"Bludgeoning didn't work, let's try slashing."
Maurie draws her kusarigama and takes a swing at the ghostly rodent.
But misses wide. "Anyone know an exorcist?"
Brin shakes his head and finally tries to make himself useful again. He brings the sword down hard, his sword moving through a rat and leaving a large dent in the floor.
Brin's blow lances through the rat like a kebab, but meets no resistance only causing the rat to casually glance over its shoulder narrowing its eyes at him and spinning to leap at his thigh. Brin swings as it closes taking advantage of the opening, but is too unbalanced by his last strikes failure. The rat sinks it teeth into Brin and he feels a sudden terrible cold where it touches him draining the vitality and power from his body and leaving him weaker...
Maurie is just able to dodge the other rats leaping bite.
His sword comes crashing down on the first creature he sees, glancing off a bone shard but still connecting with enough force to cut the creature nearly in half. As one crawls up the wall beside him he jerks the sword up, taking advantage of the opportunity to put his sword through its back, blood spewing back at him and running down his sword in a great stream.
I am all right, the others must be in worse shape! He roars, loud enough that even Brin and Maurie must be able to hear him. It is the first time he has made a loud noise that any of you can remember.
Then he jerks the sword out of the rat, a piece of wall coming with it, swinging it down savagely at the last remaining creature, but going a little high above the small and fast creature.
As Grok ends its companion in a shower of gore the third dire rat linges forward, hardly having time to register the carnage. But its feeble attempt come nowhere near Grok as it feet slip in the blood.
Beginning to realize it is in a real battle the rat ignores Zove's tossed offering its attention riveted on Grok.
Grok pulls back, his feet moving hard to make up for his slow sword, but the rat is on the floor already, its teeth far out of range. Then Grok swings again, this time finding the rat slightly too far away. Hand's not as fast as my feet. Do better.
Hissing the rat darts to the left and hurls itself at Grok's calf, but he sways to the side just avoiding contact.
As he slides away from the rat Grok brings his sword up next to him, slashing at it and pushing away with his sword.
"Zove, you said you found blessed water, yes? See if that will work. Otherwise retreating might be a good option, they can't seem to be hurt by mortal weapons!"
Zove hears Maurie shout something, including her name perhaps, but cannot make out the words over the two battles, and distance.
Grok's attack hits home and tears through the rat adding its innards to the stairwell's new grisly décor. Zove moves back seeking to hear Maurie's words should she shout again.
Step 5 foot over to get flanking with Brin.
Maurie attempts to flank the undead rodent, but again her strike seems to be off, the loss of strength from its earlier attack beginning to show.
"Any of you, bring that holy water now please!" She shouts as she stares down the infernal being. "May Abadar seal you within the nameless one's prison, you infernal rodent, and your little brother too!"
The hair on the back of Cromwin's neck stands on end as Maurie's words sink in. Can't be hurt by mortal weapons? Are the spirits of those who died in the fire coming to kill us?" Half remembered tales of ghost stories told around a campfire flicker through his mind, but the urgency of the situation prevents him from dwelling on them. "Zove, they need the water you found! Hurry! Brin, Maurie, get out of there! Get on the rope, I'll have Anvil pull you out!"
Cromwin will mount Anvil and get his shield back on his arm, getting ready to ride Anvil forward once Brin and Maurie are on the rope.
Brin hears the rope fall to the floor and sheathed his sword. He grabs the rope and shouts up, "I'm on, Maurie hurry!“
If I head further down I can get to them, but I'll not help with the mortal weapons I've got. Best regroup and find a way to hurt them. Grok turns and grabs his bow, then moves swiftly back the way he came.
There must be some way to hurt them magically, Zove? Anything? Grok holds his bow as he jogs forward, still a good distance from Cromwin.
The rats leap at Maurie and Brin again, incorporeal rodent fangs piercing Brin's ankle and sapping his strength again, while Maurie's tiny foe stumbles over its own tail falling comically far short of its target.
Cromwin waits nervously on Anvil, listening intently for some sign that Maurie has either grabbed the rope or has been rendered unable to do so for some reason.
Maurie finally realizes what Brin and the others have planned. "Smart, though they possibly will give chase."
Tumbling with uncanny grace past the prone undead rat, Maurie jumps onto the rope with Brin, climbing a few hand holds up it so that she will not jostle into him on the way up.
"All on board, go go GO!" She yells up the hole, hoping she understands correctly what the plan is.
After calling up she quickly wraps the chain for her weapon around the rope twice to increase her hold on it and decrease the likelihood of her dropping her weapon on the accent by accident.
