Encounter: ”Chitters in the Dark" | Round 2| Hazards: Darkness |
Dire rat 3 is completely surprised for the milliseconds it takes to be crushed by the falling debris. Having been completely unprepared for something to come crashing down from above, it collapses unconscious at Darian's feet.
Dire rat 1 smells the blood of its fellow and seems emboldened leaping to bite at Darian while dire rat 2 attempts to feast on Avrora's already open wound. They seem very, very hungry.
Dire Rat 2:
Despite its own injuries from Galen's telekinetic projectile, Dire rat 1 manages to give Darian a nip as its oversized teeth sink through a soft soft spot at the knee. Dire rat 2 is not able to overcome the significant defense Avrora has managed to create, its teeth snapping against her shield.
Gritting his teeth against the vermin's bite, Darian wills some of his magic into his blade, which glows white as he thrusts it clean through the rats open mouth and out the other side. He slings his blade free of the rodent, sending its lifeless body smacking against the far wall.
He then steps up beside Avrora, prepared to finish these rats off!
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"Gah!" Avrora hops from foot to foot as the rat nips at her toes. She is glad for her forethought in wearing heavy socks today, if not for the moderate precipitation, then for defense against rat incisors.
Always good to be prepared.
"Verminous filth!" She yells, hopping back a step and freeing her Morningstar from its holster just as Darian skewers a rat. Not wanting to send the wrong signal, she's quick to clarify. "Oh, not you, I didn't mean you! It's just the, oh--!"
The rat's hissing reminds her that this is no cotillion, and good manners can wait. Whispering a prayer, she channels a wisp of divine inspiration, drawing strength for the fight against the fiendish rats.
Phineas gasps slightly as the debris crashes down on a rat, knocking it senseless, before falling back in relief. That worked much better than I feared. Phineas casts his eyes about briefly looking for more objects to drop, before returning to peer down the shaft, concentrating on the fight below. On second though, they can probably fight them off without my help, and I might accidentally clobber one of them as well. Best to hold back and put the rats to sleep if they are overrun.
"Are you alright?" Phineas yells down at his companions. "Fall back to the rope if you're hard pressed, we can help cover you from here!"
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Galen continues to hold the rope up topside as best as he can, even as he peers down to the chaos of the vermin fight below. "Hold on! We're...almost there!" Galen silently mouths a swear after his last statement, seemingly sheepish as he realizes his claim to join them is pure fancy. Instead, he focuses his mind on some of the wooden plank debris that Phineas sent down and smashed atop one of the rats previously, sending a big plank of wood careening suddenly into the rat between Darian and Avrora.
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"Watch out, cousin!" Varian grits his teeth and tightens the grip on his morning star. For a split second, he's on the fence about which rat to attack, then his eyes fall upon the rat near to Darian. "Here I come! Varian sprints forward, moves past Avrora and tries to bring down his weapon on the filthy creature. "Die, filthy pest!"
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Varian's confidence is not shattered by the rats' attacks. "C'mon! We can do it! These are just rats!" And we can't hope to free our city if we are not able to fight some disease-carrying rats!
Clenching his teeth, Varian tightens the grip on his morning star but in the end he decides that he would be better finding another way to fight his foes. Maybe a summoned creatures will do "Hang in there, reinforcements are coming" he cries out as he steps back and starts conjuring.
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Encounter: ”Chitters in the Dark" | Combat Ends | Hazards: Darkness
Isabel's crossbow bolt goes wide as she fires once Avrora steps away from melee with Dire Rat 2. Galen's projectile likewise misses the animal; the shadows at this distance from the trap door to the floor making the dimensions difficult to judge. Fortunately, Varian's spirited defense of Avrora is just enough to bring the dire rat down, knocking it into a heap of dirty fur.
Rexus leans over the trap door opening when no further activity seems obvious.
"Are you alright down there? Is it safe now?"
Darian sinks his blade into the dieing rats, ending their suffering, before studying his surroundings intently.
