"Ick, there's quite a nest of rats in that old corpse up ahead. Perhaps we should either take some care not to disturb them or plan how to deal with them if they don't care for our presence."
The clack and creak of old armour accompanies Albrekt's every step. The brutish antipaladin drifts in and out of a walking order; sometimes keeping pace, other times moving onto the shoulder of Kamau before dawdling at the back of the group.
At the sound of squeaking, he smiles almost fondly;
"Ratten ... Gud eating..."
As they walk, Solace draws a wand out with her free hand. "If you think we should investigate the corpse, perhaps you should give some thought to how you want to drive the rats away that are living in it."
"Hmm...
Kamau listens to the skittering of the rats for a few moments, then steps once into the dark. "...everyone stay back for a moment..." he breathes, moving very carefully. He hunches a little as he walks, sniffing the air faintly and looking around for the faint movements he can still pick up in the dark.
Albrekt eyes the actions of the Ranger with interest, whispering in hushed tones to all;
”He sprechen Ratten?!”
At the extreme edge of the light Kamau slowly kneels, placing his hand on the moist stone floor. A single rat chitters forth from the roiling mass, approaching the ranger cautiously. It sniffs at the air first, then sniffs Kamau's hand. After a moment, another emerges to do the same. Then three more. After a minute or so, the quintet of rats seem satisfied with the human in their presence and return to the swarm, which settles down considerably and buries itself deeper within the confines and trappings of the body.
"They are compliant for the moment. Stay still." The voice that floats out from the dark barely sounds like Kamau. It's quieter, deeper, more sonorous, as if he's worried that speaking too loudly or too sharply will disturb the creatures. He rises, very slowly, remaining slightly hunched and continuing to softly sniff at the air. Here and there, he brushes at his clothing, as if dusting himself off, or maybe scratching an itch on his skin. He lopes forward into the gloom.
Without turning his head or his eyes away from the swarm, Kamau's voice floats up from the dark again. "...keep your distance. Bring the light up to my back. Approach slowly. Do not speak."
Albrekt pats Kamau on the shoulder;
”New name. Ratte Sprecher…”
The brute chuckles to himself; a sound akin to the sawing of heavy timber.
Kamau half-turns his head to look up at Albrekt. "Quiet," he repeats softly, emphatically. "They will be very easy to agitate." He turns his body a bit further so he can look back at Ventar and Solace. He curls two fingers toward himself in a 'come here, slowly' gesture, before looking back at the vague shape of the seething corpse in the dark ahead.
He talks to rats? Solace will take a few slow steps towards Kamu, watching to see if he gives any indication that she needs to back off.
Ventar and Solace both slowly edge towards Kamau, casting his long shadow off into the tunnel ahead. Soon, the corpse becomes apparent to the human members of the party, teeming with a writhing mass of rats who chitter and flee from the approaching illumination. A few of the more brazen rodents screech in the direction of the approaching lights, clicking their teeth together as a warning.
Perception:
Animal Empathy:
*edit* Oh god. It had to go bad, didn't it?
Kamau's careful approach and delicate search of the corpse elicits a few hisses of protest from the swarm but they seem disinclined towards violence for the time being. In the dim light afforded to him by his companion's spells, the ranger can see that the corpse is unsurprisingly stripped of flesh. Its clothing, while moldy and shredded, appears to be some kind of traveling robe with a weathered leather belt only barely holding it to the body.
Across the chest of the corpse is a series of small pouches, containing a variety of strange substances (many of which have become rancid). Beneath the body (and the mass of rats), Kamau can make out a glint of metal or two, but cannot quite discern the items responsible without agitating the swarm.
Kamau very slowly inches away from the seething pile of rats. "A victim, perhaps an alchemist. I cannot tell why he died - perhaps he was simply overwhelmed. Unless anyone has any compelling reason we should linger, let us keep moving. The tide gathers while we wait."
Kamau rejoins the group, drawing his blades again in that same odd motion, holding them in a reversed grip with the blades' spines flat against the backs of his arms. Having done what he can for the scene, he looks back to the others for the next course of action.
Albrekt turns slowly to Venter and sighs;
"Like der river in der Hungry Bergr nei? Kommen."
The brute drops to one knee with a creak of rent armour and extends a gauntleted hand.
Flavour of a past "adventure" where Venter used Albrekt as cantankerous beast of burden when fording a river in the Hungry Mountains... Hope this is okay?
I really, really hope I don't slip and fall in.
Solace gathers up her long skirt and attempts to jump across the channel of sewage water. More than likely she inadvertently flashes Albrekt during the jump since he is standing in the water at the time.
With shocking grace, Solace stands at the channel's edge and, in a single powerful movement, soars across the sewage, landing safely on the opposite side without a hitch with her glowing spear still aloft.
"I'm going to stay on this side in case something else appears on this side that needs handling. I'll cross when it becomes necessary."
With care, Kamau strides back past the rats and onward down the tunnel, staying mostly in the dark at the edge of the group's lighting. He sheathes the blades again, this time lifting the longbow off of his shoulder.
"Thank you. but I seem to have made it over here okay. Perhaps on the return trip when I may be too tired to make such a leap again."
"I think I'll join you on this side Kamau. I do not have the agility to jump across the sewage like the lovely Lady" The infernalist says as he draws his crossbow and loads a bolt.
Albrekt serves as a walking barge and ferries the cleric across the vile morass of sewage, depositing his passenger on the opposite side before heaving himself over. His clothing and armor now reek even worse than before, slowly draining themselves of the putrid sludge.
Back on the eastern side, Kamau and Haruk silently creep past the boil of rodents in darkness, their path only barely illuminated by the distant light of their companions... and the path ahead bathed in shadow.
"On the bright side, now we can search both sides of the passage." Solace keeps a fair distance between herself and the soggy and reeking Albrekt.
As the now-divided party advances slowly further into the tunnel and leave the rats behind to mire in the dark, a faint sound of slowly moving water can be heard ahead. Before long, an intersection of similar sludge-bearing tunnels becomes evident in the wan light of the party's spells. A faint splashing echoes through the chamber but seems to stop as the light grows nearer.
Perception:
:
Unfortunately for Haruk's dignity, Kamau suddenly stops in his tracks, grabbing the sorceror by the center of his robes and pulling himself and Haruk both against the far wall of the tunnel, out of the light. "Quiet," he says softly, barely louder than a breath. "There's someone down there..."
Stealth:
Reflex Save:
"Settle down child. I see him. No need to get excited" Haruk says calmly, brushing Kamau's hands off of him.
Kamau is already creeping down the passage again, apparently oblivious to Haruk's superior tone.
Albrekt squelches along behind Venter and Solace, the rust and damage on his armour further tainted by the flecks of sewage and dripping of effluent as he lumbers balefully onward.
He takes no apparent notice of Kamau and Haruk “across the water”.
.
Initiative: . Stunning.