"Hmm, it appears to be incorporeal," gestures at the rat and speaks briefly, letting fly a violet arrow.
Zepfina steps between two of the bins (5' step to L9) and swings her axe at the centipede that bit Zigil (B).
"I hope der is enough left to get paid" she jokes.
"Sorry for the light, Zepfina. I'll give more warning next time."
Leave the sword on the ground for now.
The rat lets out a squeak as Eldan's bolt hits it, but it's still moving.
A centipede is cut in two by Zepfina's longaxe.
Garm charges into the room and growls and snaps at the rat. He seems extremely puzzled when his fangs pass right through it.
Giles moves in behind Garm and fires his blunderbuss at the nearest centipede with a deafening sound in the confined space.
Another centipede is destroyed, exploding in a shower of legs.
"The rat is undead. It's one with the shadows. We need to hit it with magic."
Ziggy will move if necessary to make sure the rat's within 30' before channelling energy, but it looks adjacent from the map.
Slei hesitates, and Zigil raises hir holy symbol once again. Radiance spills forth, and the rat drops to the floor, re-dead.
Slei moves forward a bit and fires a sling shot at the remaining centipede.
The halfling's sling bullet arcs towards the centipede, but the caution she takes to avoid Zigil causes the shot to clatter against the side of the grain bin.
Tarakona backs up so she can get a clear shot (h7) and fires another firebolt at the last centipede.
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Tarakona's bolt barely singes the centipede.
Frantically, it strikes at the source of the horrid bright light, but Zigil is loose and hard to swallow.
... but Zigil is loose and hard to swallow.
Pointing at the last centipede: "What you get is no tomorrow."
"It appears that your martial prowess has this under control, therefore, I will remain here should any of the vermin attempt to escape."
Zepfina moves past Zigil, and for no apparent reason she bashes her helmet against the grain bin.
Giles moves forward and bashes the centipede with the heavy wooden stock of his blunderbuss.
Giles continues the string of futility, but Zigil snatches up her sword and makes short work of the final vermin.
"Is anyone wounded?"
Zigil collects the centipede bodies and the rat, holding them gingerly and grimacing. If someone has a sack, he will put them in there, otherwise in her backpack.
"We have daylight for almost another 10 minutes. We should take a few minutes to search here for anything that does not belong. We can also check the other storage bins and rooms down here. There may be additional infestations."
Casts detect magic and scans the room.
"If Master Plumb has given us keys for all the rooms down here then I do believe that is a good idea, however, I will not condone breaking into a room he has not provided keys to."
"Master Plumb can shove his rules up his..." Garm interrupts by barking contentedly and throwing a centipede corpse in the air and shaking it around a little. "And he best not be claiming a ghost rat don't count for the reward."
Aegiduies pokes around with the butt of his blunderbuss in the grain to look for anything out of the ordinary.
Zepfina offers high-fives all around
Apart from magic which the group brought with them or cast, the only magical aura is the fading remnants of the rat's magic.
Giles believes that much of the grain is now spoiled, but sees no signs of eggs or other centipedes. There is also no sign of any cracks in the walls, or any other means of ingress.
The crunching sound of Garm gnawing on a centipede sounds a lot like disappearing gold pieces.
Zepfina's fives are not nearly as high as she may believe.
"Put that down you hateful dog or I'll flay you alive!"
Garm drops the centipede and rolls in it.
The key that Plumb gave the party only seems to be good for this vault.
"Good enough" Zigil pulls the remaining centipede pieces out from under Garm with obvious distaste, and drops them in the backpack. She gives Garm a little skritch under the ears. "Way to go big hunter".
"Let's go get that reward."
Zepfina pounds on the outer door, and a few moments later it's unlocked and opened by Plumb.
He surveys your trophies with distaste, and listens to the tale of your combat.
"Hmmm... just looks like a rotten rat to me. Still, some of you have reputations for honesty. I hope there aren't more rats like that around. 20 for the rat sounds fair. That divides nicely to 10 each."
He gives 10 gold each to most of the group.
"Giles, do you want your 10 gold, or should I just forward it directly to The Killin Ground for you to drink away?"
Looking at the gold and grinning "It was a pleasure doing business." Under her breath "Wow, I'm an adventurer!"
To the rest of the group: "I should go to Sanctuary and find out more about that kind of rat. It might be the first sign of something really bad." To himself: "That could be really exciting."