"I think so!" Avrora reaches with her shield-bearing arm and pats Varian gently on the shoulder. "Nice work, Varian." She smirks at Darian. "You too, lordship. Careful, there's a spot of rat blood on your armor."
Feeling remarkably better now that her wounds have closed, she takes a moment to glance around the room and take in their surroundings.
"Let's get everyone down here, one at a time. Take your time." She holds the rope steady as the others slip down
Once everyone is safely two feet on the ground, she rests her forehead on her shield, whispering grace and renewing her light spell. Then she's struck by a thought.
"These rats are huge! They're clearly well fed. I wonder if they've been here long, or were planted as guard animals, and same for the dogs?"
Darian smirks as well, "Thanks, but careful. Too many more praises and I'll start to think I'm growing on you," he says in jest.
If the room is secure, for the moment at least, he will turn and help the others down as well, even attempting to catch anyone who may slip and fall.
The eye-watering stench of urine and feces fills this large room. Nests made of chewed crates and barrels line the walls, while rusty knives and hooks cover the tabletops.
A single wooden door leads out of the room and it is currently closed, but a portion of it has been broken leaving an apple sized hole to allow a view to the other side. The hole suddenly starts to weep a viscous looking fluid while strange characters and symbols occasionally drip out as well before vanishing upon the floor.
A few of the rusted implements shake and vibrate briefly then stop only for the dirty dire rats' nests to suddenly shake as if something under the chewed wood and straw is ready to burst out.
Seeing the rustling and hearing the music, Darian raises his hand to signal the others to wait. He points to the rustling to draw Varian's and Avrora's attention there while he checks the hole in the door.
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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 motheaten blankets lies in a ten-foot-square depression in the floor to the northwest. The depression lined with pillows and blankets is all that remains of an old hatch-and-pulley system the slaughterhouse workers used to raise and lower carcasses for preservation.
Avrora steps closer to the rustling nests and raises her shield and weapon, ready to bash in the brains of the next rat that comes scurrying out.
While looking through the hole, Darian says quietly "Looks like the rats, or something, has been through the next room a good bit. There's also a pile of pillows and blankets in what looks like some of the mechanism for the slaughter house..."
The shaking stops suddenly, and a bloody liquid begins to seep from the matted and chewed nesting.
One of the rusted hooks suddenly leaps off a table!
Failure: The knife bumps into your armor and simply falls to the floor. There was barely any force behind its movement.
She frowns as the knife lightly knocks into her breastplate before clattering to the floor. She turns to the others. "Did you see--? What on earth is happening here..."
Darian looks to his cousin as the racket draws his attention, "Is...is this more of the haunting?"
"Ech..." Galen peers around with his candle lamp in one hand even as his special crystal stone seems to increase the glow around him. He's clearly nervous and recoils at Avrora being hit by the rusted hook in a manner not too much unlike what he can do with his own brand of self-taught Varisian sorcery. After a moment though and following the signal of Darian, he cocks his head to one side and listens to what is going on around them.
Phineas climbs down the ladder, trembling slightly and brushing at his coat as he awkwardly hops down the last rung to the dirty floor. "Yech is right. I can't believe anyone would choose to guard somewhere with giant rats. Look at what a mess they made of this place. They're probably just vermin that snuck inside for warmth and decided to nest down here in the dark."
Phineas looks around, warily, freezing as the knife bounces off of Avrora harmlessly. "Galen, that wasn't you...was it?" Phineas slowly reaches into his belt, unstoppering his flask of holy water. Think Phineas...its got to be a haunt, right? What else could it be? Best be careful, but it seems to not be so strong, at least.
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Isabel follows Phineas down, equally fastidious about her clothing. The sight of the knife flying across the room under its own power makes her pause towards the back of the group - where better armoured bodies are between her and the cutlery. "I think someone is playing tricks on us. This and the writing upstairs could be caused by some minor magics, the sort that apprentices use to play pranks on each other. We should be on the look-out for spellcasters..."
More small items shift, the hole in the door continues to ooze, and things shake and rattle every so often. Much more rarely the jarring music trills and echoes from afar. However, nothing else seems to happen...