Anvil moves at Cromwin's direction dragging the pair up on the rope. As they ascend the strange rats scuttle up the rubble following, but halt once they enter the sunlight scurrying back into the shadows below vanishing from sight. Brin and Maurie are able to regain their feet on the floor above, but both still find themselves weakened by the rodents strength sapping incorporeal bites.
"Hya, Anvil, GO!" As soon as he hears Maurie yell up from below, Cromwin kicks his heels into his horse's sides, urging him forward. Anvil complies, pulling with his considerable strength against the rope.
Once Maurie and Brin are safely out of the hole, Cromwin quickly pulls the remaining rope up. His eyes go wide as the shadowy, indistinct rates follow the pair out of the hole, then retreat. Once they have gone, Cromwin tells Anvil to stay and dismounts, running over to Brin and Maurie. "Are you alright? Sweet gods, what WERE those things? I-I could see right through them! A-Are they spirits of those who died here, coming for the people who disturbed their rests?" Cromwin looks around wildly, clearly terrified ghosts are going to come out of the floor and kill them all. He's never seen anything you couldn't smash with a hammer or crush with a hoof, and it shows.
Brin grabs the ledge as he's pulled free from the hole by Anvil. He takes a deep breath, inhaling a large amount of dust.
*cough* *cough*
He tries to get his breathing under control with much discomfort.
"In all the stories...I've ever heard or written, I've never...encountered one mentioned ghostly rats.
He clears his throat and then spits on the floor. He moves his arms around as if testing himself.
"Gah, I can still feel its bite throughout my entire body."
"They were spirits, but I am thinking more the mundane variety. Given they acted like living rats the whole time, I think a pair must have had stronger desires than most to continue abiding. Or perhaps the shrine down there kept them on as unofficial guardians."
Maurie briefly describes what she saw before the rats apparated.
"The real question becomes what do we do about them. I get the sense that there is something important down there, but we need to dispose of our not so fury friends first."
Grok offers a hand to the two as they are pulled up, helping them over the ledge and onto the solid ground once again.
They don't like the sun, Grok observes, peering into the shadows to watch as the rats disappear. That's good Zove, and as a last resort we can always pull up the floor and try to shine some light on them. Would that oil work on a bow? Maybe if we can bait them out I can shoot them from up here...though what bait would make ghostly rats appear?
Grok looks over the others, listening to Brin. I wonder if they can still fight? The whole building must be infested with rats, I found some dire ones on the stairs. Grok gestures back towards the southeast end, the door still wide open, then glances at Cromwin. And if there are ghosts as well, it seems this place is full of dangers.
Based on your description, Maurie, and the half orcs and writing on the rock, I would say that Trunau is in danger of being invaded from below, perhaps by a group of orcs who were working with the tunnelers. I'd like to see for myself though, maybe it's old, in any case, speed may be of the essence. Perhaps one of us should try to warn the townsfolk. Zove, is there an easy way to do that magically?
"Well, I think I can still swing a sword no problem, but I'm going to need some rest eventually."
Brin you have heard that holy water is effective when poured directly over incorporeal undead creatures. You are not quite sure the rats are undead, but it is certainly probable.
"If we want to take care of these rats, we may be able to use this holy water. If they are spirits, it will be potent against them."
He looks to Maurie, a serious look on his face.
"If we lower you down with the rope tied around you, do you think you'd be able to throw the vial and hit them?"
Maybe a dead rat? They do like to eat each other... Grok walks back to the stairwell and grabs all three corpses, carrying them back and tossing them down the hole.
Let's just see what happens.
Peering down after some thirty seconds the rats scurry out of the rubble to investigate the corpses of their larger brethren moving cautiously. It is very difficult to make them out in the shadows below, even for Grok's darkvision. They seem to be peering up frequently with their black void eyes, clearly still aware of the groups presence above.
Cromwin edges to the side of the pit, looking down into the blackness. "I don't see anything, but its so dark down there. Light...fire. The things seemed to fear the sun. Can fire hurt spirits? I have torches in Anvil's saddlebags in case we get stuck traveling from Trunau past dusk. Perhaps we can ward them away with flame?"
Maybe...but we'd have to get close enough for them to bite us some more if we wanted to hit them with torches. Grok holds his bow out at half draw, looking down at the rats for a moment. I can barely see them, they seem to be...blending with the earth. Maybe if toss some fire down they'd be easier to hit, but I think they would run away.
Grok shakes his head slightly, letting the bow go slack. We're going to have to go down that tunnel, and just holding flames might not be enough. Maurie will probably have better luck with the water.
Grok offers the bow to Zove, if you can kill them both go ahead. Just don't hurt my bow.