Cerenity puts one hand on the druids back
"It is a loss. Putting down animals simply because they attacked out of despiration. Not what i would have wanted either. But as you saw, when it comes to them or us, i will pick us any time. We shall make amends somehow"
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Pakuzzo shrugs.
"It's not like we had much of a choice. I don't like killing things that are only acting according to their natures, but contacting animal control wasn't on the table. Best not to lose much sleep over it and move on to the next thing."
Rexus digs out a torch from his pack and lights it. "Ah, that's better. Now we can see at least."
Suddenly the temperature in the room returns to normal and the walls stop bleeding. The flickering light from Rexus' torch illuminates the room quite well. Numerous tracks in the dirt and dust prove the canines have been throughout this building. Something smaller...rodent-like has left tracks throughout the building as well.
"Hey! I scared away the ghosts!" exclaims the noble with a chuckle.
The sound of numerous skittering feet above you catches your attention. Though you don't see anything, you can assume it's from the rafters.
Putrid-looking humanoids bearing a disquieting resemblance to a half-starved, mange-ridden oppossum.
With the room lit, Metronicus is able to see more clearly. Being a lifetime resident of Kintargo's streets, Crady knew exactly what made those tracks.
Leaning close to the nearby kasatha, the urban druid whispered, "Those tracks. Grimples. Urban gremlins. We'll be attacked soon. Try to warn the others quietly."
Wiping away the tears, Crady stands up, begins to speak in a normal tone. "I'm gonna work on that stupid chain."
Taking out his thieve's tools, Crady walks to the door.
Luthor glances upward at the sound of skittering feet, then shrugs. "Well I suppose a rat infestation comes as no surprise... Rexus, do you have a spare? Like Marillo said, I can slip through these bars to go check out that door, but I can't see in total darkness, just dim light."
"uh...yeah I believe..." digging through his pack, the thin man produces a second torch. "Here you go!" He proceeds to light it and pass the flaming stick to Luthor.
Turning, he retrieves Pakuzzo's pack and passes it to him, smiling. "This has been so much easier than I anticipated....too bad about the poor mutts. Thrune would have just made them fight for him anyway. Perhaps it's better this way."
DC 12 Str check to smash the wall down from the stall into the hallway
Pakuzzo squints in the gloom, but can't see much better than Luthor can.
He extends his hand to Rexus.
"I'll take my bag back now, if you please. My thanks for holding onto it for me."
"Careful in there. The trap door could be filled with vermin and there's nothing we can do to follow."
Crady, a little distracted by what he perceives as an immediate attack, continues to fiddle with the chain.
Lurio wipes his blade off on the mastiff, frowning for a moment as he looks towards his compatriots. Luthor and Marillo had both been attacked by the hungry hounds but it seemed Rexus was treating their wounds.
”Rexus is correct, they would’ve just been forced to fight for House Thrune if they were found. I am sorry Crady that it came to it though.” The sage was a strange one, more concerned for the hounds than his fellows, but then again…none of them thought of trying to protect the hounds at all or feed them. ”Unique perspectives like that will be useful in the days to come, certainly.” He thought to himself, looking over the ruined livery before heading deeper in.
Hearing his warning from Crady, the noble looked over the ruined structure with a careful glance.
Slipping in and out of fox form, Luthor passes through the bars and grabs the torch. Be back in a second. He only goes a few feet before stopping, looking curiously at a the wall. He gives it a good kick, and though it doesn't break it gives a loud crunch. Yo Marillo, I bet you could tear this section of wall down pretty easily: it's all rotted through.
Torch in hand, he makes his way down the hall, carefully stepping over debris and refuse. At the secret door he pries off a few bits of wood to get the door open wide enough for him to fit through, then slips in. He looks around, picking up a mallet and trying it in his hand before tossing it away with a clang. Well this place is a bust... he mutters to himself.
He picks around a little then spies the trapdoor. Or maybe not...
He peers down the open hole.
Marillo immediately sets to work following Luthor's advice. Luckily being able to see, he finds a good portion of the wall to grip and starts pulling
While Crady fiddles with the lock, Luthor points out an alternative option. Moving to the designated area of the wall, Marillo sets to tearing it down. He carefully selects a few loose cobbles and pulls them out. Giving the wall a shove as it begins to crumble, a large opening forms, he could easily step through.
An eerie musical sound reaches your ears coming from somewhere below.
