L3VII Obliterates the rat nearest to him, Cutting the small critter in half with his strike.
There is only one Rat left in line of Sight for Mia to strike.
He looks really shaken by the strike but remains.
Zach thrusts his sword into the ground, angling for a stabbing kill.
Sadly the ground around the hole is not shallow enough for you to reliably pierce the earth and strike the foe beneath even if you did get lucky and strike them it would be very ineffective. Unless you have some spell of ability that can negate the need, your only options as you see them are to either.
-Try to Wack-a-mole the rats as they pop up
-Or pry the metal covers off, you can tell they are not hatches, they are just flat plates of metal put over a hole and don't look all too heavy.
To Recap: There were 4 Ratmen armed with crossbows but they are now dead, there are also two holes with covers that have a ratman diving in and out of cover jabbing at your legs with his spear.
On that note the two ratmen pop out again, they continue to use their position on either side of Zach to flank him as they thrust.
They both fail to strike, their spears clattering against each other, then they dip back down into their holes, The metal cover clanging behind them.
Parties Turn
"Can you please kill these things already so we can move on? I know the way out of here! So get moving!"
Mia shouts as she blasts another ratman... This time with fire.
You raise your hand ready to blast a rat, but he's already dived back into his hole, you lack line of sight to target them.
Zach shrugs and goes to pry up one of the metal plates.
Zach grabs the metal plate, preparing for them to be heavy, Only to find they are pretty light, You find a pair of rats under it, One is unarmed, the one that is armed with the spear is much larger then any of the rats you've seen previously seen. They Hiss up at Zach
Zack: Since you didn't really need to exert much effort to lift the plate It shouldn't really require a full action. I'll say it was a move action.
Mia: The cover was not a surprise, And Mia is smart enough to know that cover can't be shot past, once you saw the rat diving back into cover you didn't go through with your action, so you still have an action.
L3VII sees no reason to spare rats that might try stabbing him in the back or cornering them against his friends. He steps over to slash at the bigger rat Zacharia revealed.
L3VII's weapon cuts into the larger rat, hurting him good, but he remains standing.
Zach drives his weapon into the Medium sized Spearrat just managing to get through his leather armor, who after taking another powerful blow dies on contact, and collapses, falling down Five feet and leaving his Smaller companion cowering, Unarmed the Small rat leaps down the five foot drop into the tunnel and scurries away, His tail vanishing into the unseen tunnels beneath.
The other Spearrat not aware his companion has died, Pops back up ready to take another stab at Zach, And gets shot by a bolt of fire, Burning but not down he still swipes at Zach
And he misses, He also only seems to notice his companion has not jumped up to join him after his attack, And you notice a sudden look of panic in his eyes. He drops back down, the metal clanking cover clanking behind him.
L3VII steps over, yanks the cover up and takes a swing.
And with that slash the second Spearrat Dies, The small rat like his counter part is gone, having fled deeper into the tunnel.
With that the immediate threat ends.
"Great! No more flea-bags!" shouts Mia. "I'm Mia! Now let's get out of here. I have treasure to find and I need your help. Also, I know the least rat-infested path, so let's go! Move!" she adds, hurrying up her new acquaintances.
Mia's use of horrible Anti-Ratfolk slurs has displeased porkus. But he's a pig god so he can't do nothing.
All joking aside, from the ranting of the ratfolk dead in the traps would indicate that there are far more out there who are aware of your presence, and they appear to have some obsession with acquiring a human, The only Human in your party being Ken.
If someone goes through the ratfolk's possessions you find:
-various gemstones spread among all of them equaling 35gp in Value
-One of the bigger rats has a Silver Locket on him.
x Most of their weapons and armor are ramshackle and no self respecting pawnbroker would purchase them.
Zach, Make a fort save please
L3VII shoves the stuff in his sack and gestures onward.
"Can't stick around too long. Can't tell how many more might be coming."
"Yes, onward, ever onward."
