly missed him as he flinched when he heard the tell-tale retching.
Almost frantic,the gnome lunged at the nearest critter with his pincher snapping fiercely. The absolute last thing he wished was to burn his good clothing due to some disease ridden wretch vomiting on him!
"On my way m'lady." Rexus draws his epee from the scabbard cane, and rushes to assist Idril. As he passes Erodel, Rexus gives a confident "I got this" nod.
Upon arriving, he peers past Idril... "Hrmm.. grease. If we move slowly, we should be fine."
Indio movies to cut of the path of ingress for the southern foes, stabbing at the closest one as he goes.
As the projectile vomit almost hits the master gnome, Asha puts a protective hand on his shoulder. "That doesn't look healthy..."
The two blocked by Bastargrae and Indio move up and bite at them... one bears a minor wound from Indio.
The one in the hidey-hole above Erodel's head gestures downward, then launches from its perch. A coating of grease materializes on the ground beneath Erodel's feet as the mangy possum-creature glides toward the center of the room.
One of the foes near Idril hops into a hole a few feet south of where she'd first seen it. The other scramble south out of view.
Erodel's falchion cuts through the resistant hide and tears through vitals of the vermin flying overhead. It plummets... clearly dead.
You all hear in the distance.. some sort of wood instrument... a brief discordant melodic phrase. It sounds like it is coming from beyond this second iron gate and down the stairs.
Bastargrae cocked his head and frowned,....Again with that blasted melody? Perhaps a bard using magical music to spur these vermin?he wondered aloud.
Thank you, m'dear,he said to the slave woman who buffed him with some sort of protective charm.
Yet again,he fared poorly in his assault against the elusive vomit-possums.