Holding his nose, Luthor backs away (and probably almost runs into Marillo). "Yuck, no way am I going fox over there."he says grimacing, and without further explanation he walks back and pokes his head out through the bars. Looks like there's something over here, but you might want to bring nose plugs. he calls out to the others.
"Great. A piss and feces soaked rathole. How are we supposed to make this place livable enough to work out of?"
Lurio moves up to his friend, looking through the ruined wall and into the room beyond. Luthor's words made the noble laugh for a moment, shaking his head as he looked towards his friend.
"Don't all the stories begin with humble starts? Piss and shit is quite the origin story, I say." He looked back down the way, pointing to the door at the back of the livery. "Perhaps there is another way that way? I'd rather not die from a disease and make things easy on House Thrune."
"HA!" Pakuzzo barks a laugh at Lurio's comment. "Well said! But let's keep looking. I'd rather not discount this place just yet until we've covered every inch."
Stumbling through the torn down wall, Luthor joins Pakuzzo and Lurio. "Oh there's something here alright; there's a trapdoor in that room with the choirs of Elysium singing somewhere down below. But like I said: nose plugs..." He starts rummaging around the room for a semi-clean piece of cloth to wrap around his face, and the deplorable state of his accepted find speaks volumes about the stench back there.
Taking a few moments, Crady cautiously works the lock. With a decisive 'Clunk' it pops free in his hands.
Rexus wanders up to the group, smiling at the kitsune's remark. "Well, Golaria wasn't built in a day. I believe my friend Laria can help us with such things if needed." Noting the cloth selected by the kitsune, he asks with a frown "That bad huh? Wow...."
Obtaining another rag for himself, secures it loosely over his nose.
Marillo follows suit. He has his knife in hand, but tucked away to keep it from view. If anything else came out, he wanted to catch them completely by surprise.
Crady calls over to those gathered at the hole. "Careful over there, I think it's grimples! Nasty gremlins that have horrible lice and can shoot vomit from it's mouth. So keep your distance if you can."
"Lovely," the tengu sneers upon hearing this news. "As if this outing wasn't charming enough already..."
He nocks an arrow into his bow, but keeps it lowered for now.
Lurio sighs and takes out a rag, covering it with a bit of water before tying it across his face. He nods to the others and moves towards that terrible, rancid smell.
"Well, if that is the way down...it is the way down. Any of you know that magical trick to clean oneself? It'd be quite handy in a moment."
He would head further back, looking around to see what else may be hidden upon the floor and in the back of the livery itself.
Lurio will return, holding the key and signet ring he found in the back.
"A Juliac signet ring...and a key. Maybe be useful for something, maybe it just unlocked the front door." The noble would murmur, pocketing the two items for now. Heading towards that disgusting smell, he'd look towards Crady and Rexus.
"Are you able to make an item glow? I'll go down first but I'd like to be able to see what is down there."
Once he had a source of light, Lurio would make the unpleasant climb down in through the filthy hole.
"Are you able to make an item glow? I'll go down first but I'd like to be able to see what is down there."
"Sorry mate, that's not in my wheelhouse. Best I can do is to lend you a torch."
"One moment".
The urban druid searches the area for a good sized stone, about the size of a chestnut. Cupping it in his hands, Crady casts light on it and hands it to the noble.
"There ya go. I'll be right behind you".
Crady presents Lurio with a light source as the noble drops down the hole.
Landing softly at the base of the ladder, he turns to scan the room. The sound of scurrying feat meeting his ears moments before his eyes adjust. Two filthy rats the size of small dogs charge out from the debris. Lurio's instincts taking hold, he side-steps just as the two vile creatures lash out.
Rats:
Marillo Sullus:
Cerenity:
Luthor Aesernus:
Metronicus Crady:
Lurio Jhaltero:
Order:
Pakuzzo
Cerenity
Crady
Marillo
Lurio
Luthor
2 Rats
Landing with a thump upon the ground, the light from the walnut glowing from within a clenched fist, Lurio has just enough time to hear the scurrying upon the ground before two over-sized rats come out of the darkness and bite at him. Dancing back, he keeps the beasts out of range of his flesh as he draws his falchion.
"Damn rats!" He growls, swinging his blade at the one that got closest to his skin. He uses his strike to give him a moment to pull back against the wall, readying for their next attack.
Seeing Lurio under attack, Pakuzzo jumps down through the hole and lands in a crouch, bow at the ready. He draws a bead on the nearest rat and fires.
