"Obnoxious little things, stand still long enough for me to crush you!" Bormann cries out as he brings his axe down at the rat.
Greta fires at one of the rats! for damage! She reloads!
Kurag steps back and up to create some space from the rat as he fires his bow.
Point blank shot for
Gnok moves up into the room and attacks the rat that on Kurag but misses.
bite only....
Jocosa moves up into the room and bites the rat that is on Kurag.
Bormann slices a huge gash in the rat he is facing. Gnok moves into the room and tries to attack the rat that keeps trying to bite Kurag but misses; however, Jocosa bites and claws it. Greta and Kurag both miss with their bows.
Round Two:
Drosk eyes the rats and stomps his foot, causing a noxious cloud of yellowish-green vapor to erupt from the stony floor and envelope the creatures in acidic fumes.
Gnok continues to swing at the rat in front of him and misses.
Jocosa, now that he is next to the rat, attempts to bite and claw it.
Bormann snorts at the acid scent in the air and presses his attack against a live rat.
Drosk envelops the rats in an acid cloud, but the cloud does not seem to affect the undead creatures.
The rats, not having any luck slowing down Bormann and Kurag try their luck on Gnok and Jocosa.
The rats have no better luck on their new opponents. Bormann, tired of getting sidelined by a measly rat, cleaves it in two and pieces fly everywhere. Gnok again misses the rat that tried to bite him, but a swipe of Jocosa's claw takes another chunk of it.
Greta suddenly notices that the rats are undead monstrosities and channels to harm them! Will Save DC 13 for half!
Not able to have a decent firing lane Kurag moves out to try and get around the scrum to the other side. Coming around the backside guys. Keep up the good work.
Double move to row M 10 feet east of Iomedae's symbol.
Gnok swings at the closest rat to him
Jocosa, takes a step if the rat in front of him is killed by someone else, and tries to bite and claw at a rat.
Greta calls upon Bolka to destroy the remaining rat and the rat takes some damage. Kurag, decides to get a better perspective on things and heads towards one of the other entrances.
Round Three:
Confident in his companions' abilities to dispatch the undead rat, Drosk keeps watch in case more of the creatures attempt to ambush the group.
Bormann also confidently leaves the remaining rat to Jocosa, though he's not sure if it would make good eating...
Drosk and Bormann see Jocosa wagging her tail back and forth and know that the rat is not long for the world. Almost at the same time, Gnok stabs the rat with his scimitar as Jocosa wraps her huge claws around the rat and bites its head off. The cat spits out the head and growls menacingly.
Hurrying around the far side of the room Kurag is in time to see the demise of the rats. Well that was better than I expected. Don't know what I was really expecting though. Did yo run into these things before? As he talks he continues to search the room for other signs creatures, interesting bits of wealth, or clues as to what transpired here earlier.
perception
"No, these are new to us," Drosk replies to Kurag's question. "We ran into some live giant rats, but not dead ones that were still movin'. Wonder what's down here that would've caused them to rise like that?" the dwarf wizard muses.
As the companions begin to move about the chamber, Drosk casts a minor cantrip to reveal the presence of magical auras and scans the room.
"Good girl. We will get some good food back in town" Gnok tells is friends. He then looks around the room for anything interesting.
There was not much time between yesterday and now. Perhaps we should follow the tunnel back where they came from? It would only make sense thay they were here before and you just never encountered them. If you wish I will follow the path back.
Kurag makes to condense his gear in order to follow the tunnel back if need be.
"I agree, we should see if we can follow their trail, Kurag. But let's make sure we search this old camp before we move on. We may find something more that would tell us why someone might murder Rodrik." Bormann says as he gets back to the task of searching about the bedrolls and fire.
The body of a half-orc lies partially obscured amid the loose rocks and dirt of the tunnel.
"Look here. This body has something magical on it," Drosk informs his companions as he moves to investigate the partially buried corpse.
Kurag nods his head in Bormann's direction. I agree with you. First things first but I like having a plan of action to know what to expect. This seems like the last room though in this place. Once this is cleared out then moving on. As it is Drosk here seems to have found something.
Kurag then helps to unbury the body and let Drosk have a better look at it.