"Well," Darian says calmly, "I've done better tricks to the Vashnarstill brothers than this."
He then opens the door to the next room, avoiding the ooze, and carefully steps inside.
"Thanks, but careful. Too many more praises and I'll start to think I'm growing on you,"
"Like algae on a rock," Avrora mutters as she steps in line behind Darian, standing on tiptoe and squinting her eyes to look past him into the dim room beyond.
"In the name of Milani, those filthy rats were tough beyond any imagination...", Varian says with a grin, wiping his robes from dust and blood. "Tsk, they're useless now, anyway". Shrugging, the Chelaxian man takes of his robe, revealing a red and black jacket trimmered with gold. The colors of Hell...But I couldn't resist the temptation.
Varian pats Avrora's shoulder in turn when she passes close to him. "Well fought, although they were only rats." Varian smiles at the girl, happy to see he unharmed. The hidden priest then examines the door leading out of the room along with the others, and gives a quizzical look at the symbols appearing on it. “Mmmh…I wonder what that means…”
Unable to unveil the meaning of the strange phenomena on the door, Varian resorts to his divine magic and tries to analyze the door for any magic aura it may have.
Varian nods to his cousin. “I guess so…” When the shaking stops, and the bloody liquid begins to seep from the matted and chewed nesting, Varian immediately looks towards Avrora. “Hey, take care not to…But what the…! As one of the hooks suddenly leaps off a table, Varian starts. “Watch out!”
The hidden priest immediately positions himself next to Darian. “This definitely is the haunt…Stand ready!” Holding his morning star tight, Varian looks around frantically, waiting for the next, inevitable supernatural sign to manifest.
While he waits, Varian shakes his head in response to Isabel’s comment. “I don’t think someone is playing tricks on us…unless if by ‘someone’ you mean a haunt…”
Realizing the group needs a surge of courage, Varian recklessly walks to the door and opens it, exposing himself to anything it might throw at him.
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"I don't know Isabel, I agree with Varian. These really do seem like more manifestations of unquiet spirits who perished here. We should be careful. This place...it feels me with unease." Phineas edges around the far wall as Varian moves through the doorway, careful to try and keep his lightly armored body as far from where the rusted hook flew as possible as he approaches the door.
Galen watches the impulsive crusader of the Everbloom walk over to the door and then throw it open. "Hey Var...Julius you may not want to...um...well okay..."
Galen tenses at what may lie beyond and holds out his candle lamp with the odd glowing crystal palmed in the same hand, his other hand readying to draw his dagger.
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 motheaten blankets lies in a ten-foot-square depression in the floor to the northwest. The depression lined with pillows and blankets is all that remains of an old hatch-and-pulley system the slaughterhouse workers used to raise and lower carcasses for preservation.
Just pass the depression to the west are what appear to be well worn counters and tables once used for butchering and to the south broken and clogged drain grates with rusty hooks and chains dangling from the ceiling above.
As Darian and Varian move out of the dire rats den, little lights spark and float at the edge of the light from Darian's sunrod. They appear for brief flashes, move a foot or so, and then vanish. Strange shapes seem to form out of the debris on the floor and take a couple of staggering steps before crumbling back into the grimy sawdust. And still, slightly discordant notes of music occasionally trill and echo eerily throughout the room.
Rexus drops down from the ladder. Looking over Galen's shoulder, he cranes his neck to see past the door and gives the strange ooze a concerned look. He whispers, "Wha-what have we found?"
Avrora blinks, once, twice, as the small figures moving about in the shadows fade in and out, though she notices that one of them doesn't fade away, as though it were permanent. As though it were real.
"Look, there!" She pushes her way into the room in excitement, hoping the light from her shield will put an end to the mystery.
At first not seeing anything aside from the weirdness all to present in this place, Darian jerks his head around to where Avrora is pointing.
"Good eye, Lady Vikta," Darian says.
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Like Avrora, Isabel's eye is drawn to the solitary figure who refuses to fade away. Squinting against the bright lights Isabel scans the darkness behind the shining form - the ambient light more than enough for her elven sight to search the room. Her hands move smoothly through the motions of reloading her crossbow as she looks.