"Hrm killin ground will do." Giles heads off to the Killing
Ground for pint of tasty warm beer.
Zepfina follows good Aegidius, giving him a hearty slap on the back.
The celebration is still in full swing, and the group are able to join in with their newly earned coin. Zigil even finds a warrior to trade shields with.
Later, the adventurers return to their lodgings for the night.
I'll stay in town.
The next morning, the residents of Trunau are in a state of dismay. Slei and Zepfina can see that militia are roping off the outside of the Ramblehouse.
The rumour soon makes it way to each of the adventurers... Rodrik Grath has been found dead! Apparently, he was staying at Ramblehouse, and Cham Laringfass found him holding his bloody Hopeknife, with his wrists slashed.
A messenger from Kurst Grath soon finds each of the party, and asks them to come to the Longhouse.
Zepfina finds Slei if she can. "I tink ve should speak vit Cham before we go. Find out vat ve can before ve speak to Kurtz."
She then goes looking for Cham.
"Hrm don't make much sense with the Rodrik I knew. Not one to off hisself."
Zepfina sees that Cham is speaking with a couple of men from the militia. A third sees her and approaches.
"Excuse me. Aren't you the dwarf that Patrol Captain Kurst Grath was looking for?"
"Ya, dat is me. He is at die longhouse, no? I see vat Dis is about, den go to him."
Eldan listens to the messenger and hurries on his way to the Longhouse, wondering if the presseure to replace his father got to Rodrik.
"Well, citizen, we're just finishing our inquiries here. And as you have no official standing in this matter, I'm afraid that I have to ask you to move along."
In the background, Zepfina overhears Cham saying:
"...and then I fainted. It was awful!"
Zepfina nods and moves on to the longhouse.
"Well may as well get it done with" grumbles Giles as he moves off toward the longhouse. "Poor lad deserved better."
Slei turns a little green and runs to catch up with the others heading for the longhouse.
Once all six of the group have arrived, they are taken in to see Kurst. He looks pale and worn.
“I’m sure you’ve heard by now that my brother, Rodrik was found dead this morning, and I’ve had my hands full since. Right now, the official cause of death is suicide, but I just can’t believe that. Something else has to be going on. Unfortunately, Rodrik was the best investigator in Trunau; if he were on the case, solving the mystery of his death wouldn’t take long, but with just me left, we might never know what really happened.” Kurst sighs heavily.
“I simply can’t handle the investigation and tend to my family duties at the same time. I may be a patrol captain, but right now, I feel my responsibilities as a brother outweigh my other duties. Still, I can’t just let this lie. I’m afraid I’ve exhausted all my other options—the members of Trunau’s militia are competent defenders during siege times, but they’re not sleuths by any means. And Rodrik liked you. I need your help. Will you investigate my brother’s death?”
"Of course, lad, of course." Giles shakes his head with sadness. "And I agree it don't add up. I knew your brother well enough to know that much."
Kurst nods.
"I'm sure that you've already thought of checking at Ramblehouse, and with Cham Laringfass."
" You should also speak with Brinya Kelver, the half-orc weaver. She and Rodrik had been having an affair for quite some time. Actually, they were engaged to be married, but very few people knew about that."
"And you should check in with Sergeant Omast Frum. He was often Rodrik's partner on patrol. Maybe they saw something together."
"Of course, I'll be happy to answer any other questions that you may have."
Kurst hands over a piece of paper.
"This writ says that you are acting on my behalf in this investigation."
"Ve vill find out what happened, Kurtz. Can you tink of anyone who vould vant your bruder dead?
"Captain Kurst, you have my deepest sympathies. Your brother was a fine man and true Trunaun (?) may Pharasma judge him nobly."
Eldan pauses for a moment before continuing, "Now I have the unpleasant task of asking you about some opinions I have heard among the people. It seems there was a belief that your brother was not interested in inheriting your esteemed fathers position, that he would rather pursue other interests. While I did not know him that well, this does seem odd, but usually these type of things don't just come out of nowhere."
She tells them "There are undead in the town! We found a shadow rat in the storage!"
"I'm an adventurer! I fought giant centipedes! And a shadow rat!" If he listens, she will tell him all about it.
"Oh no, not Rodrik! I can't believe it! There must be something more!"
"I am so sorry. I can't believe it. My condolences to you and your father. How is you rather doing?"