"Wait! We must avoid the temple! We can take these tunnels here." Mia exclaims as she points at the map given to her by Dr.Ratstein. "Fewer of the mangy uglies this way... And it gets to the vault quicker. This is where we gotta go... Uh... You two."
So unless you wish to do anything differently, The party moves along on the pushcart. It easily can hold the whole party, Ken offers to help pump the handle to move the cart along and assist the unseen servant.
The Cart zooms at it's max speed, cutting your travel time to a fifth of what it would have been walking, After a good time riding in silence you come up to another pack of rat men.
They look like they where setting up some kind of ambush, As they are in the process of digging holes and moving dirt around, Not having a light or sound to alert you beforehand, you barrel right through them. Sending them skittering in all directions, but not before bouncing a pair of them off the makeshift cow bumper fixed to the front of the cart. Splattering the riders with a spray of blood.
You continue along in the cart, You are not far from the first turn on your route, things have gone quiet again...
With the speed the Cart is moving at, you notice the shimmering air before it's too late, Your cart sailing into a section of tunnel full of some strange gas.
L3VII blinks as he inhales the strange gas...but is immune to sleep effects and thinks nothing of it. If anyone starts nodding off, he shakes them.
"Not the time to nod off now right?" He says to anyone who falls prey to the gas.
You hear the sprong of a crossbow string, And a quick flash as something strikes the side of the cart, A Green viscous substance appearing from the point of contact and splattering over the base of the cart, The Gunk getting caught up in the wheels causing them to stop, The metal wheels sending up sparks as it skids to a sudden jerking stop.
You look around for what could have done that, but all you can make out is the shimmer of the gas, whatever did that has remained hidden through the chaos.
Ken resists the gas, but is unable to hold onto the pushcart, flying off it, and then catching his feet before skidding.
[/ooc]I still need a fort roll from Zach[/ooc]
Zach is thrown from the cart, slightly groggy from the gas.
He does a front flip, preparing to make a cool three-point landing. Unfortunately, he misjjudges the speed at which he was thrown from the cart, and face plants instead.
Quickly he gets up, wiping the blood from his face.
Surely nobody saw that.
[/ooc]I still need a fort roll from Zach[/ooc]
L3VII tries to grip the sides of the cart. His fingers slip however and he is thrown free from the cart. He attempts to plant his blade in the ground to brake his momentum badassedly.
His speed causes him to spin a full circle around where he grips the handle before coming to a halt and pulling the sword free with a flourish in one fluid motion.
"Is everyone alright?" The surprisingly light-footed warrior says with concern before scanning the area around them.
Mia falls off the cart and groans... More out of frustration than pain.
"I hate this place..."
Everyone feels a strange sense of levity come over them and find it hard not to laugh for no reason in particular, Though everyone resists the drowsiness that accompanies this feeling. A few seconds pass and from thin air materializes a ratman with a dagger in each hand he swings at L3VII.
The Creature who stands before you is a small ratfolk covered head to toe in a leather garb that leaves nothing but his tail exposed. He wears a belt that is covered in small fist sized canisters, Wears a gas mask, and wears a pair of goggles with red glowing lenses.
"More of you?!" grunts Mia. "Leave us alone, you freaking bastards!"
The catfolk mage steps away and aims her staff at the area behind the shadowy rat. Glittering sparks of multiple colors fly from her weapon and explode on impact with the rocky wall, filling an area that goes from the wall itself to the rat-man.
The rat shrieks and scrabbles at his goggles, whatever they are used for, they dont seem to protect from this.
Zach moves up and flourishes his blade, trying to make up for his epic fail earlier. He puts his hand on his sword, then pulls it from the sheathe while executing a 720 spin to slice into the two nearest rats .
Zach's attack is caught by the rat's leather armor, the hard leather soaking the blow. Even blinded the Rat's well made armor does a good job at protecting him, Narrowly allowing him to deflect the blow.
L3VII steps into flanking with Zacharia and tries to cut down the gasrat.