Galen likewise spots something persistent in the shadows and dust of the next room, taking a step forward to raise his enhanced candle light towards the disturbance. He murmurs back to Rexus and says quietly, "Something. Maybe more than we bargained for...but perhaps more than it bargained for. Be ready now, sons and daughters of Kintargo!"
Phineas creeps up to the door, peeking out around the edge of the frame, but not seeing anything unusual beyond the small lights floating at the edge of the sunrod's light. Phineas clears his throat before chanting quietly, touching the door frame and causing it to begin to softly glow, restoring illumination to the room. "What's going on? Is there something out there?"
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"Stand ready, my friends..." Varian casts a light spell on his morning star and holds it as though it was a torch. He makes a few steps forward, looking at both his sides to make sure his allies are following him. "Those strange manifestations on the door...they were magical in nature. Be cautious.
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The figure that's been spotted gives an almost cartoon-like response and emits an "Ack!" Seemingly resigned, it struts forward a short distance towards the party. The putrid-looking humanoid bears a disquieting resemblance to a half-starved, mange-ridden opossum.
"People leave!" it bursts out in squeaky voice like a hormonal teenage boy. "No want people in grimple place!"
Grimples despise humans and show it by attacking drunks, unlocking stables, torturing guard dogs, and loosening hanging storefront signs so that they fall on people. This does not stop them from sometimes allying with humans and other humanoids, but such collaborations are always temporary, as a grimple is ever plotting betrayal. Although a grimple is often arrogant and overbearing, its ability to vomit at will (and propensity for doing so constantly) remains its most unappealing quality.
Voracious omnivores, grimples feast off garbage. They frequently target inns, restaurants, and other places where they can scavenge a steady supply of food.
EDIT: The creature is very small. Not too much larger than the opossum it resembles.
Phineas stares at the creature as it strides forth from the shadows, more curious than afraid from his position near the door. What in the nine hells is THAT?. A...Grimple? Whatever it is, I doubt its an agent of Thrune. That poor thing looks half starved; perhaps we can end this peaceably, or even enlist its aid.
"Greetings, friend." Phineas steps forward into the room, head bowed and hands spread wide, empty, as he tries to make himself look as nonthreatening as possible. "My name is Davis, and these are my companions. We apologize for intruding into your home, but this place holds secrets of great interest to us. If I may humbly ask, may we trade with you? We can offer many goods; food, soft, warm cloth, gold. Whatever you might wish, within reason, if you would be willing to help us learn the secrets of this place, and then we would be pleased to part as friends in peace and comfort."
Come on, take it. Don't start a fight you can't win, not with Avrora and Darian right there. Be smart, or at least greedy, whatever you are...
Avrora's eyebrow arches in surprise when the little critter scurries out from the darkness. After their ordeal against the dogs and giant rats, she was expecting something bigger to lurk in this haunted place. She fidgets on her feet, unsure whether to attack it or feel sorry for it. She glances toward Phineas uncertainly, but maintains line of sight with the grimple.
She does her best to look friendly, despite clutching a thorned mace.
Darian lowers his blade, just a little, as he slowly, carefully, steps closer to the thing until it comes into view clearly.
"He's right. We're not here looking for trouble, we're just prepared to defend ourselves, same as you. How about we come to an agreement to not try and kill one another, eh?"
For a moment the creature seems a little taken aback, but then it chitters in some strange language.
Some chatter in the same language comes from other points in the room. There are definitely more of these creatures in the surround. The new voices help the party catch glimpses of other figures moving on the ground, possibly flying, and even in the walls(?).
"They killed mangy mutts...maybe we let them live today. But not tomorrow."
"Stupid humans! I hate them! Make them get more blankets and food from nearby inn. Then we loosen inn sign later."
The sorry-looking humanoid seems to listen to the other chittering for a moment before saying, "You give food to us. You give blankets, pillows. You give crying baby."
It squints its eyes slyly. "You do this, we let you to talk to boss of all place, not just grimple place. Boss has secrets. Many, many secrets."