As you dig out the corpse, you see that it looks like it has been nibbled on by rats and other vermin. He is wearing chainmail armor of no particular note. Drosk directs you to his pocket where you find a wand. On his belt is a fine silver dagger worth about 160gp. He wears a red gold medallion engraved with two bloody orc double axes around his neck and he also has 60gp and six black onyx gems worth about 25gp each. He also has six potions of cure light wounds.
Greta gasps and drops the medallion. "This is a holy symbol of Nulgreth, accursed orc god of bloodlust. His followers are bloodthirsty, literally drenching themselves in their enemies' blood. Disgusting!"
Kurag spits on the floor at the words from Greta. Foul god indeed. There can be no good here if cultists following him are involved. We may have come across something worse than just the murder of our fallen Rodrik. Let us finish exploring this place and be done with this. If I remember right you had more places you wanted to go still today.
You find that the tunnel only goes about twenty feet before stopping as if work ceased on it.
"I can't figure out what this wand does. Maybe Agrit Staginsdar will identify it for us when we get back to town."
"Do we want to take this body back to town an' see if anyone recognizes him?" Drosk asks his companions. "Maybe this is one of the half-orcs that left the Ramblehouse so early yesterday mornin' - Mistress Larringfass might recognize him."
"Well reasoned, Drosk. I will carry his corpse back to town." Bormann says as he wraps the body in a mothy bedroll and then slings the it over his shoulders.
"An unfortunate place, this plague house. Too much tragedy. But perhaps it will rest easier now... for a while."
That is a possibility. Anyways I think we're finished here so might as well head back and finish your list. As for what to do first your choice is good enough for me.
Kurag gathers his kit and leads the others out of the Plague House double checking along the way for any weak areas in the floor to keep the place from collapsing on them.
Gnok and Jocosa get in line behind Kurag and Bormann and leave the Plague House. "Good riddance."
"I don't exactly favor hauling this dead half-orc all the way through town to the boarding house. Let's drop him off with the town guard or the priests and have Larringfass come and see if she can identify him. But whether I carry him one place or another, keep your eyes open. There were 4 bedrolls. We've killed a half-orc and a troll and found a dead half-orc. That leaves one bedroll unaccounted for and I think that means there's one more person in this town looking to cause trouble.
Is there anyone else that you wanted to talk to before the funeral. Any other loose ends that we need to wrap up?
1. Check in with Kurst to see if they have gotten any information from Daktani.
Kurst looks grim. He’s a tough one. He is not saying anything! He is more afraid of someone than he is of us and that he will be free soon enough. We don’t know if he means the headsman’s ax or some other freedom.
2. See if Cham Larringfass can identify the dead half-orc.
Oh My! He is a ripe one isn’t he! She looks visibly ill at the sight of the decomposing, vermain ravaged body. It is hard to tell because half his face has been eaten off, but I don’t think I recognize him as one of the half-orcs tha… As she is speaking she starts to swoon and faints. Luckily one of you catches her and helps her to a seat away from the ripe corpse.
3. Have Agrit or Tyari identify wand. Tyari will identify it as a cure light wound wand with 44 charges.
4. Speak with Brinya Kelver (Rodrik’s fiancée)
5. Speak with Patrol Sargent Omast Frum who Kurag will tell you is cleaning graffiti on the South Tower of Trunau’s inner wall.
Kurag hears the direction they want to go and follows suit. He had not spoken to Brinya much over the time he was here but that nothing to do with her. Rather he had his own direction to follow. The news that Rodrik was engaged though surprised him somewhat but he would have been happy were it not for his untimely death. This would be a hard conversation and not one that he was going to enjoy.
You find Brinya in her humble room in a boarding house just north of The Commons. The half-orc woman that answers the door has swollen, bloodshot eyes which she constantly dabs with a damp hanky. Her voice is hoarse and her general appearance is unkempt. She smiles sadly at you all. I don't know how I can ever thank you. When most of the town was ready to write off Rodrik's death as a suicide, it was you all that kept investigating. All that effort for a man you hardly knew excepting Kurag and Greta here. Especially after you learned about..uh..us. I know our two races usually do not see eye to eye, but you have done Rodrik-and me a great service-one I will not soon forget. I know you must have some questions, I was going to seek you out before the uh..uh... She cannot bear to say the word funeral and she breaks down into uncontrollable sobs.