As the nasty beasts scrape their teeth on Lurio's armor, his training takes hold. Calmly, he brings his weapon to bear and splits the first rodent in two. Unsure if there are others waiting in the dark corners, he steps away to protect his back.
As the noble moves tactfully, his feathered companion leaps into action. Dropping into a crouch, Pakuzzo nocks and arrow. Staring down the shaft at the creatures beady eyes, he looses the projectile, dropping the rat.
Looking around the room, one can clearly see a rats nest in the far corner. A rusty metal table, full of holes, holds a few shattered meat hooks. A rotted crate lies here and there chewed through. Nothing of particular use seems to be left. Most notably, the eerie music Luthor described has ceased. Even through your makeshift odor filters, the stench is nearly unbearable.
On the far wall, a closed door seems to be in decent shape.
Looking forward to the skirmish ahead of him, Crady notices Lucio and Pakuzzo dispatch two feral rats.
I'd wish they stop killing all the animals they find, but I guess they weren't given much choice. (Sigh)
In passing, the urban druid gives the noble a weak pat on the shoulder.
Looking around the room, Metronicus notices the rat's nest. Seeing something shiny, the urban druid digs through the nest. Might be a few coins. Finding a vial with blue liquid in it, Crady chimes up, holding the vial so the others can see.
"Hey! Look what I found?"
Luthor lowers himself carefully over the edge, then walks over to Crady. Looks like a potion of some sort. Let me see...
Rexus hops down behind the Kitsune. Looking at the vial as Luthor begins studying it, he reaches out and grants the man a blessing.
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"Rats that are hostile. Grimples with lice and projectile vomit. Crady, you're a Druid, right? How do we get rid of Grimples? I'd rather not tangle up close with such creatures if it can be avoided, and it sounds like it'd take forever to hunt them down one by one."
The urban druid thinks back on previous experiences with the urban fey.
"Well..", ponders Crady, "grimples feed almost exclusively on garbage. It stands to reason if we clean this place up squeeky-clean, the grimples won't have a food supply and go elsewhere."
"As for the lice, it's a weak species. Grimple lice annoys more than anything, and can be removed with a hard scrubbing bath."
"Alright then. I have a plan. We go out, get cleaning supplies, and thoroughly clean this place room by room. We slowly drive them out until we can use this place. Much better than getting attacked by them, as we will need to de-foul this hell hole anyways."
"So our the first undertaking of our glorious rebellion is to do the job of a scullery maid?" Pakuzzo frowns. "Not exactly what I had in mind when I signed up, but I suppose it is what it is."
It's a healing potion. A little grimy, but still potent. looking to Crady for permission, he goes ahead and pockets it. After listening to the exchange he chimes in.
Not that that doesn't sound exciting, but don't we have more important things to worry about right now? Things like bleeding walls and weird music from the depths? We should probably get a move on down here.
"So that wasn't y-, well damn it. Sure, let's keep going into the haunted shit hole." He then muttered something about going to the bath house afterwords.
She was not happy. She even let out a snarl or two. But. This was going to be their new home for quite some time. And a clean home is a healthy home
"One we have the vermin sorted... and what ever is causing the walls to bleed... i will start to clean the walls. Fours do great work. Best in the walls. Not so much on the floors"
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Rexus gags involuntarily. "Well, if we stay here, it would certainly need some cleaning. Other than finding this secret level, we haven't any new information about the Ravens. I would like to continue, if you can stomach it. Maybe the odor will improve past the door?"
"If this was in fact a hideout of theirs, surely there's some evidence...somewhere?"
"I'm with him, I want to keep searching this place as much as we can while we're here. On that note, let's check out the door."
Nodding to Pakuzzo, Rexus looks around to the others. Seeing no one move for the door, he shrugs and steps forward, opening it.
Dirty salt and sawdust coat the floor of this gloomy hall. Bits of the wall masonry have been chewed or clawed away, revealing narrow, winding animal tunnels beyond. Steel rails are mounted in the ceiling, with a few lonely iron hooks dangling from them. A pile of stained pillows and moth-eaten blankets lies in a ten-foot-square depression in the floor to the northwest.
His hands still keeping his bow nocked and ready, Pakuzzo creeps forward through the doorway, his eyes darting around in the gloom.
"Desna's wings, now this looks inviting..."
Well with we're looking for Gremlins, that pile right there looks like the nest. What do you think Lurio? Poke it with stick or throw stuff at it?
"Or set it on fire?"