The discordant music is heard again. This time it seems to burst out a little louder than before echoing from the hallway to the southeast behind a rusty half-destroyed grating blocking the path. The grimple flinches slightly, but does its best not to show it.
"Hmm...no grimple, the crying baby is definitely not within reason for your offer. That is not our way. However, there's a bound dog up in the stables - take that as your claim if you must."
Galen's counteroffer seems morbid, but it is clear he doesn't relish the prospect of dealing with these things that call themselves grimple. Though he can't whisper to his fellows without being overheard, he speaks to them in a low voice tinged with urgent caution. "Friends, don't trust these grimples, dark fey that they are. Tales from my Nan and from the campfire caravans of my youth along the Varisian byways make them a malign sort...they won't keep their end of any bargain willingly. Comfort and peace isn't their way, but rather garbage and foul mischief on things that they hate."
Phineas feels a deep, sinking feeling settle in his gut as Galen whispers to him. Dark Fey? That can't possibly be good. And we're most certainly NOT giving a baby to these...creatures.
"Ahem. I am afraid my friend here is quite correct. We do not have any babies to offer in trade, but we could provide blankets, and food, including the dog we subdued above. Would that suffice for you to allow us to look about?"
Phineas bows, and backs up slowly as he speaks. This isn't going to work, is it. Damn it all to the nine hells...
The grimple ambassador chitters.
"Forget baby," the grimple says in Common. "Werchut stupid to ask for baby." The grimple makes a dismissive gesture towards one of the shadowy figures flittering around.
"You make sure nearby food place throw out extra in trash for year instead."
Still afraid to speak out, Avrora nods emphatically toward Phineas, indicating her approval of the grimple's offer.
Phineas cringes slightly inside at the chatter, unpleasantly aware of the disadvantages involved in conducting a negotiation with a party consulting in their own tongue. "That, I believe we could arrange. Blankets, then, and an agreement to ensure additional food placed in the trash of the local bakery each night for a year, in return for safe passage through your home, the right to examine what we find here and a talk with your boss. Do we have a deal?"
If given assent, then Phineas will continue. "In that case, we will go forth and gather the blankets, to return and deliver them to you as a sign of good faith before we intrude on you further. Come friends, let us go, and we will return shortly."
Varian stays silent for most of the conversation with the grimples, but when their ambassador asks for a crying baby, the Chelish man frowns and puts his hand to his morning star. He then relaxes his hold on the weapon when the ambassador gives up on that request. "Does the boss of this place treat you well? I ask only because we could talk him into treating you better, just in case." The Chelish, hence arrogant, part of Varian tells him not to come to terms with miserable, unreliable creatures such as grimples, but then his common sense prevails and the cleric nods to the strange beings while whispering a prayer he learned from a member of the Silver Dragons whose parents were from Oppara, the Gilded City.
"My friend here is quite right. We can provide you with food for years and with all the blankets you might need. Deal?" Despite his intentions, Varian's words betray his nuisance at dealing with such despicable creatures and his hurry to quickly find a solution to move on with the exploration.
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The grimple nods and seems happy.
"Yes, yes! And take mangy mutt! Mutts kill too many grimple. We don't want stupid dogs here."
"Does the boss of this place treat you well? I ask only because we could talk him into treating you better, just in case."
"Boss...you find boss, you ask. Sounds like deal." The grimple points past the old draining well to the south. "Through gate. Old cistern. You wash in dirty water and boss comes."
Something about the way the creature seems to chuckle gives the party a pretty certain feeling there is a lie in there somewhere.
"You go. Grimples wait in grimple place. You deliver. No more mischief tricks." It raises its hand and several little figures form out of the grime and salt and fight a mock battle before falling back into the sludge they came.
Then the grimple scampers to the wall and climbs into one of the many tiny holes that dot the room's walls like pox marks. The other figures likewise seem to disappear. The flickering lights and other oddities including the ooze from the door all fade into the gloomy dark of the old slaughter room.
The discordant sound of pipe music plays into the new silence echoing from down beyond the grate.